This is to commend the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium for the very well-organized, beneficial services offered to our Alaska Native people, the most recent being the appointment of Valerie Davidson as its leader.
The corporation has grown from the old ANS — Alaska Native Service — days of the U.S. Public Health Service to the very well-organized, service-minded organization of today. There have been a number of other companies, such as Southcentral Foundation, which all have the same goal, and have joined forces to provide these services. The campus is huge, with separate buildings, such as the main hospital, primary care, dental, optical, etc.
Ironically, I am not a beneficiary, although having lived here for 70 years. As I grew up in our little village of Pilot Point, I was taken under the wing of some of the village Native people. I think they felt sorry for the dumb white schoolteacher’s kid!Then I married a wonderful Aleut girl; we had eight children. Today there are more than 50 direct descendants, most of whom still live in Alaska. Of course they are all eligible.
Today, my significant other is an Athabascan lady from Holy Cross; she has several medical issues, so we have used ANTHC extensively during the past few years. They have assigned her a personal M.D. in the primary care facility, and she has a personal case management representative to assist in all appointments, records, etc.
Recently they have lost two key founders, Dr. Catherine Gottlieb and a friend of mine, Andy Teuber. But I am confident that under the leadership of Ms. Davidson and the management staff that has already been built up and so very well run, that the excellent services will continue for the benefit of all our people.
— Orin Seybert
Anchorage
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