The overarching goal for the NRC-ANE is to advance relevant knowledge and research
for the wellbeing of Indigenous Elders through the creation and dissemination of products
that inform caregiving, community support for active and healthy aging, and strengthening
traditional ways that support positive aging. We aim to provide culturally-appropriate
resources and other materials of relevance to Title VI programs and tribal communities,
with the support of key community partnerships.
Vanessa Hiratsuka from CHD and Britteny Howell from DPHS are the new Co-Directors for ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼’s National Resource Center on Alaska Native Elders. Vanessa Hiratsuka shares her hopes for the center’s future.
Vanessa Hiratsuka from CHD and Britteny Howell from DPHS are the new Co-Directors for ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼’s National Resource Center on Alaska Native Elders. Britteny Howell shares her journey into geriatrics.
One morning in 2005, psychology alumna Maggie Winston — then a 21-year-old hairdresser and mother of twin boys living in Kenai — woke up feeling cramps between her shoulder blades. Within an hour, she couldn’t walk.
After a two-year hiatus, ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ STEM Day returned to campus on October 1, drawing over 1,500 community members to the ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building to celebrate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, commonly known as STEM. Attendees, primarily children, enjoyed activities, challenges, demonstrations, tours, and planetarium shows that explored a wide range of STEM topics from biology to robotics.
More than two years into the pandemic, vaccines are widely available and most health measures have been lifted. But there are still Alaskans who have difficulty accessing vaccines or who have continued health risk in spite of them. Sondra LeClair, Health Projects Coordinator, ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Center for Human Development, discusses vaccine access for individuals with disabilities in Alaska.