Dow receives statewide award for behavioral health service

Wrangell's Davis Dow of the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium received the Rising Star Award at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium's Behavioral Health Aide forum last month. The award is given to a health aide who delivers exceptional client care and improves the behavioral health care delivery system in their community.

Dow was honored for his collaboration with the Wrangell School District and for helping meet the needs of homeless community members. His efforts allowed students to access behavioral health resources during school hours and made food and other essential items available to the unhoused people of Wrangell, according to SEARHC Administrative Operations Manager Jessica Whitaker.

Dow was nominated by his Office Supervisor Rachel Harris. After entering SEARHC with no behavioral health training, "he has just blossomed," Harris said. Dow is "willing to take on any client caseload that we hand to him and he is a role model for the youth clients that he serves. He embodies what behavioral health aid is."

He is the first ever award recipient from Wrangell and the first person that Harris has ever nominated.

Dow entered the behavioral health program unexpectedly. "I was working in senior disability services," he explained, but "the program was going to be shut down." He took the job at Harris' recommendation and has become increasingly interested in the field during his nearly five years as an aide. "I get to see clients ... making significant steps in getting healthier and getting better."

"I hope to one day be able to help out the clinicians here," he said. They are "working incredibly hard. I would like to be able to take some weight off their chests."

At the forum where he received the award, he had the opportunity to meet with more experienced aides. "It was really great to be able to talk with people who had been in the field for so long," he said. "It is really great to know that one person can really make a difference," especially in rural areas, he said.