Services can include New Baby and Well-Child Checkups up to age 5 years (priority is for families without health insurance coverage or with barriers to accessing care), immunizations for Children and Teens, with some adult immunizations available if eligible (Tdap, Zoster, Pneumonia), and Flu Vaccine if available. Also, WIC & Denali Kid Care Referrals, Family Planning Information, STD/HIV screening and Counseling, Emergency Preparedness information, and Information on nutrition, growth and development, parenting and other common health topics.

“The broad based public health knowledge and experience of public health nursing in Alaska helps reduce health care costs through early detection and prevention of health problems. Alaska’s public health nurses have intimate knowledge of local community resources, community leadership, and family structures essential to public health functions such as communicable disease control. Their skills and knowledge combined with the trust of individuals and professionals in their communities are valuable in working with health and environmental issues. The PHN presence at the local level assures timely intervention,” says the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Division of Public Health.

Chief of Public Health Nursing Rhonda D. Richtsmeier, R.N., M.N., says “Public health nursing is contributing every day to the improvement of the health of Alaskans and their families. We are excited to be working with communities to solve public health concerns and to create community solutions that will improve the health of all Alaskans in the years to come. There are many challenges in public health in Alaska — and you can count on public health nursing to be ready for them.”

For appointments or more information please contact Victoria Craddick RN, PHN at 1-800-478-1777 EXT. 631

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The web page for The Statewide Suicide Prevention Council says that  Alaska has the highest rate of suicide per capita in the country. Alaska’s rate was 22.6 suicides per 100,000 people in 2010. The good news is that many people can be saved by treatment, as  more than 90% of people who die by suicide have depression or another diagnosable, treatable mental or substance abuse disorder, according to the American Association of Suicidology.

“The Statewide Suicide Prevention Council advises the governor and legislature on issues relating to suicide. In collaboration with communities, faith-based organizations, and public-private entities, the Council works to improve the health and wellness of Alaskans by reducing suicide and its effect on individuals and communities,” they say.

The event will take place Monday, February 25th at 7 p.m. at the Chief Mitch Demientieff Tribal Hall and finger food will be provided. This event is  hosted by the WIN Coalition. For more information, call Kat McElroy at 832-5557 or Tim Horn at 832-1047

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Click the link at the bottom of this article or on their Advertisement on the front page to reach ABLE Judaica’s website.

There is a new book store in the town of Nenana, by the name of ABLE Judaica. Hoping to reach all who has a love for God, ABLE Judaica carries both Jewish and Christian Resources, and many items that carry inspirational thoughts attributed to God and His word. The store has opened its doors in October of 2012.

Though small in size it carries quite a bit of Items, from, Bibles and books to inspirational gift items such as cups, purses, wallets children toys, school supplies, and etc.; all carrying an encouraging message, or scripture from Gods word. It is run by Steven and Franceilia McDonald and this is their testimony. Steven and Franceilia are both ordained Messianic Jewish ministers who have a love for people and most importantly the word of God.

Steven and Franceilia both served as missionaries in Italy while running a small Judeo/Christian Book store in a town known as Vittorio Veneto, Italy. They desire to reach many who may be suppressed, depressed or are in just plain need of encouragement. They are doing this by providing resources that encourages the hearts; and establishes peace for the souls.

“We originally desired to open up in the month of August 2012, however we had some major setbacks due to an un-fixable situation concerning our property”, they explain.  “We were blessed to find a new location, with a landlord who has been gracious enough to allow for this book store to open up on his property. We realize that we may not get as much business as a Barns and Nobles book store for our market is strictly religious books and novelties, but we do desire to be a resource of hope for all those who love the Lord Yeshua (Jesus) and desire to learn more from His word.”

They carry everything from religious items for Jewish Feast days– Torah books, menorahs, candles, Items from Israel, to Christian items like Bibles, faith based novelties, and clothing. They have also extended their hours to 10am-7pm Monday-Friday, for those who may get off at normal working hours. They are still closed on the weekends to honor God’s Shabbat, from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.

They want to welcome all to come out to browse or just simply sit and sip on a free cup of coffee, tea, or even hot chocolate. We hope that this store will serve as a rich blessing to the Nenana community and whosoever makes their way out to visit the store, and be a part of its humble beginnings, they say.

