Alaska Pulse Monthly by Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Alaska

FREE

PULSE

February 2020 Vol. 1, No. 2

In the swim At 91, Haines’ Joan Snyder an advocate for wellness

• Getting slimed means a job well done for Fairbanks woman • Terrifying diagnosis leads Anchorage woman on medical journey • Early intervention may have saved Alaska attorney general’s life • A Soldier’s Heart helps former Marine overcome trauma • Alaska welcomes its first babies of 2020 • Southcentral Foundation celebrates Russian Christmas • Kachemak Bay club keeps local residents on the run • Go Red and stay heart-healthy this month • Military medics a lifeline for Alaskans

Does breast or ovarian cancer run in your family? Knowing your risk can save your life. Being tested for the BRCA gene mutation is simple. The physicians at Tanana Valley Clinic OB/GYN can walk you through your many preventative options.

Dr. Jessica Highfill M.D.

Dr. William McKenna M.D.

Dr. Kerry Wappett M.D.

For answers to all of your questions regarding breast and ovarian cancer and the BRCA gene mutation, schedule an appointment today. Know your risks and your options. Conveniently located on the 4th Floor, South Tower of Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. Call for an appointment 459-3540.

INSIDE Our mission

Helping Alaskans to live a healthy and satisfying life in the Last Frontier by hearing from their fellow Alaskans, from Alaska health experts and by sharing their own stories.

February 2020 Vol. 1, No. 2

Alaska People

About Alaska Pulse Alaska Pulse is a monthly magazine focusing on health in the Far North and distributed around Fairbanks and Anchorage. We’ll share stories from around the state about how people stay healthy. Learn from experts in different medical fields on ways to improve, or maybe just maintain, your health. We’ll hear personal stories about people’s triumphs over different health adversities. Alaska Pulse is a community publication, so every issue is sure to hold a variety of perspectives.

Alaska Pulse is a publication of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner LLC. 200 N. Cushman St. Fairbanks AK 99707 Publisher Richard E. Harris Advertising

advertising@AlaskaPulse.com

459-7548

Editor Rod Boyce editor@AlaskaPulse.com 459-7585 Design Julie Stricker jstricker@AlaskaPulse.com 459-7532

Keeping fit at 91: Joan Snyder sets pace for wellness in Haines.

Getting slimed is only one upside to Audra Accola’s mission.

By Margaret Friedenauer Page 4

By Kris Capps Page 8

‘I strive to be positive’ : Erin Edenshaw makes a difference in Kotzebue.

A Soldier’s Heart helps James Shelton thrive. By Shamika Andrew Page 23

By Shaylene Dublin Page 18

Special focus: February is Heart Month

In her own words: Aliza Sherman looks for answers after a terrifying diagnosis.

Kevin Clarkson felt something was wrong while flying to Seattle. It was a heart attack.

Page 24

By Kyrie Long Page 29

FAQ about symptoms and risk factors of heart disease. Page 30

Chris Johnson returns to highlight women’s heart health at annual Go Red. By Kyrie Long Page 32

Features HEALTH SENSE: Dr. Tony Nimeh on low testosterone...............................................................................12 Chef Solus Lunch crossword puzzle ..............................................................................................................13 Kachemak Bay Running Club gets Homer on the move .................................................................. 14 Health Sense: Dr. Anne Zink on recovery and wellness ...................................................................20

Valentine’s Day Healthy Heart maze..............................................................................................................22 Welcoming Alaska’s first babies of 2020 .....................................................................................................34 Alaska encourages kids to Play Every Day ..................................................................................................36 Rescued: National Guard and Alaska soldiers are on the job..............................................................38 Health Sense: Betsey Jacobs on animal-assisted therapy...............................................................42 For kids: Valentine’s word search....................................................................................................................43 Southcentral Foundations’ Russian Christmas celebration ................................................................44 Recipe: Strawberries and Cream Choco Pops ............................................................................................47

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

In the swim of life

At 91, this retired public health nurse keeps on moving By Margaret Friedenauer

few times a week Joan Snyder walks the four blocks from her apartment to the Haines Pool for the 6:30 a.m. lap swim. Other swimmers afford Snyder a section of the pool to do her joint mobility exercises even though she doesn’t swim laps. Heather Lende, another regular morning pool user, said the accommodation is just a nod of respect to a longtime fellow swimmer. “To imply that we treat her like an old lady in the pool, we don’t at all,” Lende said. “Because she isn’t.” Snyder is 91. 4

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

She is one of Haines’ year-round residents who has helped this Southeast Alaska town retain its title of “oldest community” in the state for several years running, with a median age hovering near 49. It’s remote and rural, but seniors still move here or stay here after retirement. Snyder said it’s a fine place to age in place. “It’s a lovely town, mostly because it’s so easy to walk anywhere,” she said.

Training as a nurse

Snyder is an avid walker and has been a regular pool user since it opened in the 1980s. If you’ve lived in Haines for any length of time, you’ve seen her tromping

around town in all seasons. A generation of Haines-born residents know her in another capacity: as a watchful and caring public health nurse who doled out immunizations and Well Baby Clinics throughout the late 1970s and ‘80s. She settled in Haines after several years of adventure. The youngest in a Philadelphia family of nine siblings, she was the only one to graduate high school. She wanted to go to college, but that seemed unlikely after her father’s death. “Our family couldn’t afford college,” she said. “But we could afford nursing school.” She attended a three-year program

Joan Snyder of Haines, Alaska does a self designed workout in the Haines Swimming Pool. Photo by John Hagen

at Philadelphia General Hospital. She points out that the hospital had as many beds as Haines has people – about 2,500. After completing the program, one of her sisters who was married with five children encouraged her to travel instead of settling down. So she joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Afghanistan working in a maternity hospital and two more in India. After returning home from that country, she decided against returning to hospital nursing. Instead, she went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to get her degree in public health nursing. She applied for work with the state of Alaska because state

nursing jobs were easier to secure than federal ones and because Alaska sounded like an adventure. She was hired and assigned to Kotzebue for two years and then Kodiak for two years after that. Then she accepted a position in Haines, where she planned to stay for five years at the most. But while traveling from Anchorage to Haines, driving the stretch of the Haines Highway that crosses from Canada into the U.S., Snyder said she decided she would call it home. “I crossed that border and I was Dorothy on the way to Oz,” she said. “I’d never seen anything that beautiful before.”

Based in Haines, Snyder also served Skagway and Yakutat and in the summer visited fishing families in Elfin Cove and Excursion Inlet. She primarily operated Well Baby Clinics for expectant and new mothers and infants. She loved the job and retired at age 55. “It was a great job,” she said. “My greatest regret was that I retired.” As a young, adventurous nurse and traveler, Snyder said she decided she would stay unattached. She’s never married or had children. She said she’s a loner but she’s never been lonely. Growing older in Haines has advantages because of its size, she said. Ten ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

years ago, she moved into the Haines Senior Village, a private nonprofit senior housing complex. It’s located two blocks from downtown, across the street from the Haines Senior Center on one side and the health clinic on the other. It’s a fiveminute walk to the post office or swimming pool.

Staying active, keeping sharp

Top, Joan Snyder walks into the Haines Swimming Pool. Bottom, Heather Lende and Snyder do a self-designed workout at the pool. Photos by John Hagen

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

She used to hike all the trails near Haines, including the ones that rise 3,000 feet from the ocean to mountain peaks. She can still drive but doesn’t do so at night anymore and still prefers to walk when she can. Nowadays, she might ask for a ride to the pool from a fellow swimmer instead of walking if the weather is snowy or icy. Snyder has had two knee replacements in the last 10 years, the most recent less than a year ago. Her biggest complaint about recovery was the effects of anesthesia. Aside from being a little hard of hearing and her white hair, Snyder has weathered

Joan Snyder fell in love with Haines’ scenic beauty and the ease of getting around the small town in Southeast Alaska after working in other Alaska towns as well as two stints in the Peace Corps. John Hagen photo

91 years of life remarkably well. She credits her health to remaining busy and active but doesn’t divulge any unusual secrets. She’s modified her exercise over the years, like she does with swimming now, focusing on movement rather than cardio. “My heart and lungs are pretty good, but my joints need a little attention,” she said. She scoffs at the notion that she is any sort of role model for other seniors to stay active. But Lende, her friend and fellow swimmer, said Snyder still acts as

a health educator, reminding the others she swims with to take particular care of their feet. “She says, ‘If you want to live a long life, you have to take care of your feet and your teeth,’” she said. “Take care from the top to the bottom.” While Snyder said she usually prefers to exercise alone, Lende said part of the enjoyment of the swimming community is the camaraderie and that Snyder is a big part of that. Everyone sticks to swimming in the pool, but Lende said discussion is wide-ranging in the locker

room. Even though Snyder calls herself a loner, Lende said her friend is social and generous with her time, a good listener, offering practical advice when asked, living intentionally and independently, with purpose and stamina. “I think the most remarkable thing is she’s an example of how physical fitness keeps your mind active and young, because she’s so present with everyone.” Margaret Friedenauer is a freelance writer in Haines. Comments about this story? Email editor@AlaskaPulse. com

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

ALASKA PULSE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; February 2020

Left, Audra Accola with Gingerbread mascots Murphy and Sprinkles at Give Kids The World Village. Above, it is quite an honor for a top team to be slimed. Photos courtesy Audra Accola

Getting SLIMED for a good cause For Fairbanks’ Audra Accola, it’s just part of helping seriously ill children By Kris Capps Alaska Pulse

very year, Fairbanks resident Audra Accola raises money for families of children with lifethreatening diseases. Her reward? Once she had the special honor of someone pouring 5 gallons of green slime over her head. It was all in fun, but the underlying purpose behind that unique celebra-

tion is a serious one. Every $5,000 she and her team raises allows one family to spend a free week at Give Kids the World Village in central Florida. This is a 70-acre storybook resort that provides weeklong vacations for children with life-threatening diseases and their families. It operates on donations and with the help of volunteers. She discovered this special theme park seven years ago when her young nephew, who suffers from a heart condition, and

his family visited there through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She was so inspired by the experience that she and a growing number of friends now raise funds and go back every year. “No matter how many times I visit the village, I always feel the excitement and hope that surrounds it,” she said. “It was amazing to witness Alyc’s magical week to explore, play and forget the trials of being a sick child. It made a huge difference in his life.” ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Audra Accola’s mission to raise money for families of children with life-threatening diseases all began with her nephew Alyc, more than seven years ago. Courtesy of Audra Accola

m s h c H d i g

d f

o t

That inspired her to form her team, Alaska’s Angels, to help other families experience that same wonderful week. Since she began fundraising for this program in 2013, she and Alaska’s Angels have been among the top three fundraisers every year. One year, Accola was the top fundraiser out of 1,700 people participating in running events. To date, she has raised $45,373 as an individual. Alaska’s Angels has raised $75,737. Every year Accola and her teammates 10

