1. University of Alaska Anchorage
Master of Public Health
Juliana Crandall B.S.

2. Community Partner
 Tyonek Tribal
Conservation District
(TTCD)
Practicum Project
Committee
 Elizabeth Hodges
Snyder, PhD, MPH
 Nancy Nix, MD, MPH &
TM, MEd, CHES
 Chirsty Cincotta, MS
 Virginia Miller, DRPH,
MS, MPH

3.  Background and Significance
 Goals and Objectives
 The Project
 Methodology
 Results and Discussion
 Public Health Implications
 Strengths and Limitations
 Conclusion and Recommendations

4. Photo Credit TTCD Photo Credit TTCD

5. 1920s
 Alaska Native people grew a variety of produce to
supplement wild harvest
1930s-1960s
 Small gardens through Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
schools, 4-H and families
 Large-scale industrial farms have not been successful
 Dark winters
 Soil quality
 Transportation
 Funding

6. According to the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) Census of Agriculture (2012)
 In 2012 Alaska had 762 farms of various sizes
 This is an increase of 11% from 2007
 Edible crop sales made up 42% of the overall market
values of products sold in 2012
Community gardens are flourishing in Alaska
 Fairbanks, Juneau, Nome and Barrow and Anchorage
(UAF Cooperative Extension Service, 2015)

7. Food System definition (Hanna, Frazier, Parker and
Ikantova, 2012)
 Production
 Distribution
 Food prep, preservation and processing
 Food use and consumption
 Recycling and disposal of food waste

8. The World Health Organization (2016) defines food
security as
 “when all people at all times have access to sufficient,
safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active
life”
The Alaskan Inuit Food Security Report (2015) defines it
as
 “the natural right of all Inuit to be part of the
ecosystem, to access food and to care-take, protect and
respect all of life, water and air”

9.  Disruption of food system can cause vulnerability
 Alaska imports most of its food without equal exports
 A large natural disaster could take out ports and roads

10. Gardening is associated with a variety of health benefits
(Gardening Matters, 2012)
 Increased physical activity
 Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables
 Improved mental health
 Opportunities for socialization

11.  Approximately 148,000 Alaska Native people in Alaska
 Disproportionate health disparities (Alaska Native
Tribal Health Consortium, 2015)
 Higher suicide rates
 Higher substance abuse rates
 Higher sexual assault and intimate partner violence
 Especially in youth
 Traditional subsistence activities still practiced but
being supplemented with pre-packaged, shelf-stable
foods

12. • Tyonek is located 40 miles
SW of Anchorage
• Dena’ina Indian Alaska
Native village
• Approx. 200 people
• Rich culture in song, dance,
storytelling and religion
• Called the Tebughna which
means Beach People
Photo Credit Juliana Crandall

13.  Nonprofit that provides technical and financial
assistance to landowners
 Assists in reaching conservation goals
 Helped implement the 1.5 acre community garden in
2012
 Raised beds
 Irrigation system
 Two seasonal high tunnels
 Work with the community to plant starts
 Farmers markets
 Youth Conservation Science Program

14. Photo Credits TTCD

15. Photo Credits ADN.com

16. Goal:
• To inform and educate Alaska Native communities about the
health benefits of community gardening.
Aim:
 To develop a community-specific health education curriculum
incorporating the Tyonek Garden as a main component.
Objectives:
 Provide twelve (12) one-hour lesson plans to TTCD and one
addition on how to make adjustments to different communities.
 Pilot two lesson plans with Alaska Native youth to receive
feedback.
 Distribute the curriculum with community members for review
and feedback.

17.  Goal/Purpose
 Objectives
 Lesson Outline
 Background for Instructor
-Including main concepts
-Supplemental information
 Warm-up/Ice Breaker
 Main Lesson with Activities
-Materials list
-Step by step instructions
-Script
 Evaluation and Closing
 Additional References and Appendices, as needed
Photo Credit TTCD

18.  Lesson 1: Goal Setting
 Lesson 2: Heart Disease
 Lesson 3: Dinner
Together
 Lesson 4: Serving Size
 Lesson 5: Cooking with
Kids
 Lesson 6: Fiber and Leafy
Greens
 Lesson 7: Cholesterol
and Wild Foods
 Lesson 8: Carbs, Protein
and Fat
 Lesson 9:
Canning/Preserving
 Lesson 10: Cooking with
Canned Goods
 Lesson 11: Diabetes
Awareness
 Lesson 12: Healthy
Relationships
 Lesson 13: Customization

