The federal government has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Alaska as part of a nationwide effort to boost the health of the United States' rural communities. As of this month, state health officials have finished doling out almost $250 million to projects around Alaska.
In all, the federal Rural Health Transformation Program is sending almost $12 million across 18 projects touching the Kenai Peninsula. That's separate from another $14 million worth of projects that impact multiple parts of the state including the peninsula.
Heidi Hedberg is Alaska's health commissioner. During a public meeting last month, she and other state officials reflected on the program's first round, and outlined what will change moving forward. She says the department tried to use the first round for Alaska's immediate needs and as a way to build a foundation for future efforts.
"What we saw was there are more needs than the resources available, and we're just scratching at the surface of the totality of needs," she said. "But we need to continue to move forward."
Alaska received $272,174,856 in the program's first year. That's the second-largest state award in the country behind Texas. Since August, that money's gone to more than 250 projects statewide.
To be funded, projects had to fit into one of six categories. Those address expanding health care access, technology and innovation, financial sustainability, workforce, early childhood services and community wellness. Forty percent of all the money the state spent on the first round went to expanding access to healthcare.
All six categories are represented by Kenai Peninsula projects.
Providence Seward Medical Center is getting $1,086,793 to expand pregnancy services that moms-to-be must currently drive hours to receive. Riquelle Weaver is a registered nurse at the hospital and is helping implement the new maternal health program.
"It is kind of a grueling process to have to drive all the way to Anchorage for an appointment that doesn't really last that long," she said. "And if we can safely make sure the mom and baby are doing OK, it'd be a quick half-hour part of their day and not necessarily a six-hour round-trip."
But Weaver says expanded local care is about more than convenience.
"There is an aspect of it where they get delayed care or minimal care," she said. "And with that, it comes with higher-risk pregnancies or things getting missed. And so, hopefully, it just brings healthier babies and safer pregnancies."
The new program involves partnering with clinics in Anchorage to offer telehealth services, and then there are some services they'll be able to offer in Seward, like ultrasounds and fetal monitoring. The money will also pay for a nurse practitioner to work in the community.
Providence Seward Medical Center is also getting $381,512 for a coordinated social services hub focused on housing and food insecurity, unsafe living conditions and behavioral health. And the Seward Prevention Coalition will partner with Chugachmiut for an early head start classroom to expand early learning and childcare opportunities.
Far and away the largest local awards are going to Central Peninsula Hospital, which received two grants. The first will cover $1,950,030 for miscellaneous technology upgrades. Hospital spokesperson Bruce Richards says the goal of the project is to help modernize the hospital's internal processes.
"We're very behind in the technology space," he said. "I mean, we still do faxing, you know? Who does that anymore? But healthcare does, and so, you know, we have work to do, and it's in the technology space."
Richards says patients may not notice a tremendous difference right away. But he says project perks may include shorter emergency room wait times thanks to a streamlined room-cleaning process, and more personable appointments as providers take advantage of note-taking software.
Central Peninsula and South Peninsula hospitals are also getting roughly $2.7 million to partner with Moda Health to try out a coordinated care model for Medicaid recipients at four clinics. The model aims to build better relationships between patients and their providers, which has shown to improve patient care and satisfaction.
Richards says the money will be used to get the hospital certified with the National Committee for Quality Assurance and to hire community care coordinators who will help administer the program.
"The whole idea is the holistic grounding of having a patient going through their primary care physician and building out services around that for them so that everything is coordinated," he said.
Kenai's fire department is getting $435,770 to upgrade emergency medical equipment, like ambulance cardiac monitors, portable patient ventilators, ultrasound probes and infusion pumps. Kenai Fire Chief Jay Teague told the city council last week the equipment will make Kenai services comparable to a large metro area.
"We will also be the number-one ambulance transporting agency in the state of Alaska to have all of these technologies onboarded in our ambulance," he said. "So, again, back to Kenai leading the way, and because we're a small municipality, doesn't mean we can't be the best, and that's the mentality we're running with the city fire department."
Teague says the city applied under the state's technology and innovation category. He says it's all equipment the city would have otherwise needed to cover out-of-pocket.
Multiple council members praised the fire department's efforts to get a slice of funding.
"As a resident here, you know, I feel comforted to know that you've got that kind of equipment," said Mayor Henry Knackstedt.
And those are only some of the Kenai Peninsula projects the Rural Health Transformation Program is funding.
The peninsula-wide Central Area Rural Transit System, or CARTS, is getting money for a comprehensive plan for transportation services in communities without any public transit. Hope/Sunrise Emergency Services is getting $464,507 for a community paramedicine program to offer nonemergency care to residents. And the Kenaitze Indian Tribe is getting $250,000 to start planning a housing program for tribal members recovering from substance use.
Multiple Kenai Peninsula awardees say they already have projects in mind they want to try and get funding through the next round.
"I think a lot of stuff that this is going to fund across the state wouldn't have been done otherwise," Richards said.
The clock is ticking for awardees, who have until September 2027 to spend their grant money or risk losing it. And state officials are already looking toward the program's second year. Applications for year two funding are due this week, and the state plans to convene applicants and stakeholders in Anchorage in January.
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