2008 Sitka Health Summit bigger and better than ever.

This year's health Summit brings together a great, internationally known speaker, Dan Burden, recognition of the leaders making Sitka a healthy community, and of course, great food. Learn more here.

Sitka Health Summit gets a dedicated web site.

It is clear from the momemtum and interest in the Health Summit that it needs to be a dedicated, annual event. So it needs a dedicated web site. Check it out at http://www.SitkaHealthSummit.org

Youth Advocates of Sitka, Inc. (YAS) announces two new programs for providing housing and care to children and youth: a Transitional Living Program and Therapeutic Foster Care.

Transitional Living program: YAS received a five-year federal grant to develop and implement a transitional living program for youth ages 16-18 who are runaway or homeless (RHY), and for youth who are at risk of separation from their families.

Therapeutic Foster Care: Earlier this year, YAS was licensed by the State of Alaska as a Child Placement Agency. This licensure allows us to recruit, train and support families to provide therapeutic foster care for high needs children ages 5-18.

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SAIL Clean-Up Project

Ten members of the Sitka High School student council dedicated several hours of their Sunday morning to help a local elder. Ida Peters, 94, has been waiting for a stair lift for over a year now to make getting in an out of her house easy and pain free. SAIL (Southeast Alaska Independent Living) stepped up and helped Ida get the money needed for the stair lift.

SAIL envisioned more improvements for Ida's house apart from the stair lift though. Along with the Sitka Tribe of Alaska (STA), a plan was devised that called for Ida's yard to be cleared, dug up, and leveled so eventually it can become a gravel driveway. This will allow Ida to get from a car to the steps with the least amount of walking.

That is where the high school volunteers came in. They showed up and got right to business, hauling trash, pulling weeds, and getting stumps and rocks out of the yard. The work was hard but went quickly due to the large number of energized students. The day was concluded with the students meeting Ida in her house where the students enjoyed juice and learned more about the house which is the old Eagle Nest House. Everyone left in good spirits knowing that Ida was that much closer to her goal of the stair lift and gravel driveway.

Sitka Health Summit Planned for 2008.

The vision of the Sitka Health Summit is for Sitka “to serve our great state as a model for community wellness by creating a healthy community where Sitkans strive for and enjoy a high quality of life.” Judging from the great things that have come from the 2007 Health Summit, we are living that vision. Learn more about the Health Summit here.