YKHC names interim chief Patricia Smith as permanent president and CEO

Patricia Smith, who has led the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation on an interim basis since April, is now its permanent president and chief executive. The corporation's board announced the decision Friday.

Smith has worked at YKHC for nearly 30 years, most recently as vice president of outpatient care and village health before stepping in as interim chief. She is a lifelong Bethel resident and a member of the Orutsararmiut Native Council, Bethel's tribe.

She now runs a tribal health system that includes the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Regional Hospital in Bethel, five subregional clinics, more than 40 village clinics and behavioral and public health programs. YKHC reported about 1,600 employees serving about 30,000 people in its 2024 annual report. Its board is elected by the councils of the region's 58 federally recognized tribes.

Smith succeeds Dan Winkelman, who stepped down April 10 after 25 years at YKHC, the last 12 as chief executive, to become president and CEO of Doyon, Limited, the Fairbanks-based Alaska Native regional corporation. YKHC credits his tenure with more than $500 million in health care construction, including the Bethel hospital and dozens of village clinics.

The board hired the executive search firm Pearl Meyer in April and began advertising the job in May, estimating the search would take three to six months. It took a little over four.

The board has asked Smith to expand health aide training, grow telehealth in the villages and double the size of the YK Elders Home. Community health aides are local residents who train for two to four years and provide front-line care in village clinics, working under the supervision of providers in Bethel and at the subregional clinics.

The Elders Home expansion has federal backing. In May, the Indian Health Service selected YKHC for its Joint Venture Construction Program to grow the Bethel home, the region's only long-term care facility, from 18 beds to 36. Under the program, YKHC pays to build the expansion, which it estimates at about $66 million, and the Indian Health Service asks Congress to fund part of the staffing and operating costs.

YKHC has said the home has a waiting list. When the award was announced, board chair Darren Cleveland said other long-term care options are "hundreds of miles away and virtually inaccessible" for elders and their families.