Listen to this story… by Angela Denning Barnes

Day to Day, October 16, 2006 · The largest Alaska National Guard unit to be deployed overseas since World War II will soon ship out to the Middle East. Angela Denning Barnes of member station KYUK in Bethel, Alaska, reports on how some of the soldiers are preparing to go to war.”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6276671

During the first 10 days of October, precipitation totals were at least 400 percent of normal in Alaskan locations such as Valdez (13.20 inches, or 422 percent) and Bethel (2.95 inches, or 557 percent).

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=75257

2004
Remote sensing of vegetation and land-cover change in Arctic …

Are You At Increased Risk?

Even though the flu is a common illness, it can be dangerous. According to the CDC, 200,000 people end up in the hospital every year because of the flu. And about 36,000 of them die. That is why getting a flu shot is so important. This is especially true for people who have a higher risk of getting it.

You’re at increased risk if you:

* are age 65 or older
* live or work in a nursing home or other facility where people are chronically ill
* have a chronic health problem like diabetes, kidney, lung, heart disease or asthma
* have an illness like HIV/AIDS or get medical treatment, like chemotherapy, which weakens your immunity and keeps you from fighting infections
* take care of or live with someone in a high-risk group

Those at risk of getting very sick from the flu should get a shot as early as possible. In fact, this year people 65 and older and others with high risk have priority to get their flu vaccine before October 24.

http://tinyurl.com/jtuvz AARP Flu shot info

The HPAI H5N1 (highly pathogenic bird flu) may affect younger people harder, unlike seasonal flu, which affects older people more. Regular immunizations, such as against seasonal flu, HPV, measles, pneumonia, not only help people stay healthy, but may be crtically important if the usual caregivers (younger people) need care.

http://www.usda.gov/2006/06/0223.xml Avian Influenza Testing And Diagnostics

Children faulted in Hooper Bay fire

MATCHES: Kids playing under school started blaze that spread through village.

By ALEX deMARBAN Anchorage Daily News
Published: August 15, 2006 Last Modified: August 15, 2006 at 02:12 AM

Kids playing with matches started a fire that destroyed at least $30 million in property and left more than 70 people homeless in the Southwest Alaska village of Hooper Bay, fire investigators said Monday.

The kids, younger than 12, crawled late at night through gaps in the wooden skirting around the base of the village’s old school — built on pilings — where they lit grass and trash fires, said Alaska State Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson.”…[emphasis added]

The kids apparently did not mean to destroy the school, investigators said.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/8081382p-7974285c.html

Surveys done by the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Cooperative Extension Service compares the weekly costs to buy food for a family of four in about 20 Alaska communities to costs in Portland, Ore.

The costs ranged from the Matanuska-Susitna area, at about $111 a week, to Saint Paul an island in the Bering Sea, at about $245 a week. Groceries in the Naknek-King Salmon area, Dillingham and Bethel each surpassed $200 a week.

Areas with the food costs below $130 a week were Fairbanks, Anchorage, Ketchikan, Juneau and Kenai. Cost in Portland, Ore., were $109.

Cost of living gap narrows between Alaska and the nation
By Melissa Campbell, Alaska Journal of Commerce, Web posted Sunday, August 6, 2006
http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/080606/hom_20060806009.shtml

Blaze hits home
Anchorage Daily News - Anchorage,AK,USA
… • Wells Fargo Bank has opened a special
account for donations that will be used or distributed by the Bethel-based
Association …

http://www.adn.com/front/story/8049214p-7942237c.html

Fire crews knock down Hooper Bay blaze (08-03-06)

Cleanup begins in village fire aftermath (08-04-06)

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/rural/story/8043005p-7935993c.html

Aerial view
http://www.adn.com/ips_rich_content/182-HooperFire-400-x-200.jpg

Fire’s effects felt throughout Hooper Bay community
By Emily Meehan, APRN
Hooper Bay is a small community home to 1,100 people. Most residents have family members or friends who lost a home in the fire. ”
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/apti/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=950321

