Sitka to host Walk Friendly Community project meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 7

Posted on by
Reply

Do you feel Sitka is a walkable community? During the 2012 Sitka Health Summit, residents chose going through the Walk Friendly Community application process as one of its three community wellness projects for the year. The first meeting for the project will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 7, at Swan Lake Senior Center.

Walk Friendly Communities is a national awards program that developed an application process to help communities improve their walkability. This process uses the Five E’s — Education, Encouragement, Engineering, Enforcement and Evaluation — to help communities learn their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to walkability. This application process looks at upcoming projects, such as the Sitka Sea Walk, as well as how a community combines downtown sidewalks with trails, such as the extensive trail system developed by Sitka Trail Works. The process also looks at programs that promote walking, such as Safe Routes To School or Sitka’s new Park Prescriptions program. In winter cities, it also looks at how a community clears snow and ice from downtown sidewalks. The Walk Friendly Community program is modeled after the Bicycle Friendly Community program, and Sitka was Alaska’s first Bicycle Friendly Community (bronze level award in 2008, bronze level award renewed in 2012)

Join us on Nov. 7 as we begin the Walk Friendly Community application process to make Sitka a more walkable community. Research has shown that walkable communities are healthier, and they can boost the local economy. For more information, contact Charles Bingham at 738-8875 or charleswbingham3@gmail.com.

Sitka community food assessment project to hold kick-off meeting on Monday, Oct. 29

Posted on by
Reply

At the 2012 Sitka Health Summit, “Developing a Community Food Assessment for a Food Resilient Sitka” was selected as one of the top three goals for 2012-2013. All members of the public who are interested in this initiative are cordially invited to a kick-off gathering from 5-7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 29, in Room 108 at the Rasmuson Building located on the Sheldon Jackson campus.

Are you concerned about where your food comes from and how it gets to Sitka? Have you ever wondered what happens if the barge doesn’t arrive? Are you worried about rising food prices and do you worry about the future of Sitka’s food needs? What percentage of Sitka’s food is locally harvested? Do you feel the fish and game food resources you harvest are adequately protected?

Those and other questions will be asked as part of the community food assessment. All members of Sitka’s community have a need for and a right to healthy, stable, affordable food. We are interested in finding community groups and individuals who can help us in the planning stages of this assessment.

Snacks and refreshments will be provided. For more information, contact Renae Mathson at 966-8797 or renae.mathson@searhc.org.

Sitka downtown revitalization project kicks off with meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 30

Posted on by
Reply

Revitalizing Sitka’s downtown area — which was selected as one of the three community wellness projects at the 2012 Sitka Health Summit — will be the topic at a project kick-off meeting from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 30, at Harrigan Centennial Hall.

Research shows that a healthy and vibrant downtown boosts the economic health and the quality of life in a community, according to organizers.  A new action group is being formed to study successful revitalization projects and then to craft a project that will bring similar benefits to Sitka.

All members of the public are welcome to attend and participate in the project. Bring us your best ideas for making the downtown area vibrant and vital. For more information, call Angela McGraw at 747-1737 or angelam@sitkahospital.org.

Sitka residents pick three Sitka Health Summit wellness projects for 2012-13

Posted on by
Reply
Sitka residents gather for a group photo during the Sitka Health Summit planning day on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012, at Sweetland Hall on the Sheldon Jackson Campus.

Sitka residents gather for a group photo during the Sitka Health Summit planning day on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012, at Sweetland Hall on the Sheldon Jackson Campus.

Sitka residents want to revitalize the downtown core area, perform a community food assessment for food resiliency, and apply for a Walk Friendly Community award to show how walkable Sitka is as a community.

Sitka Mayor Mim McConnell speaks to Sitka residents at the Sitka Health Summit planning day on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012, at Sweetland Hall on the Sheldon Jackson Campus.

Sitka Mayor Mim McConnell speaks to Sitka residents at the Sitka Health Summit planning day on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012, at Sweetland Hall on the Sheldon Jackson Campus.

Those were the three community health priorities Sitka residents chose to work on this next year when they met during the Sitka Health Summit’s community planning meeting on Friday, Oct. 12, at Sweetland Hall on the Sheldon Jackson Campus. Sitka residents chose these three projects out of dozens of brain-stormed ideas. Each project will receive assistance with facilitation and $750 of seed money from the summit’s Health Initiatives Fund to start working on meeting the health goals.

