
Offices across the country were closed on Jan. 20 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the federal holiday that honors the iconic civil rights leader. But in the Northwest Arctic, the day also honors an icon: Iñupiaq healer and midwife Della Keats, whose work in traditional medicine built the foundation for tribal doctor programs across Alaska.
Della Keats is somewhat of a household name in the NANA region. The University of Alaska Anchorage has two programs named in her honor for rural or Alaska Native students pursuing careers in health care. The Alaska Federation of Natives recognizes health care providers with its Della Keats Healing Hands Award. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from San Francisco College of Medicine and UAA. In 2009, Keats was inducted into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame.
But for Eli Booth, she holds a more important title — great-grandmother.
Keats passed away when Booth was 11. He called her the “kindest person he’s known.” She always kept her door open, welcoming in those who were sick or hurting and helping them if she was able.
“The way she interacted with people was just amazing to watch,” said Booth. “She had a healing spirit, and she healed a lot of people.”
Largely self-taught, Keats walked in two worlds, combining traditional and Western medicine. She was born in a sod house on the Noatak River in 1907 and learned from anatomy books and from processing caribou and other animals. She began practicing medicine in her 20s and worked as a midwife, helping women deliver babies. A large part of her knowledge came from listening to older generations.
“You should learn and ask around about the things they did a long time ago, in the early days, what they use for healing,” said Keats in a video produced by the Alaska Medical Library in the early 1980s. “‘Cause your parents learned something from their parents before white people came.”
A midwife trained by Keats delivered another Booth – Eli’s cousin, Steven Booth, in Keats’ log cabin in Noatak. Keats was Stephen Booth’s great aunt. Steven regrets not spending more time with her while she was alive.
“I was too young to realize that I could learn from her,” Steven said.
Steven went on to become a certified nurse, but an encounter treating an elder made Steven realize something was missing – a connection to his culture.
“One elder man said, ‘You’re not helping us. You’re just giving us meds and stuff like that. We need help with our body,’” Steven said. “There was a tribal doctor position open, so I drove out and got a job with them.”
Tribal doctors use traditional practices and remedies rather than relying solely on Western medicine.
After training, Steven worked for two decades as a tribal doctor for Southcentral Foundation, an Anchorage-based Alaska Native health care organization.
Although Steven couldn’t learn from Keats directly, he said he learned from watching videos of her teaching her methods – especially the ones related to touch and massage.
Many of the videos of Keats were filmed by the Maniilaq Association as training material when they started their tribal doctor program in the 1970s. Steven says he also learned other aspects of traditional healing from these videos and other tribal doctors — like the use of medicinal tundra plants such as willow, sourdock and stinkweed, also known as wormwood.
Adequate sleep, an active lifestyle, laughing and a healthy diet that incorporates Alaska Native foods were also foundations of traditional health and healing. But above all else, faith is most important.
“They trust in God, they know that the Lord is a healer,” Steven said. “He just uses our hands if we’re willing.”
Keats would also often incorporate prayer into checkups and her time with patients.
Now, Cheryl Richards is the only full-time tribal doctor for Maniilaq Association. Although she never met Keats personally, Richards says is thankful for her role in helping establish the program Richards now leads. The tribal doctor program just started up again after a several-year break during the pandemic. And Richard hopes it will remain strong for years to come.
“My passion and my goal is to, one day retire and look back and say, you know, this program is going to survive. It’s going to thrive,” Richards said.
And Richards believes that in order for the program to thrive, like Keats, she needs to pass her knowledge to younger generations.