Fairbanks Memorial gets $3 million toward first inpatient psychiatric unit for teens in Interior Alaska

Teenagers in Interior Alaska who need inpatient psychiatric care may one day be able to get it close to home. Right now, they have to leave the region.

The Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation has received $3 million to build an adolescent behavioral health unit at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, according to the federal award record. The money is congressionally directed spending requested by Sen. Lisa Murkowski and administered by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.

"There are no adolescent inpatient behavioral health care facilities for children in Northern and Interior Alaska," Foundation Health Partners, which operates the hospital, wrote in a 2024 request for state money. The request said young people in behavioral health crises were being kept in the hospital's emergency department for an average of 115 hours.

The new unit will have four beds, according to the state's approval of the project, which the Alaska Department of Health granted in January. The project will also convert two beds in the hospital's existing 20-bed adult psychiatric unit into beds for patients who need more intensive care. The unit will serve the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Denali Borough, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.

Crews will remodel about 9,418 square feet of the current adult unit and nearby offices without expanding the building. Plans call for safety features designed to keep patients from harming themselves or barricading doors, along with mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection upgrades.

The state puts the project's total cost at about $6.2 million, so the federal grant covers just under half. Foundation Health Partners also asked the state for $3.7 million in 2024.

The newer federal award says construction will begin in 2026 and finish by early 2028. The hospital's earlier application to the state had estimated completion in December 2026. The federal grant runs from Sept. 30, 2026, through Sept. 29, 2029.

Fairbanks is also getting a second behavioral health construction award through the same program. Alaska Behavioral Health received $1.95 million, also requested by Murkowski, to add six private resident rooms to its Tamarack residential treatment center.