Meet Our BHS Prevention Staff
Hannah Schnaidt, SAPTA Director
Hannah Schnaidt was raised in Michigan and has been living in Nome since August of 2018. In 2022, Hannah took on the role as the director of Director of Substance Abuse, Prevention and Aftercare (SAPTA). This job has brought so many opportunities to travel and provide outreach to the region on substance misuse. Each month a calendar is made with all the prevention and outreach BHS Prevention does. Hannah sends out supplies to local VBS’s to use to support their communities. Her goal is to provide more culturally based prevention to promote healing. In Hannah’s free time she enjoys spending time with family, and their two dogs.
Tricia Ivanoff, INUA Program Planner
Tricia Ivanoff is from Uŋalaqłiq (Unalakleet), Alaska. Her Inupiaq name given by her great grandmother Clara Oyoumick is Uqiliaq. She is currently enrolled in the Native Village of Unalakleet and loves to return to her hometown every summer to spend time with her family and gather from the land, river, and sea. In 2013, she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from North Park University in Chicago, Illinois, and in May of 2022, she received both a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Christian Ministry degree from the same university. She moved to Nome shortly after graduating to work for NSHC as the IÑUA Program Planner. She likes to run, hike, read, travel, fish, cut fish, pick berries, and go boating and four-wheeling. She is excited that her position allows her to work towards the things she is passionate about. She loves to travel to the different villages to see how life is lived uniquely in each community.
Tonia Osborne, Native Connections Director
Tonia Osborne is Inupiaq from the Native Village of White Mountain but also grew up in Nome. Their Inupiaq name is Qanannaq and she enjoys cooking and baking, berry picking, fishing, carving, and learning new crafts. She received her B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of Alaska Southeast in 2019 and most enjoyed working directly with her community on research projects. Tonia has been working as the Native Connections Project Director at Norton Sound Health Corporation in Nome since January 2023. They manage and oversee Native Connections, a grant program that serves to mitigate the high rates and generational impacts of child and youth suicide and contributing substance use. Much of the work with Native Connections focuses on community revival of cultural activities like sewing, beading, fishing and outdoor activities, traditional medicines, talking circles, suicide prevention trainings, and so much more. Tonia is excited that her position allows her to collaborate with many entities and the flexibility for community activities.
Maggie Miller, INUA Outreach Coordinator
Uunga atiga Nuggalaq, Sitnasuaqmiugurunga illikatka Kigitaqmiugurut, suli Natchirvikmiugurut. Aapaga Patkotak Jared Miller, amaaga Kacey Miller, aanaga Mamasuk Mary (Keller) Miller suli Aataataga Pingaqpak Andy Miller Jr., amauga Chukpik Hannah (Alexine) Miller suli Andy Miller Sr, amauga Nuggalaq Martha (Avessuk) Keller suli Lester Keller Sr.
Maggie Miller, INUA Outreach Coordinator, is from Nome, but she has family roots in Shishmaref and White Mountain. Her parents are Jared and Kacey Miller. Her grandparents are Mary (Keller) and Andy Miller Jr. Her great-grandparents are Hannah (Alexine) and Andy Miller Sr and Martha (Avessuk) and Lester Keller Sr. The purpose of the INUA program is to promote healthy ways of life through reconnection to traditional practices of the Inuit,Yup’it, and St. Lawrence Island Yupit cultures, all of which are the traditional cultures that have sustained the people of the Bering Straits for generations.
Evelyn Reitan, Cultural Arts Instructor
Evelyn Reitan is from Kaktovik, Alaska. Her Inupiaq name is Anguyak, given to her by her grandmother. Evelyn is currently the Cultural Arts Instructor in the Sewing Room. She has a vast knowledge of many different traditional crafts. Evelyn shares her knowledge with individuals who come and want to learn the traditional ways. Some workshops she has taught are parka making, ruff making, seal skin slippers, atikluk, and many more. In 1999, Evelyn won the WEIO Fancy Parka Contest in Fairbanks. When she is not working, she enjoys being out fishing, berry picking, and camping.
Kim Ayek, Reentry Case Manager
Kimberly Ayek, Nuvruq, is the daughter of Sylvester Ayek, Onai, from Ugiuvak, King Island, and Julie Wahl from Anchorage. She was raised in Anchorage and recently moved to Nome to spend quality time with her father and learn traditional ways. She comes to BHS with a background in outdoor education. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Outdoor Studies with a concentration in Adventure Therapy from Alaska Pacific University. Through her work as the BHS Reentry Case Manager, she hopes to strengthen and serve the people of the Norton Sound Region and reconnect folks coming from corrections back into the community. In her down time, she enjoys crafting, in particular beading and sewing, snowboarding, playing soccer, and most of all spending time in nature with her beloved dog, Larry.
