Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry


Transcultural Psychiatry and International Studies

Kodiak Island, Alaska, USA

Since 1988, Dr. Fidler has visited the villages of Kodiak Island, focusing on the village of Akhiok in the southwest corner of Kodiak Island. Numerous WVU medical students, residents, and faculty members as well as invited guests from other universities in the U.S. and New Zealand have accompanied Dr. Fidler to Kodiak Island. The staff assisted KANA (Kodiak Area Native Association) in helping to build and run annual summer spirit camps for the island children and their families. The camps focused on alcohol and drug prevention, consolidating indigenous spirituality and customs, and learning to achieve in the larger melting-pot culture.

* Click any image to Enlarge.

2004 WVU Crew in Akhiok, AK		Kodiak Mountains with village of Old Harbor in background
2005 WVU Crew top mountain in Kodiak, AK		2005 Akhiok Drummers and Dancers
Judy Simeonoff in wedding headwear, one of the Akhiok mentors for Dr. Fidler's students		Spirit Camp campers aid one another as they balance on the "Spirit Walk," teaching cooperation and safe touch
WVU peds resident, Dr. Aaron Provance, learns how to do the indigenous game of one-foot jump kick		WVU undergraduate student, Ben Hogan, munches down a raw sea urchin ("uduks" in Alutiiq language) for his camp breakfast
A closer view of a live sea urchin or "Uduks"		Spirit campers learn traditional Alutiiq songs, drumming, and dancing
WVU team helps build the kitchen's storage hut, keeping food safely away from the world's largest bears, the Kodiak Bears		Three of the youngest spirit campers