Health

Napaskiak asked Governor Bill Walker to declare a state of emergency on Tuesday, following an increase in alcohol-related deaths in the village. According to tribal council members, Bethel's liquor store has disrupted village life so badly that it requires state and federal intervention.

A particularly nasty flu arrived in Bethel last week.

A car and a truck ran into each other on the ice road near Akiachak yesterday afternoon. There are reports that at least two people were medevaced to Anchorage following the accident, but the extent of injuries to both drivers and passengers has not been confirmed at this time. Troopers were on site, but have yet to issue a report on the details of the two-vehicle collision on the Kuskokwim.

On Monday, all smoking areas and ash cans will disappear from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation as the organization goes tobacco free. That means no tobacco use of any kind, including chewing tobacco, will be allowed for employees, patients, or visitors on YKHC grounds throughout the region. 

More money is arriving to pay for the construction of the new Bethel Family Clinic building. This week, $400,000 was awarded by the Rasmuson Foundation for the project, joining another $300,000 from the M. J. Murdock Trust that was announced a few weeks ago. 

Some people’s chance to swim in Bethel is funded by another person’s sweet tooth, and this weekend that fund just got bigger.