Legislature(2005 - 2006)Anch LIO Conf Rm
08/30/2006 08:00 AM House HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Using Alaska's Health Care Dollars Wisely: Behavioral Health and Faith-based Community Initiatives | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
Anchorage, Alaska
August 30, 2006
8:16 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Paul Seaton, Vice Chair
Representative Sharon Cissna
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Peggy Wilson, Chair
Representative Tom Anderson
Representative Carl Gatto
Representative Vic Kohring
Representative Berta Gardner
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Senator Bettye Davis
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
USING ALASKA'S HEALTHCARE DOLLARS WISELY: BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND
FAITH-BASED COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
CRISTY WILLER, Director
Division of Behavioral Health
Department of Health and Social Services
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a PowerPoint regarding the
division.
TERI KEKLAK, Medical Assistant Admin IV
Division of Behavioral Health
Department of Health and Social Services
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions.
JERRY FULLER, Project Director
Office of Program Review
Department of Health and Social Services
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Related that work on the report on the
Bring the Kids Home Initiative has just begun.
STEPHANIE WHEELER, Executive Director
Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives
Department of Health and Social Services
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a PowerPoint regarding faith-
based and community initiatives.
ACTION NARRATIVE
VICE CHAIR PAUL SEATON, Acting Chair, called the House Health,
Education and Social Services Standing Committee meeting to
order at 8:09 a.m. Representatives Seaton and Cissna were
present at the call to order. Also in attendance was Senator
Davis.
^Using Alaska's Health Care Dollars Wisely: Behavioral Health
and Faith-Based Community Initiatives
VICE CHAIR SEATON announced that the committee would hear a
presentation regarding behavioral health and faith-based
community initiatives.
8:09:28 AM
CRISTY WILLER, Director, Division of Behavioral Health,
Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), began by
pointing out that the committee packet should include a
PowerPoint entitled, "Alaska's State of Mind: Behavioral Health
in the Great Frontier" as well as a document entitled, "Serious
Behavioral Health Conditions and Social Loss" and another
document entitled, "Behavioral Health." She then began her
review of the division, which she characterized as a complex
system. The slide entitled, "Percentage of Deaths by Cause
Among Alaskans Aged 14-19 Years 1999-2001" relates that 34
percent of the deaths of the aforementioned age group are caused
by suicide. This slide also relates the proportion of this age
group whose death was caused by an unintentional injury via
motor vehicle or other, which the division believes to be to
some degree suicidal. The slide entitled "Suicide Rate" relates
the suicide rates in Alaska, specifically for Native and Non-
Native groups, over the last approximately 10 years as compared
to the national rate. The graph relates that Alaska's suicide
rate has been above the national average for some time, which is
caused by the very high rate of suicide in the Alaska Native
population. She then referred to the slide entitled, "Comparing
the Health Risk Behavior of Adults with Frequent Mental Distress
vs All Other Adults," which uses a pie chart to illustrate that
11 percent of the adult population has frequent mental distress.
Those with mental distress are significantly more impacted by
poor health than all other adults in the state as illustrated by
the bar graph. She related that a recent Washington State study
shows that having treatment for substance abuse impacts the
health and continuing life of individuals such that the cost of
treatment is offset by the savings in the health care costs that
would've otherwise been engendered by the individual. She noted
that the Washington State study dealt with real people on
Medicaid.
8:18:13 AM
MS. WILLER then moved on to the slides with charts regarding
binge and heavy drinking in Alaska versus that nationwide. Of
course, alcohol consumption is higher in Alaska than in the
nation. To meet the challenges, the division awards to
providers and agencies of the state grants in order to provide
services. The slide entitled "Comprehensive Prevention, Early
Intervention & Treatment Grants" shows the distribution of the
comprehensive services and the funds for those. She then
highlighted the slide entitled, "Bring the Kids Home Grants,"
which relates where the funds were granted to already existing
community services.
8:21:32 AM
MS. WILLER continued with the slide entitled, "Rural Human
Services System Grants." She characterized this program as a
very useful and cost-effective program. The Rural Human
Services System Grants pay for the salaries, supervision, and
education for folks in rural villages to become counselors for
mental illness and substance abuse. The program allows these
counselors to attack the problem in their own village and be the
focus of sobriety and mental health efforts within the small
communities of Alaska. In fact, this year the legislature
provided funds to expand the program such that there are 10 more
counselors. The slide entitled, "Special Behavioral Health
Program Grants" highlighted other programs, such as:
independent case management and flexible supports, evidence-
based practices, Alcohol Safety Action Program (ASAP), housing
programs. She noted that the lack of safe, sober, and
supportive housing for clients is more recognized. She noted
that the integrated treatment of children and families with
trauma history just began last year as it has become more
apparent that many of the medical, mental, and substance abuse
issues arise from early trauma histories of children. She
mentioned that there are also multi-program grants to regional
Native health organizations.
