Nulato tribal member gets Medicaid waiver through weekly Tanana Chiefs coordination

Tanana Chiefs Conference helped Devin Agnes, a Nulato Tribal member with cerebral palsy diagnosed at birth, obtain a Medicaid waiver for home-based care, the consortium said Wednesday.

Weekly Teams meetings, which began after Chief/Chairman Sharon Hildebrand's election in March, let Agnes share updates, ask questions and state his needs as the team works through assessments and paperwork. Also participating: TCC's Lisa Donat, Bryana Angulo and Amanda Race, Fontana Dawson of the Alaska Center for Children and Adults, and Sarah Russell of the Fairbanks Rescue Mission, who helps Agnes get to appointments.

"We all had a piece that we were knowledgeable about and together we were all able to assist him," Donat said.

Alaska's Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities waiver, one of five state Medicaid home and community-based waivers, takes 50 people off its waitlist a year, the state Division of Senior and Disabilities Services says. Federal renewal runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2031. TCC's own developmental disabilities grant ended in 2018. It now refers families to the state.

This account comes from TCC's newsletter alone.