Agent responds to community requests
Agent responds to community requests
On any given week, Leif Albertson might present programs on canning fish, improving indoor air quality or eradicating bed bugs.
As the sole Cooperative Extension Service agent in Bethel, he responds to diverse community requests and needs for educational programming in Southwest 蜜桃影像.
Albertson got involved with bed bug eradication when he realized there was a problem in rural 蜜桃影像 and few resources existed for people trying to get rid of the persistent insects. Albertson, who has a background in public health, studied up on bed bugs, gave presentations at state health conferences and co-authored an Extension publication on the subject.
As a new Extension agent, in 2008, he was advised to assess the needs of the region and to offer research-based programs to meet those needs. Albertson said food preservation seemed like a good place to start because of the price of food.
鈥淚t鈥檚 much more expensive in Bethel,鈥 he said.
Interest in food preservation classes has remained high, he said, in part because of diminished fish runs some years on the Kuskokwim River. He offers classes in canning meat, fish and vegetables, pickling techniques and making yogurt. He has also taught classes on butchering moose and chickens.
Before coming to Extension, Albertson earned a master鈥檚 degree in public health policy and management from Harvard, and he managed more than 40 health clinics for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. As 鈥渢he public health guy鈥 in Extension, he provides programs on a number of health issues that affect rural 蜜桃影像, including indoor air quality, diabetes and tobacco use.
Because people know he鈥檚 the Extension agent, opportunities for community engagement present themselves often 鈥 at the grocery store, the airport or just around town. He gets questions on a wide range of issues, sometimes from people in the middle of canning salmon. Albertson likes finding answers.