BETHEL — Villages in southwest Alaska now have access to help from more health care workers following the certification of dozens of community health aides.
This summer, 56 people from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta received their certification. They have been providing health care to people across the region at clinics run by the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation, KYUK-AM reported (http://bit.ly/2b0ms8U).
Rahnia Boyer, who is the corporation’s vice president of village health, said the aides have been trained and hired through a program that allows people who live in the area to serve their own communities.
“It allows us to have people providing medical care in that community that are going to stay there,” Boyer said.
The aides are selected for the program by the tribal council or city council of their village.
Some of the 56 aides renewed their certification, while others increased their level of certification or were certified for the first time.
The corporation operates clinics in nearly all Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta communities. The most recent round of certifications means that several villages now have full-time health aides, including Crooked Creek, Shageluk, Chuathbaluk, and Nunam Iqua.
Sleetmute and Pitka’s Point are the only villages without a full-time health aide.
While the summer certifications have added a boost, the region is still operating at a shortage.
“We have about 125 health aide positions in the region,” Boyer said. “Because we have not been able to train as many health aides as we have in the past, we have about 90 of those filled.”
However, Boyer said the vacancies should start to fill up because of a recent investment in training that will allow the corporation to add a “few more health aides that we’re able to train each session.”
Health aides follow a manual when treating patients and work under the close supervision of another provider like a physician, physician’s assistant, or nurse practitioner. Health aides often work with these providers through videoconferencing.
