Joaqlin Estus

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — At the National Indian Health Board annual conference this week, health experts said tribal health systems were hard-pressed during the COVID-19 pandemic and are still operating below pre-pandemic capacity. Staffing shortages are…

‘You can be a hero in more ways than one' In March 2021, Tiberius Newbill, Inupiaq, had just graduated preschool and was celebrating his 5th birthday when his mother got a call from the hospital. He had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of acute…

Traditional healer and Yup’ik elder Rita Blumenstein died Friday, Aug. 6. As a mentor and speaker, she brought Yup’ik values to the international arena. Blumenstein was one of the first members of the International Council of Indigenous Thirteen…

“Take us back to a year ago,” Annenberg Center for Health Journalism director Michelle Levander asked Dr. Michelle Tom, a Navajo family medicine physician. “I feel like that would be PTSD. I don’t know if I want to do that.” Tom paused, “I’m…

Anchorage CEO’s departure follows the firing of her husband and two dental directors The longtime president and CEO of one of Alaska’s leading tribal health care providers is resigning following the recent firing of her husband, a senior executive,…

Peers praise Southcentral Foundation's longtime leader, Katherine Gottlieb, who announced this week that she's resigning at the end of the month Katherine Gottlieb, Sugpiaq, oversaw a period of massive growth and change in one of Alaska’s main Native…

Removals ‘often re-trigger trauma, deepen mistrust between Native community members and government institutions’ The National Coalition to End Urban Indigenous Homelessness wrote to the mayor of Seattle this week demanding the removal of the Seattle…

'It's going to be a very integral part of how we move forward with medicine' Joaqlin Estus The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted countless changes. One that’s likely to stick is the more common use of telecommunications in the health field. Both…

'Other things can happen' Joaqlin Estus Indian Country Today Doctors are seeing a big drop in the number of people coming in for urgent and emergency care, and they don’t think it’s because people aren’t getting sick. They worry people are having…

Bipartisan group warns U.S. Senate leadership that financial losses tied to the pandemic are taking a major toll on Native communities' medical facilities By Joaqlin Estus Some of the medical facilities serving Native people may be on the verge of…

'The trailer can treat about one thousand bags at a time' Joaqlin Estus Indian Country Today The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium has put together a mobile unit that heats N-95 masks and inactivates the coronavirus while protecting the features…