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SEARHC raises Kootéeyaa Project Wellbriety totem pole

The rain fell, but the moist weather didn't dampen the spirits of the hundreds of community members who showed up to help the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) raise the Kootéeyaa Project Wellbriety totem pole during an Oct. 14 ceremony in front of the SEARHC Community Health Services building in Sitka. The healing totem pole has the Tlingit name Yei éek kwa néix ("you are going to get well").

Community members braved mud and puddles during the all-day ceremony. First, a group of about 140 people used 4x4s to carry the 4,000-pound pole from the carving shelter where Tlingit master carver Wayne Price had been working on the pole since April. Once the pole reached its place of honor on the lawn in front of the SEARHC Community Health Services building, about 400 community members pulled six ropes to lift the pole into place. The ceremony concluded at the Hames Physical Education Center at Sheldon Jackson College with speeches, Native dancing and a dinner for 750 people featuring traditional foods.

"It's been one of the most extraordinary events of SEARHC, right up there with the raising of the SEARHC flag when we took over the IHS (Indian Health Service) service unit," said SEARHC President/CEO Ken Brewer, referring to the day in 1975 when SEARHC was granted control of its own health care. "It's a true symbol of our culture being healthy, it really is."

"It really has been an extraordinary day, with all this energy and all these smiling faces reflecting the healthy theme of this pole," added Jan Hill, Chair of the SEARHC Board of Directors.

During the pole's carving process, groups of about 10 community members apiece formed circles of healing. Each healing circle met to discuss a different aspect of Wellbriety, such as alcohol and substance abuse, diabetes or cancer. Then each person in the healing circle got to make his or her mark on the pole.

"Words cannot describe how I felt the day of the pole raising," said Kootéeyaa Project chairwoman Roberta Kitka, a drug and alcohol treatment specialist for SEARHC. "It was a very emotional day for me to see all the good people who showed up to help. The eagles were singing as the pole went up. Elders were in awe at the design and detail of the pole. An elder commented, 'I thought I was just coming to a pole raising, but this was so much more than that.' Gunalchéesh to all the helpers!"



For more information contact:

Roberta Kitka, Kootéeyaa Project chairwoman, (907) 966-8603

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Copyright © 2006, SEARHC
SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium

Tlingit elders Herman Kitka and Herman Davis give the Kootéeyaa Project Wellbriety totem pole the Tlingit name Yei éek kwa néix before the pole was raised.

Tlingit elders Herman Kitka and Herman Davis give the Kootéeyaa Project Wellbriety totem pole the Tlingit name Yei éek kwa néix before the pole was raised.


Tlingit master carver Wayne Price checks the rigging before the Kootéeyaa Project Wellbriety totem pole is lifted into place. It took about 400 community members tugging on six ropes to lift the 4,000-pound pole into place.

Tlingit master carver Wayne Price checks the rigging before the Kootéeyaa Project Wellbriety totem pole is lifted into place. It took about 400 community members tugging on six ropes to lift the 4,000-pound pole into place.