Rural Health

Alaska health news that specifically deals with health in rural Alaska. (This category is broken out because it is a grant requirement. These stories should also be categorized as “health.)

Alaska Native Medical Center begins emergency services expansion

The first phase of expansion will offer more patient beds, surgery recovery spaces, and behavioral health treatment spaces.

Huslia man reflects on father’s legacy of mental illness, recovery, and helping villagers in crisis

Lee DeWilde grew up outside of Huslia in the 1960’s, when it was a 160-person village in Interior Alaska. He remembers that his father, Lloyd DeWilde, faced some mental health struggles growing up. But despite those struggles, Lloyd later became a resource for his village.

New online tool connects Alaskans with traumatic brain injury to care

The tool lists providers who work with brain injury patients across the state.
A woman with glasses and colored hair stands outside in front of green trees.

Psychologist sues state over license application she says is unconstitutional and discriminatory

Dr. Jennifer Poon says the state board should not require a full release of medical and mental health records to apply for a psychology license.
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In a pandemic milestone, the NIH ends guidance on COVID treatment

The National Institutes of Health is sunsetting its COVID-19 treatment guidelines, used by millions of doctors to guide care during the pandemic.
a woman

Fort Wainwright’s spacious new child care center nears completion

Officials say the 43,000-square-foot facility will be the Army's largest of its kind. They hope it takes pressure off other Fairbanks child-care providers.

CVS to pay Alaska $10M in settlement for role in opioid crisis

Alaska reached a settlement with CVS March 7, for the role the company played in the opioid crisis in the state. CVS settled the complaint and did not admit wrongdoing.
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Indigenous representation in popular media | Talk of Alaska

We talk with actors from the Alaska-focused series True Detective: Night Country about indigenous representation on this Talk of Alaska.
a man

Former executive charged with embezzling $108K from Juneau hospital accepts plea deal

Bradley Grigg's plea agreement allows him to avoid prison time, but requires him to reimburse Bartlett Regional Hospital for the stolen funds.
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The U.S. prison population is rapidly graying. Prisons aren’t built for what’s coming.

By one measure, about a third of all prisoners will be considered geriatric by 2030. Prisons are grappling with how to care for them — and how to pay for it.

As public guardians in Alaska remain buried in cases, their director searches for solutions

A state program that serves some of the most vulnerable people in Alaska is overwhelmed. Its director is searching for solutions.
Rohit Chopra

Why a financial regulator is going after health care debt

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created after the Great Recession of 2007-09, has increasingly started policing the health care system.
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After Brian Smith’s Anchorage murder conviction, MMIP advocates hope for change

Family members and advocates for Kathleen Henry and Veronica Abouchuk attended every day of Brian Smith's horrific trial in their deaths.
Kevin McCabe

Proposal to define a fetus as a person in Alaska’s criminal code faces pushback

Opponents testified that the bill would threaten Alaskans’ abortion rights.
Two people walk through a prison.

Alaska prison failed to provide adequate dental care to inmates, state investigator finds

Goose Creek Correctional Center has gone years without a hygienist, forcing patients to wait for treatment.
Dillingham

Bristol Bay is getting a drug investigator

An Alaska State Trooper will hold the position, vacant since 2012 amid state staff shortages, as fentanyl and other drugs flow across the region.
Lori Townsend and Dustin Morris sit at a desk, while a TV monitor with Susanna Marchuk on it sits to their side.

Resources for suicide prevention and healing | Alaska Insight

Lori Townsend and her guests discuss resources for preventing suicide and promoting healing.
A midwife holds a pregnant mother's hand.

Alaska midwives speak out against an executive order that would dissolve their board

The executive order dissolving the midwife board is one of 12 that the governor submitted in January to the Legislature. 
A microscopic black and white image of a syphilis bacteria, which appears as a cork screw shape coming out of a flat surface.

Addressing Alaska’s high rates of syphilis | Line One

On this Line One, host Dr. Justin Clark and his guests discuss the extent of Alaska's syphilis outbreak, and how to detect, prevent, and treat it.
A red squirrel sits on a stump

Kenai Peninsula man is the first person to die of Alaskapox virus

Experts say to be cautious when handling small mammals in the state, but infection is rare and death unlikely.