Healing Hand Foundation

Home
United States
Juneau, AK
Healing Hand Foundation

Call Directions Website Contact the business

The Healing Hand Foundation, formerly known as The SEARHC Foundation, was formed in October, 2001, to help fill the funding gap in health care services.

The Healing Hand Foundation, formerly The SEARHC Foundation, was formed in October 2001, to help fill the funding gap in health care services to Native people. Beneficiaries from 18 different communities in Southeast Alaska region have received medical aide through our foundation (Angoon, Craig, Douglas, Haines, Hoonah, Hydaburg, Juneau, Kake, Kasaan, Klawock, Klukwan, Pelican, Petersburg, Sitka, Skagway, Tenakee, Wrangell, Yakutat).

10/28/2026

Olivia Charise Skan has spent years trying to convince her parents that one more animal needed a home. Her requests have included a cat, guinea pig, mice, chickens and fish, along with a lonely hedgehog she took under her wing in high school.

That lifelong curiosity about animals grew into a fascination with how living things work. Olivia remembers studying every detail of a cell diagram in seventh grade and discovering, during a herring dissection, how much even the mildly unpleasant parts of biology could captivate her.

Olivia carried that curiosity from Sitka to the University of Vermont, where she is now in her first semester as a biology student.

Olivia’s goals are rooted in Southeast Alaska. Her family is from Klawock and belongs to the Dog Salmon, Frog, Strong Man Tribe. She grew up hearing her uncles speak Tlingit, watching her grandfather paint drums and learning traditional practices through elders in school.

“Having been raised fishing in the summers, hunting in winters and harvesting herring eggs in the spring has created a deep understanding of this place’s beauty and inherent vulnerability,” Olivia said.

That sense of responsibility to her home is reinforced by her parents, who have both served Southeast Alaska through their work at SEARHC since 2006. Her father works in pharmacy and health informatics, while her mother is a nurse. After completing her education, Olivia hopes to follow their example by returning with the knowledge to serve her community and protect the ecosystems that sustain it.

10/26/2026

Growing up in Petersburg, Noah William Pawuk learned that showing up for a community can take many forms. He coached elementary basketball, prepared Monday night meals for neighbors and helped teachers ready their classrooms for a new school year.

Now, he has his sights set on serving rural Alaska as a physician assistant.

Noah has seen firsthand that medical care is not equally accessible everywhere. In remote communities, the nearest hospital may be far away and too few providers may be available to treat an injury or infection before it becomes a greater challenge. He wants to help close that distance, even if it means traveling by float plane to reach his patients.

“I have learned the impact just one person can make on a community,” Noah said.

Now in his first semester at Northern Arizona University, Noah plans to major in biomedical sciences. He began preparing for a health career before leaving Petersburg, shadowing providers at Petersburg Medical Center in physical therapy and physician assistant practice. He also enrolled in an online medical assistant certification program to build hands-on skills.

His willingness to step forward is familiar to those who knew him at Petersburg High School. Noah represented his classmates in student government for three years and served as captain of both the basketball and track teams.

A citizen of the Petersburg Indian Association, Noah comes from a family with deep roots in the community. Both of his parents grew up in Petersburg and graduated from the same high school he attended.

Noah does not yet know what shape his future practice will take. He could work in a village clinic, travel between communities or open a health center of his own. What he does know is that his path will lead back to rural Alaska and the people who taught him the value of showing up.

10/24/2026

At “Papa’s fish camp” in Kake, Mamie Laken-Claire Crookes knows her role: scraping the salmon backbones as her family works side by side to smoke and jar the summer’s catch. It may be one part of the process, but everyone’s contribution matters.

Those summers with her grandfather, brother and uncles taught Mamie the value of hard work, cooperation and carrying traditions forward. A member of the Was’ineidi, the Eagle Wolf clan, she draws strength from knowing her ancestors lived on the land for thousands of years.

That connection to place also shaped her career goals. Mamie saw how limited access to dental care affected families in her rural community, including her mother, who experienced preventable pain and complications when consistent services were unavailable.

She took her first step into the field by earning an Associate of Applied Science in Dental Assisting while working full time. Now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene at the University of Alaska Anchorage, she is building the clinical knowledge and cultural awareness needed to serve communities too often overlooked by the health care system.

The path forward is also a way for Mamie to honor her late sister. Since her passing in January, continuing her education has become both a personal goal and a promise to keep going.

After completing her degree, Mamie plans to travel across Alaska, serving remote communities and helping close the gaps in dental care she witnessed growing up.

10/22/2026

When Isabella Grace Davidson graduated from Juneau-Douglas High School earlier this year, she wore a cap woven from traditional Athabaskan materials. Its design reflected the cultural grounding she carries with her as a freshman at Oregon State University, where she plans to study public health and minor in digital art.

Isabella’s interest in public health began with the loss of her grandfather to small cell lung cancer, although he had stopped smoking more than three decades earlier. His passing led her to learn more about to***co use in Alaska and its disproportionate impact on Alaska Native communities.

“I was hoping to prevent use of the drug before my peers started on the same path that killed my grandpa,” Isabella said.

She began that work as a youth ambassador for Alaska’s To***co Prevention and Control program, contributing to health campaigns for the Alaska Department of Health that bring a young Alaska Native perspective to efforts to prevent ni****ne use.

The role united Isabella’s interests in health and visual storytelling. In high school, she co-founded an art zine and spent two years editing the student-run ‘Crimson Chronicle.’ She hopes to use those creative skills to develop public health messages that young people trust.

Athabaskan and raised in Juneau on Lingít Aaní, Isabella strengthened her cultural grounding through culture camps, Tlingit language classes and lessons from elders. During the Village Health Occupational Program at Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center, she saw Alaska Native health leaders share community successes through storytelling and handmade regalia, inspiring her woven graduation cap.

Now, Isabella hopes to turn the loss that led her to public health into culturally grounded work that helps Alaska Native youth build healthier futures.

10/20/2026

Michael Cesar’s goal is simple, even if the path toward it has taken him far from home: learn from the best, then bring the best back to Southeast Alaska.

Born and raised in Juneau, Michael is Tlingit from the Raven moiety and Sockeye clan. A returning Ethel Lund Visionaries in Healthcare Scholarship recipient, he is already directing his work toward Indigenous health as a student at Harvard Medical School. He serves as acting president of Harvard’s Native American and Indigenous Health Organization and is researching healing practices, perceptions and pain in Native communities across North America.

That commitment was already visible last year, when Michael partnered with Tlingit and Tsimshian physician Dr. Jonathan Baines to support the development of an Indigenous school of medicine in Alaska, aiming to expand access to medical education closer to home.

The distance from Juneau has not always been easy. Michael says the years away have sometimes left him feeling disconnected from his community. Still, they have strengthened his resolve to return with the skills and experience to answer what his community asks of him.

“I’ve been given a lot of trust and patience in this process,” he said. “I hope that I can make Ethel proud.”

10/17/2026

A physician mentor once asked Erin Nicole Seagren a simple question: If serving Native communities was truly her purpose, why was she not doing it now?

The question stayed with her. Erin, Kajisté, had left Southeast Alaska to study biology at Columbia University, then moved to Seattle for research work at the University of Washington. She valued science, but missed the human connection that had drawn her toward medicine in the first place. So she turned down further research opportunities and came home.

Erin is Tlingit and Wooshkeetaan, born and raised in Juneau with formative years spent in Hoonah. There, picking berries in the muskeg and harvesting spruce roots taught her how closely culture is tied to the land. She also saw the health inequities facing Native communities and began to imagine medicine as a way to give back.

Back in Juneau, Erin worked with Native high school students through Tlingit and Haida and Sealaska Heritage Institute. She helped students navigate college applications, created pathways into healthcare careers and helped establish a Native Youth Council. After learning beadwork from an Elder, she began teaching it to students, creating a space where culture could open the door to confidence and connection.

The work gave Erin a clearer understanding of the physician she hopes to become: one who pairs clinical skill with trust, listens before acting and recognizes culture as essential to care.

Now, after earning a full-ride Indian Health Service scholarship as an undergraduate, Erin has been accepted to Harvard Medical School. She plans to return to rural and Indigenous communities as a physician, carrying both the rigor of her training and the responsibility she learned at home.

