Alaska kicks off billion-dollar effort to ‘transform’ rural health care

image from: ktoo.org

Hundreds of health care workers and government officials descended on Anchorage this week for the kickoff of a five-year, $1.3 billion program aimed at reimagining medical care across Alaska.

The money comes from the Rural Health Transformation Program created by President Trump’s signature tax- and spending-cut legislation passed last summer — the same legislation that pares back Medicaid.

The problem the funding seeks to solve is no secret, the state’s former chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, said on a call with reporters and state officials. Zink is working with the state Department of Health on the program, she said.

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Simple handwashing stations improved health indicators in parts of rural Alaska

image from: alaskapublic.org

A key step to preventing the spread of diseases like COVID-19 or influenza is simple: washing hands. But lack of piped water in parts of rural Alaska has made that simple practice not so easy to carry out.

Now a technological innovation has boosted rural Alaskans’ ability to do that important disease-fighting task.

The Miniature Portable Alternative Sanitation System, or Mini-PASS, a portable water station that does not require connection to any piped water system, proved effective at helping people wash their hands properly, and there are signs that its use is fending off contagious diseases among children, according to a recently published study.

(read more at: alaskapublic.org)read more at: alaskapublic.org