Rita Pitka Blumenstein

Rita Pitka Blumenstein (Yup'ik, July 11, 1933 – August 6, 2021) was the first certified traditional doctor in Alaska. She worked for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. Blumenstein was a member of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers—a group of spiritual elders, medicine women and wisdom keepers—since its founding in 2004.

Early life
Blumenstein was born in a fishing boat. Her mother was recently widowed and lived in the village of Tununak, Nelson Island, Alaska. Blumenstein felt angry not having her father around when she was a girl, because he died a month before she was born.

Blumenstein was given a Yup'ik name which translates as "Tail End Clearing of the Pathway to the Light." Rita saw the poetry in the name as she regarded herself as being born during "the tail end of the old ways."

Career
Blumenstein's healing abilities were recognized by the elder grandmothers of her tribe from an early age. Blumenstein began healing at the age of 4.

At the age of 9, Blumenstein's great-grandmother gave her 13 eagle feathers and 13 stones to give to the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. Years later, when the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers convened for the first time, Blumenstein passed out these precious objects to the rest of the members with tears in her eyes.

After Blumenstein started healing people from the age of 4, she "worked at many hospitals delivering babies as a doctor's aide in Bethel and Nome". Rita carried on learning from her elders to become the first certified traditional doctor in Alaska and worked for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

Blumenstein taught in more than 150 countries on cultural issues, basket weaving, song, and dance, "earning money for Native American Colleges." Her teachings about the "Talking circle" have been published.

In 2004, Blumenstein was approached by the Center for Sacred Studies to serve on the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. The council has been active in protecting indigenous rights and medicines, and traditional teachings on wisdom. The council would go on to have an audience with religious leaders such as Pope Benedict XVI and the Dalai Lama later on. She was interviewed on her work with the Council by the Women Rising Radio Project in 2011.

Personal life
Blumenstein was married to her husband, who was Jewish, for 43 years. Five of Blumenstein's six children have also died. Blumenstein's own health had not always been good and in 1995, she found that she had cancer. Blumenstein saw that being diagnosed with cancer made her realize that she needed to heal herself at a "deeper" level and concluded that the cancer was due to her being angry that her father had not been present in her early years. Blumenstein was training her granddaughter to also to be a healer and to know her Yup'ik traditions.

Awards and honors
In 2006, both Blumenstein's Yup'ik people and her mayor declared the February 18th to be Rita Pitka Blumenstein day.

In 2009, Blumenstein was one of 50 women inducted into the inaugural class of the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame.