Railbelt Mental Health & Addictions

Nenana Wellness CoalitionMINUTES

November 25, 2008

                           

The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska. 

There were eight in attendance today, including: Karen Lord, Bill & Rebecca Troxel, Miles Martin, Tim Horn, Bonnie Reed, and Dana Hills.

 

WELCOME: By this week’s chairperson, Tim Horn. The MISSION STATEMENT was recited from memory by the group, an real exercise in perseverance.

 

PRAYER: Was lead by Kat McElroy, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

 

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: There was no call for modifications.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Posted on the WIN web site at www.railbelt.com and sent to the WIN e-list.

           

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

 

Nenana Native Council, Programs and Plans: Karen Lord informed us that NNC is preparing for their tribal elections. She has been tasked with reformatting the seats and terms of service so that the council members will serve three year terms instead of two year terms. This will help as the members rotate out, the council will have more “seasoned” members at any given time. Karen mentioned that the Nenana Native Council constitution was originated in 1962. On the ballot this year will be some changes to the constitution. Also on the ballot will be First Chief and four council members. Elections will be held 10 A.M. through 8 P.M., December 13^th. She explained the nomination protocol for tribal council elections and the election process.

Karen said that the Santa Gift Exchange will be held at the Tribal Hall December 22^nd, starting at 6:30 P.M. There will be a community Christmas celebration with gifts for all the children at the Civic Center December 23,also at 6:30 P.M. Nenana Native Council will celebrate New Year’s Eve  the evening of December 31^st at the Tribal Hall starting with a pot luck at 8 P.M.

Karen gave us an over-view of the various programs the NNC administers. A great deal of their funding comes from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. There have been funding cuts proposed for BIA and NNC is currently waiting for Congress to release monies for BIA. Tanana Chief’s Conference administers BIA funding for this area. BIA/TCC funded programs administered by the Nenana Native Council include those of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), Child Protection, Social Services, Job Training & Placement, General Assistance (GA), and ASAP/ATAP which is temporary assistance to families in need. NNC also facilitates training for their tribal court judges as well as the quarterly Village Pride/Community Safety meetings. She noted that Nita Marks is the ICWA and child protection worker. Robin Campbell is the go-to person for social services and jobs training and placement. There is a lifetime cap to the funding available for job training.  GA recipients are required to perform 30 hours per week of community service and have to fit specific criteria to be eligible for the $340.00 per month. ASAP/ATAP recipients are required to perform 35 hours per week community service for the $800.00 they receive.

Karen explained that the NNC Clinic is funded through Indian Health Services monies. The PA-C there is Matt who works with his clerk, Melissa, Mondays and Fridays. The Health Aide, Jackie Suckling and trainee Johanna Kukes are there Monday through Friday. It is proposed that beginning in mid-January, there will be a dentist coming from TCC a couple times a week. Clinic services are open to anyone in the community.

Separate funds have been available for road improvement projects. That is BIA money. The tribe will be working with the city to pave streets around Nenana.

 

Continuing minutes from WIN Meeting of 11/25/08 (from when Kat McElroy had to leave)

 

Karen Lord’s presentation, continued:

 

v     Ag Money:  A question was asked as to what the Council’s Agricultural money is used for and what priority it is given.  Karen replied that the ag money (which is not a huge grant) mostly goes to fund the community garden.  She added that there is a move to create an extension of the community garden out near the Toghotthele office (for those who want larger gardens, more space to plant potatoes, etc.).  The land has been cleared. 

 

            Some discussion was also held on people’s worm bins (which were started as a             result of the Cooperative Extension planting session sponsored by the Tribe last   spring).

 UPDATES 

The following were shared as updates/announcements by those attending:

 

v     Walking in the school:  We had been informed that people could walk for exercise in the school during open gym times (Tues, & Thurs., 7:30-9 p.m., with tonight being the first night for this).  Rebecca Troxel reported that she was able to walk around the school yesterday during Tae Kwon Do (she had gotten permission from one of the custodial staff on duty).

v     CVL License has arrived:  Bill Troxel reported that the Community Church’s CVL license (which gives permission for the church to show movies for free without violating copyright laws) has arrived and they’re looking forward to showing movies.