8:24:08 AM
MS. WILLER moved on the slide entitled "Societal Costs - United
States" The numbers come from a document entitled, "The Domino
Effect" put out by the State of Oregon to show the actual impact
on Oregon's budget due to the drastic cuts in substance abuse
funding. Clearly, nationwide public programs were heavily
effected. She highlighted that states spent $81.3 billion to
deal with substance abuse, which amounts to 13.1 percent of
state budgets. Similarly, the McDowell report analyzed in
relation to alcohol and other drug abuse, the cost to Alaska in
terms of productivity losses, criminal justice and protective
services, health care, traffic crashes, and public assistance.
The specific costs are listed on the slide entitled, "Societal
Costs - Alaska."
8:26:27 AM
MS. WILLER then moved on to the slide entitled, "DBH Grant
Component by Program - Percentage." This slide relates the
change in funding over time for various types of services. She
explained that the reason the treatment percentages for ADA and
Mental Health treatment went to zero is because it's an
integrated program now. Therefore, those treatment dollars are
going to the Behavioral Health Treatment component. The figures
relate that in the last 3 years about 50 percent of the total
the Division of Behavioral Health (DBH) grant is going into
treatment while much less is going into prevention, suicide
prevention, and the Rural Human Services Program. She related
that this chart represents about $52-$53 million a year that's
going into these grantee programs. In terms of Medicaid
billings, from 2002-2005 the amount billed for Medicaid for
substance abuse services has increased by 34 percent and mental
health services has increased by 28 percent. The total of those
two combined billings has risen from $36.4 million to $46.6
million.
8:28:53 AM
MS. WILLER continued with the slide entitled "Positive Outcomes
in Life Domains." This slide represents the 2005 summary of
client status reports, which are questions asked of clients upon
entry and then periodically afterwards. The graph illustrates
that the essential social and physical needs of those who were
in substance abuse treatment were as equipped or better able to
face life after treatment. Ms. Willer opined that this
indicator illustrates that things are happening to change the
face of this disease in Alaska.
8:31:59 AM
MS. WILLER moved on to the slide entitled, "Bring the Kids Home
Shows Success in 2005." The bar chart on the aforementioned
slide shows that after a couple of years working to fund more
local programs and better gate keeping practices, there was a
decline of about 5 percent in children going out of state [for
services]. The next slide entitled, "More RPTC [Residential
Psychiatric Treatment Center] Medicaid Dollars Stayed in Alaska
in 2005." She related that the average increase in out-of-state
Medicaid spending was 59.2 percent from year to year. However,
from 2004 to 2005, the increase in out-of-state spending was
only 1.1 percent.
8:34:02 AM
MS. WILLER then turned to the slide entitled, "What Do Adults
Say About Services?" The chart relates the responses of the
behavioral health survey in regard to access to services,
appropriateness of care, outcome of the care, and satisfaction.
She noted that this is a nationally developed survey instrument
and thus the outcomes can be compared with national statistics.
The chart relates that approximately 82 percent were generally
satisfied. The next slide entitled, "What Do Youths Say About
Services?" is a similar survey that illustrates that about 76
percent of those surveyed were satisfied overall. The slide
entitled, "What Do Parents/Caregivers Say About Services?"
relates that about 77 percent were satisfied overall.
8:35:48 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA drew attention to the percentages related
to cultural sensitivity. She inquired as to who were the 14
percent who didn't have a positive experience in regard to
cultural sensitivity. Knowing who this population is could be
crucial, she opined.
MS. WILLER relayed that there is a way to sort responses [based
on ethnicity]. In fact, the information is collected, and
therefore the chart could be presented with that information.
8:38:02 AM
MS. WILLER concluded with the last three slides, which are the
Alaska Mental Health Trust's posters entitled, "You KNOW me
...". She explained that the diseases with which the division
deals are among the most stigmatized. The posters are an effort
to make people realize that people dealing with these diseases
are walking among us.
