Traditional Alaska Native Medicine
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Traditional Alaska Native Medicine
Traditional Alaska Native medicine is a cultural style of healing that has been passed down from one generation of Alaska Native peoples to the next and is based on success over time and oral tradition. In contrast to an allopathic or western view of medicine, traditional Alaska Native medicine believes that illness stems from an individual's disharmony with the environment and healing must therefore begin in the person's spirit. Food Seal Seal oil, whale oil, and the meats of these animals are the predominant healing substances used by members of the Inuit culture. These substances are believed to provide warmth which is a condition of health to this culture as warmth is the essence of well-being. Seal is used preventatively by hunters who eat the animal's meat before going on a hunt to increase endurance and ward off weakness, hypothermia, and frostbite. The oils and meat are also used to prevent depression and other diseases of the soul. Medicinally and as a remedy, seal i ...
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Alaska Native Religion
Traditional Alaskan Native religion involves mediation between people and spirits, souls, and other immortal beings. Such beliefs and practices were once widespread among Inuit (including Iñupiat), Yupik, Aleut, and Northwest Coastal Indian cultures, but today are less common. Merkur 1985: 4 They were already in decline among many groups when the first major ethnological research was done. For example, at the end of the 19th century, Sagdloq, the last medicine man among what were then called in English, "Polar Eskimos", died; he was believed to be able to travel to the sky and under the sea, and was also known for using ventriloquism and sleight-of-hand. Merkur 1985:134 The term "Eskimo" has fallen out of favour in Canada and Greenland, where it is considered pejorative and "Inuit" is used instead. However, "Eskimo" is still considered acceptable among some Alaska Natives of Yupik and Inupiaq (Inuit) heritage and is at times preferred over "Inuit" as a collective reference. Th ...
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Hepatitis
Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Hepatitis is ''acute'' if it resolves within six months, and '' chronic'' if it lasts longer than six months. Acute hepatitis can resolve on its own, progress to chronic hepatitis, or (rarely) result in acute liver failure. Chronic hepatitis may progress to scarring of the liver (cirrhosis), liver failure, and liver cancer. Hepatitis is most commonly caused by the virus ''hepatovirus A'', '' B'', '' C'', '' D'', and '' E''. Other viruses can also cause liver inflammation, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein–Barr virus, and yellow fever virus. Other common causes of hepatitis include heavy alcohol use, certain medications, toxins, other infections, autoimmune diseases, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Hepa ...
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Alaska Native Culture
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., it borders the Canadian province of British Columbia and the Yukon territory to the east; it also shares a maritime border with the Russian Federation's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug to the west, just across the Bering Strait. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean, while the Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. Alaska is by far the largest U.S. state by area, comprising more total area than the next three largest states (Texas, California, and Montana) combined. It represents the seventh-largest subnational division in the world. It is the third-least populous and the most sparsely populated state, but by far the continent's most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel, with a ...
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Healthcare In Alaska
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health professionals and allied health fields. Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, midwifery, nursing, optometry, audiology, psychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, athletic training, and other health professions all constitute health care. It includes work done in providing primary care, secondary care, and tertiary care, as well as in public health. Access to health care may vary across countries, communities, and individuals, influenced by social and economic conditions as well as health policies. Providing health care services means "the timely use of personal health services to achieve the best possible health outcomes". Factors to consider in terms of health care access include financial limitations (such as insurance coverage), geographi ...
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Alaska Native Medical Center
The Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC) is a non-profit health center based in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, which provides medical services to 158,000 Alaska Natives and other Native Americans in Alaska. It acts as both the secondary and tertiary care referral hospital for the Alaska Region of the Indian Health Service (IHS). Established in 1997, ANMC is jointly owned and managed by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Southcentral Foundation as well as tribal governments, and their regional health organizations. The hospital is a 380,635 sq ft, 167-bed facility which opened in May 1997. It has a staff which includes over 250 physicians. ANMC is one of only two level II trauma centers in Alaska. The center is part of the Alaska Federal Health Care Access Network that provides telehealth services to 180 Alaska Native community village clinics. ANTHC opened a 202-bed patient housing facility connected by skybridge to ANMC on January 2, 2017. Ronald McDonald Hous ...
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Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) is a non-profit health organization based in Anchorage, Alaska, which provides health services to 158,000 Alaska Natives and American Indians in Alaska. Established in 1997, ANTHC is a consortium of the tribal regional health organizations. The Board of Directors for ANTHC equally represent all tribal regions of Alaska and each region has parity. ANTHC is co-manager, with the Southcentral Foundation, of the Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC), a 150-bed facility in Anchorage with a staff including more than 250 physicians and 700 nurses. ANMC is a level II trauma center, the highest level that can be achieved in Alaska. It has received Magnet Status for nursing excellence, a designation achieved by only about 7 percent of all hospitals nationwide. It is the only tribal operated hospital with Magnet Status in the United States. ANMC opened in its current facility in May 1997. ANMC has a hybrid operating room. ANTHC pays market rat ...
