August 15, 2006
Gov. Murkowski and McCann Center Program Director Dan Munsey.
By Katie Baldwin
Several years ago while Frank Murkowski was visiting Bethel, YK Delta elder Billy McCann approached him with concerns about his grandson and the inhalant abuse problem in the YK Delta.
“I felt at a loss as to how to answer his question,” Murkowski said.
Murkowski, a senator at the time, returned to Washington D.C. and worked on the issue until he came up with the funding to build an inhalant abuse treatment center. The 14-bed Bethel facility was appropriately named after the project’s visionary, Billy McCann. Today the McCann Treatment Center is available to male youths who have Severe Emotional Disturbances (SED) and use inhalants and other drugs.
Last week Gov. Murkowski revisited the treatment center while he was in Bethel for a Chamber of Commerce meeting.
“The McCann Treatment Center has a 75 percent success rate and it’s the only inhalant abuse center in the nation. This says a lot for the dedication of the professionals working out there and of the young people,” Murkowski said.
Three weeks before the governor’s latest visit one of the McCann clients wrote a letter to him, and received a response from the governor not long after. When he heard that the governor was coming to the facility the client drew a picture of an eagle, the American flag and the twin towers. The picture was framed and he presented it to the governor upon his arrival.
“We brought him into our sanctuary area and gave him an overview of the program. We also set up a table with different foods the boys caught and prepared through our Subsistence Education Program, like caribou jerky, salmon and caribou sausage for him to sample,” Program Director, Dan Munsey said.
Munsey went over some of the changes in the program with the governor. Since the program started five years ago it has expanded to serve boys with SED issues as well as inhalant and substance abuse.
“Governor Murkowski said he wanted us to give him an outline of strategies to help people deal with the issues they face in relation to inhalants, SED, and substance abuse in the Delta. He directed us to draft a plan and submit it to him when completed,” Munsey said.
Munsey and his staff are discussing ways to expand the program to focus on prevention, early intervention and after-care services.
One idea is to utilize Behavioral Health Aides with more extensive training so they can work as a support system for the families of at-risk youth. Organizing community-based subsistence education programs and employing male advocates to spend time with youth are some other possibilities.