Meet Nick Borash – hanger of sheetrock, snaker of drains, plower of snow

Nick has been working as part of our maintenance team in Fairbanks for about 18 months. He previously worked in commercial maintenance and came to Alaska Behavioral Health because “it’s a better company to work for.” [Check out our benefits here!] At first, it was challenging – getting to know all of the staff (his primary “customers”) and learning how to do a wide variety of jobs. Now, that’s part of the appeal: it keeps things interesting, and he gets to learn new skills, like hanging sheetrock. (His least favorite job?  Unclogging toilets.)

“Setting the mood”

Nick sees his job as “setting the mood” for people for the day. “If someone has asked to have something fixed and they come in and it’s still broken, that might make them grumpier as they go about their day. If we can take care of that, we can help set a better mood for the day.”

Sometimes that means long days, starting at 5 am: Nick plows the parking lots and shovels the sidewalks (with help!).  Crazy weather over Christmas 2021 and New Years’ 2022 kept the crew busy for days. 

Time for fun

Outside of work, Nick enjoys fishing, biking, and hunting – for moose, caribou or sheep. He’s mostly a weekend warrior – spending the weekends hunting nearby and processing the meat back at home. But one year, he hiked up to 4800 feet in the Nebesna area, and spent 4 or 5 days out there, looking for sheep.