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

participate in The Challenge for Hope 5K, formerly the Gingerbread Run, at Give Kids the World Village. The course winds through snoring trees, magic castles and a giant Candyland game. Accola and friends often take extra time to volunteer at the Village as well. When she visits in 2020, she hopes to be assigned to the ice cream parlor, where kids can eat ice cream for breakfast. “I know what it feels like to be singled

out and treated as different,” she said. “Where you can’t do the same things as your friends. At the Village, it is a different set of rules. The kids are in charge of their happiness. “If they want ice cream for breakfast, nobody will tell them no,” she added “Want to go swimming, ride a horse, go fishing, ride an amusement ride? They can enjoy all aspects of childhood.” Parents are surrounded by the support of other parents dealing with the same challenges. “There is a camaraderie and

A s r D

t m s

b t

d f S m

Left, one of the first Alaska’s Angels teams included Serenity Orth, Catherine Orth, Jaelynn Accola, Audra Accola and Amiel Accola. Above, Audra Accola shows off one of her medals from a running race at Give Kids The World. “Of all my race medals, the one I get at the Village is the one that means the most.” Courtesy of Audra Accola.

a bond in that,” she said. She knows this because more than 30 years ago she underwent open heart surgery to correct a congenital heart defect. Her grandmother had declared that “no grandchild of ours is going to have heart surgery without going to Disneyland first.” So off they went for a memorable few days before her surgery. She will never forget that trip. “It is what probably cemented my love of Disney and my current devotion to the kids at the Village,” she said. No one was more surprised than Accola that over the past seven years she became addicted to training and running in special fundraising races at Disney and at the Village. “It always amazes me, when I stop to think how my nephew’s wish trip started my path of running and fundraising,” she said. In 2017, for example, she was a member of the Give Kids The World Marathon Weekend Team. “I ran a total of 48.6 miles in four days,” she recalled. “It was four races in four days — Thursday 5K, Friday 10K, Saturday half-marathon and Sunday full marathon.” Along the way, she also discovered,

“When we were done, it looked like a mountain troll had sneezed on our heads.” through a friend, the spectacular medals distributed to runners at races held at Disney World. “I want one of those,” she remembers thinking, admiring the bling. Since then she has earned many of those medals, competing in a long list of Disney-themed races. Although those races continue to fill her calendar, her primary focus is always on raising funds for families to attend Give Kids the World Village. And the medals that mean the most are those won at the Village. “If Alyc has to go through all these surgeries and still come out of it with a smile and giggles and hope, the least I can do is get up and run a few miles,” she said. She’s always looking for donations, of course. But most importantly, she wants people to know that Give Kids The World Village exists. As for getting slimed? That was a special Nickelodeon tribute to top fundraisers. “An extremely high honor — so I was told by the Nickelodeon staff,” she said.

Initially, Nickelodeon wanted one person from each top fundraising team to be slimed, but none of the other teams wanted to participate. Accola’s teammates volunteered to be slimed, along with their leader. “When we were done, it looked like a mountain troll had sneezed on our heads,” she said. Dripping in green slime, they walked on stage to accept their trophies. She’s already planning her return trip to the Village in 2020 and offering basket-weaving classes to help raise money for the cause. Every year, she and her husband, Brian Accola, also purchase a pig roast at the local HIPOW (Happiness Is Paying Our Way) fundraiser for Catholic Schools of Fairbanks and use that as a fundraiser as well. “I am hoping to help create some of the magic that my nephew experienced,” she said. “Where other families of children that have life-threatening illnesses can experience the happiness that inspires hope.” “I really feel like I can give back,” she said. ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

HEALTH SENSE

About that low testosterone By Dr. Tony Nimeh

o you have low testosterone? 1. Work up, work up, work up Low testosterone is a legitimate medical condition that needs to be properly worked up. It’s not enough to just measure it and prescribe it. The reason is that low testosterone is not a “condition” but rather a “symptom” that can have an underlying cause. It’s like seeing smoke coming out of your house, and instead of looking for the fire you turn on the fans to get rid of the smoke rather than find where the fire is and extinguish it with water. The solution to your low testosterone could be water rather than a fan. 2. No it’s not “normal” even if it’s prevalent A controversial point of view that some people will take is that “older men have lower testosterone on average, therefore we do not need to fix it.” Although it is true that as men age their testosterone can decline — it’s called “andropause” — this is not a reason to not treat it. It’s like saying that older people have more joint problems than younger people, therefore they should not seek treatment for that. As we age, we do have more medical conditions, and we are lucky to live in an age where there are solutions, so let’s use them.

3. Treat the patient not the number Yet another controversial practice that many “men’s clinics” are taking is to measure testosterone and give it regardless of symptoms. They are using statistical variations in lab results as a reason to provide unnecessary treatment. If you do not have the symptoms of low testosterone, you should not accept to take testosterone: The data is clear on this. The reason is that testosterone is an important hormone in your body, and having too much of it can mess up other things that get affected by it. The bottom line is, “If it’s not broke, don’t mess with it,” because you might break something else. Your health is important, you’ll take it with you anywhere you go in life. We highly recommend you speak with a qualified physician, your PCP or contact our staff for further information. Did you know if you experience low testosterone there are alternatives available to you that do not require regular injections, pills or creams? For those of you with Low T, we can

provide you with safe, effective and regular testosterone replacement — and you only have to see us once every three to six months. No more needles, no more vials and no more waiting 20 minutes after rubbing a cream on your shoulders. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of a product called TestoPel in 1972; however, this has seen limited use until about a decade ago. At Men’s Health Alaska we see patients every week and treat their Low T by placing implantable pellets in the subcutaneous fat tissue by their hip. Instead of Jason Bourne with a digital bank account number, we put in a series of testosterone pellets that will slowly dissolve over the next three to six months and provide your body with steady and stable testosterone — keeping you at peak performance. TestoPel is one of a variety of options we have available to men suffering from Low T. It’s covered by most insurance, and if not, we have an easy payment plan in office set up for those needing to improve this deficiency. Testosterone is a naturally occurring hormone in the body, and we treat patients that have diagnosed low levels. We monitor our patients through blood draws and reviews to ensure you are on the right track. Dr. Tony Nimeh is the owner of Fairbanks Urology.

= More Alaskans in the future Alaska’s total population has been between 735,000 and 740,000 since 2013. In the long term, the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development projects the state will add about 100,000 people by 2045 through a combination of natural increase partly offset by small net migration losses. 12

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Across 3 Lemon juice on top of sliced apples help prevent ____ 4 You need an ___ pack in your lunch box (burrr) 7 Besides your backpack, make sure you have your _____ ____ 9 Trail mix usually contains these 10 Ranch dressing is a good dip for _____ 12 Many kids don’t like the ____ on bread 13 Crackers and ____ is a good side dish 14 Your bones gets strong when drinking this 15 These small sweet fruit can be green, red or black

Down 1 Hummus is a dip made of this bean 2 A very popular kid’s sandwich 5 Milk contains this mineral to make bones strong 6 This container will keep your pasta warm at school 8 Vanilla yogurt goes good with fresh blue ____ 11 This cracker rhymes with Sam

SOLUTION ON PAGE 47

Chef Solus Lunch Crossword Puzzle

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Above, winter brings different conditions, but doesn’t chill the excitement to run. Sue Mauger, Terri Spigelmyer, Andy Haas and Ann Dixon lead an outing of runners on snowshoes. Courtesy of

Kachemak Bay Running Club.

At right, flamingos may not be among the flocks of birds that arrive in Homer every spring, but the Kachemak Bay Running Club’s annual 5K Migration Run is an opportunity for runners Heidi Johnson, Macy Marquez and Michelle Drake to let their creative spirits take flight. Courtesy of the Homer News

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Kachemak Bay Running Club Mountains, beaches and trails make Homer an outdoor destination By McKibben Jackinsky

almy winter temperatures hovering around 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Gentle waves lapping along Kachemak Bay beaches. An almost-solstice sun rising above the Kenai Mountains’ jagged peaks. And the Spit Trail, a popular running-walking route along the slender finger of land jutting from shore out into the bay. Like the force of gravity, the combined elements were calling to Randy Wiest,

a retired doctor of family medicine and a founding member of Kachemak Bay Running Club, to take to the outdoors. “It’s a good day for a run,” said Wiest, for whom running has been a regular part of his daily routine since high school. As enticing as that wintry scene was for this seasoned runner with 20 marathons to his credit, it is only one of many scenarios attracting runners to the southern Kenai Peninsula. “We have beach, mountains and

trails, and that’s unique, especially in Alaska,” bragged Andy Haas, a Homer lawyer and another of the club’s founding members. Haas’s personal favorites: “When you can run a flat beach at low tide and not see anyone but the eagles and then travel across the bay and run Grace Ridge with no one but the dear love of God.” The annual arrival of birds to the southern Kenai Peninsula is celebrated by the 5K Migration Run in early spring. The 10K Homer Spit Run and ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Top, the annual 5K Migration Run on Spit Trail celebrates the springtime arrival of shorebirds and draws eager runners and walkers of all ages. Courtesy of the Homer News

Above, runner Denver Waclawski tackles the higher elevations of Grace Ridge Trail. Courtesy of Kachemak Bay Running Club Opposite page, the sandy shore of Kachemak Bay made the perfect 5-mile course for Kachemak Bay Running Club’s 2014 Breast Cancer Run. Deland Anderson, left, and Christine Anderson tackle the course barefoot. Courtesy of the

Homer News

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Homer Half Marathon treats runners and walkers mid-summer to stunning views of Kachemak Bay and its mountain-rimmed southern shore. The 5K Halibut Hustle tips its hat in the fall to Homer’s notoriety as the “halibut capital of the world.” Throw in a Valentine’s Day run held the Sunday before Valentine’s Day, the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot, assorted events the club is called upon to help organize, and it’s no wonder that in eight years the club’s membership has grown with “many more participants in our various activities,” said Jen Booz, a local teacher and running club board member. “We offer single, family and business memberships and have many families who are registered together as members, and we also have a few businesses who regularly sign up for business memberships,” Booz said of the varied memberships available. Several reasons fueled the decision to turn an avid, but loosely knit, band of runners into an organized nonprofit. For starters, the number of runners and walkers in the Homer area was growing, as was the list of events they were participating in elsewhere: marathons in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai, Boston, New York, Honolulu, Ireland, and

Greece, to name a few, as well as multiple shorter events. At-home opportunities to compete also were increasing, which raised another important reason to formalize the group. Becoming an official running club also was seen as a way to boost fundraising, especially for youth activities. “And then, of course, we wanted to offer more running events,” Wiest said. “We wanted to help transform Homer into a community that perceives itself as a running community.” New events in new locations keep interest in club activities fresh and provide opportunities to explore some of the southern peninsula’s spectacular vistas. For instance there’s the challenging Grace Ridge Run in nearby Kachemak Bay State Park, the first legislatively designated park in Alaska’s park system. Less than 10 miles long, the trail rises to 3,100 feet, beginning on a gravel beach, continuing through alders and alpine meadows before reaching ridgelines that reward with stunning views of Kachemak Bay, its network of coves, the Kenai

“We wanted to help transform Homer into a community that perceives itself as a running community.”

