Denali Borough mayor files federal complaint over lost in-person health care in Healy

Denali Borough Mayor Chris Noel told the Assembly on Wednesday that he has filed a federal complaint over the loss of in-person health care in Healy.

Noel said he filed it last week with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General. It concerns the Fairbanks-based Interior Community Health Center, a federally funded community health center that closed its Healy clinic in November 2025, according to Noel's written report.

Noel said he believes the center still claims borough zip codes, including Anderson, Healy and McKinley Village, and that it received the same federal grant amount in 2026 as in 2025. In its 2026 grant summary, the center requested about $2.7 million and said it planned to provide care in Fairbanks and Healy, along with a mobile clinic van.

"If on the books it looks like we have an active healthcare center that's serving us, yeah, yeah, it's not, not an accurate picture, right?" Noel said.

Residents who go to Fairbanks for care at the center likely still do, he said, but "we don't have access to in-person care here in Healy." He said the issue has been on the borough's list for a few months, and the Assembly may later be asked to pass a resolution as the borough's new rural health program coordinator helps move it forward.

The borough is also looking at the future of its emergency medical services. The Assembly unanimously backed the borough's application for $100,000 from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program for an EMS needs assessment and feasibility study, according to the resolution.

"I don't think the volunteer model that has carried us to today is going to carry us," Noel said.

He pointed to Cantwell, where he said "the volunteer model is kind of collapsing." Longtime chiefs Marge and Dale Nord are trying to step away, and the department needs volunteers and a new chief, he said. He also pointed to Delta Junction, which he said "had a contract ambulance service, and it kind of collapsed."

Noel said the study would bring in the borough's volunteer fire departments, Interior Region EMS and the state Office of EMS. In the program's first year, Cantwell was awarded a new ambulance and the Tri-Valley Volunteer Fire Department a new medium rescue truck, Noel said.