The Health Committee hosted a fascinating Community Conversation focused on Suicide Prevention in our community. You can watch the replay of this conversation on Facebook. We want to say a special thank you to Dr. Shantai McDermott and Dr. David Ampong for anchoring our discussion. We had approximately 20 attendees at the Community Conversation.
The Health Committee partnered with The American Diabetes Association’s Project Power in May. Project Power is a community-based health initiative to help prevent diabetes. ABC brought 26 community members together to comprise the first Project Power in Alaska cohort. They are finishing the program, and we should have data on the project’s success soon. ABC receives $2,500 for each cohort of 25 participants. We are proposing creating a second cohort for Project Power to help improve the health and well-being of our community.
At our July meeting, we were joined by Ann Potempa from the State of Alaska Fresh Start program. This free-to-the-community online health coaching program focuses on weight loss, reducing diabetes and high blood pressure, quitting smoking/vaping/tobacco, and increasing physical activity. We recommended that the participants currently completing Project Power receive information about Fresh Start so they may continue to be supported in their journey to better health.
The next Community Conversation organized by the Health Committee will be in October and focus on breast cancer: prevention, intervention, and treatment. We are beginning to recruit our panel and will discuss how this will go over the next few Health Committee meetings.
Looking further ahead, we discussed starting how we can kick off a strong 2024 by getting ahead on planning for events like The Bettye Davis Health & Equity Summit and Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations.