ABLE Judaica is located just south of Nenana at Mile 302.1 Parks Highway, and you can call them at eight three two 1006, or toll free at 877 Nine Nine Five-3472.

Artwork by ABLE Judaica. Click here for their website link

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Residents in the above mentioned region report receiving automated voice mails on their cell phones, informing them their debit cards have been “locked” and will no longer work UNLESS information is provided. The unknown automated caller asks the customer to “press 1” to unlock their debit card after providing their card number.

Alaska’s Better Business Bureau (BBB) also has some reminders this holiday season. Better Business Bureau serving Alaska, Oregon and Western Washington is reminding potential travelers to watch out for common scams:

•ATM Skimming: When paying at the pump for gasoline, keep an eye out for unusual-looking card readers, false keypads and suspicious cameras.

•Email Chain Letters: Inboxes are flooded with free or cheap offers for 5-star accommodations, airline tickets or cruise passes, but clicking links may install malware or viruses. Avoid unsolicited too-good-to-be-true offers.

•Front Desk Calls: Hotel guests receive calls from “the front desk” asking them to verify payment information, but the callers are actually scammers.

•Sketchy Cab Drivers: Be wary if drivers claim that certain hotels or motels are closed and “suggest” other locations; there may be incentives for drivers to create business for less-than-ethical companies. Check bbb.org to find reliable taxi services.

•Social Engineering: Swindlers use social media to obtain personal information about travel plans. Avoid posting specifics that entice thieves to loot temporarily vacant homes. Also, be wary of sudden calls or emails regarding flights or vacation packages; never provide personal information or credit card numbers to unsolicited inquirers.

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Teresa Mayrand and Marilyn Duggar, running for school board, Jason Mayrand, Incumbent Mayor, and Carolyn Gongaware and Willie Lord, candidates for mayor, and Darrol Wilcox and Art Thompson, running for Nenana Assembly, sit in from of a crowd of about fifty members of the Nenana area public at the candidate forum that took place the Friday evening before the election. Photo by Diane Neill Jensen

election judge Karen Harvey, and there are approximately five absentee ballots and one other absentee ballots unreturned as of October second, says Nenana City Clerk Sharon Ridlington.  Barring unforseen impediments, the not counted ballots do not add up to any change in the unofficial results.

“The city has come a long way in the past ten years and there’s yet a lot to get done,” said Mayor Mayrand at the candidate forum held on Friday evening, September 28, 2012.

Nenana Student Living Center debt, Nenana borough formation, the new bridge over the Nenana River at Nenana, the disintigrating water plant and students getting left behind were topics touched upon by candidates at the recent candidates forum in Nenana, Alaska. Nine candidates including three mayoral, three assembly, and three for school board were in attendance. One Mayoral candidate was particularly mindful of the historical situation the city and village of Nenana are in.

“Right now is a historical period for Nenana, with a lot of things going on…I’d like to be a part of this,” said Willie Lord, who held Seat C on the Nenana Assembly, and was also previously former Chief of Nenana Native Council.  Lord ran as a Mayoral Candidate instead of filing for Seat C on the Assembly, and will not be returning to that seat. Several Seat C write-in candidates were on the ballots that voters filled out on Tuesday. Kat McElroy led the write-ins with 35 votes, and Sam Verhagen came in second as a write in candidate with 17 votes. One hundred sixty-seven of the 355 Nenana registered voters voted on Tuesday.

Carolyn Gongaware, second runner-up for Mayor had commented at the forum that the citizens are not fully informed of financial situations due to inexperience or “whatever”, like citizens not going to meetings (of the assembly).

Both Nenana Assembly and school board seats had candidates running un-opposed. Eighteen voters voted on the School Board North Advisory position filled by Chuck Hugny. Darrol Wilcox, Art Thompson, and Jeff Coghill return to their Assembly seats. Marilyn Duggar and Teresa Mayrand return to their Nenana School Board Seats.

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Toghotthele is interested in furthering several projects for Nenana, according to WIN, and Sackett concurs. He explained that there is a very precisely defined process to get grant funds to help build a bio-mass system, which begins with a pre-feasibility study, says WIN attendee Kat McElroy who provides the meeting minutes. Hacket says that Brian Hirsch and the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) have been working with them on this, and the initial analysis suggests that they go with a bio-mass wood chip system.

