Railbelt Mental Health & Addictions

Nenana Wellness Coalition

Minutes

January 18, 2005

 

 

Meeting began at 12:30 PM

 

Meeting officiated by Paul Verhagen

 

Prayer was offered by Kevin Miller followed by the Pledge of Allegiance

 

Minutes for last week have not been finished.

 

Hiring a New Superintendent - Ken Eggleston

 

As you know I am retiring at the end of this school year so we are in the process of hiring a new superintendent. Because we have people right here in town who are more than qualified to perform a search and make the selection, and to save a lot of money, we have elected not to hire SERRC to do the job for us. So far we are pleased with the decision. The average number of applicants from a SERRC selection process is eight and the cost for them to do the work is about $20,000. To date our search has cost us about $1500 and we have 27 candidates - all who appear to have the necessary qualifications.  In order to help make the process run smoothly and to involve the whole community in the process I have proposed a different approach than has been used here in the past. The school board has approved of it and I want to share it with you because we are going to be asking the wellness coalition to be a part of the process.

The plan calls for involving representatives from five different groups in the selection process. The five groups are 1.) the tribe, 2.) the wellness coalition, 3.) the union, 4.) the administration, and 5.) the teachers. These representatives will help reduce the field from 27 down to perhaps as few as 3 who we will bring into town to interview.

So what we are asking for from this group is to select a representative from the group and give them some direction of what the wellness coalition would like to see in a new superintendent.

We would like to have the representative identified by Friday of next week. Feel free to give me a call if you have any questions between now and then.

 

 

The Way To Win - Barbara Berry

 

          I’m happy to be here. I’ve been to Nenana 8 times now. I run a youth league at home that includes 200 kids. I oversee 140 scheduled practices a week. I do this because of how important the role of sports can be in kid’s lives. As a child I had a hard time at school. I grew up in a wealthy family and somewhere along the line I took a wrong turn. Basketball saved my life. Sports can help save kids. Seven years ago I started a company called The Way To Win and I go around doing what I am doing here.

Occasionally you hear stories about Kobe Byrants but there are hundreds of thousands of kids out there who are learning something good from sports. They learn hard work, discipline, team work, perseverance, good sportsmanship, etc.

However, it doesn’t just happen. There are bumps along the way. Some of the boys here in town right now are having a hard time. Some of them think that they “own” certain positions on the team. They resent it when someone from out of town comes in and might actually end up with their slot on the team. That’s why I’m here.

I’m here to help the kids to learn what it takes to be a winner. There is a lot to it. It involves much more than just being good, or even great, at your position. It involves being a well-rounded person. I’ve talked a lot of kids who think that if they just practice hard enough until they get truly great at their position that some scout will pick them up and they will end up rich and famous. It doesn’t work like that.

There are stories of alcohol problems here in town. There are stories of abuse problems. Some kids think that that is just the way things are - that nothing can change it - but that isn’t true. What they need to know is that THEY can change it. And, in fact, they need to change if they really want to get those scholarships and play for an important team. Otherwise they are fooling themselves and that is part of what I am here to help them understand.

In order to be picked up on a scholarship as a college athlete there are five categories that they will be scored in and they must receive a score of ten in each of them! I taught a class about this at the school today. I gave them the specifics of what the categories are and how the scoring works. It is what separates those who do get picked from the hundreds of thousands of kids out there who all think they are going to be picked because they are great in one or two areas.

In order to be picked you have to think and act differently than those hundreds of thousands of others or how will you stand out? It costs a coach $150,000 to pick up a kid to play on their team. They don’t do that lightly. So I teach kids about the other four categories and what it takes to get a ten in each of them.

I show them how they all inter-relate to make them a well-rounded person. I teach them that whatever they think about themselves - they can become. I teach them to work hard at improving in all areas so that they think highly of themselves.

Kids are the driving force in society. They are the future. We need to get them involved as much as we can. Ralph Lindquist is the third coach this team has had in three years. That sends a bad message to them. It could be interpreted to mean that no one cares about them - but that’s not true. I’ve seen Ralph work with them. It’s obvious that he cares about them. It takes a big man and someone who cares about kids to do what he did - to ask for help for them.

That’s why I’m here. I’m here to help these kids know that we care. To give them the truth about how things work so that they know what it takes to get a scholarship and to help them believe that they can do what it takes and to give them the tools with which to do it.

I’ll be back several more times before the end of the year and I’m glad to be here working with you.

Milt Haken expressed appreciation on behalf of the community to Barbara for her help and her interest in our kids and our community.

