The Interior Community Health Center in Healy, just outside Denali National Park, will shut down on Nov. 1.
A press release sent out by the center’s board said community testimony shows that the clinic isn’t meeting the needs of residents, and that many say they want year-round 24/7 emergency care, home visitation, imaging and pharmacy services. The release said the clinic can’t provide those services “while remaining financially sustainable.”
Denali Borough Mayor Chris Noel said in an email to KUAC that he was surprised by the announcement, and that the closure means many of Healy’s approximately 700 residents will have to drive longer distances for care at other facilities.
The nearest clinics will be 40 miles away in Cantwell and 55 miles away in Nenana. Health facilities in Fairbanks are 110 miles from Healy. There’s one other clinic in town, but it’s only open during the tourist season, from May 1 through Sept. 15.
Noel said the clinic’s closure is a chance for residents to come together and figure out a solution.
“It will take creativity and hard work to chart our course towards a primary care facility in Healy that the community needs and deserves,” he said.
The Healy clinic, a satellite office of the Fairbanks-based Interior Community Health Center, has been open in the community for more than two decades.
After November, Interior Community Health Center patients in Healy will still have the option to meet with their providers virtually. But exams will have to be done at the clinic in Fairbanks, two hours away.
Interior Community Health Center CEO Cheryl Kilgore declined to comment on the closure.