April 15, 2004
Reuben Hill and his trusty broom.
by Sandra Kleven
When I saw Reuben Hill's broom, I said "I am going to get you a new broom." He immediately told me that he didn't want one. You cannot imagine a more pathetic- looking broom. First, it is a narrow plastic kitchen broom--not at all what a clinic custodian needs to sweep a big clinic--and over time it has become so stubby that the bristles don't move or bend. They are short and stiff like a hunk of wood. Not only that, various fibers, of questionable origin, have become entwined in it. They look a little gay--these red, blue, and green bits of twine, cord, string and thread flying like fringe.
So I told him next time I came to Hooper Bay I would bring him a new broom and he said he didn't want one. I asked "Why?" in amazement.
Reuben said, "I started with this broom and I am going to end with this broom." Reuben has been the custodian in old and new Hooper Bay Clinics since the 1960s. While he has other brooms he uses in the clinic, this special broom probably pokes into a corner very well, able to scrape at anything crusty left behind by a child. It probably feels just right in his hand like a favorite baseball bat or glove. Its familiarity must be a comfort working after hours in that clinic with only we who itinerate as company or distraction.
Itinerating medical staff know Reuben very well because he always greets us warmly when he picks us up at the airport. When we are eager to go home he adjusts his cleaning routine to the arrival of the plane and then drags us with our gear out to the arriving aircraft in a sled behind his snogo.
One time in the rain he surprised me by continuing on over the dune to the beach. He stopped the 4-wheeler and let me pretend to drive while he snapped a shot of me on the shore of the Bering Sea.
Checking out that broom one more time, shaking my head, I asked, "Reuben, was this broom new when you started?"
"No," he said "we were both used."
Hooper Bay is on line as the site of a new sub-regional clinic. These over-the-top modern medical facilities usher in a new age of quality and care. And I am sure when the grand opening is over and all the dignitaries go home, if you look behind the door in Custodial Operations you will find Reuben's bedraggled broom.
Reuben Hill is a YKHC Board Member, representing Unit 9.