SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) is now live with a shared electronic health record (EHR) system for the organization’s hospital and clinics after the partnership with ANTHC’s Health Information Technology department began last year. SEARHC joins ANMC and other Tribal health partners on the Cerner EHR system, which improves patient care through increased communication between our organizations and providers. For the patients referred to care at ANMC or seen by ANMC specialists at field clinics, the shared electronic health ...
Alaska Tribes share diabetes program success with federal lawmakers
Earlier this month, advocates for Tribal diabetes prevention and treatment programs met with federal lawmakers and their staff to share the value of the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI), a vital program helping improve the health of our people. The meetings were arranged by the National Indian Health Board to advocate for continued congressional funding of the program. The 19 Tribal health organizations receiving SDPI funding are represented at the national level by ANTHC Board Vice-Chair Lincoln Bean, Sr. ...
Indian Health Service leaders and Tribal partners met for the Facilities Appropriation Advisory Board (FAAB) Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the IHS office in Rockville, Maryland. Lincoln Bean, Sr., FAAB Vice-Chair, attended and represented Alaska. The committee is comprised of one primary representative from each of the 12 areas of the IHS, as well as two IHS representatives. The primary purpose is to seek consensus, exchange views, share information, and provide advice and/or recommendations to the IHS Director on ...
Holistic approach enhances community planning in rural Alaska
ANTHC’s work in promoting healthy homes and communities involves many aspects of public health infrastructure that support the health of our people. Our Environmental Health and Engineering work began with health prevention through access to water and sewer, and has evolved to understand the complete needs for community wellness. This progress with our community partners has adapted over the years to include a new approach to project planning. ANTHC, along with funding and agency partners, is in development of a ...
Every year, nearly 1,700 babies are born at ANMC. The safety and health of every baby delivered at our hospital is important and we want to provide families who choose to deliver at ANMC with the best resources to ensure the well-being of their child. With help from a generous Rasmuson Foundation grant for ANMC’s Family Birthing Services, ANTHC’s Healthy Alaska Natives Foundation funded 1,700 HALO SleepSack Swaddle wearable blankets for the infants born here in one year. The HALO ...
Celebrating completion of Kotzebue’s wind-to-heat energy system
On Jan. 25, board members from the Maniilaq Association and Kotzebue Electric Association (KEA) conducted a ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the completion of an innovative energy project constructed in cooperation with ANTHC. The Maniilaq Health Center, located in Kotzebue and the region’s only hospital, is now experiencing the cost- and energy-saving benefits of its new wind-to-heat energy system. The new system utilizes excess wind energy from KEA’s 3-megawatt wind turbine farm and directs this extra energy to a 450-kilowatt ...
ANTHC staff with the Alaska Native Epidemiology Center participated in and provided technical assistance at a multi-day gathering Jan. 17-19 in Bethel. This event was sponsored by the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation’s Methamphetamine and Suicide Prevention Initiative project, Calricaraq. This homegrown program funded by the Indian Health Service aims to stimulate discussion and reflection on trauma, specifically substance abuse, suicide and violence. It draws on the wisdom of Elders, Yup’ik values, and stories of overcoming trauma from staff, Elders and other ...
The Healthy Alaska Natives Foundation, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium’s (ANTHC) charitable arm, will host the 10th annual Raven’s Ball on March 25 at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage. The Raven’s Ball is one of Alaska’s premier black tie celebrations and dynamic fundraising events. This year’s ball will continue a tradition of success that benefits the Foundation and its three key initiatives: improving medical care; strengthening wellness and prevention efforts; and promoting healthy village environments. A highlight of ...
ANTHC partners with a variety of educational programs to bring the best professionals into our Tribal health system. In 2016, ANTHC and our Tribal health partners welcomed two physicians from the University of Washington Global and Rural Health Fellowship, a new program designed to provide clinical training and education in traditionally underserved health care systems. ANTHC’s partnership for this new program with the University of Washington (UW) began in 2015. Recognizing that physicians in internal medicine or emergency medicine rarely ...
ANTHC’s Rural Energy Initiative was recently awarded a National Director’s award from the Indian Health Service for its energy efficiency project work to improve the sustainability and reduce operating costs of rural sanitation systems and health care facilities across Alaska. The program was recognized for its accomplishments in identifying and implementing energy efficiency and renewable solutions through partnerships with rural communities, funding agencies and utility companies. The Rural Energy Initiative brings substantial benefit to the IHS portfolio of public health ...