“Southeast Alaska is not simply where I come from,” she wrote. “It is where my values are most fully lived.”

10/16/2026

Our team is growing! Help turn community generosity into support for patients and future healthcare professionals as the Healing Hand Foundation’s Fundraising & Operations Specialist.

In this role, you’ll keep donor records accurate, help coordinate fundraising activities and support the day-to-day operations that make our programs possible.

We’re looking for someone who is organized and collaborative, with at least three years of administrative experience in healthcare, nonprofit or tribal organizations. Experience managing databases and records is required; fundraising or event planning experience is a plus.

Apply today, or share this with someone who would be a great fit: https://searhc.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/SEARHC/job/AK---Juneau/Fundraising---Operations-Specialist_JR102841-4/apply

10/14/2026

Each generation of Delainey Steffes’ family has found its own way back to Sitka and into the work of caring for others.

Her grandmother returned to Sitka, where she raised her family and worked as a nurse. Delainey’s mother followed, earning her doctorate before coming home to practice as an eye doctor.

After leaving Alaska to study psychology, Delainey came home, too. A returning Ethel Lund Visionaries in Healthcare Scholarship recipient, she is now pursuing a master’s degree in social work at the University of Alaska Anchorage, preparing to care for her community in a way that is distinctly her own.

That path took shape at SEARHC, where Delainey supported adults in the early stages of recovery from substance use disorders. Building relationships with patients became the most meaningful work she had ever done. It also showed her how much courage it can take for an Indigenous person to walk into a hospital and ask for help. Once set on becoming a neuropsychologist, Delainey began to see clinical social work as a more direct path to the work she felt called to do.

For Delainey, culture already belongs in the work of healing. Raven moiety and T’aḵdeintaan of the Tax’ Hít, she is a member of the Noow Tlein Dance Group and practices subsistence harvesting. At SEARHC, she shared beading and sea otter fur sewing with patients, making space for cultural connection within treatment.

“Having a provider who supports and advocates for their patients can save someone’s life,” she wrote. “That is what I want to do.”

10/08/2026

It is not hard to fall in love with the ocean when you call Southeast Alaska home. For Ainsley Jane Mallott, Waajutláa, that childhood fascination with the marine world grew into a love of science.

Born and raised in Juneau, Ainsley is Kwáashk'i Kwáan from Yakutat and Koyukon Athabaskan. Time spent in Yakutat showed Ainsley that studying the natural world could also be a way of understanding her culture and her place within it.

As a member of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, Ainsley helped her team win the 2025 Alaska Tsunami Bowl and place eighth nationally. Her favorite competition questions are those rooted in Indigenous knowledge, which she notes cannot be found in textbooks.

Through internships with Sealaska Heritage Institute, Ainsley has explored what becomes possible when Indigenous and Western knowledge meet. At SEARHC, she connected traditional Tlingit values with rehabilitation therapy practices. With Alaska Electric Light and Power’s avalanche monitoring crew, she studied sensor technology alongside the traditional Tlingit place names of avalanche paths around Juneau.

This fall, Ainsley will begin studying biology at Stanford University. She has not yet chosen a medical specialty, but she already knows the direction she hopes her education will carry her: home, perhaps toward the waters.

“Receiving an education with a Western scientific foundation is not enough,” Ainsley wrote. “I hope to come back to Southeast after college and serve the community and culture that raised me.”

10/07/2026

We’re hiring! Join the Healing Hand Foundation as a Fundraising & Operations Specialist and help expand healthcare access across Southeast Alaska.

In this full-time role with SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) in Juneau, you’ll help keep fundraising running smoothly, connect with donors, and support programs that help patients and future healthcare professionals.

The ideal candidate brings at least three years of administrative experience in healthcare, nonprofit or tribal organizations, strong data management skills and a knack for keeping things organized. Experience in fundraising, event planning or community engagement is a plus.

Know someone who would be a great fit? Share this opportunity with them!

Learn more and apply: https://searhc.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/SEARHC/job/AK---Juneau/Fundraising---Operations-Specialist_JR102841-4/apply

Address

3100 Channel Drive
Juneau, AK
99801

Telephone

+19073644402

Website

http://www.hhf-ak.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Healing Hand Foundation posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.