Ralph Lindquist shared a story of how he has already seen kids practicing some of the things that Barbara taught them from the other categories. Specifically he saw kids self-report (voluntarily confess) to their peers when they cheated during a pool tournament after school. He heard a couple of them ‘catch’ themselves and surrender their turn to someone else when they broke a rule that no one even saw them break. And better still - they pointed out that it was more important to obey with the rules and play a fair game than it was to win at whatever cost.

A brief discussion was held regarding self-reporting and whether or not there should be a lesser penalty for those who self-report than for those who cheat until they are caught. Specifically the issue was whether or not a person might have to sit out some games but not necessarily be cut from the team if they self-report a violation that usually results in a being cut.

Paul Verhagen pointed out that Department of Fish and Game has a policy that if it is a first time offense and the person self-reports a fish and game violation they usually bring the case as a violation rather than a misdemeanor offense. Perhaps something similar could be done here for first time offenders.

Ken Eggleston talked about the need for follow-up in whatever action is taken because follow-up is critical. People don’t change without persistence.

Kat McElroy invited Barbara to attend our wellness meetings each time she is here (on a Tuesday) and Barbara graciously accepted and committed to do so.

 

 

Railbelt Mental Health and Addictions - Kat McElroy

 

          Alcoholics Anonymous is effective because they self-report regularly. In fact they give reports regularly at each meeting whether they drank or not.

There is a matter of concern that I want to bring to your attention. It has to do with what the advertising media is trying to pass off as “soft” drinks. If we are going to help keep our kids away from the destructive forces of alcohol in the lives of children it is important that we know about such things.  These are products that contain alcohol - but because they don’t contain as much alcohol as some other products they are passed off as being “fun”. Through their advertising approach they are perceived to be not as dangerous - and the worst thing is that kids perceive them to not be dangerous. The industry claims that they are not targeting kids and yet they come out with bright colored products that are referred to as “Alcopops”. These are alcohol beverages that are designed to resemble soda pops, fruit juices and other soft drinks.

 Although the liquor industry is getting away with this - the American Medical Association has responded by putting out adds that also target kids - but with the message is that these products are dangerous.

Nevertheless, even the AMA isn’t noting that the biggest, or at least a primary health risk for young women, is the risk of getting pregnant while intoxicated and/or drinking during the course of pregnancy with the resultant possibility of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). That is why I continue to bring it up regularly - in order to help get that very important message across.

 

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Nenana Student Living Center -

 

Ralph Lindquist reminded us that the Student Living Center has a community dinner on the second Wednesday of each month. He invites us to come join them for dinner and check out the new mural that is now finished. It turned out very nice. Earl Polk is here from Natural Helpers. The N.I.T. is scheduled for February 4^th-6^th and there will be 12 parents visiting here with their children who are students at the living center. The dorm is full. We have more students than we have ever had and there are 24 boys.

          Roy Smart informed us that a student government meeting is held every Thursday night and the elected representatives are dealing with student problems. The students have already met with the local magistrate and will be doing so regularly in the future as they set up their youth court. They are excited about that. Mike Anderson interjected that he works at the living center every day and that the kids are excited about it - particularly the chief. Roy said that they will attend our wellness meetings each week. He also told us that they have been invited to go to Washington D.C. in two weeks to speak with our elected representatives about issues of importance to the school. 

 

Nenana Valley Sports Association -

         

          Paul reported that we are making progress on our efforts towards getting some annual dog races started again in the community. The people from DNR have agreed to attend one of our meetings towards the end of the month and assist us with mapping trails. TCCC, and some of the students at the student living center, have expressing a willingness to help with clearing trails. We will continue working to make mushing as important in the community as it was in the past. At the dog mushing meeting we held on the fifth, the mushers suggested that we shoot for putting on a race with a purse of $10,000. They suggested that if we do that this year that would be wonderful but if it turns out to be too late to get together a good race for this year that it would be better to “do it right” next year. To date we have verbal commitment for over $4000. We welcome the help of anyone who can assist us in getting together the rest of the purse.

 

Chamber of Commerce -

 

          Miles Martin updated us on the chamber’s schedule and informed us that they will have their annual elections on February 20^th.

 

Nenana City Library -

 

          Miles Martin informed us that the library board has agreed to provide a section of the library to the Wellness Coalition. The library will purchase some books (that we recommend) and will accept donations of books to put into that section. If you have books that you would like to include in the wellness section please contact Miles Martin or Darcia Grace.

 

Nenana School -

 

          Ken Eggleston shared with us that four of the students who have been elected to school government from the Student Living Center have been invited to Washington D.C. by Mike Anderson (Congressman Don Young’s Chief of Staff). That is pretty neat - they are inviting us!

Senator John Coghill pre-filed an appropriations bill for funding for the Student Living Center and it has been assigned house bill number 16 (HB16). With an early start, and having addressed all the issues that were raised last year, we hope that it will make it through the session this year and we will have funding for next year. We anticipate having our business plan completed by February 1^st.

