Valley home to new Native clinic

MAT-SU — Alaska Natives in the Mat-Su Borough and surrounding areas will receive medical care from a new $40 million facility to be built in the Valley.

The 93,652-square-foot primary care clinic is expected to provide jobs for a staff of about 250 and serve a growing Native population in the Valley, according to a press release from U.S. Sen. Mark Begich’s office announcing the award.

The $40 million loan to Southcentral Foundation is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is expected to bring an estimated $1.6 billion to Alaska, the release says. The clinic will replace a small operation in the Valley that has outgrown its building as more Alaska Natives move to the Valley from rural villages.

“This is a huge advance,” said Dr. Doug Eby, vice president of medical services for Southcentral Foundation. “The Valley’s growing in all categories, and Alaska Natives are moving there as quickly as any.”

The Wasilla clinic, located on the Parks Highway in Wasilla in the strip mall behind the International House of Pancakes, is crowded and offers only basic general medical services, Eby said. The new facility will be built on a parcel of land near the intersection of Knik-Goose Bay Road and Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

The new clinic will be operated by the foundation in a joint venture with the Indian Health Service, he said. It’s “a huge advance” for Valley health care because patients won’t have to travel to Anchorage if they need more than basic general care.

“Now, people put it off if they have to (go to Anchorage) because the clinic there is crowded or they think a trip to Anchorage is too far,” Eby said. The new facility “is not a hospital, it’s not an emergency room, but will have some evening and weekend expanded hours.”

Another advantage is that the clinic will offer more than basic general care, Eby said. It will add dental, optometry and mental health services, as well as at least doubling the area for general medical services.

The foundation intends to have the new clinic open sometime in 2013, Eby said. “We’ve owned that land for seven or eight years hoping that someday we could do this. We’ve been planning and dreaming for 10 years.”

The effort is another opportunity for the foundation to work with the Valley Alaska Native tribes, Knik and Chickaloon, Eby said.

“We’re very thankful and excited to do this in partnership with the tribes out there,” he said, adding a joint operating board will make decisions on design and programs for the clinic.

The clinic will also help stimulate the Valley economy, Begich says in his press release.

“Building this clinic serves two worthwhile purposes, providing jobs to Mat-Su residents and addressing Alaska’s shortage of primary care facilities, doctors and other health care providers,” he says. “I remain focused on projects and ideas that create jobs for Alaskans, many of whom are out of work through no fault of their own.”

The Southcentral Foundation is a nonprofit health care group that serves about 60,000 Alaska Natives and American Indians living in the Valley, Anchorage and rural villages, according to the foundation’s website. In the Mat-Su, the organization owns and operates Valley Native Primary Care Center in Wasilla.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.