19.  The lessons do not use technology because there is
limited technology in the village
 The recipes use canned items that are common in the
community
 Traditional foods are incorporated
 Language is incorporated
 The seasonal availability is taken into consideration

20. Health Belief Model
 A person won’t make a behavior change unless there is
value to them (Glanz, Rimer, Viswanath, 2008)
 Lessons intend to put value on the health behavior
topics
 Including cultural aspect to increase value

21.  Participants in the Tyonek Garden
 Youth
 Elders
 Adults
 Alaska Native

22.  Focus group with Alaska Native youth
 Focus group with Alaska Native Elders/adults
 Content Review
 ASD Certified Teacher
 Health Educator expert

23. Photo Credit ciri.com

24. Question Positive Response Negative
Response
Was the lesson easy to follow? 10 0
Was the information useful? 10 0
Share your favorite part? 10 0
Share comments, suggestion
or improvements?
10 0

25. Based on the feedback
 Added some lesson instructions
 Adjust warm-up games to accommodate large and small
groups
 Include more recipes
 Majority of the feedback included the lessons were easy
to follow and didn’t have too much jargon
 Felt the lessons were timely, had good flow

26. Photo Credit Juliana Crandall

27.  Physical health
 Heart disease, diabetes, cholesterol
 Food nutrition knowledge
 Recipes for healthier eating, cooking
 Family connection
 Interpersonal relationships

28. Photo Credit TTCD

29.  Community-specific, more buy in
 Fulfills a need in the community
 Based on feedback, easy to follow and understand

30.  Despite familiarity of the community, still removed
 Needed to pilot all modules
 Low response from Elders
 No health education response
 Needed more in-depth questions

31. Photo Credits TTCD

32.  There is a desire to improve health and food
knowledge in Alaska
 Foster Subsistence Harvesting and Related Skills
(Meter, 2014)
 Building personal capacities in agriculture (Meter,
2014)
 Content and format seem appropriate

33.  Continue to support community garden policy and
expansion
 Need for more research on community gardens
 Evaluate modules with pre and post test

34. Photo Credit ANTHC

35. Tell them that I thank them
and I like to see them all the time when they
coming.
Talk to me, and I talk back to them, speak to
them and everything else.
I thank them for that.
Chin’an hech’ qeshnash hu
I am thankful if I can talk this way to you,
shch’ qenadelghesh ch’u.
and you can talk to me.
Shi k’a hech’ qeshnish, hech’ qeshnash shu,
If I can talk to you as I customarily speak,
Chiqinik gheli shtunutghelggesh dghu.
I would be very thankful when I leave.
Photo Credit CIRI

36.  ANTHC Diabetes Registry. (2015).
 Caldwell, S. Tyonek harvests an unlikely bumper crop:
60 pounds of watermelon. Alaska Dispatch News
[Anchorage] 17 Oct. 2015. Print.
 Census 2000 Tyonek, Alaska. (2000). Retrieved from
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/com
munity_facts.xhtml?src=bkmk
 Mulitiple Benefits of Community Gardening. (2012).
Retrieved from https://www.gardeningmatters.org/

37.  Kreuter, M. W. (1998) Community Health Promotion Ideas
That Work a Field-book for Practitioners. Mass.:Jones and
Bartlett, 123-145. Print.
 Loring, P. A., & Gerlach, S. C. (2010). Outpost Gardening in
Interior Alaska: Food System Innovation and the Alaska
Native Gardens of the 1930s through the 1970s.
Ethnohistory, 57(2), 183-199.
 Merculieff, L., & Roderick, L. (2013). Stop talking:
Indigenous ways of teaching and learning and difficult
dialogues in higher education. Anchorage, AK: University of
Alaska Anchorage.
 Meter, K., & Goldernberg

38.  Meter, K., & Goldernberg, M. (2014). Building Food
Security in Alaska (Rep.). Minniapolis: Crossroads
Resource Center.
 Snyder, E. H., & Meter, K. (2015). Food in the Last
Frontier: Inside Alaska's Food Security Challenges and
Opportunities. Environment: Science and Policy for
Sustainable Development, 57(3), 19-33.