When the call for nominations came out for IHS Technician of the Year, a large number of employees at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), thought of the same person at the same time: Jolene “JoJo” Chikigak. Chikigak is a certified pharmacy technician and currently serves as the Pharmacy Compliance Technician for Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC), the largest IHS hospital in the nation. She is the first technician to fulfill this new role for the organization, and she ...

As ANTHC’s latest sanitation project in Angoon nears completion, critical infrastructure upgrades are beginning to improve quality of life for the whole community. Angoon’s new, custom-built septic tank and outfall pipe are up and running, diverting waste from sensitive areas previously impacted by deficiencies in the old system. Mabel Jack, a community Elder whose yard had suffered wastewater discharges for years, enjoys a clean property. Area birds that formerly fed in contaminated areas are no longer enticed by wastewater spills. ...

ANTHC partnerships with the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and the City of Saxman have led to the completion of a new wastewater collection system that replaces aging infrastructure in the community. ANTHC partnered with the borough and city to lead the construction effort, which included replacing three existing ocean outfalls, construction of three community sewer lift stations and 16 manholes, and installation of approximately 5,200 feet of buried sewer mains. The added infrastructure in Saxman enables sections of the Ketchikan Gateway ...