The cost to run the living center is $688,000/ year and that does not include the $288,000 payment on the loan for the facility. Ken pointed out that Galena only pays $1 per year for the use of their facility. Ken expressed appreciation to Chief Gilbert Ketzler for taking his time to attend our wellness meetings.

 

Nenana Native Council -

 

          Chief Gilbert Ketzler informed us that they are still working on getting things reorganized at Native Council. They have people working on getting the books finished so that they know where they are financially and expect that process to be completed in the next month or two. He expressed support for the efforts that we are making to revive dog mushing in our community. He pointed out how important dogs have been historically for the native community and that at one time pretty much every native family in town had four or five dogs. There were two mail teams here in town.

 

Nenana Seniors Center -

 

          Margaret Sanders pointed out that when they used to clear the trails for the mail runs and for racing, etc. that they used to stack the wood up along the trails for the use of community members. She suggests that when we do start clearing trails again that we do the same.

         

Meeting Adjourned at 2:10 PM

 

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday at noon at the Senior’s Center.

There were 19 people in attendance from the following organizations (and various interested individuals):

Nenana Visitor’s Center, Nenana City Schools, Nenana Student Living Center, Alaska Court System, Nenana Valley Sports Association, LDS Church, Nenana Native Council, Nenana Chamber of Commerce, Nenana Library, Railbelt Mental Health and Addictions, TCCC, Bahai Church, Nenana Senior’s Center,  The Way To Win, Visiting Missionaries, various community members.

Bud Krause, Ken Eggleston, Ralph Lindquist, Roy Smart, Mike Anderson, Paul Verhagen, Gilbert Ketzler, Miles Martin, Kat McElroy, Peter Howarth, Lorenz Snyder, Bonnie Reed, Blaine Reed, Milt Haken, Mae Jensen, Margaret Sanders, Barbara Berry, Terry Wells, Brandon Boller.

 

Please submit corrections or modifications to paulverhagen@prodigy.net or call 907-378-5454.

 

Nenana Wellness Coalition

Special Youth Meeting

Minutes

January 13^th, 2005

 

 

Meeting began at 6:30 PM

 

Meeting officiated by Paul Verhagen

 

Attendees consisted of the new student government for the Nenana Student Living Center together with the adult advisors.

 

An overview was given of the proposed Youth Court and Community Diversion Panel that are allowed by state statute to deal with minor consuming issues.

The concept is that the current laws and implementation thereof statewide (through the court system) do not appear to be helping to reduce the incidence of minor consuming and the many related crimes that occur while young people are drinking, so we should consider alternative ways of dealing with the problem locally (as contemplated by state statute).

Since it is a youth problem, it would be wise to include the youth in addressing the problem. Almost all youth have been closely associated with the problem either directly or through their peers or family members. They know what won’t work to change what is happening and may be able to help formulate ideas that will work to make a difference amongst their peers.

Even if nothing more than a typical youth court results that could be a step in the right direction - because typical youth courts often make a difference. This appears to be the case because kids know better than most adults when their peers are telling the truth or just attempting to manipulate the system.

Under the proposal the student government, in conjunction with their adult advisors and the community diversion panel, will develop a youth court using whatever forum that believe would be appropriate as long as it preserves due process.

The youth court would work in conjunction with the community diversion panel because the youth who will be court officials will not be available long-term (because they will eventually graduate and others will have to take their places). So the community diversion panel will give continuity and act as the liaison between the youth court and the state court.

Young people who elect to participate in the program will not automatically be accepted into the program. The youth court and diversion panel will have the ability to screen candidates and accept only those who meet their criteria.

The advantage to an offender of electing to utilize the youth court/diversion panel will be that if they successfully complete the program their case will not end up as a conviction that could perhaps affect their ability to serve in the military, get a job, or even enter other countries.

Magistrate Verhagen informed the group that he had visited the day before with Judge Steinkruger (the Presiding Judge for the 4^th Judicial District) and talked to her about the idea. She expressed a desire to have the group come to Fairbanks to meet with her and said that she will arrange for the group to also meet with Jeff O’Bryant, the Fairbanks District Attorney, to discuss the idea with him.

The young people and their advisors expressed a willingness and interest in pursuing these things and Mr. Smart will arrange for a follow-up meeting soon.

 

Meeting Adjourned at 7:15 PM

 

There were 10 people in attendance:

Ralph Lindquist, Mike Anderson, Ramona Chrisman, Roy Smart, Whitney Pong, Dan Sorenson, Sophia Johns, Ariel Agwiak, Robert Stephan, and Paul Verhagen

 

Attachments:

Talk by Paul Verhagen presented at a conference in Anchorage in December.

