Alaskan Health Care Coverage Spread Too Thin

Dr. Ellen Hodges serves as the Chief of Staff for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation; a 50-bed hospital responsible for the health care needs of over 28,000 people in the western frontiers of Alaska—an area equivalent to the size of Oregon.

Delivering quality health care to the far-flung native tribes and villages is further complicated by the lack of roads and the dangers of bad weather.

Whiteout conditions and minus 40 degrees temperatures are not uncommon in the winter. Complex medical decisions must often be made over telephone and based on the geography of the land, such as deciding whether it is safe enough to send in air transport for a patient.

According to Dr. David Bielak, a family medicine practitioner from San Jose who visits for temporary stints at the hospital, these are “judgment calls that you never have to make in the lower 48.”

The slack in coverage is partially remedied by community health aides, who act as the closest thing to a doctor in some rural villages.

However, health aides face their own challenges, such as social stress. Mr. Randall Gamball, a village aide, expressed how tough it is working on someone you know, in a village where everyone knows everybody else.

Flickr Photo by: Paul Swansen

STORY WRITTEN BY: SPOON JUNG