HB 78-AK COMMUNITY HEALTH AIDE APPRECIATION DAY  8:23:28 AM CHAIR MCCORMICK announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 78, "An Act establishing September 10 as Alaska Community Health Aide Appreciation Day." 8:23:42 AM CALLAN CHYTHLOOK-SIFSOF, Staff, Representative CJ McCormick, Alaska State Legislature, provided her background and personal connection to the health aide community before presenting HB 78 on behalf of Representative CJ McCormick, prime sponsor. She explained the Community Health Aide Program is unique to the state and was established out of necessity for many of the rural communities across the state, and the role is very complex. Community health aides are often on call all hours and are critical to coordination for doctors and nurses traveling to rural villages. In the 1950s, during the tuberculosis epidemic, the profession began out of necessity to ensure that medication and medical care was received in rural communities. September 10 commemorates the first Planning and Advisory Committee meeting for Health Aide Programs in Alaska. 8:26:35 AM MS. CHYTHLOOK-SIFSOF continued to synopsize HB 78 by briefly following a 9-page PowerPoint, titled "HB 78 Establishing Alaska Community Health Aide Appreciation Day," showing visuals of the discussion so far. She reiterated that community health aides are the "trust" for a lot of Alaska in the medical care system, and she thanked the committee for its time. 8:29:18 AM CHAIR MCCORMICK invited the committee to provide questions at this time. 8:29:30 AM REPRESENTATIVE MCCABE asked for an idea of what the training involves, and if there are wages, who pays them. 8:29:53 AM MS. CHYTHLOOK-SIFSOF replied that the Community Health Aide/Practitioner (CHAP) training is fairly expensive and consists of weeks of training at one of four hubs: [typically] Anchorage, Bethel, Nome, or Fairbanks. In response to a follow- up question, she explained wages for aides depend on each community, and sometimes they will not receive pay for all the time they are on call. 8:31:55 AM REPRESENTATIVE MEARS expressed her privilege to have worked for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium early in her career, and explained she was able to see firsthand the facilities and the care provided to communities. She stated she strongly supports HB 78. 8:32:28 AM REPRESENTATIVE RUFFRIDGE asked for a description of what a day looks like for a health aide. 8:33:12 AM MS. CHYTHLOOK-SIFSOF spoke of her personal knowledge through her mother's work as a health aide. She explained the close work with the Village Public Safety Officer (VPSO) in the village, stating that the aide and VSPO were the primary responsibility for all crises; aides not only provide medical attention but are also part of the law and order in a community. Health aides are sometimes required to go house to house if a village does not have a clinic - from helping the elderly, to responding to trauma. 8:34:41 AM REPRESENTATIVE HIMSCHOOT asked if health aides are mandatory reporters. 8:35:05 AM MS. CHYTHLOOK-SIFSOF replied there are some members from the CHAP program present who could better address the question. 8:35:22 AM CHAIR MCCORMICK welcomed invited testifiers. 8:35:47 AM JESSICA HYATT, Community Relations Advocate, Guardian Flight Alaska, gave invited testimony in support of HB 78 on behalf of Alaska Community Health Aides, as they work shoulder to shoulder with Guardian Flight Alaska on a daily basis. She explained Alaska pioneered the CHAP program, and the work of the aides is tireless and around the clock. As stated prior, September 10 is a significant date to give recognition where recognition is due. 8:39:23 AM CAROLYN CRAIG, Director, Community Health Aide Program, gave invited testimony in support of HB 78 and provided her background. She described the CHAP program as unique, amazing, and proven effective at providing culturally competent and quality healthcare for remote and underserved areas throughout Alaska. She noted 15 weeks is the total training an aide must complete and is broken down into four sessions. In 2015, a distance learning program for basic training had been started, and this has allowed students to complete portions of their training at home and minimize their time away. The program has also gained both national and international attention. She explained that health aides deal with many hardships that remain unheard and it is a "24/7" job. She thanked the committee and will remain online to answer any questions. 8:45:22 AM JENNY BROWN, Instructor, Tanana Chiefs Conference, provided a brief background, and explained her time working with many rural and under-resourced medical providers, compared to other parts of the state. She stated the group that gains the most respect from her are the community health aides, as their situation varies greatly from region to region but the underlying scene is that they provide the essential medical care to the villages without any advanced degrees. She encouraged the committee to establish an annual Community Health Aide Recognition Day that will remind Alaskans to acknowledge these health care providers. 8:47:53 AM ASELA CALHOUN, Director, Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation, provided a brief background and expressed her fondness for the CHAP program and for the work of health aides. She described personal connections with many health aide workers and recognized the tremendous amount of work they do - and how well they do it. She gave an overview of communities served, and a brief breakdown of which ones also have a clinic. She reiterated that the program has become a model that is imitated nationwide, and she stated it is fitting that community health aides be recognized as the pillars of health care in remote Alaska and honored with a day of recognition. 8:52:48 AM MS. CALHOUN continued and gave examples of survey outcomes, noting that the program is widely described as "a very personal and deeply held tradition for the community." She also noted that being an aide is generational; children become aides because their parents were aides, and so on. It is a pattern that has been repeated multiple times. In closing, she offered her wholehearted support of HB 78 and dedicating a day of recognition to community health aides. 8:56:00 AM REPRESENTATIVE HIMSCHOOT reiterated her question as to whether health aides are mandatory reporters. 8:56:16 AM MS. CALHOUN replied yes, they are, just like any other health professional. 8:56:35 AM CHAIR MCCORMICK thanked the invited testifiers. 8:56:50 AM The committee took an at-ease from 8:56 a.m. to 8:58 a.m. 8:58:27 AM CHAIR MCCORMICK announced that HB 78 was held over.