— Randy Wiest

Mountains, valley-filling glaciers, and, to the west, the string of volcanoes lining Cook Inlet’s western shore. Thursday “fun runs” beginning in late winter and continuing through fall keep the running and walking community connected. They are about 5K in length and begin and end at local breweries and restaurants. Homer High School track’s summer conditioning program is open to the community and gives club members an opportunity to focus on increasing their speed. For those running during the coldest part of the year when area trails and beaches may be slick with ice, Haas recommended hob-nailing shoes with small sheet metal screws. If running during the winter isn’t to an athlete’s liking, skiing and snowshoeing in Homer’s

backcountry offer plenty of cross-conditioning opportunities. “There is one small fly in the ointment. Once you organize a running club like this, people look to you as being the people to put on events. Pretty soon you find yourself running events and not running in them,” said Wiest before taking off for a wintry morning run on Spit Trail. “But we’re always looking to add new wrinkles to running to keep it fresh and fun for everybody.” For more about Kachemak Bay Running Club, membership and upcoming events, visit Kachemak Bay Running Club on Facebook and on the web at kachemakbayrunningclub.org. McKibben Jackinsky is a freelance writer in Homer. Comments about this story? Email editor @AlaskaPulse.com

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

FAIRBANKS NATIVE ASSOCIATION SPOTLIGHT Erin and Erik Edenshaw and children, Olivia and Laken, as well as niece Juanita, at the 2019 Tanana Valley State Fair. Courtesy of Erin Edenshaw

Living by Inupiaq values By Shaylene Dublin

Name: Erin Edenshaw From: Kotzebue What do you do? Allied Health Project coordinator, Fairbanks Native Association employee for 3 1/2 years. Certified substance use counselor, certified in mindfulness techniques, certified in trauma-informed care. Current University of Alaska Fairbanks student. 18

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

How does your heritage inspire you? My heritage inspires me because I know every day that I come from a strong lineage. My ancestors and elders were tough enough to survive every terrain and every season. I carry forward my traditional knowledge by living my life with Inupiaq values. Sharing, humility, respect for others, love for children, hard work, respect for Elders, respect for nature, humor, and domestic skills have given me a wonderful life, and I work to pass these values onto my children by example.

Why do you love your field of work? I love my field of work because I love feeling like I’m giving back to the Native community. I had many important adult mentors in my youth who helped me enormously. I want to be able to do the same for today’s youth. I want our youth to feel a sense of belonging, self-worth, and love of life. No matter the position I am in, I strive to be positive and encouraging to our youth and their families. In my former position as a counselor, I worked

Left, a small portion of descendants of Joe Field originally of Fort Yukon enjoying pre-Thanksgiving dinner. Above, Erin Edenshaw, FNA Allied Health project coordinator, left, and Daphne Gustafson, FNA Johnson O’Malley director, right, in Washington, D.C. May 2019, when attending a meeting for the program. Bottom, Erin and Erik Edenshaw on a short caribou hunting trip along the Noatak River, fall 2019. Courtesy of Erin Edenshaw

with young people who had experienced different levels of trauma and didn’t always have caring, functional adults to help them navigate trying times in a healthy, functional way. I felt rewarded when I could help in some way. In my current position, I do a lot of recruitment and referrals. I collaborate with experts in the medical field, school district, and various other agencies to provide the best services I can to students in the FNA Allied Health Pathways Program. I believe that the students have the power to change health care as we know it and are our future leaders. •••••••••••• The Allied Health Pathways Program offers eligible Fairbanks North Star Borough School District juniors and seniors, or recent high school graduates,

an opportunity to earn certification in any of eight different healthcare pathways. Students may participate while still in high school or while they are in their first year of college. They can also earn up to one year of credits with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Career and Technical Education Program. Students can earn certification in nursing, nurse’s aide, paramedicine, phlebotomy, radiologic technology, medical assistant, health care reimbursement, or dental assistant. Allied Health Pathways will pay for credit fees (up to 30 hours), materials, transportation, and support needs. The program is a partnership between FNA and the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. Shaylene Dublin is executive coordinator at Fairbanks Native Association.

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

HEALTH SENSE

Let’s nurture the seeds of recovery and wellness By Dr. Anne Zink

Alaska Department of Health and Social Services

t the beginning of each new year, many of us make resolutions to live healthier, happier lives. Addressing substance misuse or mental illness may be one of yours, or something you wish with all your heart for a friend or loved one. Deciding you want change is a critical first step, but we should all keep in mind this is not a path most people walk alone. All of us have a role to play in supporting recovery. Substance misuse and mental illness are far too common in Alaska, and every Alaskan who has been affected or touched by these diseases of despair has his or her own journey to recovery. For some, it may be recovery from alcohol or opioid addiction; for others, it may be depression or mental illness. Some stumble after the loss of a job, a home or a loved one. For each of us, recovery is a deeply personal journey, but it almost always involves con-

nection to others or a higher power. As writer Johann Hari said, “The opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety. It’s connection.” Many of us have experience with addiction, either personally or professionally. As an emergency physician, I am humbled whenever I witness the despair and destruction of addiction, the power of recovery, and the resiliency of family and caregivers as they struggle alongside those battling addiction. Among my most memorable work experiences are when I have sat beside patients in their darkest hours and then later learned they found a way to recovery. Addiction is a disease, as real as a heart attack or a broken bone. Addic-

tion is not a moral failing. Part of addiction treatment is compassion, respect, and the deep belief that recovery is possible, even if it does not come easily or quickly. We each play a role in recovery. That means not pushing a friend to have a beer when they say no, recognizing that a coworker’s struggles may be a reflection of a deeper battle with addiction, or learning how to love with healthy boundaries a family member who cycles through addiction. It also means striving to always show kindness and empathy toward others, and for a clearer understanding of the role trauma plays and how that may have affected someone’s life and decisions they’ve made along the way. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services’ broad mandate is to promote and protect the health and well-being of all Alaskans. This includes supporting meaningful addiction and resiliency work by health care providers and within communities. States play a unique role by serving as a conduit for funding sources like

= Salmon for health Alaska has lots of salmon. Lots. Salmon contain lots of Omega-3 fatty acids. Lots. Omega-3s are great for your body, says the National Institutes of Health, noting that Omega-3s play important roles in the body as components of the phospholipids that form the structures of cell membranes. “In addition to their structural role in cell membranes, omega-3s (along with omega-6s) provide energy for the body and are used to form eicosanoids. Eicosanoids are signaling molecules that have similar chemical structures to the fatty acids from which they are derived; they have wide-ranging functions in the body’s cardiovascular, pulmonary, immune, and endocrine systems.” 20

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

laska Pulse is a monthly magazine focusing on health in the Far North and distributed around Fairbanks and Anchorage. We’ll share stories from around the state about how people stay healthy. Learn from experts in different medical fields on ways to improve, or maybe just maintain your health. We’ll hear personal stories about people’s triumphs over different health adversities. Alaska Pulse is a community publication, so every issue is sure to hold a variety of different perspectives.

Contact editor Rod Boyce at editor@AlaskaPulse.com or 907-459-7585 to talk about it. Alaska Pulse is a publication of The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. 200 North Cushman Street • Fairbanks AK, 99701

Online resources • Find a treatment facility near you: https://findtreatment.gov/ • Need to talk? Careline Alaska: https://carelinealaska.com/ • List of substance use disorder treatment providers in Alaska: https://bit.ly/36JuhKu • Recover Alaska: https://recoveralaska.org/

assessment reported having a drug problem in the past, while 43% reported having a current drug problem. A patient once told me, “I would steal from my mother. Why would I not steal from you?” His comment drives home how significantly addiction can fundamentally change a person’s brain and affect life choices. Directly or indirectly, addiction is a part of our lives, and so is the power and importance of recovery. Like the knot in a tree, through growth we can grow around and live with our challenges and come out stronger and more whole. Dr. Gina Perez-Baron, a family practice physician and medical director at the Seattle Indian Health Board who has effectively treated addiction in rural and underserved communities for over a decade, once said, “The seeds of recovery are already inside you.” Our role as Alaskans is to nurture those seeds, personally and in others. Dr. Anne Zink is a board-certified emergency physician and Alaska’s chief medical officer.

Now Available in Alaska! AFFORDABLE HEALTH INSURANCE*

from one of the Nation’s Most Trusted Providers

CALL FOR YOUR QUOTE TODAY!

913-851-1330

F602365-1

the marijuana tax and federal grants that facilitate evidencebased prevention and early intervention programming to promote and protect Alaskans health. Now with the implementation of Alaska’s 1115 Medicaid waiver, we have more tools to empower recovery than ever before. This waiver, made by Alaskans for Alaska, was recently approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and allows additional substance misuse and behavioral health services to bill for Medicaid reimbursement. The waiver supports recovery though a number of programs, including community-based and inpatient substance abuse services, ambulatory withdrawal management, peerbased crisis services and adult and youth residential treatment options, to name a few. We’re committed to working alongside Alaskans in these struggles, but these are not easy problems to solve. It will take time, resolve, and all of us working together. It is often easier to think of addiction and recovery as someone else’s problem. But the reality is addiction plays a huge role in all of our lives. According to a 2017 report by the McDowell Group, the economic impact of drug and alcohol abuse in Alaska exceeds $3 billion a year. These costs are borne by state and local governments, employers and residents and affect all of us. We also know drug problems are common among Alaska’s prison population; 79% of offenders who were given an

INDIVIDUAL AND/OR DENTAL

*These plans are not ACA (OBAMACARE) qualified plans.

