Tanana has a health center again, 44 years after its hospital closed

Tanana, a village of a few hundred people where the Tanana River meets the Yukon, has a new health center. It holds four exam rooms, a trauma area, radiology, a laboratory, a pharmacy, dental and sterilization space, and a two-bay morgue, in a building of about 6,400 square feet. The Tanana Tribal Council opened it with a community open house in July.

The village has been here before. St. James Mission built a school and hospital complex in Tanana around the turn of the last century, and it became a service center for communities along both rivers. New hospital buildings went up in 1949, the U.S. Public Health Service took over administration in the 1950s, and the complex employed 54 people before it closed in 1982. The buildings were converted into a clinic, a counseling center, tribal offices and an elders' residence. That is what the new center replaces.

The council says the building will support family and emergency care, prenatal care, immunizations, behavioral health, dental, substance use treatment and community outreach. It has not said how many of those will be staffed on site rather than delivered by visiting providers or telehealth, which is how most services reach villages this size.

Nor has it released a cost. The council says the project came in ahead of schedule and under budget, without giving the budget, and lists Tanana Chiefs Conference, the Indian Health Service and the Rasmuson Foundation among its partners. Planning started in 2021.

Executive Director Victor Joseph called the opening "a tremendous accomplishment for our community."