The community dinner takes place at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 14, at Harrigan Centennial Hall. The halibut dinner costs $5, and tickets are available at six locations around town — Old Harbor Books,
White’s Pharmacy, Hames Athletic and Wellness Center, Murray Pacific, Spenard Builders Supply and the Sitka
Tribe of Alaska main office building. Tickets need to be purchased early to insure enough food is available.
At the dinner, Dan Burden, a nationally known expert on building healthier communities, will give a keynote
address about “What Makes a Healthy Community.” There also will be a report about the state of Sitka’s health, a
progress report on the four main goals from the inaugural Sitka Health Summit, and community awards for
individuals and groups in Sitka who serve as health role models and wellness champions. More...

Keynote Speaker Dan Burden Internationally recognized authority on walkability, livability, healthy streets and smart growth. Time Magazine recently listed Dan as “one of the six most important civic innovators in the world.” The Transportation Research Board (National Academy of Sciences) honored Dan by making him their Distinguished Lecturer in 2001. In 2007, the New Partners for Smart Growth presented Dan its first “Lifetime Achievement Award.” The League of American Bicyclists lists Dan as “one of the 25 most significant leaders in bicycling for the past 100 years.” Dan is a former National Geographic photographer who uses photography to get across design concepts to help each community realize how auto-centric they have become. He then provides quality illustrations to show them how to change things to focus on people, instead of cars. To date he has helped get 2,400 communities back on their feet. In 1996 Dan founded Walkable Communities, Inc. This non-profit group has been helping North American communities become more walkable. Dan’s latest book will focus on Sustainable Transportation, and will feature ways to make communities more walkable by combining land use with transportation.

Agenda
May 14th - Wednesday
Radio Interview	KCAW-Raven Radio 90.1 FM 8:18 a.m. to 8:28 a.m. Live interview with guest speaker Dan Burden.
Chamber Luncheon	Westmark Hotel Noon to 1 p.m. Presentation of “Employee Health and Well Workplaces.” Discussion session follows.
Community Dinner ($5 tickets must be purchased by Friday, May 12)	New Venue! > Harrigan Centennial Hall Meal sponsored by Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Doors open, halibut dinner served. 6 to 8 p.m. Review of the 2007 goals, keynote address “What Makes a Healthy Community,” and presentation of community wellness awards.
May 15th - Thursday
Next Steps: Community Planning Session	Harrigan Centennial Hall Meal sponsored by Scott Insurance Services 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Event open to community members. Agenda features a presentation on the state of Sitka’s health, a short progress report on the goals from the 2007 Sitka Health Summit, a presentation by guest speaker Dan Burden on “How to Make a Healthy Community” with examples of how other communities achieved their goals, and a facilitated group discussion where Sitka residents can set their community health goals and priorities for 2008-09.

This is a working draft - the group will continue to refine it over the next few weeks. Check back for changes.

Goal: Build new bridges in the community for wellness.

• Invite a broad spectrum of community members to participate in the summit
• Use the socio-ecological change model, which focuses on the relationship between individuals, families, organizations, and community policy
• Engage participants in meaningful ways to come up with realistic solutions

Goal: Create a time of celebration by honoring groups and individuals for their work toward health.

• 250 people will attend the opening dinner and ceremonies. Ceremony will be televised.
• (an objective describing number and type of awards)
• Increase community motivation to continue working towards goals through spotlighting successes

Goal: Provide a unifying health message around wellness.

• use media to disseminate the results of the summit
• Keynote speaker will provde holistic message of community wellness
• "State of Sitka's Health" will provide baseline data for marking progress in future

Goal: Make realistic plans toward the vision.

• Minumum of 60 Sitkans from diverse backgrounds and experience engage in setting and planning 2008 priority areas
• Work to have Assembly make resolution that Sitka will be a ‘Healthy Community’ tie in to goal that Sitka is ‘well community’ by 2012.

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SEARHC and Sitka Community Hospital were meeting regularly to find ways to collaborate better and provide higher quality of health care for community. Hospital leaders came upon the idea of a health summit to begin truly building bridges to collaboration. They invited several key community leaders, and Steps to a Healthier Southeast Alaska, a grant-funded project sponsored by SEARHC, provided some funding.

The goal was to build bridges between hospitals and different types of medicine, provide a unifying health message around prevention, create a time of celebration by honoring groups and individuals for their work toward health, and plan to make realistic steps to advance the vision “to serve our great state as a model for community wellness by creating a healthy community where Sitkans strive for and enjoy a high quality of life.”

Using a bridge in the logo was a reminder of the importance of building bridges in our community between health and wellness providers. On April 26 and 27, 2007 the first Health Summit took place. A 2008 Health Summit is being planned. You can find meeting notes on these planning meetings below.

Vision
To serve our great state as a model for community wellness by creating a healthy community where Sitkans strive for and enjoy a high quality of life.

Goals
Build new birdges in the community for wellness.
Create a time of celebration by honoring groups and individulas for their work toward health.
Provide a unifying health message around wellness.
Make realistic plans toward the vision.

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After a series of lectures and workshops on community wellness, a diverse group of Sitka's leaders developed and extensive list of projects that would lead to improved wellness in Sitka. Those were then ranked, and the top four became focused action areas for the next year. Read the full list.

Top 4 priority areas to help Sitka achieve its vision of community wellness. The two highlighted topics have web pages devoted to them due to the amount of work that has taken place.

1.) Create a bike a pedestrian friendly community
2.) Improve nutritional environment in schools
3.) Promote develop create a community wellness and recreation center
4.) Bring employers and insurance companies together to improve the health status of employees in Sitka

March 11, 2008 - Larger covener group invited to hear progress report on planning.
February 19, 2008 - Keynote confirmed, dinner logistics planned.
February 5, 2008 - Big gains in sponsorship, keynote speaker discussed.
January 22, 2008 - Agenda for Summit further refined, sponsorship campaign outlined.
January 8, 2008 - Goals and Objectives and Keynote Speaker determined.
December 17, 2007 - Steering Committee meeting. Subcommittee Reports.
November 28, 2007 - Steering Committee meeting. The group decided on overall structure and formed subsommittees to move further on several action items.
November 16, 2007 - A meeting to report on progress of the 2007 Health Summit prioritiy areas and begin planning for the 2008 Health Summit.

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