Dan Burden was kept busy during his visit to Sitka. He made several presentations to local groups in addition to his keynote presentation at the awards dinner.
	A key component of the Health Summit is the planning session. Here participants start with brainstormed ideas (inspired by the preceding days’ presentations) and work to identify just a few key goals to work toward for the next year.

 

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.

<back to top>

Physical Activity

• Chester Miyasato — honored for being a local runner/biker who came back from a serious knee injury to run marathons and compete in other endurance events.
• Hames PE Task Force — honored for helping to keep the Hames Athletic and Wellness Center open after Sheldon Jackson College closed, bringing the center under Sitka Community Schools and adding new programs.

Nutrition

• Ellen Frankenstein — honored for the Sitka film-maker’s work on a new documentary called “Eating Alaska.” www.eatingalaska.com
• Swan Lake Senior Center Cooks — honored for improved the health and taste of the food offered at the center.

Tobacco Prevention and Control

• Amelia Mosher — for her work as a tobacco health educator with the SEARHC Tobacco Program and as part of Sitka Community Hospital’s cooperative agreement with SEARHC to provide tobacco cessation services to all Sitka residents.
• Voters of Sitka — honored for passing a clean indoor air ordinance and a $1-a-pack tobacco tax during its October 2005 election.

Injury Prevention and Safety

• Julia Smith — honored for her work in domestic violence prevention with SAFV (Sitkans Against Family Violence), the White Ribbon Campaign, and TRAIN (Teens Resisting Abuse and Initiating Non-violence).
• Allen Marine — honored for providing a customized aluminum box to hold helmets for skateboarders to use at Sitka’s skate park.

Holistic Health

• Aleeta Bauder — honored for her work with her own alternative healing business and with the Brave Heart Volunteers.
• Dog Point Fish Camp — honored as a traditional Tlingít knowledge camp that teaches people about nutrition, subsistence foods, nature and other traditional knowledge.

General Wellness

• Nicole Duclos — honored for her work with the University of Alaska Southeast-Sitka Campus employee wellness team, which is making the healthy choice the easy choice.
• Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp No. 4 — honored for its work with its Healthy Breakfast eucation program, StrongWomen physical activity and the social support it provides local Alaska Natives wanting to make healthy choices.

The Steve Reifenstuhl Award

Steve Reifenstuhl — honored for being an extraordinarily active community wellness role model through his participation in endurance running, cycling and kayaking events, such as the Alaska Mountain and Wilderness Classic, the Iditarod Trail Invitational, the Yukon Arctic Ultra 320-miler, the Yukon River Quest and the Sitka Sound Ocean Adventure Race. This award will go to other athletes starting next year, but will carry Steve’s name.

Special Appreciation

Sitka Advancing Our Community — Sitka AOC co-facilitators Matthew Turner and Kayla Boettcher were honored for their work facilitating and helping organize the Sitka Health Summit.

<back to top>

Create a Sitka Public Market to sell produce and fish.

Build a community greenhouse

Form vibrant community centers

Support Hames Athletic and Wellness Center

Perform a walkability study of Sitka