Last Modified: August 3, 2006 at 04:08 PM

“The fire roared to within 300 feet of the bulk fuel tank farm, threatening it for a time, according to the Alaska State Troopers. The fuel tanks are separated from the fire by a road. About 2 p.m., trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson reported that the fire had begun to settle down and was no longer advancing, and the tank farm apparently was out of danger.”
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/rural/story/8036906p-7930027c.html

[There is a way to modify the procedure so less water is used and still be effective.}

http://www.kdheks.gov/wash_em/howtowash_video.html

Visit them for other posters, signs, stickers, etc.

http://www.kdheks.gov/wash_em/stickpost.html

“What is the significance of the duck hunter paper?”

Posted on: July 27, 2006 7:19 AM, by revere
http://tinyurl.com/r6wvd

YK Delta National Guard troops head to Iraq

Not since World War II have more Alaska National Guard troops been deployed than the men and women who left July 8 for training and eventual duty in Iraq. Among the more than 600 Alaskans, 134 are from the YK Delta. Twenty of the troops are pictured at right.

http://www.ykhc.org/1251.cfm

Rural guardsmen head off to war
All across the Bush this month, men from remote Native villages said goodbye to their families and village life to fight for a year in Iraq. It is the largest wartime deployment the Alaska Army National Guard has ever seen….

Below is a list of Alaska towns and villages tentatively affected.

Western Alaska

http://tinyurl.com/fwzx4

Site Search Tags: Akiachak, Alakanuk, Atmautluak, Bethel, Chefornak, Chevak, Dillingham, Eek, Emmonak, Hooper+Bay, Kasigluk, Kipnuk, Kongiganak, Kotlik, Kwethluk, Kwigillingok, Manokotak, Mekoryuk, Mountain+Village, Napakiak, New+Stuyahok, Newtok, Nightmute, Nunapitchuk, Quinhagak, Russian+Mission, Scammon+Bay, St.+Marys, Togiak, Toksook+Bay, Tuluksak, Tuntutuliak, Tununak, Twin+Hills

By Warren King, Seattle Times medical reporter
http://tinyurl.com/gqcpm

There are good suggestions for personal protection (except that Lysol concentrate can also be used Disinfectants for camp, field, and household)

This viral disease is an excellent case study to understand the role of environment, culture, and human biology in illness.

Bird flu 101: Schools study for possibility of a pandemic

Sunday, July 9, 2006
By MARGARET K. COLLINS, STAFF WRITER, NorthJersey.com

If the bird flu hits, your school district will be flying solo in handling it.

That’s the word from the state, and as a result, school faculties are scrambling this summer to plan for a daunting “what if?”

Surreal scenarios have already emerged: Instantly quarantined students. Schools closed and students getting home lessons by Internet for up to two months. Grief counseling.

Some obvious measures already have been decided: Starting this fall, the three R’s will be joined by lessons on how to properly scrub your hands and blow your nose.”

http://tinyurl.com/gp727

http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/highway.htm

“Historical Manuscripts Collection List » O to SO Collection List »

ELAINE A. SCHWINGE. Journals; 1946-1950, 1996. .2 cu. ft.

Elaine Schwinge, M.D., served as a field physician for the Alaska Territorial Department of Health under health commissioner C. Earl Albrecht from 1946 to 1950. She served on the Mobile Health Unit, the ship M.S. Hygiene, the BCG (tuberculosis vaccine) Program, and the Alaska Native Service Hospital in Bethel. Schwinge received her Master of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan in 1948. She later worked in psychiatry for the United States Public Health Service, the National Institute for Mental Health, and the state of Pennsylvania. Elaine Schwinge lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania

The collection consists of a copy of Dr. Elaine Schwinge’s journals from her service in the Alaska Territorial Department of Health from 1946 to 1950. The journals are divided by year and include diary and journal entries, narrative reports, correspondence, articles, stories, photographs, and other selected documents. The journals also include tables of contents and time lines. Also included in the collection is an expanded version of her journals from 1996, which has typed versions of the journal entries and documents, and a corresponding CD-R computer disc. The archives also holds the papers of Dr. C. Earl Albrecht.