v     Made in Alaska:  Miles reported that the Made in Alaska training will be in March.  It will probably be held at the Civic Center – the Made in Alaska organization has said it will pay for the clean-up.  It was suggested that the Tribal Hall may be a better venue for those attending, but it was pointed out that it can be difficult to advertise an event that can then be pre-empted by a funeral or funeral preparations.

v     Where to meet over Christmas break:  It was pointed out that WIN will need to find a place to meet over the Christmas break, so this should be placed on our next agenda.

v     City Council meeting:  The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 11^th, 5:30 p.m.  Bonnie Reed commented that the meetings are interesting.

v     Rec Center Beading Class:  Karen Lord reported that her daughter, Theresa, is giving beading classes at the Rec Center.  She doesn’t know the times, but advised people to call the Rec Center (832-5513, Wed-Sat, 3-9 p.m.) or Robin Campbell (cell phone: 378-8048) for details.

v     First home basketball game: Tuesday, December 16^th, starting at 3:30 p.m.

v     December Envisioning Wellness: Tuesday, December 16^th, with the presentation being given by Kris Capps of Healy.

v     Christmas Events in Nenana:

                  *Dec. 5-6 (Friday & Sat.): Senior Bazaar at the Civic Center, 4-9 p.m.                                            on Friday (12/5); 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday (12/6)

                  *Dec. 9 (Tuesday): Christmas Concert (5^th-12^th grades) at the School.

                  *Dec. 11 (Thurs.): School Community Christmas lunch and bazaar

                  *Dec. 15 (Tues.): Christmas program in Healy (junior high and high                                          school students from Nenana will be participating), 6:30 p.m.

                  *Dec. 16 (Tuesday): Kindergarten-5^th grade Christmas program in the

                              Pit, 6:30 p.m.

                  *Dec. 19 (Friday): Early release from school (12:55 p.m.)

                  *Dec. 21 (Sunday): Caroling (details will be forthcoming; people can                                                 call Rebecca Troxel or Tim Horn for further information as it is                                      available)

                  *Dec. 22 (Monday): Tribal Christmas Party at the Tribal Hall, 6:30                                                 p.m. (snacks will be served)

                  *Dec. 23 (Tuesday): Christmas Toy Give-Away at the Civic Center,                                               6:30 p.m.

                  *Dec. 24 (Wed.): Nenana Community Church Christmas Eve Open                                       House, 4 p.m. at the Troxels’

                  *Dec. 24 (Wed.): Episcopal Christmas Eve Service followed by a                                      potluck, 7 p.m. at St. Mark’s

                  *Dec. 24 (Wed.): Christmas Vigil sponsored by St. Theresa’s Catholic                                  Church, 7 p.m. at St. Theresa’s

v     Freecycle & Chili Cook-Off: Still hoping to hold this on Saturday, January 17^th, 5 p.m. at the Tribal Hall. It was past 2 p.m. when we closed, but it was agreed that much useful and interesting information had been shared! 

Nenana Wellness Coalition

Minutes for November 18^th 2008

 

Minutes taken by Miles

  

Chaired by Bonnie Reed

 

Meeting started at 12:20

 

Present were Miles, Rebecca and Bill, Mary Ellen, Bonnie, Tim Horn, Big Mike

 

Mission statement was not read

 

Prayer by Bill

 

The Pledge was recited

 

Reports

Tim spoke on the subject of envisioning wellness speakers. Kriss Capps will be speaking the 16^th of December. Karen Lord is speaking this month November 24^th A color poster needs to be printed and put up. Mary Ellen said she can do this.

            The health fair is not on the agenda because not everyone is present who is involved.

 

We are all concerned by recent deaths of locals involving a house with few facilities where the water has been cut off.  We discussed what can be done, with no solution, but will keep this issue and concern for these people in the house in our thoughts.

 

The Christmas bazaar the seniors put on is December 5^th and 6^th at the senior center.

 

Bill and Rebecca give a recycle report.  We conclude after discussion that Jan will be the next best time to try to have one at the civic center. We need door prizes, and need to talk to the Ice Classic. The CVLI license the permit needed to show public movies in arriving soon. Maybe combine free cycle with movies. Undecided it might be to much going on, but also maybe doable.

 

Big Mike tells us there is now permission to walk the school on open gym nights Tuesdays and Thursdays 7-9 pm. This is in response to a need for a physical fitness program involving a place to walk.

