ANCHORAGE, Alaska – When it comes to health care in rural America, every state faces major challenges. Then there's Alaska, where everything is more extreme. Bigger.
Colder. Less accessible. Fewer people, farther apart, often several hours from the care they need.
Whether it's an emergency, day-in-day-out treatment or prevention, Alaskans face circumstances unlike those faced by most folks in the Lower 48. (VIDEO: In Alaska, the challenges of health care are at their most extreme) So, how does the Alaska health care system handle all this? The answer primarily goes down two paths. For about 80% of Alaskans, the model is built around the same multilayered blend of public and private options that most Americans face, albeit with the heightened degrees of difficulty that come with living here.
The other roughly 20% are Alaska Native and American Indian people. Their care is through the Alaska Tribal Health System. Known as the "beneficiary" system, it features expansive facilities in Anchorage, regional hubs and its backbone: community health aides.
These are locals trained to care for their neighbors. Whichever path a person in Alaska takes, their care comes down to one thing. Teamwork.
Alaska is like anywhere else, in that the chain of survival is only as strong as the weakest link. The difference is, because they constantly battle those extremes, Alaskans are tougher than most people. They've learned to turn the weakness of a lack of resources into a strength: resourcefulne.