Health

Teresa Holt, Long Term Care Ombudsman for the State of Alaska discusses how the Long Term Care Ombudsman serves Alaska’s senior population, the rights of residents living in long term care facilities, and the ABC’s of choosing an Assisted Living Home in Alaska. Ann Secrest of AARP Alaska conducts the interview.

Nila Morgan, a certified Medicare counselor and fraud education coordinator with the Medicare Information Office/Anchorage Senior Activity Center talks about Medicare, the different parts of Medicare, when to enroll, costs associated with Medicare, how beneficiaries can protect their information and resources available. Ann Secrest of AARP Alaska conducts the interview.

Dr. Jay Butler, Chief Medical Officer with the State of Alaska Division of Health and Social Services and Director of the Division of Public Health discusses the essential services of public health and what appears to be an alarmingly increase in the use of opioids in Alaska. Ann Secrest of AARP Alaska conducts the interview.

A forum exploring the costs of healthcare in Alaska and how they affect Alaska’s fiscal future. Panelists will discuss reasons for the high healthcare costs in Alaska and possible solutions to reduce them. Panelists include:

Presentations:

• Are Health Care Costs in Alaska spiraling out of control?
  • Mouhcine Guettabi, ISER, Assistant Professor of Economics
• Health Care Costs in Alaska
  • Deb Erickson, Executive Director of the Alaska Health Care Commission
• Healthcare Costs in Alaska
  • Greg Loudon, Insurance Broker and Health Benefits Consultant for Parker, Smith and Feek
• Customer-Driven Health: The Race to Wellness
  • Doug Eby, Vice-President of Medical Services, Southcentral Foundation

From the bowhead whales harvested in Barrow to the fire resistant cushions in our living rooms, industrial chemicals linked to cancer and developmental problems have found their way to Alaska.

Panelists include: Pam Miller, a biologist and the executive director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics, Tony Stefani, a retired San Francisco Fire Department captain and founder of the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation, and Vi Waghiyi, from the Native village of Savoonga and ACAT’s coordinator for community-based research on St. Lawrence Island.

[Read more…] about How Toxics are Tainting the Subsistence Food Web, our Homes and our Bodies