8:40:30 AM
VICE CHAIR SEATON related his understanding that youth who go
outside of the state for residential treatment are considered
emancipated and thus receive 100 percent funding. Furthermore,
airline tickets for family visits are provided regardless of the
family's ability to pay. Moreover, those tickets don't even
have to be advanced purchase prices. He asked if that's
correct.
8:42:05 AM
MS. WILLER began by commenting that the higher cost of [out-of-
state] care is certainly one of the reasons for the Bring the
Kids Home campaign.
8:42:43 AM
TERI KEKLAK, Medical Assistant Admin IV, Division of Behavioral
Health, Department of Health and Social Services, answered that
the children who are institutionalized outside the home for 30
days are eligible for Medicaid. Currently, all airline tickets
paid for by Medicaid are paid through the state travel office
and thus the cost of the ticket is whatever the agreed upon rate
with the state is.
8:44:10 AM
VICE CHAIR SEATON requested that the department investigate
whether families are being provided airline tickets to visit
children in residential treatment centers outside of Alaska
without any advanced purchase requirements. He further
requested that the department investigate whether a change in
policy that could be a savings could occur while still allowing
travel. Vice Chair Seaton asked if there is any
test/requirement for financial need before the state provides a
family with a child in residential treatment outside of the
state tickets to visit that child.
MS. KEKLAK explained that for Medicaid travel, the patient in
residential care is considered the recipient. Therefore, if the
patient is eligible for Medicaid, other family members may be
approved to travel. She emphasized that Medicaid doesn't pay
for parents to travel for social visits to their children.
There has to be documentation that the parent, guardian, or
other family member is going to participate in the active
treatment of the child while present. In further response to
Vice Chair Seaton, Ms. Keklak related that the first question
asked is whether the treatment can be done telephonically.
8:47:49 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA opined that in order to develop good state
policy on programs such as Bring the Kids Home one needs to
understand what is required to help the child's treatment
process, why parents are required, what happens when parents
aren't part of the treatment, and the costs involved. If this
committee understood all this, it could make better budget
decisions because there could ultimately be savings by spending
some funds.
MS. WILLER said that she can provide such information to the
committee.
8:50:20 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA requested more of the kind of cost
reporting that has presented today. She then expressed the need
for the public to understand that the drivers of health care
costs, many of which are addressed in the report, increase when
upfront prevention dollars aren't spent. She also expressed the
hope to figure out how to be prepared for future costs of mental
health.
8:53:23 AM
MS. WILLER, in response to Vice Chair Seaton, said that the
earlier mentioned report from Washington State was a match study
of the Medicaid eligible persons in the state. The study
analyzed the medical costs of people who needed treatment.
Those who needed treatment were defined as certain event cases,
such as being arrested for driving under the influence or
presenting at the emergency room with an alcohol-related injury.
The groups were matched for those that went into treatment and
their costs as compared to the others who didn't have treatment
after the event. The costs were significantly higher for those
who didn't receive treatment after the event. In fact, the
increased medical costs of those who didn't receive treatment
were high enough that they offset the cost of treatment that
they would've received had they sought treatment. She then
mentioned an Oregon study called, "Falling Dominos," which
essentially addresses the same issue. The aforementioned
studies are exactly the type Alaska should do in order to obtain
the information that would illustrate to folks that addressing
these problems at the initiating point is a cost-savings
mechanism.
8:57:44 AM
VICE CHAIR SEATON requested that Ms. Willer provide the
committee with the relevant charts and discussion from the
Washington report. With regard to the slide entitled, "Positive
Outcomes in Life Domains," he inquired as to the location of the
base line. He then expressed the desire for data for those
people who are not consumers and where they would rank the
issues on the aforementioned slide.
MS. WILLER concurred that this is not balanced against a
control. However, she noted that a control could be effectuated
or these questions could be asked of individuals as they enter
and exit the system, which could reach individuals at the
various stages of recovery.
VICE CHAIR SEATON suggested that asking the questions when the
individual comes in for treatment and after treatment would
provide a base line and provide some measure of these
qualitative questions.
9:01:07 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA noted that in the treatment programs with
which she has worked, those questions are asked upon entrance.
MS. WILLER clarified that these questions are being asked upon
entry to treatment and the data was promulgated from those
answers. For instance, the chart shows that 82 percent of
respondents felt either more productive or maintained their
level of productivity [prior to treatment] after receiving
treatment. Therefore, this chart ["Positive Outcomes in Life
Domains"] has a built-in comparison over time. However, there
is not a comparison of a group of people who didn't receive
treatment at all.