 

Should we have organized caroling at Christmas time? The week of Christmas. Tuesday ? Tim was in charge last year and there were 12 singers . We need to do this after 6pm. We need to end up at Senior housing. No real final decisions made beyond this.

 

Operation Ho Ho Ho is still on, doing  the gift food boxes for the needy in the community.

 

Mary Ellen says there is game night in Anderson December 5^th . Anderson doing white elephant prizes. December 19^th is gift exchange here in Nenana at George Hall. On the 23^rd is the give away toys for the kids on Tuesday at 6:30.

 

Frank Gallo’s memorial potluck  might have to be rethought because of the Burke funeral on the same day. Saturday Nov 22^nd  No one is sure how this is going to work out

The kids get out of school on the 19^th for thanksgiving.

 

Meeting ends at 1:30.

  

Nenana Wellness Coalition Minutes

November 11, 2008

                                                     Veteran’s Day

 The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska.

There were ten in attendance today, including: Walter & Andrea Tommy, Bonnie Reed, Tim Horn, Miles Martin, Bill & Rebecca Troxel, Kat McElroy, Mike Anderson, and Dana Hills. We had beef stew and cornbread and raisins & pecans for lunch.

 

WELCOME: By this week’s chairperson, Bill Troxel, followed by the READING OF MISSION STATEMENT.

 

PRAYER: Was lead by Rebecca Troxel, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

 

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: There were three items added to the agenda.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes were submitted electronically to the WIN e-list and posted on the web site with no noted suggestions for changes.

 

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: None

           

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

 

Free-cycle: Bill & Rebecca Troxel will be making soup for the Recycle meal which will start at 5P.M. at George Tribal Hall on Saturday, November 15^th. Miles will get firewood and start the fires in the heat stoves at George Hall Saturday morning. Rebecca will talk to John Grimes to see if NSLC students can attend. Mike Anderson says this would work out better than an early afternoon event as he will not have to make another evening meal for the students. Walter and Andrea Tommy will bring home-made bread. Rebecca will get flyers out this week.

 

Adult Education/Community Development: WIN at large. We have yet to connect with Tim Barker regarding this concept he has forwarded. However, we have several identified projects that fall under this heading.

 

We discussed starting a Biggest Loser-type contest open to everyone in the community. Mike said he would talk to Joe Kraus to see if we could get permission to use the school for walking in the evenings. Eight times around inside the school is one mile. We all agreed it is more fun to do this kind of activity as a group. Kat noted that people doing the TCC Fitness Program were encouraged to use graphs to “map” their progress; some were walking the “Iditarod Trail” charting each day’s progress mile by mile. Rebecca would like to see some nutritional information offered as well as organized exercise activities, perhaps with monthly segments on healthy meal preparation and food combinations for ideal nutrition. She said, “Small Steps are the way to go, with small goals and one week commitments so you don’t feel overwhelmed by too large a goal. Dana Hills mentioned that she had attended an eight week course in Willow offered for free by the American Cancer Society on cooking and eating healthily. She said that by following their guidelines she has lost 70 pounds in the past year. She is willing to contact the ACS to see if they would be willing to do this in Nenana. The classes are each 1.5 to 2 hours long including the cooking demonstration. Miles Martin suggested contacting Sarah McDonnell at UAF to see if she would be willing to do a “refresher course” on the 2-day diabetes prevention nutrition class she taught here last year. Mike suggested that the kitchen at the Meda Lord Senior Housing would be ideal for this. Bill said that a good start is simply keeping a food log every day, “If it goes into the mouth, write it down.”

 

Another project discussed is the ongoing desire to have an Athabascan drum and dance group again in Nenana.  Tim Horn said how nice it was to see the NSLC Fry Bread Shakers on live TV feed from the Alaska Federation of Native Quyanna Celebration, but it only makes her want all the more to see Athabascan drumming and singing. She has brought this up a couple of times at community dinners. It seems that no one wants to take on so daunting a project single-handedly. “It doesn’t seem to be a priority,” she said, and yet people continue saying they would like to see this happen. She asked Walter if he would be willing to help by drumming and singing. Walter said that he remembers Paul George tried to get a drum group going years ago but it needed more support. No one person can make this happen. “You need more people. You need people who know the songs. You need people who know how to organize. You need people who know how to network.” Tim agreed, this was one of the problems when we had the grants for teaching the youth drum group, there were not enough adults for the number of children. It became overwhelming. Rebecca suggested that we bring drums to the next Free-cycle and “Just do it.” Andrea said that Walter has some traditional Athabascan songs on cassette tape and suggested it would be nice to have them playing. Tim mentioned that there are youth who will remember the songs from the youth drum group. We could name Leon McElroy, William Horn, James Olin, and Caroline & Sammy Ketzler. 