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Valentine’s Day Healthy Heart Maze

Flex your heart muscle to keep it strong with daily exercise and heart friendly foods! The explorers have prepared a healthy picnic for Chef Solus. Can you help Chef Solus find his way to the picnic?

Visit www.ChefSolus.com for free printable worksheets for kids, nutrition education games, puzzles, activities and more!

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

James Shelton:

A Soldier’s Heart success story By Shamika Andrew

Southcentral Foundation

fter achieving 20 months of sobriety, James Shelton, manager of Southcentral Foundation’s Soldier’s Heart Program, has regained his humor and has been able to rebuild a positive relationship with his wife and two daughters. This powerful transformation is a result of his experience with the Soldier’s Heart Program. Shelton served as a U.S. Marine for 15 years. During his service, he was deployed twice to both Okinawa, Japan and Iraq. While on deployment, he found that his youngest daughter was an inspiration for him to work though his challenges. Toward the end of his military service, he oversaw recruitment for Alaska and soon after accepted a job at Southcentral Foundation as manager of recruitment. He noticed Southcentral Foundation was different from other organizations and appreciated everyone was willing to build a relationship with one another while focusing on the organization’s vision and mission. At Southcentral Foundation, Shelton learned to share his story and spoke for the first time about

his post-traumatic stress and addiction to alcohol. He enjoyed sharing his story because of how he felt after sharing instead of keeping it to himself. However, his post-traumatic stress symptoms continued. It wasn’t until Shelton attended Soldier’s Heart training that he was able to take the next step on his healing journey and address the root causes of his distress. After the training, he decided he wanted to quit his job to honor the self-work he needed to do. After sharing with his supervisor, they were able to identify a path that would allow him to stay employed and continue to work on healing. His coworkers were supportive of him and his decision and didn’t treat him differently. After participating in treatment, he continued to attend weekly meetings at Soldier’s Heart and eventually led one of the meetings. He became involved in the program and enjoyed helping other veterans and first responders. He hopes every state has a program like Soldier’s Heart and appreciates the importance of including spouses and family to help understand and support their partner or family member who has post-traumatic stress. Shelton feels the

more people Soldier’s Heart can serve, the better. There is a camaraderie within Soldier’s Heart that Shelton appreciates. He has built relationships with other veterans and first responders who are going through similar situations. Before participating in the program, many of them shared they felt alone. The goal of Soldier’s Heart is to provide a structure that creates a community of support. “Despite the PTS and my experience as a Marine, I would willingly go and do it all over again in a heartbeat,” he said. Shelton has faced many challenges on his journey, yet he remains resilient. Soldier’s Heart services are available to all veterans, law enforcement, and first responders who have experienced service-related trauma and/or have posttraumatic stress. Preliminary research results are showing great promise and participants feedback is that the experience has been life-changing. For more information about the Soldier’s Heart Program, call 907-729-6671, or email at soldiersheart@ southcentralfoundation.com. Southcentral Foundation is an Alaska Native-owned, nonprofit health care organization serving nearly 65,000 Alaska Native and American Indian people living in Anchorage, MatanuskaSusitna Borough and 55 rural villages in the Anchorage Service Unit.

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

‘It looks like your heart has been damaged’ One woman’s topsy-turvy journey for answers By Aliza Sherman

ho knew an overdue annual exam with a new doctor would quickly turn into a frightening series of events and unexpected battery of tests? “It looks like you may have had a heart attack.” An EKG and those words drastically changed the next few months of my life. 24

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

As a menopausal woman in my mid50s, I am keenly aware of my aging body and my mortality. I make promises to myself to pay more attention to my health, but life gets in the way. When I began to feel out of breath doing simple things — like tying my shoes — I thought it seemed odd, but I was busy taking care of my work and my family, so I didn’t think much more about it. When I felt a dull ache under my left

lower rib, I made a mental note of it but wasn’t too concerned. The sensation wasn’t sharp or intense. When it persisted, I dismissed it as a strained muscle. Then I felt a sharp pain in my back, between my shoulder blades, a little to the left. Only then did I think, “Maybe I should see a doctor.” After my long-time health practitioner retired, getting in to see a new doctor seemed daunting, but I finally made

For more information about heart health, visit the American Heart Association’s website at www.heart.org

Aliza Sherman is founder and CEO of Ellementa, which fosters wellness in women.

time for a checkup. I mentioned the breathlessness and the dull chest ache and sharp back pain as I gave a headto-toe rundown of everything that was changing with my body. I soon found myself lying on a table with electrodes from an electrocardiogram, or EKG, taped to my chest and legs. The technicians took a reading then left the room only to return to say the doctor requested a second reading. When she came back to tell me her findings, I wasn’t expecting what she said: She saw an abnormality in my heart rhythm. She showed me the jagged waves printed on a piece of paper that recorded my heart’s electrical signals that controlled my heartbeat. “It looks like your heart has been damaged. It looks like you may have had a heart attack. And I think you’re experiencing AFib.” Atrial fibrillation, or AFib, is an

irregular heartbeat or arrhythmia that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart conditions. She put in an order for me to see a heart specialist.

The ambulance ride

According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the United States, but “women often chalk up the symptoms to less life-threatening conditions like acid reflux, the flu or normal aging.” Also, women’s heart attacks often present differently than men’s. While a man may experience severe chest pains and shooting pain and numbness down his left arm, a woman’s heart attack symptoms might include pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of the chest; some pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the

back, neck, jaw or stomach; shortness of breath that may or may not be accompanied by chest discomfort; breaking out into a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness. Once I read the symptoms on the American Heart Association website, I remembered that I had also felt nausea a few times and also lightheaded. When I made an appointment to see the heart doctor, I was directed to first wear a heart monitor, like a portable, personal EKG adhered to my chest, for one week. The Tuesday before I was scheduled for my heart monitor fitting, I was home alone and suddenly felt a weird fluttering and pain in my chest. All I could think about was my kids coming home to find me dead on the dining room floor. I thought I should call someone but didn’t want to call 911 — that seemed too extreme to me. Instead, I called the ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Above, Aliza Sherman had numerous EKGs and other tests after she experienced shortness of breath and a dull ache in her chest, among other worrying symptoms. She also was fitted with a heart monitor, right, and spent time in the emergency room before another doctor eventually diagnosed the symptoms as stemming from stress, not a heart problem. Courtesy of Aliza Sherman

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

nearest hospital’s emergency room and explained what I was feeling. I was transferred to a triage nurse and repeated a description of my symptoms to her. “Should I go to the hospital?” I asked. “I’d feel a lot better if you would call 911 right now,” she replied in a calm but firm voice. “Really?” I couldn’t believe she was serious. “Yes, I think you should hang up now, and call 911.” I felt ridiculous as I hung up and dialed 911. I was annoyed with myself for making a big deal out of nothing and was embarrassed that I would be inconveniencing everyone around me, not to mention racking up medical bills that would create an untenable burden for my family. When the ambulance arrived at my home, I kept apologizing to the EMTs for being so “silly.” Nothing they said to

me took away the embarrassment I felt for causing this much commotion. I refused an IV but let them lay me down on a stretcher and put a blood pressure cuff on my arm and EKG electrodes on my chest to monitor me on the way to the hospital. The EMT noted that he saw possible signs of heart damage and AFib. Once in an ER room, I was put on an IV and the ER doctor ran some blood work. According to my online medical chart, my tests included an EKG; an echocardiogram or heart ultrasound; a standard CBC with differential to measure the number of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets in the blood; a Comprehensive Metabolic Panel to measure my glucose level, electrolyte and fluid balance, and kidney and liver function; and a B Type Natriuretic Peptide test to measure the levels of a protein in my blood that could signify heart failure if elevated. I was also given two blood tests a few hours apart to look for troponin I, a protein that is released into the bloodstream when there is heart muscle damage following a “heart event” such as a heart attack. All tests came back normal. I went home.

The heart monitor

The next day, I received instructions for using my new heart monitor as the technician fixed it onto my sternum with adhesive. The monitor was gray, lightweight, about the size and width of two fingers, with a button on one end. I was told to press the button any time I felt any strange or painful sensations in my chest. Over the course of the next week, I distinctly felt fluttering in my chest, usually in the morning around 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. A few afternoons, I also felt lightheaded and a few times I felt tingling in my left arm. The dull ache in my chest continued as did the intermittent stabbing pain in my back, but I went about my days as usual. Midway through my week of heart monitoring, I was working at an outdoor event for a client when I sat down

for lunch and began seeing a strange prism-like pattern in my line of sight. At first, I thought the vision disturbance was caused when I moved out of the sun into an indoor shaded area. Then I thought it might be dehydration; however, I had been drinking water all day and had just finished a bowl of soup and another bottle of water. I got up and walked back outside to start working again and tried to ignore the weird eye issue, but the prism pattern was present wherever I looked. I made my way to an EMT building and explained my symptoms. I was ushered into a room, instructed to lie down, and was soon covered with EKG electrodes and feeling the squeeze of a blood pressure cuff on my arm. The EMTs took EKG readings as I was lying down, then sitting up, and then standing and

then lying back down again. One of the senior technicians told me that he saw an abnormality in my EKG, now a familiar refrain, and he advised that I be taken by ambulance to the hospital. “Am I having a heart attack? Or is it a stroke?” I asked. “It doesn’t appear so, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable having you drive yourself to the hospital.” My husband picked me up from the event and took me to the ER. The lab work came back normal, but the ER doctor pointed out the same abnormality in my EKG and said, like others had told me, that it could be a sign of damage to my heart. I went home. A few days later, my heart monitor was removed. A few days after that, I went to see the heart specialist. Somehow, he was ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

unaware that I had already worn a heart monitor for a week and could not find the results, so I was given a blood test and a new appointment to return a few weeks later. In between visits with the heart specialist, I received a call from the doctor’s assistant with my heart monitor results but couldn’t understand what she was telling me, and she was unable to explain what she was reading to me. At this moment, I began to freak out. I’ve read that the mind is a powerful thing, and that when faced with a shocking or distressing situation, your mind can go through a process of denial to hold overwhelming emotions at bay. I was weirdly calm, almost zombielike, through the weeks of not knowing what was happening to me or whether I had heart damage or had experienced a heart attack or if I was about to have one at any moment. I was now officially terrified.

