Bethel health fair screens 48 for diabetes and promotes same-day services

Forty-eight people received diabetes screening and monitoring during a three-hour health fair at the Gathering Place at Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Regional Hospital in Bethel on July 29. YKHC said the goal was promoting services people can get the same day they ask.

Those included mammograms, cervical cancer screening, tuberculosis tests, tobacco cessation enrollment and a one-time pneumonia vaccine for adults over 50. Staff handed out indoor air toolkits with carbon monoxide detectors, air quality monitors and moisture meters, along with backpack reflector kits and booklets listing the same-day cancer screenings available.

The Medicaid enrollment team took in nine applications, one of them complete.

YKHC has announced no date for another fair. Its mobile mammography unit visits Toksook Bay Aug. 24 to 28, and appointments go through the sub-regional clinics. Weekly diabetes classes meet Wednesdays at the hospital's wellness center.

The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation is a tribal health organization of 58 federally recognized tribes, serving 58 communities across 58,000 square miles. It runs 41 village clinics, five subregional clinics and the region's only hospital, in Bethel. Many communities are more than an hour away by air, weather permitting.