 

Lastly, Bill said that the church had approved an expenditure of $190.00 to purchase a one year CVLI license which allows them to publicly show movies for groups up to 500 people. They want to have family nights, with movies and pop corn, on a regular basis. Venues were discussed including the big room at Meda Lord, the Pit at the school, George Hall and the YERC. Railbelt has a large pop corn machine that could be used.

 

Envisoning Wellness: Tim Horn has scheduled Karen Lord, Tribal Administrator for NNC, to speak to us on November 25^th.  Kris Capps from Healy is confirmed for December 16^th. Tim suggested Kat and Walter might want to do a presentation about addiction for January, a sort of Alcoholism 101. Andrea suggested we might want to invite some of our friends from the party house to the discussion to address the issues they currently face.

 

Sober Housing: Kat is very excited about the workshop she will be presenting this weekend in Miami at the National Harm Reduction Conference. She noticed going through the program agenda that there are many workshops offered about housing. She will attend as many as she can and bring back any information or hand-outs she can find.

  WELLNESS THOUGHT:  Never underestimate the kindness of your fellow man.       

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Thanksgiving meal at the school will be Monday, November 24^th.They usually start serving the meal, which is open to the whole community, about11:30 A.M.

 

There will be a Memorial Pot Luck for Frank Gallo November 22 at the Senior Center.

 

Kat handed out the Pink Resource Information Sheets sent to us, per her promise, by Kathy Halverson.

  

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION: None

 

ADJOURNMENT: 2:20 P.M.

Nenana Wellness CoalitionAGENDA

November 4, 2008

ELECTION DAY. Polls are open until 8P.M.

 The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska. 

We had 14 in attendance today, including: Bonnie Reed, Walt & Andrea Tommy, Bill & Rebecca Troxel, Miles Martin, Kat McElroy, Laura Vance, Christopher Robinson, Tim Horn, Dana Hills, Maryellen Kanyurak and David Poppe. We had tamale pie, carrot/raisin salad, sliced apples and pecans for lunch.

 

WELCOME followed by the READING OF MISSION STATEMENT: By this week’s chairperson, Laura Vance

 

PRAYER: Was lead by Bill Troxel, followed by the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE.

 

PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: there was no call for changes in the agenda

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes were generated last week by Kat, posted to the WIN e-mail list and posted onto the WIN web site   

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Christopher Robinson & Dana Hills were introduced for those who were not in attendance at previous meetings and had not yet met them.

           

SPEAKERS/TOPICS

 

Free-cycle: Bill; & Rebecca Troxel suggest that we may need to reschedule the Free-cycle from 11-08-08 due to conflict in scheduling with the Nenana Ice Cream Classic basketball tournament. Date suggested was the following Saturday, November 15. Kat called Robin Campbell at Nenana Native Council and there is nothing scheduled at the tribal hall that day. Tim noted that the rummage sale at the YERC this weekend netted around five hundred dollars but also some items had been left behind in the YERC for the Free-cycle. Tim will haul them away and store them for the Free-cycle.

  

Adult Education/Community Development: Laura brought people up to speed on this ongoing discussion that sprang from suggestions Tim Barker had made at a previous WIN meeting. The vision is to identify our own local resources and people as has happened previously (for example the Junkyard Wars snow-machine competition and dog mushing activities) for education and community development. She cited the presence of the welding shop at the school and computer lab at the YERC as underutilized resources. Perhaps minimal user fees could help create and sustain such future efforts. Miles suggested that it isn’t just skills but, as has been mentioned previously, also good work effort and integrity that we can teach. Andrea spoke of the “Helping Hands Bank” program she has read about wherein volunteers can do work and “bank” the hours they put forth, logging their time which they could then either allocate to another or use themselves for some future work or service they need. Miles suggested that accurate logs could be used as “matching funds” for future grant seeking efforts. He also suggested we could start simply by creating a chart or graph depicting the people and resources we have available currently. Tim discussed an article she brought in to the meeting from the October 17^th edition of the Fairbanks Daily New-miner which depicted the efforts of the village of Igiugig (an Eskimo and Aleut village on the western shore of Lake Iliamna) to foster recycling, including greenhouses and keeping chickens fed from household food scraps. This is an example of what can happen when people work together.