The groups working on each project are setting up their first meetings and getting their contact lists together, and Sitka residents who want to participate are welcome to contact the interim group leaders (through the group’s first meetings, group leaders may change after the first meetings) listed below to find out more information.

  • Sitka downtown revitalization project, Angela McGraw, 747-1737, angelam@sitkahospital.org, first meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 30, at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
  • Sitka community food assessment, Renae Mathson, 966-8797, renae.mathson@searhc.org, first meeting date and location TBA.
  • Walk Friendly Community, Charles Bingham, 738-8875, charleswbingham3@gmail.com, first meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 7, at Swan Lake Senior Center.

The sixth annual Sitka Health Summit took place on Saturday, Oct. 6; Monday, Oct. 8; Wednesday, Oct. 10; and Friday, Oct. 12, at various locations around Sitka. In addition to Friday’s community planning meeting, the Sitka Health Summit opened the Sitka Community Health Fair and Neighborhood Block Party on Saturday at Sweetland Hall. It also featured a lunch-and-learn on Monday at Kettleson Memorial Library where Don Lehmann, MD, discussed “Exercise as Medicine;” and it featured the Sitka Health Summit Community Wellness Champion Awards Celebration on Wednesday night at the Sheet’ká Kwáan Naa Kahidi.

The Sitka Health Summit is brought to you by Sitka Community Hospital, the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC), Alaska Communications and the University of Alaska Southeast-Sitka Campus. Additional financial help and in-kind donations were provided by the City and Borough of Sitka, Guardian Flight Inc., Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska, Scott Insurance Services, Shee Atiká Inc., AC Value Center/Lakeside, Sitka Vision Clinic, Wells Fargo, White’s Inc. (Harry Race Pharmacy, White’s Pharmacy, Seasons), Spenard Builders Supply, Don and Penny Lehmann, Alaska Health Fair Inc., and the State of Alaska Division of Public Health Nursing. The Sitka Health Summit’s vision is “to serve our great state as a model for community wellness by creating a healthy community where all Sitkans strive for and enjoy a high quality of life.”

For more information, call Doug Osborne at 966-8734 or Alyssa Sexton at 747-0388, or go to our website at http://www.sitkahealthsummit.com/.

Sitka Health Summit honors 2012 community wellness champions

Posted on by
Reply

Community wellness champions from all walks of life were honored Wednesday night for the work they’ve done making Sitka a healthier place to live. The awards were presented during the sixth annual Sitka Health Summit wellness award celebration, which was held Wednesday night at the Sheet’ká Kwáan Naa Kahídi.

The Sitka Health Summit continues with a planning day from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 12, at Sweetland Hall (on the Sheldon Jackson Campus) where Sitka residents will decide their community health priorities for 2012-13, and enjoy a lunch of fish tacos in honor of one of this year’s projects. This event is free and open to the public. Past projects include the Sitka Farmers Market, Bicycle Friendly Community and more.

Earlier this week, the Sitka Health Summit hosted the second annual Sitka Community Health Fair on Saturday, Oct. 6, at Sweetland Hall. The summit also hosted a lunch-and-learn on “Exercise is Medicine” with Dr. Don Lehmann on Monday, Oct. 8, at Kettleson Memorial Library. More information about the Sitka Health Summit is available at http://www.sitkahealthsummit.com/.

The vision for the Sitka Health Summit is for Sitka “to serve our great state as a model for community wellness by creating a healthy community where Sitkans strive for and enjoy a high quality of life.” These awards honor community members who already have been living within this vision. The winners have done work in six categories — physical activity, nutrition, tobacco prevention and control, injury prevention, holistic health and general wellness.

Community members were asked to nominate people who made a difference or served as role models in one of the six community wellness award categories, and an awards committee from the Sitka Health Summit decided on the final recipients. In addition to the six categories, a special award, called the Steve Reifenstuhl Award, was created in 2008 to honor a local athlete for his or her commitment to physical fitness and for being an extraordinarily active community wellness role model.