The stress test

Two weeks later, I was in the heart doctor’s office again, and he was telling me that the EKGs he had seen to date did not say to him “abnormal” or “heart damage.” I didn’t believe him. I questioned his expertise and his knowledge of women’s heart attacks. He did share the heart monitor results with me and admitted that each time I pressed a button on the monitor, it recorded a rapid heartbeat, but he didn’t think it

was the sign of a heart attack. I was angry and confused. After everything I had been through to date, how could it be nothing more than an occasional fast-beating heart? Just to be certain that his assessment was correct and that he had covered all the bases, he ordered a stress test. Ten days later, I was in another hospital gown with electrodes stuck to my body, but this time I was in comfortable running shoes on a treadmill, walking increasingly faster, then jogging, all the while being monitored by a team of three people. When I couldn’t run anymore, they quickly led me to a table, laid me down, and began running an echocardiogram, taking an ultrasound of my heart. The hardest part of the test wasn’t the exertion — the hardest part was holding my breath to make my heart more visible as they moved the ultrasound wand over my chest. I felt like my heart and lungs would burst out of my body. Then the test was over. As I left, the attending physician said that he didn’t see anything abnormal about my heart. “Your heart looks fine,” he said.

A fast heart

Three weeks later, I was back at the heart specialist’s for my follow up appointment. He reiterated that he could find nothing wrong with my heart other than intermittent tachycardia, or rapid heartbeat, in my heart’s upper chamber. A relatively common

disorder, I was told tachycardia does not signify or precipitate a heart attack. “What is causing it?” I asked. He listed three of the most likely things: 1. Stress 2. Lack of sleep 3. Caffeine I admitted that I’d been under tremendous stress over the past year and that between stress and menopause, I wasn’t getting enough sleep. In terms of caffeine, I am a steady one-cup-a-morning coffee drinker, and I consume no other caffeine and never past noon, so I was pretty sure my main problems were high stress and little sleep. Reducing stress is an ongoing goal of mine but one that I’m never even close to achieving. I did start up my yoga practice again, and even as little as 10 minutes a day seems to help. Once the ice clears from my neighborhood streets, I’m planning to resume daily walks. For the insomnia, I’ve been taking magnesium and more recently, a little melatonin, both of which seem to be helping. On the caffeine front, I’m not yet ready to give up my single morning cup since my heart symptoms are now virtually gone. If they come back, I may switch to green tea. I hear it can be beneficial for the heart. Aliza Sherman is a digital marketing consultant and author of 12 books including Cannabis and CBD for Health and Wellness. When not doing yoga, she can be found watching British detective shows, working on her karaoke skills, and trying to get a good night’s sleep.

North WiNd Behavioral Caroline Atkinson

MA, LPC Licensed Professional Counselor

Cathy Johnson

RN, MSB, ANP Advanced Nurse Practitioner

Elizabeth Kraska

Prevent Falls in the Driveway and Walkway! Call Mease Plowing at 1-336-478-7393. Let’s have a healthy New Year! 28

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

MA, LPC Licensed Professional Counselor

1867 airport Way Suite 215 FairBaNkS, alaSka

(907) 456-1434 Fax (907) 456-1481

North Wind Behavioral Health offers outpatient treatment Services include: individual, for anxiety, depression, PTSD, mood disorders, ADHD couples and family therapies and and other behavioral health challenges. medication management. Hours: Monday–Thursday 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. • Most Insurances Accepted • www.northwindbehavioral.com

a i h

D h t G H c t f

i H s i t e

h w a

C h o

Out of nowhere

Early action a lifesaver when heart attack strikes suddenly By Kyrie Long

Kevin Clarkson said he led an active lifestyle and thought he’d be the “last person on the face of the Earth” to have heart problems. Above, he shows a king salmon he caught in Kasilof River in June while fishing with his son, Joey.

Alaska Pulse

laska’s attorney general is coming up on his 61st birthday and on the anniversary of a particularly memorable flight. In April it will be one year since Kevin Clarkson’s heart attack. “So, I was the last person on the face of the Earth who thought I was going to have a problem with my heart,” he said in a January interview. Clarkson became the attorney general in December 2018. Just a few months later he was in Lafayette, Louisiana, where the National Association of Attorneys General Conference was taking place. He got up the morning he was set to come home, walked 3 miles as per his typical daily routine, and later got on a flight back to Alaska. He had no history of heart problems in his family and no prior symptoms. He knew his blood pressure and blood sugar were a little high, but he was taking measures to handle that. He said there were no symptoms of anything else going on. Then, on the plane, he started to exhibit the signs of a heart attack. “My brother is a doctor … and so he has over the years ingrained in my mind what the symptoms of a heart attack are,” he said. Despite not wanting to cause a scene, Clarkson pressed the call button above his seat and the crew identified a nurse on board.

Courtesy Kevin Clarkson

What happened?

It was a small buildup of plaque in his left coronary artery that led to the heart attack. It wasn’t enough to cause him trouble at first, but according to Clarkson, who later had the whole thing explained by his cardiologist, the plaque ruptured and became a blockage. Clarkson’s decision to call for help was met readily by the airline staff. “I think the people of Alaska Airlines were incredible,” Clarkson said. “They were very professional and they knew what they were doing and what they needed to do.” Because the nurse was able to take his blood pressure, which Clarkson remem-

bers as the “just unbelievable” number 219, the flight crew called paramedics, who were waiting when the plane landed in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The whole way to the airport he had oxygen available to him and the nurse gave him an aspirin, which helped in the meantime. He left the plane and was in the gate area when the paramedics took an EKG, looked at him and told him he wasn’t going home. Medics from the hospital arrived shortly after. Then, Clarkson told them he was feeling dizzy, which is the last thing he can remember from the incident. His heart had stopped. ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Heart disease facts How can I reduce my risk of heart disease?

To lower your chances of getting heart disease, it’s important to do the following: • Know your blood pressure. Having uncontrolled blood pressure can lead to heart disease. High blood pressure has no symptoms, so it’s important to have your blood pressure checked regularly. • Talk to your doctor or health care team about whether you should be tested for diabetes. Having uncontrolled diabetes raises your risk of heart disease. • Quit smoking. If you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you do smoke, learn ways to quit. • Discuss checking your blood cholesterol and triglycerides with your doctor. • Make healthy food choices. Being overweight or obese raises your risk of heart disease. • Limit how much alcohol you drink to one drink a day. • Manage stress levels by finding healthy ways to cope with stress.

What are the symptoms of heart disease?

Although some women have no symptoms, others may have the following symptoms: • Angina (dull and heavy or sharp chest pain or discomfort) • Pain in the neck, jaw, or throat • Pain in the upper abdomen or back These symptoms may happen when you are resting or when you are doing regular daily activities. Women also may have other symptoms, including these: • Nausea • Vomiting • Fatigue Sometimes heart disease may be “silent” and not diagnosed until you have other symptoms or emergencies, including these: • Heart attack: Chest pain or discomfort, upper back or neck pain, indigestion, heartburn, nausea or vomiting, extreme fatigue, upper body discomfort, dizziness, and shortness of breath • Arrhythmia: Fluttering feelings in the chest (palpitations) • Heart failure: Shortness of breath, fatigue, or swelling of the feet, ankles, legs, abdomen, or neck veins’

If you have any of these symptoms, call 911 right away. What are the risk factors for heart disease?

• High blood pressure, high LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease. About half of all people in the United States (47%) have at least one of these three risk factors. • Several other medical conditions and lifestyle choices can also put people at a higher risk for heart disease, including diabetes, physical inactivity, drinking too much alcohol, being overweight or obese, and eating an unhealthy diet. — U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

The paramedics used shock paddles to revive him, and Clarkson woke up on his back, staring up. He can recall the professionalism of the paramedics, young guys who were firemen, who saved him. “They were the ones who revived me and brought me back after my heart stopped,” Clarkson said. From the airport Clarkson was transported to the hospital, where he would undergo surgery. He told the hospital about his brother, the doctor, who lives in Washington and who was able to come to the hospital to see him. Nurses kept asking Clarkson how old he was and he kept asking them what time it was. “They thought I was out of it or something,” Clarkson said. “I had to say, ‘No look, if it’s after midnight, I’m 60 years old.’”

What’s changed?

The first thing that had to change was Clarkson’s heart, which now has two stents in it. “It wasn’t open heart surgery or something like that,” he said. “They went through my wrist.” One tiny little incision to his wrist and the doctors were able to move a tube through to his heart and place the stents inside. “It’s really kind of amazing what they’re able to do and I was awake the whole time.” Doctors had monitors set up, so he was awake and able to watch the whole process happen on the screens. Now he can’t even see the scar on his wrist anymore. He keeps a card in his wallet that explains he has the stents, just in case something happens and he’s not able to explain. The second thing to change was his activity level, but not in the way you might think. Clarkson described himself as having a normally active, energetic lifestyle. That 3 mile walk he took the morning of his heart attack was routine for him. When he went home after surgery he had dinner with friends and found, on a walk afterward, he couldn’t make it 100 yards without having to stop and catch his breath. “So I really had to slow down at first and not overdo anything,” he said.

When starting cardiac rehab, Clarkson said he set the treadmill to what he thought was a relatively slow speed, only to have one of the people working there come slow the machine down. The other thing to change was his diet. “You have a heart attack, it’s a big wake-up call, so I took it seriously,” Clarkson said. He loves to cook, but he’s had to get the salt out of the kitchen. He started using sugar-free creamer and reading labels on boxes at grocery stores to see how many carbohydrates there are per meal. As result of the change to his diet he’s lost 35 pounds since the surgery. He joked he might need to have his clothes tailored soon, since they’ve become loose. Of course, there are still a few things he misses. “Well yeah, I love ice cream,” he said, laughing, “so I really miss ice cream.” He used to keep Jolly Ranchers in his desk drawer, but no more. “But those are small things to give up, you know?” He’s said he’s probably more attuned to paying attention to what’s going on with his health as well. He monitors his blood sugar regularly now, something cardiac rehab had him doing routinely, and he gets blood pressure checks. “My wife, Johanna, worked in the medical area, so she knows how to take

you might be experiencing.”

