Rural Medicine

Unalaska’s Iliuliuk Family and Health Services provides a wide range of healthcare to the community, from obstetrics and routine primary care, to 24/7 emergency response. But representatives of the island’s primary clinic are worried some of those essential services could be jeopardized if they don’t receive enough funding through the city’s local grants program.

Unalaska first responders and clinic staff helped save a man’s foot that was mangled in a fishing-related accident late last month. On Jan. 23, an unidentified crewmember on a commercial fishing vessel was entangled in fishing material. M. Lynn Crane is the board chair of the local health clinic Iliuliuk Family and Health Services. She said local EMS responded to the incident and transported the man to the clinic. She applauded the care providers’ quick response at last week's Unalaska City Council meeting.

Unalaska’s Iliuliuk Family and Health Services clinic has a new interim chief operator. Jennifer Heller is a certified nurse midwife. She’s been working in healthcare for more than two decades and has been employed at IFHS as a nurse midwife and quality improvement coordinator since 2019. Now, she’s the second interim CEO the island’s clinic has hired since December.

When someone who's injured or sick needs blood, medical providers can clot the blood or increase blood pressure to buy some time before they can get a…

In resource-constrained environments like rural Alaska, time and education can mean the difference between life and death. In mid-October of 2019 a PenAir…