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annual report 2004 - Health and Social Services Health Programs Clinic In 2003 we finally realized our goal of opening a limited primary care health clinic. Through out the years we realized that many of the people in our community were not receiving regular, quality health care due to the distance they had to travel in order to access an IHS clinic. We made it our mission to open a clinic for the purpose of making healthcare more accessible and ensuring the providers and services were of the highest quality and standards. In 2004 we continued to see patients and improve our patient delivery system. We continue on with one Physician’s Assistant and a community health aide. We strive to keep up-to-date on new procedures and equipment and were successful in increasing the number of elder patients receiving regular check ups. Community Health Aide Program Our Community Health Aide has completed the necessary patient encounters to enter into Community Health Aide III training. The training is set for December 2004. It is our goal to help our CHA enter into a higher education program to become a Licensed Nurse Practitioner. Transportation Through our health department transportation service we were able to provided 155 clients with the needed transportation to and from medical, dental, behavioral health appointments. Our drivers traveled a total of 16,320.87 miles for the year. Social Services In 2002 Knik Tribal Council signed a resolution for Chickaloon to administer BIA General Assistance to Alaska Natives in Knik’s service area. This expanded our service area to encompass 25,233 square miles, which is equivalent to the size of West Virginia, with an Alaska Native/ American Indian population of 5108 in the year 2000. According to estimates the Matanuska Susitna Borough is growing by 5.6% annually. With those estimates, the AN/AI population in the Matanuska Susitna Borough for 2004 is 6350. Having such a large service area would present its challenges not matter where you are but in Alaska, treacherous driving on mountainous highways through intermittent weather coupled with the lack of a public transportation system offers challenges all our own. Despite the many obstacles the Chickaloon Village Health and Social Service’s team was able to assist 249 eligible applicants. Direct employment helps individuals who have obtained employment but need equipment, tools, work clothes etc. as a requirement to enter into their new job. We were able to help individuals to successfully enter the workforce. Our burial assistance program is designed to help individual in times of tragedy and loss, which do not have the financial resources available for burial expenses when a family member has passed. We were able to assist five individuals with burial expenses. Our social service program goes far beyond the BIA program. We offer case management, care coordination, assistance in applying for disability, or other public assistance programs, as well as social service or behavioral health transportation. Behavioral Health Aide Negotiations Chickaloon Village Health and Social Services continued negotiations in 2004 for the BHA program. The program is designed to get three BHAs in villages in the Cook Inlet Region. We are confident that an agreement can be reached that will be beneficial to everyone involved. We are planning to have the program in place by January 2005. The BHA will be responsible for referring behavioral health clients seeking help for substance abuse or other mental/behavioral health issues to the appropriate programs and organizations. Elder Worker Program In 2004 we teamed up with Palmer Senior Center to employ implement the Elder Worker Program. The program is designed to reintroduce low-income seniors in the area back into the workplace. We were able to employ one elder for FY 2004. The elder assisted with light janitorial and grounds keeping, as well as office work. Wellness Program The Wellness Program started in 2002 from a grant that originated at SAMHSA that was passed down from Alaska Federation of Natives to Cook Inlet Tribal Council through to Chickaloon Village Tradition Council. The Purpose of the grant was to find new innovative ways to address substance issues within native communities but then evolved into a program that had to include best/promising practices. CVTC was given several project ideas to choose from and chose Restorative Justice with Peace Officer Support. Restorative justice, which CVTC renamed “traditional resolution”, because it is so close in keeping with the Ahtna value system concerning conflict resolution, is a systematic response to wrongdoing that emphasizes healing the wounds of victims, offenders and communities caused by criminal behavior. In western cultures the offender is often alienated and the majority of the emphasis with regard to healing is focused on the “obvious” victim. Restorative Justice recognizes that there are more victims, including the community, and that the offender needs to take place in the process of restoring or healing his victims whenever possible, and restoring/reintroducing the offender back into the community. Through the Wellness restorative Justice program CVTC was able to offer culture classes within the local elementary school teaching not only Native culture, but a number of cultures represented in the school, teaching children that everyone acceptance and tolerance of one another as well as pride in their own culture. In 2004 Peace Officer Support continued to be an
important part of the restorative justice process, teaching local peace
officers and community members, restorative justice principles so that
they could be applied when dealing with criminal or socially
unacceptable behavior in the community. Through the Wellness Program we were also able to sponsor a summer reading program at the local library. The program encouraged community participation, provided a safe place for the kids and an opportunity for adults in the community to pass on their talents and skills to the youth of our community. In August 2004 a team of three CVTC H&SS staff traveled to Denver, Colorado to present the final report on the Wellness grant to our funders and evaluators. CVTC H&SS chose to showcase our successes through a short video documentary produced by DotConn Productions. The video was a tremendous success. When we showed the video at our final presentation, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. The Project Manager from CITC was so touched she asked to show the video at CITC’s monthly board meeting.
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©2006 CHICKALOON VILLAGE TRADITIONAL COUNCIL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. SITE DESIGN BY ITS ALASKA. |
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