Awareness

Kevin Clarkson poses with an alligator he encountered in Lafayette, Louisiana, in September. After his heart attack last spring, Clarkson said he made some lifestyle changes, including giving up ice cream and his favorite Jolly Rancher candies. Courtesy of Kevin Clarkson

blood pressure,” he said, “so she does that for me.” Clarkson said it was an important reminder to keep things in life in perspective as well. “Spilled milk is just spilled milk, you know, compared to some of the things

Clarkson has determined that when he gets the chance to speak about it, he’ll talk to people about what happened to him. He wants people to know the symptoms of a heart attack: the pain and pressure throughout the chest, radiating pain down the left arm (or sometimes the right, or even the back), shortness of breath, cold sweat, rapid heart beat, nausea sometimes to the point of wanting to throw up. “Those are the primary symptoms, and if people have those in any combination they should let somebody know around them so they can get some help if they need it,” he said. The worst thing he could have done, he said, was nothing. He would’ve walked off the plane and into the airport, with no surrounding paramedics. “I wouldn’t be here if I did that, so for me what saved my life was recognizing my symptoms and hitting the call button.” And for anybody like him, anyone who thinks they’re experiencing the symptoms in public and is worried about how it will look to ask for help, his advice is to get over that feeling quick. “Don’t worry about embarrassing yourself. Your life is more important than that momentary embarrassment.” ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Go Red keeps women’s heart health in spotlight By Kyrie Long Alaska Pulse

red dress is a statement piece, and you might grow especially used to the sight of these dresses throughout the month of February, American Heart Month. The red dress is a symbol of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women initiative. “Essentially it is a movement that was created because there was a discrepancy, a disparity actually, in research in heart disease for women,” said Janet Bartels, executive director of the Alaska chapter of the American Heart Association. Almost all research on heart disease 32

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

for the last 50 years has all been done on men, according to Bartels, who added that signs and symptoms are different for women. Also, she noted, most women don’t know that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women. The Go Red campaign is a year-round effort, with a variety of mini-events as well as a social media and online presence. During February and into early March, the Alaska chapter of the American Heart Association has a few Go Red activities. “Within the state we have the Go Red

for Women conference and luncheon,” Bartels said, held in Fairbanks and Anchorage. The conference and luncheon functions as a type of health expo, where women can get screened, visit with product vendors, have a heart-healthy breakfast, attend health seminars, and wrap up the event at the luncheon. The first Friday in February is also “Wear Red” day. Companies will get red dress pins, create awareness opportunities and celebrate women’s health. In all, it “kind of kicks off heart month” Bartels said. Chris Johnson, founder and CEO of On Target Living, a health and performance organization based in Michigan,

w b

i e r j i u

A l A o g t w m o

i b a

e o

was the keynote speaker for the Fairbanks luncheon last year. “The energy of this event is just incredible, and the leadership of this event,” Johnson said. “They just make it really fun and special, and it makes my job very easy to come in and bring our information. It’s not hard to get pumped up about it.” This year, Johnson is returning to Alaska to speak again at the Fairbanks luncheon on Feb. 21, as well as at the Anchorage luncheon for the first time, on March 4. His daughter, Kristin Brogan, is also joining him in Fairbanks this year. Brogan is a registered dietician who along with her twin brother and mother, make up three more members of the On Target Living team. On Target Living came into being in 2006. Johnson has written multiple books and toured the country talking about health living. He’s spoken at a few other Go Red events closer to his home as well. Most of the work of On Target Living focuses

Chris Johnson, CEO and founder of On Target Living, gives a presentation during the American Heart Association Go Red for Women luncheon Feb. 15, 2019 at the Carlson Center. Eric Engman/News-Miner file photo

on the corporate world, according to Johnson, but they’re starting to expand out of that space. “It’s pretty easy to stay in the financial services arena or insurance arena because there’s just so much business

there, but there’s so many people out there who are hurting, who need help,” he said. Johnson thinks the company will be doing more with Go Red around the country in the future. ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

It’s a new year, baby! See the smiles of Alaska’s first 2020 arrivals

Courtesy of Shirley Young with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage Alissa and Kier Wilson welcomed their newborn baby at 6:43 a.m. Jan. 1. Daxton William Wilson is their first child and he arrived fashionably late, welcoming in the new decade. “He was due on the 30th, so he was two days late,” Alissa said. She said it’s been crazy having a New Year’s baby, but that Daxton “has the easy birthday probably ever to remember.” “His grandpa’s birthday is the 31st, so he’s almost sharing a birthday with his papa,” she said.

Compiled by Kyrie Long and Amanda Bohman

Fairbanks Memorial Hospital When Mary Franzen went to the hospital Oct. 26 due to increasing pain in her pelvis, she expected to be diagnosed with a hernia or with appendicitis. Franzen, who suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome, had made peace with the low probability that she would get pregnant. “We talked about maybe someday doing adoption if we could,” she said, motioning to her fiance, 28-year-old Gary Dixon. Instead, the couple found out they were Amanda Bohman photo expecting a baby and what Franzen initially thought were side effects of polycystic ovary syndrome were actually the signs of being 32 weeks pregnant. At 3:57 a.m. New Year’s Day, Cameron Joaquin Dixon was born. Baby Cameron came into the world after several hours of labor and an eventual cesarean section. “We had to practically beg her to throw in the towel. She just kept pushing and pushing,” said Alice Dang, Dixon’s mother.

Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Regional Hospital in Bethel Kayce Riley Lydia Moses came into the world just 10 minutes before baby Cameron in Fairbanks. Kayce weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces and was 19.5 inches in length. The first baby of 2020 for the Bethel hospital, Kayce was born at 3:47 a.m. Jan. 1 to Larissa Evon and Nathaniel Moses

Courtesy of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp.

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Norton Sound Regional Hospital in Nome The Wyman family welcomed their New Year’s baby later than all the other families in the Alaska Pulse’s list. Bella Aria Wyman, the first baby born to the Norton Sound region in 2020, was born on Jan. 5 at 9:54 a.m., a week earlier than her due date. She joins her parents, John and Jocelyn Wyman, and her two sisters, Aurora and Quinn.

Courtesy of Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center

Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center Kodiak welcomed its first baby of the New Year at 3:03 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Francis James Heyl was born to Deanna and James Heyl, who came to Kodiak with the U.S. Coast Guard four years ago. Their son weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and measured 21 inches long.

Courtesy of Jocelyn Wyman

Courtesy of Bartlett Regional Hospital

Top names in 2018 (2017 in parentheses)

Girls: 1. Olivia (Emma) 2. Amelia (Olivia) 3. Aurora and Charlotte (Aurora) 4. Emma (Isabella) 5. Sophia (Evelyn, Sophia) Boys 1. Oliver (James) 2. Logan (Liam) 3. Liam (Wyatt) 4. Elijah, Michael (William) 5. Benjamin (Oliver)

Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau Ronarielle Alyiah Poloa-Maae was born at 3:45 a.m. on New Year’s Day, joining her mother, father and big brother RJ. “I didn’t think I was going to give birth on the first, but I guess she wanted to come out early,” said her mother, Marcella Poloa. Poloa said she and Ronnie Maae found out she was expecting baby Ronarielle when she was about three months pregnant. Poloa said it was exciting, despite not expecting to give birth on New Year’s Day.

A bundle of Alaska baby facts So what’s trending in baby names in Alaska? Olivia and Oliver, according to the latest report from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. Baby-related info is contained in the department’s hefty vital statistics report for 2018, which was released in October of 2019. Here are a few more nuggets about the world of babies in Alaska: August was a busy time for birthing. That month in 2018 had the largest number of births, at 934. Ages of moms and dads: The mean age of mothers was 28.6 years old in 2018, while the mean age of fathers was 31.3 years.

Births by region in 2018 Anchorage: 3,970 Gulf Coast: 954 Interior: 1,720 Mat-Su: 1,394 Northern: 497 Southeast: 733 Southwest: 818 ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

d r o d D

Get out and play!

It’s the easy way to get Alaska’s kids fit now and for the future Whether its indoors or outdoors, kids need about an hour of physical activity daily. Alaska

By Tim Ellis

ust go play! That’s the message state health officials have been getting out to educators, parents and kids in an effort to keep youngsters trim and healthy. It’s important, especially in Alaska. Child health experts say more than a third of Alaska’s 3-year-olds are overweight or obese, and they say if kids don’t lose excess weight while young, it’ll be harder to shed those extra pounds. And that extra weight can cause serious health problems later in life. “We know that oftentimes overweight children can grow up to be overweight adults,” says Ann Potempa, a public health specialist with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services’ Division of Public 36

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Department of Health and Social Services

D m d s c p

d d c

S M a i p

t r c o

Health. That’s reflected in the division’s 2017 study on the problem, which shows that 2 out of every 3 Alaska adults are

overweight or obese. Potempa says health department experts have identified two strategies to stem the tide of obesity among chil-

c c s A e p s h t

dren: increasing physical activity and reducing or eliminating consumption of sweet, sugary drinks. That’s why the department launched its Play Every Day campaign in 2012. “The whole purpose of Play Every Day is to get kids active for at least 60 minutes every day, to help Alaska children grow up at a healthy weight,” she said. “We’re really focused on helping children grow up at a healthy weight to prevent serious health risks later on.” Those risks include weight-related diseases, like Type II diabetes, heart disease and more than a dozen types of cancer. Fairbanks North Star Borough School District spokeswoman Yumi McCullough says district officials agree that keeping kids active can improve their health – and academic performance. “Students that are physically active tend to be more focused in the classroom, and that in turn can lead to success in their academic life as well as outside of the school,” she said. Potempa says the Play Every Day campaign works with parents, childcare providers and officials with schools and preschools to encourage Alaska’s kids to be physically active every day. The program focuses on preschool and school-age children, she says, “to help them build this daily healthy habit early, so it’s something that they want to continue.” “As they get older, we see a percent-

age of them not getting the recommended activity anymore,” Potempa said, adding that studies of Alaska high school students show “only 1 in 5 still get that 60 minutes of physical activity every day.” The proliferation of cellphones and other electronic devices is seen as a contributor to the problem.

