The Yukon Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta region in southwest Alaska is home to 58 Federally recognized tribal communities, more than 10% of the 566 Federally recognized tribes in the whole United States. Our region is in a very rural setting where no road system exists, and air travel is the standard method of transportation. At 75,000 square miles in size, our region’s land area is larger than Oklahoma, the 19th largest state, and our 27,000 residents, in which almost every community is over 90% Alaska Native, makes this region one of the highest concentrations of indigenous Native Americans in Alaska or the Lower 48 states.
For the purposes of this proposal the population of focus to be served are those individuals with serious mental illness, individuals with substance use disorders, and/or individuals with co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorders. Additionally, the program will also focus on meeting the needs of individuals with mental disorders that are less severe than serious mental illness, including those in the healthcare profession.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the residents of the Y-K Delta communities are experiencing their own distress and anxiety due to the government and economic shutdown. In rural Alaska it is important for the mental health of our population to be able to participate in outdoor activities, including subsistence hunting and fishing. With the COVID-19 rules in effect, many of these activities are not allowed. Our residents are fearful that the migratory birds may be infected with the Coronavirus, and many are canceling their traditional spring hunts, eliminating an important food source they depend on this time of year. The summer commercial fishing harvest may also be suspended, leaving a region already high in unemployment in even worse economic condition. Our region is already in the midst of a suicide epidemic with an age-adjusted suicide rate of 52.3 per 100,000, almost 5 times the national average. Therefore, it is critical our much-needed behavioral health (BH) services are not interrupted. However, with the economic shutdown the majority of our local air carriers ceased operations as well, leaving a lack of transportation services available in a region that depends on air travel for everything we do.
Our BH Outpatient Clinic is in the midst of ramping up telehealth services so we can continue to provide BH services to our population, but in the meantime with the shutdown and lack of transportation infrastructure the immediate financial impact to our BH Department has been a 90% decrease in 3rd party/Medicaid billing for our clinicians, who are dependent on the revenue they generate. Therefore, our BH clinicians are at risk of being laid off if funds are not made available to keep them employed. The Emergency COVID-19 grant funds will allow us to keep our providers afloat and employed as we work through this pandemic.