The red barn-like exterior of the Bethel Family Clinic is a landmark of central Bethel. It’s been providing medical and dental care to residents of the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta since 1981.
But between 2022 and early 2024, it hadn't been able to provide necessary behavioral health care, despite high rates of addiction and mental health struggles in the region. Shadi Rabi, the clinic’s director of operations, said that the Bethel Family Clinic has been unable to find behavioral health specialists that want to come up to Bethel. And the COVID-19 pandemic made it worse.
“Sometimes it's a difficult sell for an individual to move up to Bethel, Alaska during a pandemic, when there's a lot of uncertainty,” said Rabi. “I think you combine all of those situations into one that unfortunately led to Bethel Family Clinic not offering those services for a two-year period.”
Thanks to a recent $600,000 Behavioral Services Expansion grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, Bethel Family Clinic is now working to improve its mental health and substance misuse treatment services to residents of the Y-K Delta.
“We didn't have much of a behavioral health infrastructure here or a program, and now we're in the process of developing and expanding it so we can reach out,” said Rick Robb, a behavioral health counselor at Bethel Family Clinic who is responsible for securing the grant. Robb also noted how there is a great unmet need for behavioral health services in Bethel, as Bethel Family Clinic and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation are currently the only two providers.
In addition to funding training, travel, and supplies, clinic director Rabi is most enthusiastic about using this grant money for recruiting two clinicians, a counselor, and a case manager to expand Bethel Family Clinic’s mental health outreach.
“The idea is, you can bridge that gap, right?” said Rabi. “And that's what we're primarily excited about, making sure that we can service the need in the community with a sufficient amount of staff.”
Rabi said that the Bethel Family Clinic is currently hiring for these positions, hoping to fill them as soon as possible so that they can work on revitalizing their behavioral health services.
“As an organization, our primary goal is always to attract local talent. So if we can find somebody that's credentialed, and experienced, and educated to provide the job, we would absolutely prefer to hire local individuals or individuals that are experienced in the Y-K Delta," Rabi said. "It doesn't have to be experience in Bethel. It could be experience in any of our villages that are located in our area. Traditionally, that's been a challenge.”
The clinic also recently received another source of federal funding to renovate its building, thanks to a $2 million appropriation from Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski during the 2023 Congressional session.
“A lot of people in Bethel associate Bethel Family Clinic with the big red building. It's a unique building, but it's an older building. There's some problems [with it]. We need to make some improvements,” said Rabi. “So when we initially heard about the $2 million award, we were very excited, because we would love to extend the life shelf of this facility, and that's going to be achievable through this funding.”
The Bethel Family Clinic applied for the grant after a 2018 building survey revealed several renovations needed to preserve its iconic structure for years to come. Improvements will include repairing the roof, siding, and entrance. Rabi said that the clinic also hopes to use the funds to expand its dental practice.
“We have two [dental operations] now we're trying to go to four. Ideally, you can get community members in quicker," Rabi said. "So [the] individual calls for an appointment. They got an appointment that day because we doubled our operation. [A] individual has a toothache coming from Kipnuk, and they decided to travel up that day, and they really need to get their tooth looked at. By expanding our services by 50% we can potentially get that person in and fix their problem, and provide them a good service.”
As the Bethel Family Clinic thinks about expanding thanks to grant funding, Robb said that there are still many services already available to community members in Bethel and the Y-K Delta.
“So people who are seeking behavioral health services for teens and adults, for mental health issues, substance abuse issues, phase of life, any issues, we're able to offer services now in person, telehealth; we're adaptable,” Robb said.
Rabi said that the clinic aims to implement its planned developments by early 2025. It's also applying for other grants that would fund more facilities and projects such as a parking lot, all in the hopes to accomplish what their organization was founded on: to serve its community.
