While many of the leading health indicators (LHI) in the Healthy Alaskans 2020 have made progress, the following four made significant improvement for both population groupings of All Alaskans and Alaska Native peoples. These improvements come from the hard work of various health and wellness partners across the state who implemented evidence based strategies for each issue. The recommended strategies were created using teams of experts and County Health Rankings to ensure they are the best practices for Alaska specifically ...

The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium’s largest division, the Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC), was recently deemed “Meritorious” for outstanding quality scores in eight surgical care outcome areas. Nationwide, the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) recognized 88 of the 592 eligible hospitals participating in the adult program this year. ANMC was the only hospital recognized in Alaska. ACS NSQIP participating hospitals are required to track the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures in ...

ANMC’s Anesthesia department has grown significantly, recently expanding services and access for our patients. The complexity of surgical cases being seen at ANMC called for innovation in services provided, as well as continued coordination and communication among health care providers. The ANMC Anesthesiology department has nine physician anesthesiologists and 45 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) – three of our anesthesiologists and two CRNAs are Tribal members. In addition to anesthesia services for surgical procedures, the department cares for obstetrics patients ...

When your car starts making a weird noise, how do you determine what the problems are? You first see what warning lights show up, then you might pop the hood and investigate further based on what you see. Those warning lights or indicators of your car’s well-being are similar to the Leading Health Indicators that the Healthy Alaskans project uses to measure the state’s health as a whole. Every decade, the Healthy Alaskans project chooses a certain number of health ...

The town of Newtok, Alaska, named for the vast delta grasses and the sound they make in wind, clearly hears another sound: the river. Newtok, Yup’ik for “rustling of the grass,” is located within the 19 million-acre Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, a spongy lowland dotted with rivers, sloughs, streams and lakes. Water is everywhere. When it was established in the 1940s, Newtok was well inland, located near a sweeping bend of the Ninglick River. However, over the last 40 ...

Bleeding is the leading cause of preventable death after injury. In an emergency, someone can bleed to death in as little as three minutes before help arrives. Due to the vast geography of our state and our penchant for outdoor activities, Alaskans tend to live pretty adventurous lives – which puts us at a higher risk for injury. Unfortunately, we also live in a world where mass shootings and terrorist attacks are real threats to us all. Why not be ...

What are the things that indicate good health? We might think of good health as eating traditional foods, exercising, or getting the flu shot. We might also think of poor health indicators that we want to avoid, such as being in the hospital, getting injured, or having an illness like cancer or diabetes. Looking at these health indicators are just a few of the ways the Healthy Alaskans program is helping improve health for all Alaskans. Healthy Alaskans is a ...

After a successful first year as a direct host site for AmeriCorps VISTA members, ANTHC is again hosting VISTAs who will support our vision that Alaska Native people are the healthiest people in the world. AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) members devote a year of their time to tackling pressing issues in rural communities impacted by poverty. This year, ANTHC hosts seven members who will work on projects spanning the state. They will work with a variety of ...

Missed appointments increase costs and delays for the Alaska Tribal Health System. We all make our medical appointments for health care with the best intentions to be there on time. But sometimes things come up, and we skip our appointment or show up late. No harm done, right? Unfortunately, missed appointments or late arrivals have a broader reach than just one appointment and your own health care needs. Missed and late appointments also harm our health system, fellow community members ...

Community. Culture. Connections. In Kwethluk, Alaska, a larger-than-life painting celebrates all this and more. The colorful mural is the result of a nationwide project called Water is Life and is one of many pieces of art that have sprung up in Tribal community centers and on water storage tanks in communities in Alaska and Montana. The murals are a celebration of the importance of water in Alaska Native and American Indian traditions and history. But it is not the only ...