In the last decade, the ANTHC Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) has steadily grown its reach to provide nutritious food to our Alaska Native people. In its first year, 2008, the FDPIR program shipped an average of 9,000 pounds of food a month to the rural communities it served. Today, through a partnership with the Food Bank of Alaska, the program averages 59,000 pounds a month. To put that into perspective, an adult male moose can weigh anywhere ...

Being in the hospital is no fun, especially if you are a child. In order to make our youngest patients’ hospital stay as comfortable and pleasant as it can be, ANMC Inpatient Pediatrics, through the generosity of donors to the Healthy Alaska Natives Foundation (HANF), were able to install entertainment consoles in each inpatient room. The PlayStation 3 consoles are preloaded with child-appropriate games and movies to suit the needs of our inpatient children. “Minecraft is one of the really ...

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 Environmental Health and Engineering (DEHE) interns are contributing their talents toward the organizational vision that Alaska Native people are the healthiest people in the world. Three interns are busy working on a variety of projects, from helping design a new water storage tank to readying homes for water and sewer service. Henry ...

Many of ANMC’s Magnet nurses go above and beyond in their nursing practices, serving as community nursing leaders in addition to their practice at ANMC. Among ANMC’s health care team, our nurses are viewed as respected partners, collaborators and leaders. Sadie Anderson, Nursing Director for ANMC’s Inpatient Surgery, Neurosurgery and Orthopedics units, recently presented at the National Alaska Native American Indian Nurses Association (NANAINA) Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota. NANAINA’s mission is to unite American Indian and Alaska Native nurses ...

ANTHC Environmental Health and Engineering employees James Temte and John Nichols were invited arts and culture delegates at the One Water Summit in Minnesota in July, where the two presented on the National Tribal Water Center (NTWC) housed at ANTHC. The summit, attended by more than 900 people from across the U.S., included utility personnel from major cities, federal government officials and Tribal organizations. It focused on finding solutions to make water and sewer service available, reliable and affordable in ...

ANMC’s Magnet nurses provide culturally appropriate, family-centered care in a unique hospital environment, and they are constantly seeking ways to improve the services and care we provide. In an effort to further recognize our nurses for their outstanding work, ANMC partnered with the DAISY Award, an international program that rewards and celebrates the extraordinary clinical skill and compassionate care given by nurses every day. Congratulations to ANMC DAISY Award winner, Joyce Martin, a SWAT RN in the Central Nursing Office ...

The Alaska Native Medical Center is constantly adding services and improving access to care for our people. ANMC now offers in-house hemodialysis to adult inpatients, a service previously only available to our adult patients in the Critical Care Unit (CCU). Hemodialysis for adult inpatients not admitted to the CCU is done in the Flex Unit. Patients come down for their treatments and then go back to their admitted rooms on floors four or five of the hospital. Previously, if an ...

In July, Harvard Honoring Nations committee members conducted a daylong site visit of ANTHC’s three health aide training programs, collaboratively known as the Tribal Community Health Provider Programs. Following the site visit, ANTHC has been named a finalist for the 2018 Honoring Nations award. According to The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, “Honoring Nations identifies, celebrates and shares excellence in American Indian tribal governance. At the heart of Honoring Nations are the principles that tribes themselves hold the ...

Many of us know or have heard a story about the impacts that non-immunized Alaskans, specifically children, have on others. National Immunization Awareness Month is an annual observance held to provide information on the benefits of immunization and the risks of foregoing important recommended immunizations. The State Health Improvement Plan, Healthy Alaskans 2020, works with local and statewide partners to raise awareness about the importance of immunization as an effective means of infectious disease prevention across the state. The associated ...

Alaskan plants as food and medicine – Benefits of the fall harvestAlaska Native people have lived in harmony with living things for thousands of years, including our traditional plants. This is the time of the year when our many varieties of berries become ready to pick. Berries and plants harvested in the fall provide an abundance of high-quality nutrients. “Our Alaskan berries are full of fiber and antioxidants like Vitamin C, that help keep our bodies healthy,” Marcia Anderson, ANTHC ...