TAPS teams bring health & safety lessons to remote communities

The name of this philanthropic quest is a mouthful. The event itself is ambitious.

But the goal of the “Prince William Sound Traveling Health and Safety Fair & Events" is simple: TAPS employees and health care volunteers visit some of the region's most remote communities to deliver health and safety messages and lessons to the people who live there.

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This marked the eighth year that Alyeska has sponsored this unique community event. For one week, volunteers travel by boat throughout the Sound, visiting with children, elders, and community leaders, staging educational assemblies and informative meetings, and offering services such as mammograms, blood pressure and diabetic screenings, and lessons in everything from emergency preparedness to dental hygiene.

“Having the opportunity to provide health and safety programs to the communities and villages in Prince William Sound is so rewarding," said Ruth Black, Alyeska's Valdez Communications Manager, who coordinates the event.

"It is a wonderful opportunity to go to the communities and interact with everyone, from babies to the elders," Black said. "I learn something new every time.”

In the beginning, the traveling health fair was a joint project between Alyeska and state agencies, to target Prince William Sound communities that had specific unmet health care needs. In 2006, Lynden-owned Alaska Marine Lines (AML) from Cordova and Bering Marine Corporation (BMC) joined as full sponsors, providing the marine crafts and crew to move the volunteers through the Sound. Alyeska's SERVS provides the fuel.

The effort this year reached a broad audience: With stops in Tatitlek, Chenega Bay and Whittier, the teams provided 67 activities in six days and made 1,436 individual contacts. The week wrapped up with no safety incidents or injuries.

Black gathered input from community members throughout the week. Some memorable comments she heard included, "The community gets a lot out of the Prince William Sound Traveling Health and Safety Fair,” “We look forward to it each year,” and “We really appreciate you all coming.”

The fair's theme this year: "Celebrate Life with the 3 P's: Prevent; Protect; and Plan". Activities included a women's tea, where women discussed domestic violence, wrote songs and beaded memory bracelets; a breakfast for fathers to discuss healthy relationships; school assemblies for children; and in each of the three communities, a health and safety fair with various booths geared toward physical and mental health and general safety and emergency preparedness instruction.

Other services provided to the communities included mammography clinics, height/weight checks, vision tests, blood pressure and diabetes screenings, and lessons about diet and exercise, first aid, oral health, relationships, domestic violence, prescription medication, sexually transmitted diseases and the WIC program. Alyeska also sponsored community dinners in the villages of Tatitlek and Chenega Bay.