The Alaska Native Medical Center was recently reverified as a Level II Pediatric Trauma Center by the Verification Review Committee (VRC), an ad hoc committee of the Committee on Trauma (COT) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). This achievement recognizes ANMC’s dedication to providing optimal care for injured pediatric patients. Established by the American College of Surgeons in 1987, the COT’s Consultation/Verification Program for Hospitals promotes the development of trauma centers in which participants provide not only the hospital ...

Health care technology management (HTM) professionals are vital members of any world-class health care delivery team. At the Alaska Native Medical Center, clinical engineers, biomedical equipment technicians, and other highly skilled professionals use their expertise to ensure the safety, efficacy, and availability of life-saving health care technologies for our Alaska Native people, all while keeping health care costs down. This year, Healthcare Technology Management Week is May 19-25. The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation states: “This annual celebration ...

Clockwise from left to right: Joyce Martin, Matthew Brown, Mary Krusen and Meg Mapili. ANMC’s nurses display their commitment and excellence through professional development and evidence-based practice when caring for our people. In addition to their work and education, many of ANMC’s nurses participate in shared governance, on councils that consult and collaborate with each other to make the best decisions to successfully facilitate and ensure quality patient care and outcomes. In May, ANMC celebrates and thanks our nurses during ...

One of ANTHC’s top priorities is increasing access to care for our people. As more than 60% of our patients travel from outside the Anchorage area for care, increased patient access also means increased demand for travel and housing services. ANTHC is working on key initiatives around travel management and housing. These are important to ANTHC’s strategic goals to increase coordination and access to care within the Tribal health system.  ANTHC’s Travel Management Office (TMO) was established in July 2016 ...

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 ...

ANTHC’s Sleep Center was recently accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) after a site visit in February. This accreditation reflects a commitment to ensure that sleep disorder patients receive the highest quality of care and serves as an indicator to patients, referring physicians, other providers and insurers that the facility meets optimum quality of care demanded by AASM Accreditation. “The Sleep Center receiving AASM accreditation enables us to comprehensibly treat sleep disorders and provide the highest quality ...