 

 

Our Assigned Topic is

Therapeutic Justice - Needs and Gaps.

 

In the area of “needs”, those of us at the forefront need to be allowed more flexibility as we attempt to solve some of the chronic problems that we are struggling with in the court system.

Einstein is reputed to have said that doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results is one definition of insanity.

I don’t know if Einstein really said that or not - but whoever said it described one of the problems that we face in the court system. We diligently follow the sentencing criteria over and over again hoping for better results each time - but things don’t get any better.

I’ve been sentencing people for over 20 years and the times I’ve seen the most success is when I’ve been creative in my sentencing. Unfortunately, a judge or magistrate can only be so creative and still remain within the parameters that are set.

        Now I’d like to share with you a few stories of police officers who became creative in solving their problems.

 

A woman reported her car as stolen and mentioned that it had a car phone. The policeman taking the report called the phone and told the guy that answered that he had read the ad in the newspaper and wanted to buy the car. They arranged to meet, and he arrested the thief when he drove up in the stolen car.

 

Police in Chicago sent Cubs tickets to people with outstanding arrest warrants. As they arrived at the game and showed the specified gate they arrested them.

 

Again, I don’t know if these stories are true, but they represent the kind of creativity that people have come up with as they attempt to resolve difficult problems.

Part of what made our country into the world power that it quickly became after our constitution was established was the freedom to experiment that was allowed within the system. Part of what impedes progress today is our current trend towards uniformity in everything that we do. Thus, one of the needs we have for progress with therapeutic justice is a return to the Principle of Subsidiarity^[1][1].

It is ironic that the principle of subsidiarity, a concept that originated in America as our government was being established is virtually unknown to most Americans today, even though it is being seriously discussed and debated right now in Europe as the European Union considers various aspects of it’s new government.

Simply put the doctrine is this:

1.) Solutions should be sought for and implemented at the level closest to where the problems occur, and

2.) Liberal deference should be given to those working to find solutions at that level.

It is understood in the principle that many of the experiments that are conducted will fail - but with many people striving to find creative solutions at the local level, eventually workable solutions will be found and shared with others at that level and above.

Consider our own experience of approaching things from the top down.  How many times has the legislature tackled the vexing problems of our day (such as DUI and Minor Consuming) and been forced to revisit the issue again and again - and yet the problem is not abating.

Now, I’d like to point out one area of legislation where the principle of subsidiarity has been applied and tell you about what some of us are doing with it.

I bring your attention to the fact that the last time the legislature visited the issue of Minor Consuming they did include some aspects of the principle of subsidiarity in the legislation.

Specially, AS 04.16.050 (b) (1) contemplates the creation of Community Diversion Panels, or Youth Courts to deal with the problem and they wisely refrained from defining how these panels, or youth courts, must look or work - thus leaving room for experimentation.

At present our community is in the process of taking advantage of this forward thinking legislation and we are in the process of establishing both a Community Diversion Panel and a Youth Court.

But there is a “gap”. The legislation is not quite flexible enough to really do what it could. At least not without requiring those of us in the courts from having to be extremely creative in order to get around the problems and still operate within the constraints of the existing version of the law.

The problem is that the legislation only allows these panels or youth courts to work with first-time offenders. It’s a lot of work to establish diversion panels and youth courts in a small community and then only have the ability to deal with first-time offenders when almost everyone agrees that the majority of kids will not be ‘fixed’ by one contact with a diversion panel or youth court. Some will - but many won’t, and yet serious progress may have been made. How can we avoid throwing away the progress that has been made and build upon it?

        Wouldn’t it be better if on a second or third offense the courts had some leeway and could evaluate what progress, if any, has been made and could elect to continue to work together with the diversion panel or youth court in helping these kids?

        In addition, consider the message we are sending. By taking the case away from them, if they haven’t fixed the problem at the first go-around, aren’t we in effect saying that the court is now going to step in and fix the problem? And yet we have years of evidence that we aren’t accomplishing that.

        Kids are kids. The movies they watch, the songs they listen to, their friends, all tell them that they should drink. Some of them are already serious alcoholics and can’t not drink without getting treatment. Me stepping in there and increasing the fine to $1000 (in a community where most adults would find it very difficult to pay such a fine), and taking away their driving privileges (when many of them don’t even have access to a vehicle with which to get a license, let alone have a driver’s license), and ordering them to do community work service (which is also difficult to enforce in a small community) isn’t likely to make near as much of a difference as it might if I were able to continue to work with a community diversion panel or youth court and build on whatever progress they might have made.