The collection was presented to the archives by Margery Albrecht in 1999. The expanded version of the journals was presented to the archives by Elaine Schwinge in 2005.

HMC-0484
JAS (3/2005)

http://tinyurl.com/gdr4d

The Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (Annual Estimates for State, Counties and School Districts) is especially useful in rural or remote areas such as ours because the data are more congruent with our Villages.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/saipe/saipe.html

National Guard call-ups hit rural Alaska
BUSH: Men in the units will miss critical hunting seasons for tours in Iraq, Afghanistan.

By TATABOLINE BRANT, Anchorage Daily News
Published: April 2, 2006
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/rural/story/7588809p-7499989c.html

The Scout Report is indeed a wonderful resource. Another for maps is the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ and for more general information, the Librarians’ Internet Index http://lii.org/

…In addition to the five confirmed cases of hantavirus and two resulting deaths so far in 2006, three human cases of plague, one fatal, have been reported.

Each disease has its own territory. For decades, McKinley County has been the hot spot for hantavirus , and Santa Fe County has been the hot spot for plague.

McKinley County — in the heart of Indian Country — had 33 of the state’s 68 cases of hantavirus between 1975 and 2006. (Santa Fe County had only one reported case of hantavirus during this period.) In all, 41 percent of New Mexico’s hantavirus cases resulted in death.

Since 2000, however, the number of hantavirus cases and deaths has fallen sharply. The worst years were 1993 followed by a pernicious stretch between 1998 and 2000.

Hantavirus is much more dangerous than plague. …

http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/45002.html

Sample tests yet to reveal bird flu virus
ALASKA: State plays a key role as it is a crossroads for avian traffic into Lower 48.

By ANNE SUTTON, The Associated Press
Published: June 10, 2006
Last Modified: June 10, 2006 at 02:38 AM

JUNEAU — Several thousand samples from live and subsistence-hunted birds in Alaska have so far tested negative for the avian flu virus, according to government officials….

Spokesman Bruce Woods said agencies under the Department of the Interior have collected samples from more than 4,000 birds in Alaska, mostly subsistence-hunted fowl.

Just under half of those samples have been tested at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., and none has shown any trace of the highly pathogenic virus.

Spokeswoman Gail Keirn with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the department has collected almost 700 samples so far and all have tested negative for the virus. Those tests are being conducted at USDA certified veterinary labs around the country and the National Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colo….

http://www.adn.com/life/health/birdflu/story/7838822p-7735355c.html

November 2, 1993

Hon. Michael Burkhart, Secreatry
Dept of Health
Harold Runnels Building
1190 St. Francis Drive
Santa Fe, NM 87503

Dear Mr. Burkhart:

Dr. Bumsted of our organization has been trying since news of the hantavirus broke this summer to obtain information from your office on a timely basis. Although several Health Dept. staff have promised to keep her on the fax/mailing lists, it has still been necessary for her to call for information (after hearing or reading about it from other sources.) Most recently, we have learned of your conference of Nov 19-20 only through a national radio broadcast story.

I would appreciate it if you would place Dr. M. Pamela Bumsted, Associate Director, Environmental Office, ENIPC on all health related mailing and Fax lists. Our fax number is 852-4835.

Sincerely,

APRN Alaska News

Fish and Wildlife workers collect bird samples around the state
By Annie Feidt, APRN

GAMBELL, AK (2006-06-06) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service workers are taking samples from birds at more than 50 sites around Alaska this summer. They’re hoping to detect the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus if it enters the U.S. through birds migrating from Europe and Asia. In Gambell on Saint Lawrence Island, two volunteers are working with local hunters to test as many birds as possible. They’re also trying to get the word out that it’s still safe to eat the birds.

http://tinyurl.com/lwsjq

audio http://tinyurl.com/lvyds