Sacket says that a bio-mass plant for heat to Nenana City Public School is being looked into, McElroy says. This method of alternative energy generation could come in the form of a second bio-mass generator for the Nenana Student Living Center (NSLC), located several blocks away in Nenana. NSLC is close, but not close enough to make sharing the school generator an option, Sacket says.

“We have two technical experts arriving from National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL), Golden, Colorado today,” said Hacket on Monday, April 9, 2012. “We also have two arriving from Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) to help us with planning. Then in three weeks we’ll be conducting our pre-feasability study.  With those two pieces of the puzzle complete we’ll be able to apply to AEA for design & construction funding in August.  If we are selected we can begin building in 2013,” he concluded.

This would be similar to what was done down in Tok, says McElroy. Chris Gaul of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will be involved in analyzing the study data. Any red flags along the way, of course, could slow the project down.

There would be several immediate benefits of such a project for our community, say minutes.  The first would be the positive impact it would have on the estimated $100k currently budgeted annually to heat our school, a cost that can only climb as the price for petroleum rises. Hence, this would be a huge step in decreasing our dependency on petroleum. Secondly, it would create several fulltime permanent jobs, in the logging arena as well as plant management. Such employment would require a strong work ethic but on-job training could be provided.

If all goes well, a Combined Heat and Power project could be worked on. The idea of having greenhouse to grow food locally was reacted to with vigorous discussion. It is understood that other natural resource development is in the works. Jim pointed out that due to the regulatory process, if natural gas is found out on the basin, the very soonest it could be brought in online would be 2022.

Photo Credit: Toghetthele Corporation’s Jim Sacket

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What is Alcohol and Drug Abuse?

A short powerpoint which explained the Reconnecting Youth alcohol/drug prevention program that is being instituted in the Nenana City Public School was shown at a recent regular Tuesday Wellness meeting. According to Wellness information, Jan Hnilicka, who gave the presentation, said that the coalition team membership is open to anyone interested from the community.  Jan also said that they had conducted community surveys and interviewed key community members as part of the planning and development stages of this prevention grant.

All had identified alcohol abuse as primary issues, hence this is the current focus of their prevention efforts.  The classes are being conducted in two periods for youth in the high school age group. It is offered every day for one semester as a health credit and a certified teacher with the assistance of the youth advocate is assigned to handle the classes, says Jan.

The Reconnecting Youth is a model that has met with great success in Seattle and is considered to be a promising model by  Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

“SAMHSA and others are promoting programs that can help those with alcohol disorders find recovery – not only for themselves, but for the sake of their children. SAMHSA is also playing a key role in national efforts to prevent underage drinking and other forms of alcohol abuse,” said Pamela S. Hyde, SAMHSA Administrator, “The enormity of this public health problem goes well beyond these tragic numbers as studies have shown that the children of parents with untreated alcohol disorders are at far greater risk for developing alcohol and other problems later in their lives.”

A report by SAMHSA shows that 7.5 million children under age 18 (10.5 percent of this population) lived with a parent who has experienced an alcohol use disorder in the past year;  6.1 million of these children live with two parents—with either one or both parents experiencing an alcohol use disorder in the past year; and the remaining 1.4 million of these children live in a single-parent house with a parent who has experienced an alcohol use disorder in the past year.

The next Reconnecting Youth meeting is on the 27^th of February, 10AM at the Nenana City Public School’s superintendent’s office, says Jan Hnilicka.

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Depression symptions or other mental illness can lead to substance abuse and then prison, inferrs the author of "Crazy".

Crazy is not just something Patsy Cline sang about. There’s a book called “Crazy” that is a must read for anyone who is or who knows someone, or who knows about someone who is having trouble in our U.S. society. The author, renowned reporter Pete Earley, says the following in the first chapter.

“the more I dug, the clearer it became… The mentally ill, who used to be treated in state mental hospitals, were now being arrested. Our nation’s jails and prisons were our new asylums,” he says in his book.

Earley now gives talks on mental health reform, and says he has visited 46 states and three other countries to speak about his passion. His passion started when his adult son was diagnosed as mentally ill, and he found out first-hand what a mess the system is.  His website is full of insight into all the research he has done and the knowledge he possesses on the topic of mental illness. In a recent blog post on his website entitled “Chemical Imbalances: Real or Imagined?”,  he says there is “no blood test, no x-ray, no CT scan that yields a definitive diagnosis,” of mental illness.