        Now, by being creative we think we may have found a way to do this. It is similar to what we are doing with cases involving Driving While License Cancelled, Suspended, or Revoked. After entry of a no-contest plea their arraignments are continued for sufficient time for them to go through the program and get their license back, after which the DA agrees to either dismiss their case or reduce it to No Valid Operator’s License. If they don’t succeed in getting their license back they get convicted and sentenced on the original charge.

Under the Minor Consuming scenario, when kids who are going through, or have gone through, the diversion panel end up re-offending they might be brought in for arraignment and if they enter a no-contest plea, and if they want to, the court will ascertain what progress, if any, has been made in the program that they have been participating in, find out if the director of the program believes that further progress is likely (and also whether they are willing to continue working with the individual). If so, the court could continue the arraignment for sufficient time for them to get back into and successfully complete the program. The details would then be spelled out and made a condition of their release and the matter would be set on for further proceedings at a pre-determined date.

 

In summary -

We’re talking about needs and gaps in the development of therapeutic courts in Alaska.

 

Concerning needs: We need more implementation of the principle of subsidiarity.

 

As to gaps: We need more understanding that by trying different things there is likely to be many ‘failures’ on the road to finding better solutions.

 

But, keep in mind that what may appear as failures are really just practice. When Thomas Edison was asked about his nearly 2000 failed attempts to find an appropriate filament for a light bulb he replied “I haven’t failed. I’ve merely found 2000 ways NOT to make a light bulb”. Eventually he did - and given the latitude to fail but still keep trying, we too will eventually succeed.”

 

Questions for our panel?

 

 

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[1][1] For more information on the principle of subsidiarity the following website address links to an article that refers to many others on all sides of the issue: www.nd.edu/~ndphilo/papers/Subsidiarity.html

 

Nenana Wellness Coalition

Minutes

January 4, 2005

 

 

Meeting began at 12:32 PM

 

Meeting officiated by Traci Wiggins

 

Prayer was offered by Rose Vance followed by the Pledge of Allegiance

 

The minutes of the last meeting were approved

 

Note: It was mentioned that some people might prefer not to have their email addresses included in the public “To:” list. It was agreed that we will move the names of anyone who asks us to into a “Blind CC:” list, but that unless someone asks us to we will leave everyone’s name in the public list as a means of facilitating communication amongst everyone.  

 

Welcome to guests, newcomers, and others

 

            David Poppe was visiting with Kat. We were happy to have him with us.

            Kyle Wright visited again from TCC. A warm welcome was extended.

            Chief Gilbert Ketzler was visiting from the tribe. We were honored to have        him with us.

 

The Careless Society - Dr. Henry Cole

 

            I’m excited to be here. Every since “Bear” told me about these meetings I have been interested in what you are doing here in Nenana. I was especially interested when he told me that almost anything is fair game for discussion because “wellness” encompasses so much.

I was also interested because it seemed to me that what you are doing is a manifestation of what is talked about in the book The Careless Society. I’ve mentioned this book at previous meetings I’ve attended and I know that a few of you have read it. The concept is that society is suffering from the effects of the tremendous increase in size of the service sector over the last few generations.

People today tend to specialize in just one field. They go to school and when they graduate in their chosen field they are declared to be “professionals”. Over the years that has translated into the concept that anyone who isn’t a professional in a particular field should stay away from practicing in that field. That means the rest of us are clients for the professionals in that field.

The problem here lies with the fact that whole generations of people have now grown up thinking that if they are not a “professional” in a particular field they dare not even try whatever it is that the “professionals” do.

Thus, if a community that has experienced years of “professional” support in certain fields no longer has that support, the original support system will no longer be there. For example, in a community that no longer has a professional grievance counselor (after years of having one), people are left to grieve the loss of a loved one without the support that used to occur naturally when such things as grievance counselors didn’t exist.

 At first the affects to society were not that great. Society may have suffered a little in the same way as muscles suffer atrophy from lack of use. The real problem did not being to really show itself until the next generation or two - when much of society stopped even trying to do for themselves things that most people at least tried to do before.

In the past people had to be well rounded because their environment required it. Let me give you an example. George Forester, known for having developed the magnetic coil recording device, was once asked how he came up with the idea and then made it a reality. His answer was - that he grew up on a farm. In other words growing up on a farm required him to regularly exercise creativity, ingenuity, resourcefulness, and frugality - just to keep the farm going. This background prepared him to deal with things in society in ways that the typical education today does not prepare us.

In addition to not feeling competent to do things that are “not in their field” many people have grown up with the idea that most things are “someone else’s job”. As a result many communities have largely turned over to someone else what they used to do for themselves and if someone else doesn’t do it - our communities suffer. There will never be enough money to pay someone to do all that needs to be done, the professionals won’t do it for free, and many others won’t do it out of the goodness of their hearts because they now believe it to be someone else’s job - and through that process we have become the care-less society. The book examines four major areas in which this shift has had significant impact on our lives - the education sector, the medical sector, the legal sector, and the health sector.

