Summer interns help drive ANTHC forward: Wellness & Prevention

ANTHC is committed to strengthening our Alaska Native and Native American workforce and developing future Alaska Tribal Health System leaders by offering a number of summer internships. This summer, ANTHC was thrilled to welcome several summer interns to different departments across campus. This week we are highlighting Karolyn Ceron, an intern in Community Health Services who worked with our Wellness & Prevention department and Alaska Native Epidemiology Center (EpiCenter). Read a previous profile on mentorship at ANMC here, other Community Health ...
USDA grants help fund water and sanitation projects across Alaska

This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Development (USDA-RD) announced several grants and loan funding for rural Alaska communities and organizations to address rural sanitation issues. ANTHC is among the grantees, as well as many of our Tribal health partners, which total $27 million in USDA-RD Water and Environmental Programs funding. The funding ANTHC received will support sanitation projects in Adak, Akiak, Chignik, Eek, Golovin, Hydaburg, Kasaan, Kiana, Kivalina, New Stuyahok, Oscarville, Port Graham, Saxman, Teller, Toksook Bay and Twin ...

Our growth at ANMC focuses on improving access to care for our people, while also enhancing the quality and experience of the care we provide. Our latest projects to expand the ANMC Infusion Center and Oncology and Hematology Clinic and will help achieve these goals through the addition of 20,000 square feet of new clinic space. The fourth floor of the Healthy Communities Building (HCB) on the west side of the Alaska Native Health Campus is being remodeled for additional ...
MAW research study completes enrollment for phase three

During the past six years, ANTHC Clinical & Research Services and the Mayo Clinic, in collaboration with Southcentral Foundation (SCF), have been conducting the MAW (Biomarker Feedback to Motivate Tobacco Cessation in Pregnant Alaska Native Women) Study. In the first phase of the study, we demonstrated that prenatal smoking exposes infants in utero to nicotine, the addictive component of tobacco, and NNK, a tobacco-specific carcinogen. In phase two, we presented these findings to pregnant and postpartum women to obtain their ...

Tribal health educators and public health advocates now have a one-stop online portal to connect to health education curricula designed with Alaska Native and American Indian youth in mind. Earlier this month, the online portal Healthy Native Youth launched its collaborative platform to share health education among Tribal health organizations and communities across the U.S. To be effective, health curricula must be age appropriate, culturally relevant, and reflect the values and learning styles of the learners being taught. The Healthy ...

Obesity has become a major health problem for Alaskans; about 1 in 3 children in Alaska is overweight or obese, and 2 out of 3 Alaska adults are overweight or obese. Obesity and related chronic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, put children’s health at risk. To help raise awareness about the health risks of childhood obesity, ANTHC’s Alaska Native Epidemiology Center used funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to partner with the Alaska Department of Health ...

Last week, staff from ANTHC’s Alaska Rural Utility Collaborative (ARUC) program hosted visitors from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Governance Honoring Nations awards committee. ARUC has been selected as one of this year’s top six programs for the Honoring Nations award that celebrates exemplary programs in Tribal governance: Alaska Rural Utility Collaborative selected as one of six finalists for Harvard award. As one of the top finalists, ARUC staff had the pleasure of showcasing their work in ...

Recently, 14 health related manuscripts, three research proposals and nine abstracts were submitted for review by the ANTHC Abstract, Manuscript, and Proposal Review Committee (AMP-RC). This internal committee reviews submissions in advance of our Health Research Review Committee (HRRC) meeting. HRRC is an ANTHC Board committee charged with final review of all health related manuscripts and all research proposals. Throughout the course of a year, more than 100 such submissions are received, each with the goal of positively impacting the ...

ANTHC is helping to prepare the next generation of Native leaders for our Tribal health organizations. Many of our current leaders take time out of their busy schedules to mentor young Alaska Native and American Indian people interested in management and leadership positions. Recently, Desiree Joseph, Behavioral Health Quality Management Coordinator from Tanana Chiefs Conference, spent two days job shadowing Vivian Echavarria, VP of Professional and Support Services at the Alaska Native Medical Center. Joseph is currently working on her ...

ANTHC has been awarded grants to provide four communities with environmental assessments related to water and wastewater projects in Kasaan, Teller, Port Graham and Adak. The assessments will address environmental impacts associated with each community’s planned water and wastewater projects. Environmental assessments are necessary planning documents that evaluate any environmental impacts associated with construction and are required for submitting construction applications. In Kasaan, the existing ocean outfall pipe is discharging wastewater on the beach because it is perforated in several ...