The Juneau chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill is sponsoring him in Juneau from February 29th to March 3rd. If you are in Juneau, call NAMI at their office 907 463-4251 for more information. If you are not in Juneau and want to hear this author, talk to your local mental health clinic or association and see if you can still get a date for him to speak in your area.

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Wayne Walters, making sure all sign in at a community meeting in January of 2009. Photo by Diane Neill Jensen

Eight out of 10 of the first page search online for Wayne Walters are about the beloved, respected, sometimes feared man affectionately named “Bigfoot” are about the Anderson and Nenana, Alaska icon. Wayne was a big man in many ways. Big-hearted, big-footed maybe, and a very big presence in his communities. Even after he left the Nenana Police Department, and up until this past weekend, he patrolled in his own vehicle, watching out for the safety of the community and helping bring wrong-doers to justice, with the help of the police.

Wayne Walters passed away Sunday morning at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, said Nenana Fire/EMS Chief Joe Forness in his phone call to one of Wayne’s many friends. Gene Jensen, recently retired Nenana Fire Fire EMS Chief is in Maui, Hawaii. Gene was visibly shaken by the news, but was able to talk about his friend later that day.

“The big worry at the homestead was that Bigfoot was coming out,” Jensen says. Jensen lived briefly at an off-road homestead development near the Clear-Sky area about 25 miles south of Nenana. He went through a lot of Nenana Police Department stuff like I did, political stuff, he left the force, but went on to do his own investigating.

Testament to that fact are the many articles regarding this big man when an internet search for Wayne Walters, Nenana, is entered.

Wayne and one of the two "girls" that were his patrol companions. Behind them is the Zamboni that Wayne procured for the local hockey rink that he helped get organized to build. Photo by Diane Neill Jensen.

Not just one page, but for five pages, many of the ten articles on each page are items telling about “Bigfoot” both on an off the force, most of which are about he and results of his investigations with other law enforcement figures about the criminal element in the Anderson/Nenana, Alaska area.

Wayne and Tina Walters had a big role, literally, at Christmas when they donned their Mr. and Mrs. Claus suits and entertained children in Nenana and even “up North” in Alaska’s remote villages at times. They passed that torch on to another couple that has taken over the portayal at the Nenana Childrens Christmas Program, Jimmy and Rose Allen. The program is huge in Nenana, sponsored by Coghill’s General Store, with funds donated to the cause all year in cans displayed all over Nenana.

Wayne in 2001 at the Anderson Bluegrass. Wayne always was a presence at this community event that attracted people from all over the state and further for a three day event. Photo by Diane Neill Jensen.

Wayne and Tina Walters have lived in the area since 1976 when Wayne was hired by the Nenana Police Department, says Marilyn Duggar, one of the owners of Coghill’s General Store. Marilyn is one of the main disbursers of straight-forward information in the area.

Mr. Walters services are to be held Saturday, February 25, 2012 at one o’clock p.m. at Nenana Civic Center in Nenana, Alaska, says Marilyn Duggar.  A huge testament to the respect in the Nenana community is that he is to be buried on Toghetthele Hill overlooking Nenana, a cemetery that the local Alaskan Native community reserves for their own.

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“Alaska’s Republican Presidential Preference Poll has four certified candidates. In the order certified – Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum,” declared Ruedrich.

The Alaska Republican Party Presidential Preference Poll is being done state wide and helps determine how Alaska votes on selecting the Republican Presidential candidate at the National Republican Convention. The results of the poll bind Alaska’s 24 Republican National Convention Delegates for the first two rounds of voting at the Tampa Republican National Convention in September 2012.

After the poll on March 6 follows the district convention scheduled on Saturday, March 10, 2012.

Upcoming Events Include:

NEW District 9 Convention

The new District 9 Convention will be at the Menard Sports Arena, March 17, 2012, Registration 8 A.M., Meeting 9 A.M. Thru 2 P.M. Cleanup. 2 P.M. Thru 3 P.M.

NEW District 39 Republicans Convention Meeting

The Alaska District 39 Republicans will be holding their convention on March 24, 2012 at 3pm in the City Council Chambers, in the Nome City Hall.

STATE CONVENTION

On April 26-28, the State Republican Convention shall elect State officers, National Convention Delegates, adopt State Party Rules, Platform and Resolutions at the State Convention.

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