Dr. Cole feels that our actions over the last year have demonstrated not only our concern for wellness in Nenana but also our willingness to take increasing local control over what happens to us in the future. As a result of this he is interested in sharing with us, in more detail, the concepts described in the book and wants to know if we would be interested in having him facilitate a half-hour group discussion on the subject every few weeks.

Discussion was held and it was agreed that we will try a half-hour session and see how it goes. It was further agreed that it would be of no value to us if we just have Dr. Cole read to us from the book. The only way that it will be of value is if we read the assigned chapters ahead of time and come with notes and questions and be prepared to discuss how the material might be applicable to our mission of helping improve wellness in Nenana.

Gary Edwin agreed that the attitude of some “professionals” can be hurtful to kids in a village. He stated that part of wellness is to be respectful of each other and that it is disrespectful of someone to come into an area and not develop respect for what is important to the people in that area. Although that “professional” might have a degree in a particular field does not mean that a person from that village is not just as important to the community, without having a degree; and that there is much that we can do for our communities that would be very helpful without having to go somewhere else to earn a degree.

Dr. Cole passed out copies of the first few chapters for people to read and we will discuss them at our January 25th meeting.

 

Nenana’s Dog Mushing School – Ken Eggleston

 

            A few weeks ago we talked about reviving our efforts at developing a dog mushing school in Nenana. That sparked an interest and the Nenana Valley Sports Association offered to help make it happen. Names and addresses of local mushers were collected, a meeting time was picked, invitations were extended and tomorrow night we will revive the discussions that we had a few years ago, add some new ideas, and hear what the mushers themselves have to say.

            The concept is simple – Nenana is the home of several of the world’s top dog mushers. These mushers are world-famous because they know what they are doing. Who better to teach aspiring newcomers how to do something than those who have already done it? In the past, this was accomplished in a rather unorganized way. For example individuals searched out mushers they admired and approached them about being a handler or working for them at their dog yard. Their hope was that through their association with these mushers they would learn the ‘secrets’ that would help them to become successful themselves. This method worked but wouldn’t it be better if there was actually a school that aspiring mushers could attend wherein they were taught, not by one, but by many of the world’s top mushers? It would be a school with curricula designed to make sure that all important aspects of mushing are taught. Classes might include feeding, nutrition, dog handling, dog care, equipment, business management, cold weather survival, emergency preparedness, seeking sponsors, and many other subjects as determined by the world’s top musher’s themselves. Graduation from the school would result in the award of a certificate that would be accepted by the industry because the industry itself directed what should go into it.

            We’ve heard back from several of these mushers indicating that they will be there tomorrow night. If any of you are interested in being involved feel free to attend. It is open to the general public. The meeting will be held at the cafeteria at the Student Living Center. Dinner will be served at 5:30 PM and the meeting will start immediately thereafter.

 

Setting Goals For The New Year - Paul Verhagen

 

We’ve heard from Dr. Cole’s presentation this afternoon some of the reasons why communities all across America are falling apart. Why many of the good things about our communities that we remember from the past are disappearing or have disappeared completely. Of course, concurrent with this erosion of good things there are improvements taking place in other areas of our lives. Most people would agree that labor savings devices have made our lives much easier, transportation has improved greatly, and the ability to communicate over long distances has been wonderfully enhanced. But, can’t we have both? Shouldn’t we as a community be able to take charge of what happens to us and make sure that we keep the best of the past and at the same time benefit from the best of the present?

If we really want to do that and the many other things that it will take to improve wellness in Nenana we will need to increase our own abilities as well as work to increase the abilities of our fellow community members so that they can join us in our labors.

I recently read some interesting books on this subject. One is a classic written in the 1930’s by a famous author named Napoleon Hill who spent 20 years learning just how people like Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller and other extremely successful people of his day succeeded at what they did. It has been published and republished some 42 times, and millions of copies have been sold. However, it is only an abridgement of his much larger work entitled The Law of Success which was published in 1927. The 15 laws of Success that he introduced in that those volumes are timeless in their applicability - being just as valuable today as they were then.

I won’t share the 15 laws with you today but I do want to tell you what he thought about the importance of gathering a certain number of people together and working to get into HARMONY with one another in order to accomplish their goals. He says that success in using all the other laws is largely dependant on the success of a few people coming into sync with each other and experiencing the synergy that occurs when harmony exists between minds.

He claims that such harmony stimulates each mind into coming up with ideas that none of them may have come up with on their own. I believe this to be true. I believe that we have experienced that over the last year as we have met together each week. I also want to point out another interesting idea that he mentions - the concept that the human mind remains affected by meeting together in harmony for about a week - but after that the effects begin to diminish rapidly.