9:03:21 AM
MS. WILLER concluded her presentation by thanking the committee
for asking the division to the table as it has been a great
opportunity to better express the professional world in which
the division works and the clients it serves.
9:04:20 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA expressed the need to hear a presentation
from those who are actually trying to keep kids in the state for
treatment and hear why the recommendations were made.
The committee took an at-ease from 9:06 a.m. to 9:07 a.m.
9:07:56 AM
VICE CHAIR SEATON mentioned that staff from Representative
Coghill's office had pointed out that a report on the Bring the
Children Home Initiative is required for the beginning of next
session. He inquired as to the stage at which that report is
and whether it will be on time.
9:08:19 AM
JERRY FULLER, Project Director, Office of Program Review,
Department of Health and Social Services, relayed that the
department is just beginning to work on that report and thus
there aren't any intermediate results that could be provided
today. However, the intention is to have that report ready by
next session if not sooner.
9:08:57 AM
STEPHANIE WHEELER, Executive Director, Office of Faith Based and
Community Initiatives, Department of Health and Social Services,
began by highlighting that the Office of Faith Based and
Community Initiatives (FBCI) has only been in operation for
about 18 months. Ms. Wheeler emphasized that the Office of FBCI
is about building and strengthening partnerships. She informed
the committee that the Office of FBCI is supported by an
advisory council of about 22 members statewide. Furthermore,
Alaska is one of 32 states that have created an FBCI office.
MS. WHEELER opined that the Office of FBCI is all about rallying
the "Armies of Compassion." She highlighted that FBCI
[organizations] have been in existence for a very long time and
have been providing support services to communities. Therefore,
the Office of FBCI provides support to those who provide the
support to communities. Ms. Wheeler began her PowerPoint
presentation with a slide containing the following quote from
President George W. Bush: "Starting now, the Federal Government
is adopting a new attitude to honor and not restrict faith-based
and community initiatives, to accept rather than dismiss such
programs, and to empower rather than ignore them." She reviewed
the goals of the initiative, as follows: lift up the vital work
done by "neighborhood healers", build the capacity of grassroots
groups, level the playing field in federal social service
programs, and maximize partnerships between government and
faith-based and grassroots organizations.
9:13:05 AM
MS. WHEELER related that due to the Gulf Coast disaster of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many studies were put forth
regarding the contributions of faith-based organizations. She
then drew attention to the slide entitled, "Faith Based
Contributions." The information provided on this slide was
derived from a study of 300,000-380,000 congregations in
America. The study found that about 90 percent of those
congregations provided one or more social service programs or
ministries to communities. The study also found that faith-
based ministries provide specialized help across the range of
needs. Furthermore, faith communities mobilize their members to
volunteer and give financial support to community programs. She
noted that recent disasters in Alaska have resulted in some
great partnerships. Ms. Wheeler moved on to the slide entitled,
"Community Wellness Partnerships," which relates a quote from
Dr. Robert K. Ross, President and CEO of the California
Endowment, who has been invited to speak at the DHSS Health
Summit in December. She said that Dr. Ross is about developing
community wellness partnerships within communities.
9:16:10 AM
MS. WHEELER continued with the slide entitled, "Vision/Mission
of the FBCI Office." She explained that last year the FBCI
Office worked really hard to try to make sure that the office is
aligned within the department. Therefore, the vision of the
FBCI Office is to improve the well-being of Alaskans while the
mission of the office is to strengthen and expand the resources
contributed by faith-based and community initiatives.
Continuing with the slide entitled, "Alaska Office of FBCI We
believe" reviewed that the office believes there is a need for
additional resources and that faith-based and other community
organizations can contribute to adding new resources to the
state. Moreover, the Office of FBCI believes that public funds
are best leveraged through partnerships. The office also
believes that some faith-based and community groups are
unnecessarily disadvantaged in any effort to partner with state
government.
9:17:45 AM
MS. WHEELER then reviewed the slide entitled, "Alaska Office of
FBCI We will." She highlighted that the Office of FBCI will
foster partnerships between and among government and faith and
community groups; build capacity in faith-based and community
organizations; and educate the government, organizations, and
the public about FBCI contributions, opportunities and issues.
