Lake and Peninsula villages get visiting dental and primary care clinics this week

Southcentral Foundation is holding visiting clinics this week in three Lake and Peninsula Borough communities. A dental clinic is open in Kokhanok, and primary care clinics are open in Newhalen and Iliamna, including at Iliamna's Nilavena Regional Health Center. All run from Monday, Oct. 26, through Friday, Oct. 30, according to the foundation's event listings.

Elizabeth Hevia-Wright is the listed provider for the Kokhanok dental clinic. Dr. Elisabeth Harding is listed for all three primary care clinics on the same dates.

The foundation provides direct health care to the six Iliamna Lake villages (Igiugig, Kokhanok, Iliamna, Newhalen, Nondalton and Pedro Bay) and Port Alsworth at their tribal councils' invitation. It built the Nilavena clinic with the Iliamna Lake villages to serve the region. The visits are part of the foundation's rotating clinics in rural villages, which earlier this month sent a doctor to Nelson Lagoon and a dentist to St. Paul, Alaska News reported Oct. 5.

Kokhanok Village Clinic, New Halen Health Clinic and Nilavena Subregional Clinic (the Iliamna clinic's former name) appear among borough facilities designated as short of dental providers in federal shortage data. A state primary care needs assessment counted 14 primary care shortage designations in the borough in 2021. It said rural and remote residents have limited access to basic primary and preventive care.

The borough's 2025 comprehensive plan update calls local clinics the primary access points for care and emergency response. It names staffing, infrastructure and funding as constraints. To improve access, it recommends provider incentives, housing support, professional development and more telehealth.