I find it interesting that we have been regularly doing two of the things he says are the necessary precursors to success that all the successful people of his day did. That gives us something to congratulate ourselves on!

Mr. Hill also talks about some laws of Nature. He says that one of nature’s first laws is ORGANIZATION. I also agree with this. I believe that we are accomplishing the things that we are because we are becoming more organized. We are no longer waiting for things to happen and then responding. We are planning. We are anticipating. We have become proactive. We are working to make things happen that we want to happen and working to help prevent things from happening that we wish to avoid. It is working.

A year ago, on December 23^rd, we held our first annual Christmas party at my home across the river. At that meeting we discussed things that we would like to see happen in Nenana. Last month we held our second annual Christmas party at my home. At that meeting we considered what has been accomplished. Read the minutes from our last meeting. It was impressive. It is exciting! It gives us reason to make more goals for this year and gives us cause to believe that if we continue to meet weekly and work to accomplish our goals that we will have more to celebrate next year.

So I propose that we spend some time over the next few weeks taking advantage of the synergy that comes from minds working in harmony and do some more brain-storming about what we would like to see happen in Nenana and how to go about helping to make it happen. I’d like to start with a proposal of how we might help disaster victims at home or abroad:

 

Helping Disaster Victims     

 

            Most of us have been attuned to the devastating earthquake and tsunami that occurred last week in the Indian Ocean. As we watched or read about what happened it tugged doubly at our heartstrings to learn that many people who survived the earthquake and tsunami then spent many more days suffering without food, clothing or shelter while waiting for help as their own governments and the rest of the world worked on getting help to them.

 

I suggest that we talk about what our community might do to help when such disasters occur and what we could do to avoid the aftermath of suffering that those poor people have been going through.

 

            There is an expression that says that “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it - but those who do, will escape its ravages”.

 

            Another way of saying that is that for those who ORGANIZE and PLAN AHEAD much of the misery and suffering in the world can be averted. After the great Alaska earthquake in 1964 that sent tsunamis to Hawaii and Valdez and caused so much destruction our country redoubled its efforts at developing and implementing a Tsunami warning system. Had the areas around the Indian Ocean ORGANIZED and developed a Tsunami warning system before now - tens of thousands of lives could have been saved.

 

Had they further developed their preparedness system to promote the use of 72 hour emergency kits they could have averted much of the additional suffering that their people have experienced while awaiting outside help.

 

As a wellness coalition there is much we can do to avoid what recently happened to the people of the Indian Ocean and to help others like them who are suffering. Here’s two things that we might do:

 

1.)                          Teach ourselves and others how to put together 72 hour emergency kits, and

2.)                          Develop a fund to be used to help people who suffer from such disasters - whether they be near or far.

 

72 Hour Emergency Kit Development

 

Attached to this document is a check list that can be used to put these kits together. People can do this on their own within their own families but perhaps we can help stimulate things by seeking donations and purchasing items to include in these kits. We could then set a date and invite the entire community to an activity to put the kits together and then take them home (or give them away like we have done each year with Operation HoHoHo).

 

Nenana Disaster Relief Fund

 

We could develop a relief fund by following the example of one well-known organization has developed a very successful method of collecting donations for disaster relief. The funds are collected before a disaster strikes on an on-going monthly basis WITHOUT asking families or individuals to spend any more money each month than they are already spending.

It works like this: Each family member or individual is asked to make a small but important sacrifice on behalf of others around the world who are suffering. The sacrifice consists of picking one day each month and simply going without food for two meals on that day. They are then asked to donate to the fund the amount of money that they would have spent on food for themselves to be used for someone else who is suffering. Parents often use this as a method of teaching their children compassion, sacrifice and service to their fellow man. My family has done this for all my children’s lives and it has been very rewarding to them. Even my youngest children have participated. People who do this feel good when they learn that in many places around the world the amount they sacrificed for just two meals will feed someone for as much as a week!

Included below is a sample chart that shows how to calculate the amount contributed and that it really doesn’t cost the family anything more than they already spend if they are willing to sacrifice for others by going without two meals.

 

 

Yearly Food Expenditures

$12,735.00

 

            Now $3.27 per person may not seem like much but if 150 families in the valley (600 people) participated each month it would represent a very large amount within just one year. For example:

 

Individual Contribution

$        3.27

 

            Of course such things take time to develop and it would not be expected that 150 families would participate to begin with. However, if just 20 families chose to donate $10 per month it would not be an insignificant amount. For example:

 

Family Contribution

$      10.00

 

            That money could be used locally to help when such things as house fires or other local disasters occur, and if we are so fortunate that no local disasters occur it could be sent to help with disasters like the one that just occurred around the Indian Ocean. Another use might be to purchase supplies to fill 72 hour emergency preparedness kits that could be distributed locally or internationally.