Ms. Wheeler related that she provides presentations across
Alaska and the nation and opined that it's discouraging that
Alaska Leads the Nation in many health-related areas. She
highlighted that Alaska leads the nation in the areas of:
substance abuse, fetal alcohol syndrome, suicide, domestic
violence, and child sexual assault. Furthermore, the state has,
as specified in the title of the next slide, "Growing (Health
Related) Concerns." Those concerns include
homelessness/affordable housing, hunger, gangs, seniors, and
prison re-entry. A recent Food Bank of Alaska study found that
about 70,000 Alaskans go hungry every year. With regard to
housing, the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC)
statistics show that about 10,000 Alaskans are homeless every
year. Of those homeless Alaskans, about 4,000 are children.
She then related that Alaska is experiencing an increase in
youth and gang violence.
9:21:37 AM
MS. WHEELER moved on to the slide entitled, "Seniors," and
related that the senior population is the fastest growing in the
United States. She related that about one-third of Alaska's
seniors are living in poverty. She further related that the
national Alzheimer's Association projects that Alaska will have
the second highest increase in seniors experiencing Alzheimer's
disease, which can be costly. Ms. Wheeler highlighted that in
Florida the state and various FBCI have partnered to focus on
providing adult day care centers. Through this partnership
there has been a decrease in the number of seniors needing long-
term care, having to go to assisted living, and a decrease in
health-related costs. These Adult Day Care Centers provide the
necessary support services for seniors to have a good quality of
life while living at home.
9:23:27 AM
MS. WHEELER turned to the next slide, "Homelessness." She
informed the committee that studies show that homeless people
visit emergency rooms frequently because of the lack of a
regular source of medical care. Furthermore, homeless children
get sick twice as often, are four times more likely to have
asthma attacks, have five times more stomach problems, and have
twice as many hospitalizations as other children. Ms. Wheeler
moved on to the slide entitled, "Prison Re-entry." She
reiterated that there are record numbers of prisoners returning
to Alaska's communities. Therefore, if services aren't in
place, these released prisoners don't become connected to the
community and end up returning to jail or to a mental
institution. She informed the committee that about 37 percent
of those in Alaska's correctional facilities have mental health
issues. She then informed the committee that the APIC Steering
Committee in partnership with the Department of Corrections,
Social Services Administration, and the Disabilities
Determination Services are trying to provide wrap-around
services for those being released from prison who have mental
health and other disabilities. This partnership has resulted in
100 percent success rate in the targeted individuals and thus
these individuals aren't returning to jail or mental
institutions.
9:26:40 AM
MS. WHEELER continued with the slide entitled, "Suicide
Prevention," and reminded the committee that Alaska has the
highest suicide rate in the nation as it's twice the national
average. The suicide rate for Alaska Natives is four times the
national average. She mentioned that last year the Office of
FBCI and the Suicide Prevention Council came together to review
the suicide issues in rural Alaska. The aforementioned lead to
discussions with local communities regarding how faith
communities can partner with the local school districts and
mental health providers in order to garner some positive results
with suicide among youth in rural areas. Just such a
partnership has come together to build a program around suicide
prevention in the Yukon-Kuskokwim area. She opined that the
program is working wonders.
9:28:54 AM
MS. WHEELER moved on to the slide entitled, "Veteran Outreach
(Story)" and related that the Combat Veteran's Outreach
partnership has just been formed. She explained that recently a
number of Alaska Native men from rural areas have been deployed
to Iraq. The concern, she further explained, is that there
aren't many support services for active duty military in rural
Alaska. Therefore, the aforementioned partnership came together
to help provide support services and training with faith-based
ministry leaders to help those military personnel returning to
rural Alaska.
MS. WHEELER reminded the committee of the recent disaster in the
Hooper Bay area. That disaster is considered a health hazard
because 71 people, 16 percent of the village, lost everything,
which has resulted in families living together. In fact, in one
instance 17 people are living in one home without running water
and one honey bucket, which is a health hazard. The is an
instance in which forming partnerships [has helped]. She
highlighted that the faith-based communities have taken the lead
in providing support services to the families in Hooper Bay,
specifically Franklin Graham has pledged about $1 million in
aide to help rebuild five homes and provide some of the
necessities of the area such as four-wheelers.