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Matanuska-Susitna Valley
Matanuska-Susitna Valley () (known locally as the Mat-Su or The Valley) is an area in Southcentral Alaska south of the Alaska Range about north of Anchorage, Alaska. It is known for the world record sized cabbages and other vegetables displayed annually in Palmer at the Alaska State Fair. It includes the valleys of the Matanuska, Knik, and Susitna Rivers. 11,000 of Mat-Su Valley residents commute to Anchorage for work (as of 2008). It is the fastest growing region in Alaska and includes the towns of Palmer, Wasilla, Big Lake, Houston, Willow, Sutton, and Talkeetna. The Matanuska-Susitna Valley is primarily the land of the Dena'ina and Ahtna Athabaskan people. The valleys are shaped by three mountain ranges: the Alaska Range, the Talkeetna Mountains and the Chugach Mountains. The Matanuska-Susitna Valley was carved by glaciers leaving thousands of lakes. The Mat-Su rivers and lakes are home to the spawning grounds of chinook, coho, sockeye, pink, and chum salmon. The ar ...
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Southcentral Foundation
Southcentral Foundation (SCF) is an Alaska Native health care organization established by Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI) in 1982 to improve the health and social conditions of Alaska Native and American Indian people, enhance culture, and empower individuals and families to take charge of their lives. Alaska Native and American Indian people own, manage, direct, design, and drive our Southcentral Foundation. The current President and CEO is April Kyle, MBA. Under the leadership of former President and CEO Katherine Gottlieb, Southcentral Foundation distinguished itself as one of Alaska’s largest federally recognized tribal health organizations, serving the needs of Alaska Native and American Indian people populating a geographical area of . A wide range of medical services and human services are provided to Alaska Native and American Indian people living in the Municipality of Anchorage and Matanuska-Susitna Borough. In 1998, SCF assumed ownership and management of the primary c ...
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Medicine Men
A medicine man is a traditional healer and spiritual leader among the indigenous people of the Americas. Medicine Man or The Medicine Man may also refer to: Films * ''The Medicine Man'' (1917 film), an American silent film directed by Clifford Smith * ''The Medicine Man'' (1930 film), an American comedy film directed by Scott Pembroke * ''The Medicine Man'' (1933 film), a British comedy film directed by Redd Davis * ''Medicine Man'' (film), 1992 American romantic adventure Music * "Medicine Man" (song), a 2015 song by Dr. Dre * "Medicine Man" (Gwen Stefani song), a song by Gwen Stefani from the soundtrack to the 2017 documentary film ''Served Like a Girl'' *"Medicine Man", a song by Aldo Nova from the 1991 album '' Blood on the Bricks'' *"Medicine Man", a song by Terry Cashman, Gene Pistilli, and Tommy West, aka Buchanan Brothers, from 1969 *"Medicine Man", a song by Bobby McFerrin from the 1990 album ''Medicine Music'' *"Medicine Man", a song by Pantera from the 1990 album ' ...
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Midwives
A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; concentrating on being experts in what is normal and identifying conditions that need further evaluation. In most countries, midwives are recognized as skilled healthcare providers. Midwives are trained to recognize variations from the normal progress of labor and understand how to deal with deviations from normal. They may intervene in high risk situations such as breech births, twin births, and births where the baby is in a posterior position, using non-invasive techniques. For complications related to pregnancy and birth that are beyond the midwife's scope of practice, including surgical and instrumental deliveries, they refer their patients to physicians or surgeons. In many parts of the world, these professions work in tandem to provide ...
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Herbalists
Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remedies, such as the anti-malarial group of drugs called artemisinin isolated from '' Artemisia annua'', a herb that was known in Chinese medicine to treat fever. There is limited scientific evidence for the safety and efficacy of plants used in 21st century herbalism, which generally does not provide standards for purity or dosage. The scope of herbal medicine commonly includes fungal and bee products, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts. Herbal medicine is also called phytomedicine or phytotherapy. Paraherbalism describes alternative and pseudoscientific practices of using unrefined plant or animal extracts as unproven medicines or health-promoting agents. Paraherbalism relies on the belief that preserving various s ...
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Shamanism
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct Non-physical entity, spirits or Energy (esotericism), spiritual energies into the physical world for the purpose of healing, divination, or to aid human beings in some other way. Beliefs and practices categorized as "shamanic" have attracted the interest of scholars from a variety of disciplines, including anthropologists, archeologists, historians, religious studies scholars, philosophers and psychologists. Hundreds of books and Academic publishing#Scholarly paper, academic papers on the subject have been produced, with a peer-reviewed academic journal being devoted to the study of shamanism. In the 20th century, non-Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Westerners involved in countercultural movements, ...
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