2012 Sitka Health Summit Community Wellness Champion Award Winners

General Wellness

  • Baranof Barracuda Swim Club — The Baranof Barracuda Swim Club is a  year-round competitive swim team that offers children and adults the opportunity for physical fitness, the ability to learn fundamental life skills, while also volunteering their time at the local recycling center.
  • Peter Williams — Peter Williams is the kind of role model that you’ll see biking around with a helmet one moment then working on a culturally relevant piece of art work the next.  He has been an inspiration to many.
  • Mary Kambak — Mary Kambak is an immunization champion. She uses her expertise to ensure that Sitkans are appropriately immunized and has volunteered countless hours to organizing and staffing community immunizations clinics.

Holistic Health

  • Grace Brooks — Grace Brooks is a tireless cheerleader for fitness and health. You’ll see her walking and biking throughout town and volunteering countless hours at the Hames Athletic and Wellness Center.
  • Alaska Native Brotherhood Camp No. 1/Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp No. 4 — ANS/ANB is among the nation’s oldest indigenous civil rights organizations and model for healthy stewardship of the rich cultural heritage of our Native peoples. The organizations celebrated their 100th year of Grand Camp last week in Sitka.

Tobacco Prevention and Control

  • Dan Etulain — Dan Etulain has volunteered on the local tobacco prevention and control coalition for many years. He uses his expertise in media to spread the message about the dangers of tobacco.

Safety/Injury Prevention

  • Challenge Day Organizers at Sitka High School and P.J. Ford Slack — P.J. Ford Slack and the Challenge Day Organizers at Sitka High made this emotionally enriching and challenging start to the last school year possible. Challenge Day united members of the school and community to address issues of violence, bullying, and drug and alcohol misuse.

Nutrition

  • Tracy Gagnon and Sitka Conservation Society’s Fish-To-Schools Program — Tracy Gagnon  and the  Sitka Conservation Society’s Fish-To-Schools Program interweaves a Fish-to-Plate Curriculum, hands-on learning, tours of the local fish processors and fish options for lunch at Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School and Blatchley Middle School, which improves the health our children. The program since has expanded to Pacific and Mt. Edgecumbe high schools. This was a 2010 Sitka Health Summit project.
  • Linda Behnken — Linda Behnken is a passionate advocate for healthy fish and healthy oceans. She works hard on a state and national level to ensure that our ocean produces healthy fish for all of us.

Physical Activity

  • Jake Denherder — Jake Denherder has adopted a healthy lifestyle and has made physical activity a priority in his daily life. In the process he has inspired countless others to follow his lead.
  • Sitka Contra Dance Organizers — The Sitka Contra Dance Organizers are a dedicated group of Sitkans who host monthly fun and energetic folk dances that all ages enjoy. This fall and winter activity gets many Sitkans out and moving.

Steve Reifenstuhl Award

  • Dan Evans — Dan Evans is always on the move. He is a tireless adventurer who shares his many exploits with us through his stunning photography.

Alyssa Sexton interviewed about Sitka Health Summit on KCAW-Raven Radio

Posted on by
Reply

Sitka Community Hospital nurse Alyssa Sexton, a member of the Sitka Health Summit steering committee, was the guest on Monday, Oct. 1, for the Morning Edition interview on KCAW-Raven Radio.

Alyssa discussed the upcoming Sitka Health Summit, which opens from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6, with the Sitka Community Health Fair at Sweetland Hall on the Sheldon Jackson Campus. In support of the Sitka Health Summit’s move to the campus, several other organizations on or near Sheldon Jackson Campus will host open houses and other events as part of a Neighborhood Block Party.

The Sitka Health Summit also will host a lunch-and-learn on “Exercise is Medicine” with Dr. Don Lehmann at noon on Monday, Oct. 8, at Kettleson Memorial Library; the Sitka Health Summit Community Wellness Champion Awards at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 10, at the Sheet’ká Kwáan Naa Kahídi; and the Sitka Health Summit Planning Day from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12, at Sweetland Hall. Please join us for all of these events.

Sixth Sitka Health Summit takes place on Oct. 6, 8, 10 and 12

Posted on by
Reply

Sitka residents are invited to join their neighbors in honoring our local wellness champions, planning our health priorities for the next year and attending a community health fair during the sixth annual Sitka Health Summit on Oct. 6, 8, 10 and 12 at various locations in Sitka.

