Nenana Wellness Coalition MINUTES August 4, 2015 The Nenana Wellness Coalition is an alliance of representatives from various organizations, government agencies, community groups and individuals that meets weekly to discuss, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate, celebrate, masticate and help implement plans for improving the wellness and quality of life in Nenana Alaska. We had ten participants today: Kat McElroy, Mary Alexander, Colleen Hearning, Gayle Rayme, Bonnie Reed, Tara, Maryellen Robinson and Amie & James Verhagen. We enjoyed beet and pork borscht, mixed garden salad, raisins with pecans, and Ritz crackers with sliced cheese for lunch. WELCOME and READING OF MISSION STATEMENT: By this week’s chairperson, Gayle Rayme. SPIRITUAL MOMENT: Bonnie said a short prayer. PRESENTATION OF AGENDA AND CALL FOR MODIFICATIONS: There was one modification to the agenda. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: There were no minutes generated, posted at the WIN link at http://www.railbelt.org or submitted electronically to the WIN e-list with no reported issues. Bonnie says it was she, Tim, Mary and Virginia only at the meeting and that they did updates. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: Colleen Hearning introduced herself. Virginia Young invited her. Colleen lives in Fairbanks, works for DOT and has been in Healy all summer working on the road construction project. SPEAKERS/TOPICS: Envisioning Wellness: Paul Verhagen has not rescheduled his presentation on Emergency Preparedness yet. Update on the highway construction: Colleen said work is proceeding on schedule on the Parks Highway project. They shifted to a night shift schedule to lessen their interruption and delay of traffic. The work schedule is 5 PM- 7 AM, to reduce inconvenience to travelers. The work is going from the Denali RV Park to just south of Dragonfly Creek. It has begun getting dark at night, so they have to light up the work areas, and wear highly reflective safety gear. There is an area just this side of Glitter Gulch that is going to require some removal of large rock, whether blasting or scaling. Colleen said this part of the work would be completed during the winter months. She encouraged people to go to the DOT web site if they need further updates. WELLNESS THOUGHT: Borscht is good. You cannot beat beets. UPDATES/ANNOUNCEMENTS: Bonnie: Next Wednesday, 8-12, the bus is going to town. It is Senior Day at the Fair, free admit for Seniors, and free lunch. Kat: Sister Cassandra is coming to visit, August 12-26. Tara and Kat will be going to Jenna and David’s fish camp upriver Friday-Sunday. Virginia: She got a call from the broker; her peonies are beginning to be sold. She says it is like commercial fishing, you get your money in the end. Her pick-up engine blew up. She has time now she says to paint trim and and split firewood. Tara: Got her Master’s Degree in Social Justice. Hurrah! Maryellen: Just back from a Youth Conference in Texas. Has a self-inventory for people who are creating and running programs for youth to determine if they are actually incorporating the ideas and vision of the young people into their programs and process. She wants to invite the tobacco industry whistleblower, Dr. Victor DeNoble to Nenana to speak at the school. This engendered a long discussion regarding the ongoing issue at our school of youth using smokeless tobacco. There is a sense of frustration because they have years of tobacco use already yet come to our school which has policy prohibiting student tobacco use yet cessation services are not really available for them. Gayle: She made sweet zucchini relish, very good. Now she wants to make some dill zucchini relish. Amie: Kristi had her baby. Their garden is doing well. “It’s a big learning process,” she says, and “We will start earlier next year.”