Alaska’s mental health crisis and its harder impact on minorities Author: Valerie Van Brocklin
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Print article The University of Alaska’s Justice Information Center recently released a report on police use of deadly force in Alaska from 2010 to 2020. Among the findings were: • More than two-thirds of the incidents involved a person with signs of mental illness with one-third expressing some suicidal intent. • While more than half of the incidents involved white people, American Indians or Alaska Natives (AI/AN) and Black people were involved almost double their percentage in Alaska’s population. This should come as no surprise. The ADN has been reporting about the state’s mental health crisis for years – citing organizational failures, and tight budgets. Community mental health services have been declining for two decades. That contributed to overburdening the Alaska Psychiatric Institute, which also experienced headline making downfalls
Health officials urge Alaskans to keep following local mask rules after CDC relaxes guidance for vaccinated individuals Published 1 hour ago
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We re making this important information available without a subscription as a public service. But we depend on reader support to do this work. Please consider supporting independent journalism in Alaska, at just $3.69 a week for an online subscription. State health officials are urging Alaskans to continue to follow local mask requirements and business-specific rules after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday relaxed its guidance for those who are fully vaccinated. In a significant shift, the CDC said Thursday that fully vaccinated people can now go safely without face coverings in most indoor and outdoor settings.
Print article An Alaska psychiatrist criminally charged for punching a man in a grocery store in June was acquitted after a two-day trial in Juneau last month. The misdemeanor assault charge against Joshua Sonkiss, 50, made headlines during the tense pandemic summer in part because police said the psychiatrist punched a man in the face because he wasn’t wearing a mask. That’s not what happened, Sonkiss says. In an interview last week, Sonkiss said he went to a Juneau Fred Meyer to pick up groceries and cleaning supplies. He was standing at the checkout register when a man and his young son stepped close to him. Sonkiss says he asked the two to step back. They were not wearing masks, but many people weren’t at grocery stores in Juneau around that time, according to Sonkiss.
A handful of former state employees are fighting Gov. Mike Dunleavyâs administration saying they lost their jobs because they refused to relinquish their free speech rights to an intolerant leader. The state has agreed to pay an $85,000 settlement to one of them.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska announced this week that Keren Lowell, who was barred from her job at the Alaska State Council on the Arts after speaking out publicly in opposition to Dunleavyâs policies, will receive $85,000 for lost wages and other damages pending legislative approval.
Under the Apr. 8 agreement, signed by Solicitor General Janell Hafner, the state admits to no wrongdoing.
Q&A: Verné Boerner on the priorities of the Alaska Native Health Board post-pandemic Sydney Kurle | Apr 19, 2021
Share this: (ANHB). She leads the ANHB with over 25 years of experience in addressing health disparities in minority populations. The ANHB, established in 1968, is recognized as the statewide voice on Alaska Native health issues. The mission of the Alaska Native Health Board is to promote the spiritual, physical, mental, social and cultural well-being and pride of Alaska Native people.
In this Q&A, Boerner discussed the impacts of the pandemic on the Alaska Native community and the priorities of the ANHB as the world begins to re-open.