Latest Commission News

The Sitka Commission on Health Needs and Community Services welcomes its newest member, Ms. Tia Beth Patterson. Ms. Patterson brings with her a solid background in human services, program development, community building, resource advocacy, staff management, and natural resource management and an independent passion for personal and public health. She was appointed by the Assembly for a three-year term on the Commission.

About the Commission

The Sitka Commission on Health Needs and Community Services is a seven-member advisory body originally established in 1991 as the Sitka Commission on Aging to promote services for the elderly, coordinate services to senior citizens, and advise the Assembly on senior citizens' issues. In 1999, the City and Borough Assembly passed Resolution No. 99-756, expanding its focus to encompass community services and health needs. Its powers and duties include, but not limited to, the following:

1. To promote programs and community services which address the health needs and/or enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Sitka.
2. To promote maximum citizen participation in the planning, development, operation, and maintenance of facilities, community services, and programs designed to address the health needs, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Sitka.
3. To serve as a focal point for coordination of health needs and community services among the various committees, the administrator and the Assembly of the City and Borough of Sitka.
4. To help formulate and recommend to the Assembly a comprehensive area-wide health needs and community service plan.
5. To collect facts and statistics, and make studies of the community services and health needs in the City and Borough of Sitka.

The members are appointed by the City and Borough Assembly to staggered three-year terms. Resolution No. 99-756 provided that the Commission shall consist of seven members from the public of which two members must be 65 or older, but such provision was amended in 2000, increasing the number of members to nine of which three must be 65 or older. In 2004, Resolution No. 04-03 was passed deleting the age requirement and Resolution No. 04-18, reducing the membership back to seven.

The Commission meets every third Tuesday of the month at 12 noon. Venue of the meeting alternates between Sitka Community Hospital and SEARHC. As part of its regular agenda, the Commission invites local health experts to present special topics on health and provide inputs to the Commission in its efforts to make Sitka the healthiest community in Alaska. Recent guest speakers include Dr. Lisa Fitzwilliams who discussed the need to create healthy eating habits for kids; Dr. Graham Chelius on the merits of the single payer health care system, and Ms. Lisa Sadleir-Hart on healthy school food.

The meetings are open to the public.

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