We have embarked on a new direction with the Tribal Connections website. Tribalconnections.org continues to be a valuable database for health related resources for Native Americans and Alaska Natives, and that will not change. The website is an important outreach tool to the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities and for promoting National Library of Medicine (NLM) online resources like MedlinePlus. What we have begun in our new phase is to provide editorial content in the form of news articles and features about health and wellness issues.

The Tribal Connections staff is attempting to do two things with this approach. First, we want to provide reader-friendly information about critical issues or topics in the news related to Native American health. We hope to make available information that will be interesting to both health professionals and to consumer health information seekers.

The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium is a non-profit health organization owned and managed by Alaska Native tribal governments and their regional health organizations. The Consortium was created in 1997 to provide statewide Native health services. Through its six divisions, the Consortium works in cooperation with tribes, Native health organizations, and municipalities to achieve its goals. ANTHC divisions are Tertiary and Specialty Medical Services, Alaska Native Medical Center; Environmental Health and Engineering; Community Health Services; Information/Technology; Human Resources; and Administration.

The Alaska Native Health Board (ANHB), established in 1968, is recognized as the statewide voice on Alaska Native health issues. The purpose of the Alaska Native Health Board is to promote the spiritual, physical, mental, social, and cultural well-being and pride of Alaska Native people.

Welcome to the Wellbriety Website The purpose of this website is to communicate with those who wish to help Alaska Natives and American Indians follow the path of Handsome Lake, the first Indian to recover from Alcoholism. This website started only a few weeks ago. Be sure to check out the "weblinks" page. We aim to be a source of information about other sites with valuable information.

Alaska Traditional Knowledge and Native Foods Database

Health Corporation Contact Information

Mailing Address
PO Box 966
Nome, AK 99762

tel: (907) 443-3311
www.nortonsoundhealth.org

A Daily Reflection from the "big book" of Alcoholics Anonymous: The 12-step program says that we should 'practice these principles in all our affairs.' “For me, A.A. is a synthesis of all the philosophy I’ve ever read, of all of the positive, good philosophy, all of it based on love. I have seen that there is only one law, the law of love, and there are only two sins; the first is to interfere with the growth of another human being, and the second is to interfere with one's own growth.” From Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Ed. p. 542 “He Who Loses His Life”

There is a new word that describes a lofty goal for the descendants of the earliest inhabitants of North America (Alaska Natives and American Indians). The word is "wellbriety." It is much more than sobriety.

With the European invasion of North America, ungracious newcomers brought pain, grief, and loss to the indigenous peoples of our continent. Alcoholic spirits, along with disease and abuse have ruined previously proud and able people.

We encourage a movement toward "wellbriety," a situation where the First Nations of America return to wellbriety - a state of well-being. For the nations to be well, the tribes and groups must be well. For tribes and groups to recover, the families must be well. For families to be well, each individual person must become physically, mentally, and spiritually fit; we must all achieve a state of wellbriety. Only then can we become what the Great Spirit wills us to become.