ANTHC is committed to strengthening our Alaska Native and American Indian workforce and developing future Alaska Tribal Health System leaders by offering a number of summer internships. ANTHC’s Environmental Health and Engineering interns are in the swing of a busy summer. Six interns are traveling across the state and working on a variety of projects, from energy audits to operator training. Katrina Brown, from Anchorage, is one of two interns serving in the Environmental Health and Engineering’s project management department. ...

Providing clean water and sewer for remote communities with no road access in extremely cold climates presents unique challenges, including exceedingly high energy usage and high energy costs. ANTHC’s Environmental Health and Engineering division’s Rural Energy Initiative develops and implements alternative energy retrofits in rural community water systems to address these issues. Through partnerships with rural communities, funding agencies and utility companies, ANTHC’s Rural Energy Initiative develops heat recovery systems that transfer excess heat from local power plants to public ...

Providing sustainable public health infrastructure for our Alaska Native communities, such as water and sanitation services, requires partnership across many organizations. ANTHC works with our Tribal health partners, communities, government representatives and project partners to introduce the challenges and opportunities of rural sanitation construction that can have profound impacts on the health of our people. Recently, Rear Admiral Chris Buchanan, Acting Director of the Indian Health Service (IHS), traveled to the Interior Alaska communities of Allakaket and Rampart to participate ...

Chevak is a growing community of 1,200 people located along the west coast of Alaska, and has been a valued member of ANTHC’s Alaska Rural Utilities Collaborative (ARUC) program since its inception in 2008. Since 2013, Chevak utility customers have seen a 50 percent decrease in their water and wastewater utility fees. Due to the community’s continued growth, a new position was recently added to the water utility team to sustain the cost savings for the whole community. In May ...

A team of ANTHC staff recently visited the southwest Alaska village of Newtok, which is in the process of moving nine miles downriver to Nelson Island and a new village site, Mertarvik. The move will help ensure the sustainability and safety of the community, which currently faces frequent storm-driven erosion. Staff from various departments completed a multipurpose site visit, serving ANTHC’s commitment to a holistic approach to community planning, infrastructure design and providing health services to the people of Newtok. ...

ANTHC’s partnership with Maniilaq Association to convert Kotzebue’s Maniilaq Health Center to a renewable energy system earned a Green Champion Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The awards honor HHS employees and Alaska Native and Native American Tribal members involved in outstanding sustainability projects and demonstrate measurable results in sustainability practices. Environmental sustainability is an important part of the work in the Alaska Tribal Health System. A healthy environment is the basis for the health ...