 

            Let’s take a few minutes to discuss this and see if we can help ourselves and others by learning from history and being organized BEFORE disaster strikes. In other words - let’s act NOW while we are so fortunate as to not be undergoing a disaster instead of trying to respond after-the-fact to a disaster that has already occurred.

Becoming better organized and preparing ahead of time is one more step towards community wellness.

 

72 Hour Emergency Kit Checklist

 

	Backpack (Keep flashlight and matches on top)		Hygiene kit – toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, hand sanitizer, dental floss, comb, brush
	Matches (wind and weatherproof)		Sanitary napkins
	Fire-starter aides		Money ($20 and quarters for phone calls)
	Toilet paper		Insect repellant
	Zip-lock bags		Rope
	Flashlight (wind-up/battery operated)		Cord
	Radio (wind-up/battery/solar operated)		Tarp
	Batteries		Sunglasses
	Glow sticks		Stove (tiny, foldable, Sterno-type)
	Thermal blanket		Sterno-type fuel
	Chemical hand warmers		Swiss army knife (13 blades)
	Gloves (leather and winter)		Foldable shovel
	Hats (summer and winter)		Hatchet
	Socks (summer and winter)		Mess kit
	Pants (summer and winter)		Plastic wear
	Shirts (summer and winter)		Water (3 gals)
	Sweatshirt (hooded)		Cup-o-noodles
	Underwear (summer and winter)		Trail-mix
	Wash cloth & towel		Power-aide mix
	Waterproof Poncho		Pancake mix
	Vinyl gloves		Peanut butter cheese crackers
	Sewing kit		Power bars
	Whistle		Instant oatmeal
	Note pad and writing instruments		Beef jerky
	Zip-lock bags (for keeping clothes etc. dry)		Dried fruit (important to avoid constipation)
	Candles		MRE’s (9)
	Dish soap		Compass
	Can opener		Topographical Map (local)
	Face masks (for protection from forest fires)		Outdoor camping book (cold weather camping book is best)

 

Remember to check your packs each year in September and April. (Kids grow, and adults gain weight!)

When finished with your 72 hour kit - work on developing a 90 day emergency supply for your home.

(One never knows when they might lose their job, or be forced to evacuate their homes as hundreds did last year in Fairbanks and Eagle. A 90 day supply  gives some breathing room while looking for new work or having to find a new place to live).

When finished with a 90 day supply - work on a 1 year supply for your home.

(One never knows when they might become disabled and a year’s supply is a very nice buffer to have while recovering).

 

Miles Martin offered to help refine the 72 Hour Emergency Preparedness Kit.

Margaret Sanders said that the Nenana Seniors did something similar many years ago and they really used them. She said that when Mary Demientieff died they found her kit still sitting there by the door waiting to be grabbed when needed. Margaret thinks it would be a valuable way to help improve wellness in Nenana.

Gary Edwin said that preparedness is wellness. He told of a story of a couple of kids from Tanana who received EMS training being in a crowd in the lower 48 states when a lady had a heart attack. None of the people in the crowd were prepared. It fell upon these two young men who were prepared and their actions saved her life. He also mentioned that these 72 hour emergency preparedness kits would be good for people to grab whenever they go out of town on snowmobiles or dog teams because one never knows when a storm or other event will strand them somewhere for a few days. Being prepared might just save the life of one of our loved ones.

 

We agreed to discuss these topics again in upcoming meetings.

 

Remember that the Nenana Valley Sports Association sponsored Dog Mushing meeting will be held tonight at the Student Living Center. Dinner at 5:30 and the meeting to begin immediately thereafter.

 

Meeting Adjourned at 2:08 PM

 

The next meeting will be held on Thursday night at 6:00 PM at the Senior’s Center just before the regularly scheduled city council meeting.

There were 16 people in attendance from the following organizations (and various interested citizens):

Nenana Visitor’s Center, Alaska Court System, Nenana Valley Sports Association, LDS Church, Nenana Environmental Program, Nenana Native Council, Railbelt Mental Health and Addictions, TCC, Nenana Chamber of Commerce, Nenana Library, Bahai Church, Nenana Senior’s Center,  various community members.

Henry Cole, Bud Krause, Paul Verhagen, Gary Edwin, Kat McElroy, David Poppe, Bonnie Reed, Blaine Reed, Miles Martin, Margaret Saunders, Ken Eggleston, Kyle Wright, Gilbert Ketzler, Rose Allen, Traci Wiggins, Tim Horn