There are four main community events during this year’s Sitka Health Summit:

  • Sitka Community Health Fair and Neighborhood Block Party — Saturday, Oct. 6, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Sweetland Hall on the Sitka Fine Arts Camp/Sheldon Jackson Campus (with Alaska Health Fair Inc. providing low-cost blood tests and health screenings, and information booths from a variety of local health-related organizations and businesses); the Neighborhood Block Party features a variety of community groups at the Sheldon Jackson Campus hosting companion events at the same time.
  • “Exercise Is Medicine” Lunch-and-Learn with Don Lehmann, MD — Monday, Oct. 8, from noon to 1 p.m., at Kettleson Memorial Library (bring your lunch and listen to a presentation from the 2011 Sitka Health Summit keynote speaker).
  • Sitka Health Summit Community Wellness Champions Awards Celebration — Wednesday, Oct. 10, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the Sheet’ká Kwáan Naa Kahídi (desserts and awards for community members whose healthy habits inspire us all).
  • Sitka Health Summit “Planning Day: Selecting Community Wellness Goals” — Friday, Oct. 12, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at Sweetland Hall on the Sheldon Jackson Campus (Sitka residents pick our projects for next year).

The summit opens on Saturday with the Sitka Community Health Fair and Neighborhood Block Party, which will feature companion events from other groups at the Sheldon Jackson Campus. These events include free admission at Hames Athletic and Wellness Center for Sitka Community Health Fair participants (must present proof of attendance, call 747-5080); free admission to the aquarium from 10 a.m. to noon at the Sitka Sound Science Center (747-8878), a free all-level community class from 9-10 a.m. and an open house from 10-11 a.m. at Yoga Union (Kellogg Building at 801 Lincoln St., 738-2443); indoor and outdoor activities from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Sheldon Jackson Museum (747-8981); an open house with the Sitka Summer Music Festival from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Stevenson Hall (with refreshments, building tour and a documentary film from the 2011 festival, 747-6774); an open house with Youth Advocates of Sitka from 9 a.m. 1 p.m. (Annette Becker, 747-3687); an open house from 11 a.m. to noon with the Sitka Fine Arts Camp/Yaw Art Center after-school programs (Celtic dance demonstration in Allen Hall, Kris Fulton, 738-3103); and the Island Institute hosts Sitka Writers Read from noon to 1 p.m. at the Yaw Chapel (bring your lunch and listen to local writers read their works).

This year’s Sitka Health Summit Community Wellness Champion Awards on Wednesday will honor Jake Denherder and the Sitka Contra Dance Organizers for physical activity; Tracy Gagnon and the Sitka Conservation Society’s Fish To Schools program and Linda Behnken for nutrition; P.J. Ford Slack and the Challenge Day Organizers at Sitka High for safety/injury prevention; Dan Etulain for tobacco prevention; Grace Brooks and the Alaska Native Brotherhood/Alaska Native Sisterhood for holistic health; and the Baranof Barracuda Swim Club, Peter Williams and Mary Kambak for general wellness. Desserts will be provided by Sitka Spruce Catering.

Friday’s planning day allows Sitka residents to set the community’s health and wellness goals for 2012-13. Some of our past goals resulted in Sitka becoming Alaska’s first official Bicycle Friendly Community, the creation of the Sitka Farmers Market, getting local fish into local schools and painting a Choose Respect mural. This year’s top health goal projects will receive start-up funds from the Health Initiatives Fund, plus an afternoon of facilitated action planning. Participants in Friday’s planning day also will enjoy a lunch of fish tacos.

The Sitka Health Summit is brought to you by Sitka Community Hospital, the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC), Alaska Communications and the University of Alaska Southeast-Sitka Campus. Additional financial help and in-kind donations were provided by the City and Borough of Sitka, Guardian Flight Inc., Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska, Scott Insurance Services, Shee Atiká Inc. AC Value Center/Lakeside, Sitka Vision Clinic, Sitka Wells Fargo, White’s Inc. (Harry Race Pharmacy/White’s Pharmacy/Seasons), Spenard Builders Supply, Hames Corp. and the State of Alaska Division of Public Health Nursing/Sitka Public Health Center. The Sitka Health Summit’s vision is “to serve our great state as a model for community wellness by creating a healthy community where all Sitkans strive for and enjoy a high quality of life.”

For more information, call Doug Osborne at 966-8734 or Alyssa Sexton at 747-0388, or go to our website at http://www.sitkahealthsummit.com/ or our Facebook page.