Just play!

It’s easy for children to participate in Play Every Day. They simply have to do what comes natural for kids – play. “Like, when it’s snowy, sliding down a hill,” Potempa said. “Or snowshoeing or cross-country skiing. Or playing tag. Or all kinds of ball games – football, basketball, baseball. Or just riding a bike.” “The whole point is to find what these kids and families love to do, and then just do it!” But about when it gets too cold for kids to play outside? “We’ve had really creative parents who’ve made obstacle courses inside, where kids are crawling under tables or jumping through hula hoops or getting them to do jumping jacks,” Potempa said. “Some parents have set up basketball hoops for little kids to play inside. Or even just having a dance party, where they keep kids moving. And they’re having a ton of fun doing it.” McCullough says borough schools have been participating in the Healthy Futures program for years. She says

despite occasional limits on playing outside during cold weather, “The district encourages students to exercise their minds and bodies to keep them active and healthy.” Potempa says the department offers prizes to encourages elementary students to participate in the program through the Healthy Futures Challenge. The program is available to elementary schools for free through a partnership with an Anchorage-based nonprofit. She says nearly 130 schools statewide participate in the program, which requires students to record their daily physical activity during a three-month period during the fall and spring semesters. “If they can get at least 15 days of 60 minutes of daily physical activity, they write it down and turn that in to a teacher,” Potempa said. “The teacher lets Healthy Futures know how many kids in the school successfully completed a log, and then Healthy Futures will send a prize to those children for building that healthy habit of physical activity.” About 10,000 Alaska kids have participated in the program since it was established a decade ago. In addition to promoting more physical activity, the Play Every Day program also recommends that parents, child-care providers and schools cut back or eliminate sugary beverages like soft drinks, energy drinks, vitamin drinks and sports drinks. Instead, the program encourages kids to drink water or fat-free or low-fat milk. The American Society of Pediatrics recommends limits on consumption of 100% fruit juice. It says young children ages 1 through 3 shouldn’t drink more than 4 ounces of fruit juice daily and that children ages 4 through 6 shouldn’t have more than 6 ounces. Babies up to 1 year old shouldn’t have any. But, Potempa says, fruit is a healthy food, because it provides nutrients and fiber. So she says parents and caregivers can just give kids slices of fruit, or the whole fruit, instead of juice. Tim Ellis is a freelance writer living in Delta Junction. Comments about this story? Email editor@ AlaskaPulse.com.

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Medics from the 6th Brigade Engineer Battalion (Airborne), 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska, carry a simulated casualty to an extraction point while training with aviators from the Alaska Army National Guard at Neibhur Drop Zone, Nov. 26, 2019, to hone their life-saving and Medevac hoist skills for the paratroopers’ upcoming rotation to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Army photo/John Pennell

In the wild, Alaska-based soldiers have your back By Alistair Gardiner

n the spring of 2015, Fairbanks snowmachiner Bob McClintock was stuck on a ledge, 73 feet below a glacier, recording a farewell video to his wife. He had been snowmachining with friends when he hit a crevasse on Eureka Glacier at 30 mph. His SkiDoo Summit 800 made it to the other side of the crevasse, but he ended up at the bottom of the hole. “It happened so quickly. It’s not like a ‘time stands still’ kind of scenario,” he said in an interview in 2015. “I felt myself get slammed, but I don’t remem38

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

ber anything until I was getting up on my hands and knees in the hole.” While the fall left him without any broken bones, McClintock was doubtful over his chances of survival. He was fortunate. While he spent the next nine hours moving about and trying to keep warm, a friend of his on the glacier’s surface had called Alaska State Troopers on a satellite phone. That led to a rescue effort by Anchorage-based personnel of the Alaska Air National Guard, which responded with a C-130 cargo plane and a Pave Hawk helicopter. When you’re hiking, biking, camping, skiing or doing whatever in the great

Alaska outdoors, you may not be aware that a group of well-trained people have your back. If you’re lost or in medical distress in the wilderness, like Bob McClintock was, you might find that medically trained Guard and military personnel come to the rescue.

Always at the ready

In Alaska, a plethora of agencies carry out search and rescue operations. While this is primarily a task for the Alaska State Troopers and National Park Service, the list of agencies includes the Alaska National Guard, Coast Guard

An approaching helicopter sends snow flying. Army photo/John Pennell

and active-duty Army assets. These efforts are coordinated by the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, a unit of Alaska Air National Guard’s 176th Wing. The center, located on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, is staffed by Guard members who work in shifts around the clock, every day of the year. Capt. Bryant Davis, a spokesman for the U.S. Alaskan Command, explained that, while the Lower 48 has one rescue center that operates across the entire of the contiguous US, Alaska’s size and location means it has its own dedicated center. “In the Lower 48, if there’s a rescue that’s going on the center will take it and then hand it off to local agencies,” he said. “Here, the rescue center does stuff from cradle to grave — from start to finish.” The center’s primary mission is to locate and recover downed military and civilian aircrew personnel as quickly

and safely as possible. But a secondary responsibility is to provide search and rescue assistance to state and federal agencies responsible for conducting ground searches for distressed individuals out in the wild. The center can task Guard members with rescue missions. With other agencies, like U.S. Army Alaska or the Coast Guard, it’s “more an ask, than a task.” If assets are available, they’ll join the rescue mission. And this system is as much a benefit to the Guard and military personnel as it is to the public. “The reason why the 176th Wing is able to be tasked to do this is: It is training,” Davis said. “To prepare, they have regular training events — but they also use the civilian rescues as opportunities to gain experience. That experience that they get makes them good at what they do. It kind of sets them aside from their active-duty colleagues down in Georgia.”

The team

Lt. Col. Keenan Zerkel has been the director of the Alaska Air Rescue Coordination Center for about a year and a half. “It’s an honorable mission, it’s a noble mission. We appreciate doing it,” he said. Zerkel outlined the jurisdiction of the Rescue Center. It doesn’t handle incidents reported from Southeast Alaska or the Aleutian Islands — those areas are taken care of by the Coast Guard. Inland search and rescues often fall under the responsibility of Alaska State Troopers or the National Park Service. But the center is flexible with the assistance it provides. If it can provide help, it will. “It really depends on what we’re trying to accomplish and then we look at the most appropriate asset,” Zerkel said. “If you have something like a lost hunter, that’s initially owned by the state troopALASKA PULSE — February 2020

M B B I t A s p J P

ers. But if they decide that it exceeds their capability and whatever resources they have, they may ask for Army Guard, or National Guard.” The center coordinated roughly 160 rescues in 2019 and received almost 600 reports of incidents. The center is staffed by 12 individuals and Zerkel noted that the senior controllers all come from hands-on experience. He’s been a helicopter pilot for 17 years and participated in numerous rescues. “They pull people from a rescue background that have actually been out there doing the missions and bring us over, because we can provide a level of expertise that you wouldn’t get just by coordinating and answering the phone,” he said. “I’ve been launched out on missions where I’ve actually known the people we’re rescuing.” 40

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

“One of the unique things about the way the Rescue Coordination Center is staffed, which is using airmen from the Alaska Air National Guard: You have locals helping locals.”

- Lt. Col. Keenan Zerkel

“One of the unique things about the way the Rescue Coordination Center is staffed, which is using airmen from the Alaska Air National Guard: You have locals helping locals,” he said. “We’re not rotating in and out for a couple of years and then leaving. We’re actually here, buying houses, starting families. There’s an aspect of humanity there.” If you’re a Fairbanks resident, for example, you could find yourself being rescued by someone you’ve rubbed shoulders with in the supermarket.

According to Army Alaska spokesman John Pennell, a group from the 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment — based at Fort Wainwright — assisted in at least 10 rescue situations in 2019. While Army Alaska isn’t tasked with search and rescue missions, it has a memorandum of agreement with the Rescue Coordination Center to provide emergency rescue assistance when available. “In the past this has included flying in to remote locations to pick up sick or

“There are amazing training opportunities up here.”

- Lt. Col. Keenan Zerkel

Medics from the 6th Brigade Engineer Battalion (Airborne), 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska train with aviators from the Alaska Army National Guard to hone their lifesaving and Medevac hoist skills for the paratroopers’ upcoming rotation to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Army photo/John Pennell

injured civilian hikers, climbers, mushers and just folks who live way out in the bush,” Pennell wrote in an email interview. “The same techniques are used in both military and civilian rescue applications.” Like Davis, the spokesman for the Alaskan Command, Zerkel also emphasized the significance of these missions to the soldiers and airmen conducting them. “There are amazing training opportunities up here because, specifically with rescues, I know what it’s like to be out there, in the dark, and somebody’s bleeding out in the back,” he said. “When they go and they deploy to combat and they’ve got an injured Marine in the back and they’re trying to race to a clinic to drop him off and save his life, training always takes over.” “It’s not that of big of a step in terms of stress for us, because we’ve done it up here. We do it routinely,” he added. “We subject ourselves to real-world missions. And because we’re successful here, it allows us to be more successful in combat.”

Getting out of the crevasse

People like Bob McClintock have seen the force of this in real life. It took the National Guard crew and McClintock’s friends over two hours to get McClintock out of the crevasse. A Guard member climbed down into the crevasse and, due to an inoperable helicopter lift, the two men had to be hoisted out by a team of eight. McClintock was taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and given a series of tests. He escaped the crevasse without any broken bones or internal bleeding. “I don’t know why I’m alive,” he said in a 2015 interview. “At the hospital they said usually people leave (a fall from that height) as a quadriplegic or in a body bag.” In a recent interview, McClintock — who used to be a helicopter pilot himself and has conducted similar rescue missions — emphasized that the crew was “incredibly well-equipped.” “They knew exactly what they were doing,” he said. “By the time they got me

out I was hypothermic. I was shaking uncontrollably. They got an IV drip in me in a shaking helicopter at 2:30 in the morning. I mean, these guys are really good.” McClintock noted that Alaska’s abundance of outdoors enthusiasts and often harsh climate and terrain make services like this arguably more valuable than in most other states. “This rescue situation by the (Alaska Air National) Guard is imperative for the state of Alaska to be functional. Alaska is a frontier state,” he said. “They’re really well worth supporting.” Thanks to Air National Guard efforts McClintock’s 2015 snowmachining season didn’t end there. In fact, he was back on a snowmachine two weeks later, attending the Arctic Man race. “Stuff happens. It’s the backcountry,” he told a reporter in 2015. “You don’t give up everything in life because you have an accident. This is Alaska and Alaska is an outdoors state.” Contact staff writer Alistair Gardiner at 459-7545.

