The front lines of medical care in our region start with community health aides. They’re the ones providing health care to people across the YK Delta at village clinics run by YKHC, the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation.
This summer 56 people from the Delta received their community health aide certification. Some renewed their certification, some increased their level of certification, and nine became certified for the first time.
“The community health aide program allows us to hire and train people who’re committed to the people who live there, to serving their communities. It allows us to have people providing medical care in that community that are going to stay there,” Rahnia Boyer, YKHC Vice President of Village Health, said.
YKHC operates clinics in almost every YK Delta community. The new wave of certifications means that Crooked Creek, Shageluk, Chuathbaluk, and Nunam Iqua will now have full time health aides.
That leaves Sleetmute and Pitka's Point as the only village clinics without a health aide there full time.
“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.”
The training shortage comes from not having enough instructors. Usually, Bethel can train a dozen health aides at a time. Right now, they can only train half that number.
“However, we just hired and are training a basic training instructor, so we’ll be able to move up to a few more health aides that we’re able to train each session,” Boyer said.
The tribal council or city council of each village selects who from their village will test for the health aide program. 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.
Also in this latest wave of certifications, four dental health aide therapists from the YK Delta became certified.