 

Parent Education: WIN at large. Per our previous discussions, we agree to organize some manner of monthly parenting support activity. It was suggested that we could start at the next Free-cycle; in addition to having a chili cook-off, maybe we could have an activity that focuses on the value of positive parenting. Tim asked if we might get Eric Gephart to do the Dream Catcher activity that he used at his Envisioning Wellness presentation which so aptly demonstrates how people can take care of our youth. This could be a springboard to monthly positive parenting activities.

 

Sober Housing: Walter & Andrea Tommy will be going to South Carolina to take care of some family business. They anticipate being gone for maybe two weeks. Upon their return, they would like to schedule another meeting for people who are interested in the sober house project.

 

Envisioning Wellness: Tim Horn has rescheduled Karen Lord from the Nenana Native Council for November 25^th, which is the only Tuesday in November that Karen will be available to present. It was suggested that we see if we can get Kris Capps from Healy to present Envisioning Wellness in December. Either Tuesdays, 12/09 or 12/16 would be best for our purposes as school lets out 12/19. Tim will contact Kris to ask. Miles said that he has been contacted by the Made In Alaska people in Fairbanks who want to do a fee workshop here in Nenana. They support hand-crafts and cottage industry and one of the things they could teach people is how to use digital cameras to market your crafts items. He wonders if we might get them to do an Envisioning Wellness presentation in March and then a full workshop in April. He has contacted them with that request.

 

Vendor Fair: WIN at large. Tim is in continuing communication with Kathy Halverson who is the foster parent recruiter who spoke to us last night. They are discussing the “Vendor Fair” that Shirley Holmberg organized to get information to public assistance recipients in the Fairbanks area. The next one will be held in January. We are interested in attending to see if something like this would be good for Nenana.

 

Indoor Air Policies: Maryellen Kanayurak, Tobacco Prevention Coordinator, did a five minutes power-point presentation about her recent efforts to change indoor air policies in our nearby communities. She told us about the survey they conducted this summer in Denali Park that indicated well over 80% of her respondents preferred a smoke-free environment. She discussed efforts to get good information about the benefits of clean indoor air out to people served by Railbelt Mental Health & Addictions and plans for future efforts.

.

WELLNESS THOUGHT

 

While struggling with any condition causing mental and physical DIS-ease, it is important to remember the exceptional healing power of the mind. Unfortunately, we often tend to concentrate more on the gripping power of the illness or addiction than on the possibility of recovery, thus permitting the problem to become both a mental and a physical habit. Yet each and every thought, be it of depression or happiness, irritation or calmness, anger or serenity, does actually cut subtle grooves in the brain cells and strengthen the tendencies either towards illness or well-being. This subconscious idea-habit of disease or health exerts a strong influence on our entire being. Stubborn mental or physical diseases always have a deep root in the subconscious. That is why developing the habit of strong positive thoughts consciously and repeatedly can react on the mind and the body through the medium of the subconscious, and lead to better health.

 Brenda Thomas, psychotherapist and the president and co-founder of Viva Consulting Family, Montreal, Quebec, Canada 

UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Kat: will be in Miami Nov 12-19^th, presenting at the National Harm Reduction conference.

Dana: Students at NSLC need community service hours to satisfy the requirement to advance to the next level. Requests should be coordinated through John Grimes. Also, they are beginning Family Nights on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30 – 10:00 P.M. starting November 17^th. Computers will be turned off and the community is invited to come in and participate in activities.  Lastly, they have begun an Elder’s Lap Robe project and want to complete a crocheted lap robe for each elder in our community.

Bonnie: There will be a Senior bus trip to Fairbanks Thursday, 9 A.M. Also, they did 46 haircuts last week Thursday, Good Show!

Tim: Fall Concert Wednesday, 6:30 PM in the gym. Thursday are Parent Conferences, no school. Friday and Saturday will be the Ice Cream Classic. Baha’i  Holy Days celebration Tuesday at the Purple House, 7 P.M.

 

OPEN FLOOR FOR COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION: None

 

ADJOURNMENT: 2:20 P.M.