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

HEALTH SENSE

Animal-assisted therapy has benefits gait, behavior, or voice tone. In addition to the animal’s temperament and ability to handle to new situations, many therapy animal organizations require the human-animal team to successfully complete an evaluation with the focus on the human-animal partnership. Specifically, how the handler and animal interact successfully as a team in a variety of situations. Skills important to a successful therapy animal handler include these: • Handler’s continuous awareness of therapy animal’s emotional state

By Betsey Jacobs

vidence suggests that for over 12,000 years, humans have benefited therapeutically from interacting with other animals. Animalassisted therapy occurs still today in the context of several different areas of health care, including behavioral health treatment, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language treatment, special education, and recreational therapy. The American Veterinary Medical Association describes it this way: “Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is a goal-directed intervention in which an animal meeting specific criteria is an integral part of the treatment process. Animal-assisted therapy is delivered and/or directed by health or human service providers working within the scope of their profession. Animalassisted therapy is designed to promote improvement in human physical, social, emotional, or cognitive function. Animal-assisted therapy is provided in a variety of settings, and may be group or individual in nature. The process is documented and evaluated.” Owning a dog brings humans therapeutic benefits, and further evidence supports several benefits to people who participate in animal-assisted therapy, both mental and physical, including the following: • Decreased anxiety • Decreased feelings of loneliness • Increased mental stimulation • Reduced resistance to therapy • Decreased blood pressure • Reduced medications • Decreased rate of breathing • Increased hormones and pheromones associated with pleasure 42

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

• Decreased agitation in patients with dementia • Increased social interaction among nursing home residents with dementia and children with autism Animal-assisted therapy occurs in a variety of settings, such as schools, hospitals, assisted-living facilities, behavioral health clinics and institutions, nursing homes, and prisons. Several therapy animal organizations exist worldwide, each with its own set of requirements. In order to become a therapy animal, the animal is typically required to pass a temperament screening, including adaptability to new settings, nonreactivity to strangers and other animals, receptive to affection and tolerant of petting all over the body, able to follow basic commands (if appropriate), accepting of people with atypical

• Proactive to maintain the animal’s comfort level • Immediately and successfully responsive to signs of stress in the animal • Appropriate interactions with the staff and patients, residents or clients Because life is unpredictable and each potential therapy animal visitation site comes with its own set of new sounds, surfaces, situations and sensations, a therapy animal team must be ready and capable of handling any situation. Fairbanks Memorial Hospital is lucky to receive visits from volunteers and therapy animals from Companions Inc. Therapeutic benefits extend beyond the recipients of animal-assisted therapy. Therapy animal handlers often report that employees of the sites they visit appear to gain benefits from the visits. Many therapy animal handlers have also described their therapy animals’ excitement in anticipation of visits and their animals’ pleasure during visits with patients. Betsey Jacobs and her dogs have been volunteering with Companions Inc. in Fairbanks for the past 15 years. They visit facilities such as the hospital, nursing home, and correctional center.

Chef Solus Valentine’s Day Healthy Heart Word Search Puzzle!

S C I B O R E A F F Q Q I W K

O O O S L X K L E G U M E S A

N I A Q V N K B H A A H U O U

O V H E A L T H Y U P T S I T

Q T P A S K R N H M P O X Q N

V E G E T A B L E S L I D D N

C E E V G E S I C R E X E U R

APPLES FIBER BEANS HEART VALENTINE

F D R A I N W B I O S I T J Q

S W T L M B I E R G X R G J O

R K A E Y A N A E B I H W O Y

LOWFAT EXERCISE VEGETABLES LEGUMES SEEDS

A G F N S F B N B T Q E N G C

W F W T J L U S I Q V A N R J

O F O I I T Q O F C V R U L E

D O L N S F N Q I U R T U G N

C L P E C X V S J E V I T C A

NUTS HEALTHY AEROBICS NUTRITION ACTIVE

To learn more about advertising opportunities in the next issue of Alaska Pulse, please contact: FREE 2020 February 2 Vol. 1, No.

Alaska

PULSE

In the swim

er s’ Joan Snyd At 91, Haine for wellness an advocate

In the Fairbanks/Interior area, call Laurence Oakes at (907) 459-7548 or email loakes@AlaskaPulse.com

man Fairbanks wo well done for al journey ed means a job man on medic • Getting slim Anchorage wo y general’s life gnosis leads rne dia atto ing ska rify • Ter e saved Ala ma ntion may hav overcome trau • Early interve former Marine Heart helps 0 • A Soldier’s t babies of 202 firs as its s istm me Chr • Alaska welco ebrates Russian Foundation cel the run residents on • Southcentral b keeps local clu Bay ak nth • Kachem ealthy this mo stay heart-h • Go Red and for Alaskans dics a lifeline • Military me

Alaska Pulse is a publication of The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. 200 North Cushman Street • Fairbanks AK, 99701

In the Anchorage/Mat-Su area, call Jessica Kerr at (907) 987-5160 or email jkerr@AlaskaPulse.com

Starring is a ritual that represents the three wise men following following a person carrying a wooden pole, topped with a star w

Hundreds gathered at the Anchorage Native Primary Care Center for the Russian Christmas celebration hosted by the Alaska Native Medical Center.

Photos courtesy of the

Southcentral Foundation

ALASKA PULSE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; February 2020

Archpriest Thomas Andrew greets attendees at the annual ANMC Christmas Celebration in the Anchorage Native Primary Care Cent

ollowing the star. It typically involves a group of people h a star with a religious icon at its center.

Father Peter Chris leads parishioners of St. Innocent Russian Orthodox Cathedral in singing at the annual ANMC Russian Christmas celebration.

Russian Christmas

Jan. 7 is Orthodox Christmas, and it is celebrated in many communities across Alaska. It is a practice connecting back to the fur trade era and Russiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s historical presence in Alaska. According to estimates by a church official in Kodiak more than half of the Russian Orthodox community in Alaska are Alaska Native people. Orthodox Christmas is more commonly referred to as Russian Christmas in Alaska. One uniquely Alaskan tradition of Russian Christmas, and one celebrated at Southcentral Foundation is starring, where a large star ornament is twirled as the choir sings. The star is said to be the one the three wise men followed to Bethlehem. Carolers follow the star as they travel home-to-home and sometimes village-to-village. The practice of starring is believed to have come from the Carpathian Mountains in the Ukraine. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Southcentral Foundation

al ANMC Russian Care Center.

Father Peter Chris leads parishioners of St. Innocent Russian Orthodox Cathedral in singing at the annual ANMC Russian Christmas celebration.

B R I E F :

Your Guide To

Lowering Your Blood Pressure With DASH What you eat affects your chances of developing high blood pressure (hypertension). Research shows that high blood pressure can be prevented— and lowered—by following the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan, which includes eating less sodium. High blood pressure is blood pressure higher than 140/90 mmHg*, and prehypertension is blood pressure between 120/80 and 139/89 mmHg. High blood pressure is dangerous because it makes your heart work too hard, hardens the walls of your arteries, and can cause the brain to hemorrhage or the kidneys to function poorly or not at all. If not controlled, high blood pressure can lead to heart and kidney disease, stroke, and blindness.

* Blood pressure is usually measured in millimeters of mercury, or mmHg.

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

But high blood pressure can be prevented—and lowered—if you take these steps:

Follow a healthy eating plan, such as DASH, that includes foods lower in sodium. Maintain a healthy weight. Be moderately physically active for at least 2 hours and 30 minutes per week. If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.

If you already have high blood pressure and your doctor has prescribed medicine, take your medicine, as directed, and follow these steps.

The DASH Eating Plan The DASH eating plan is rich in fruits, vegetables, fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products, whole grains, fish, poultry, beans, seeds, and nuts. It also contains less sodium; sweets, added sugars, and beverages containing sugar; fats; and red meats than the typical American diet. This heart-healthy way of eating is also lower in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol and rich in nutrients that are associated with lowering blood pressure—mainly potassium, magnesium, calcium, protein, and fiber.

FUN AND HEALTHY

Strawberries and Cream Choco Pops

hese strawberries and cream choco pops are just 3 ingredients: strawberries, plain Greek yogurt and chocolate. They were a big winner at our house and because you can make them with fresh or frozen strawberries, they can be made any time of year!

Chef Solus Lunch Crossword Puzzle

Ingredients

Directions Kids: Blend strawberries until smooth. If using frozen strawberries, thaw for a few minutes until softened. Kids: Pour strawberry mixture into popsicle mold, layering with Greek yogurt. Freeze until solid. Adults: Melt chocolate pieces. Kids: Dip popsicles into chocolate. Enjoy!

ALASKA PULSE — February 2020

Answer to puzzle on Page 13

2 cup, whole – Strawberries 1/2 container (8 oz) – Greek Yogurt 1/2 cup chips (6 oz package) – semisweet chocolate chips

KNEE PAIN? Know Your Options. Dr. Keller of TVC Sportsmedicine & Orthopedics can help you keep moving with both surgical and non-surgical options for freeing you of knee pain. Take the next step now so you can run, dance, catch, work, ski, hunt and live pain free.

Dr. Cary S. Keller M.D., FACSM

Dr. Cary Keller is the doctor the athletes choose. For over 20 years, Dr. Keller has been the team physician for the University of Alaska, Fairbanks as well as many local high school teams. Dr. Keller is Fellowship trained.

Same day appointments available by calling (907) 451-6561 HOURS: Monday - Friday: 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Located in the Doolittle Medical Building 1919 Lathrop Street, Fairbanks

Alaska Pulse Monthly

Articles inside

Recipe: Strawberries and Cream Choco Pops

Southcentral Foundations’ Russian Christmas celebration

For kids: Valentine’s word search

Valentine’s Day Healthy Heart maze

Alaska encourages kids to Play Every Day

Welcoming Alaska’s first babies of 2020

Health Sense Dr. Anne Zink on recovery and wellness

Rescued: National Guard and Alaska soldiers are on the job

Betsey Jacobs on animal-assisted therapyHealth Sense

Chef Solus Lunch crossword puzzle

HEALTH SENSE: Dr. Tony Nimeh on low testosterone