9:34:34 AM
MS. WHEELER moved on to the slide entitled, "Solutions
(Interagency Collaborations)." She reiterated that partnerships
are important, and therefore the Office of FBCI looks to expand
and strengthen those partnerships across the state. She then
related the concern that if the pandemic flu hits the United
States, it may hit Alaska first. The Office of FBCI has worked
in partnerships with the federal government agencies to design a
check list for faith-based communities throughout the nation in
order to help them prepare for the pandemic flu and provide
information to those in the community. Ms. Wheeler related that
there are a number of health care ministries across the state
that work with volunteers, such as Faith In Action. Faith in
Action is located in Anchorage, Sitka, Homer, Girdwood, Eagle
River, and Soldotna. Faith in Action helps train volunteers to
provide long-term care to individuals in their home. In
Anchorage, at this point approximately 60 parish nurses have
been trained of which 43 are active in some sort of health
ministry activity. Furthermore, there are 19 churches in the
Anchorage area that have initiated a health ministry team.
Furthermore, several churches provide regular blood pressure
screening through the trained volunteers. The aforementioned is
a great way to utilize volunteers in prevention efforts. Ms.
Wheeler then mentioned Project Access in Anchorage, the mission
of which is to increase access to health care for low income and
uninsured members of the community by using a volunteer network
of providers. In the first 8 months of operation, the Anchorage
Project Access has recruited a provider network of over 300
physicians and health care providers. Furthermore, to date the
program has screened over 300 applicants and connected 150
patients with no-cost medical care from community health care
providers. Ms. Wheeler then mentioned that the United Way
recently performed a survey in the Anchorage area, the results
of which will be reviewed in September. Such community
assessment projects will help provide information regarding the
health care needs in Alaska communities.
9:41:04 AM
MS. WHEELER concluded her presentation with a review of the
slide entitled, "Volunteers in Alaska - 2005." Recently a study
from the National Community Service Commission discussed the
volunteer services in Alaska. In 2005, there were over 183,000
volunteers in the state. In fact, the national volunteerism
rate is 29 percent while in Alaska the volunteerism rate is 39
percent. She noted that about 25 percent of Alaska's volunteers
come from faith-based communities. According to the
aforementioned study, the dollar value of a volunteer's time is
about $18.04. Therefore, Alaska has potentially leveraged about
$690 million by utilizing volunteers.
9:43:19 AM
VICE CHAIR SEATON returned to the Hooper Bay disaster, and
inquired as to how the Office of FBCI works with the different
agencies to provide services.
MS. WHEELER explained that whenever there is an issue, a group
can be formed in conjunction with the Salvation Army, the Red
Cross, or other government agencies to assess needs in the area.
Such a group will also attempt to locate resources to help meet
the needs of the individuals. For instance, in Hooper Bay [the
Office of FBCI] was involved in a number of teleconferences with
volunteers in order to help understand the needs while trying to
locate resources for those needs.
VICE CHAIR SEATON recalled that Ms. Wheeler had related that the
Alaska volunteerism rate is 39 percent of which about 25 percent
of Alaska's volunteers come from faith-based communities. He
asked if that's an increase that the Office of FBCI has
stimulated.
9:46:47 AM
MS. WHEELER reminded the committee that the percentages are from
a 2005 study. Furthermore, since the Office of FBCI has only
been in existence for about 18 months there won't be data
regarding whether there has been an increase in the faith-based
community volunteerism. The statistics reflect that 25 percent
of those who volunteer [in Alaska] come from the faith-based
communities.
9:47:38 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA returned to the issue of military
personnel from rural Alaska serving in Iraq, and expressed the
need for the home front to welcome the returning military. Such
a homecoming could be made easier, if the families left at home
are taken care of while the family member is away.
MS. WHEELER related that one of the issues when rural Native
Alaskan males are deployed for military service is that the
family is left without its provider. The Office of FBCI is
working through some strategic planning to determine what the
community can do for the family in providing the support
services.
9:50:59 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA opined that part of the conversation is
determining how much is placed on the faith-based and community-
based organizations and what would fall to state agencies.
Having attended many of the local faith-based community
meetings, Representative Cissna said that she is concerned
because the volunteers are often literally putting themselves in
jeopardy. She emphasized the need to take care of the families
[of deployed military personnel], a task in which the state
government has to play a part.
MS. WHEELER noted her agreement that it takes everyone to
address the situation resulting from military deployment.
9:53:32 AM
VICE CHAIR SEATON announced that he would suggest to Chair
Wilson that there needs to be a joint meeting between the House
Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee and the
House Special Committee on Military and Veterans' Affairs.
9:54:31 AM
RYNNIEVA MOSS, Staff to Representative John Coghill, Alaska
State Legislature, suggested that perhaps the Joint Armed
Services Committee should also be notified of such a joint
meeting.
9:55:35 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee meeting
was adjourned at 9:56:33 AM.
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