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Pharmacist Samantha Ervin stands at the counter of the first retail pharmacy in the area on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, at the Upper Tanana Health Center in Tok, Alaska. Ervin said she is happy to be back in her region and work as a pharmacist there. Alena Naiden/News-Miner
From left, First Chief of Evansville Tribal Council Frank Thompson and Leah Thompson, Deputy director of Clinic services, talk about X-ray services offered at the Upper Tanana Health Center on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Alena Naiden/News-Miner
A delegation from the Tanana Chiefs Conference gathers in front of the Upper Tanana Health Center on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in Tok, Alaska.
Pharmacist Samantha Ervin stands at the counter of the first retail pharmacy in the area on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, at the Upper Tanana Health Center in Tok, Alaska. Ervin said she is happy to be back in her region and work as a pharmacist there. Alena Naiden/News-Miner
A hallway of the Upper Tanana Health Center is seen on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Alena Naiden/News-Miner
A negative pressure room at the Upper Tanana Health Center is seen on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. The innovative negative pressure technique prevents cross-contamination from room to room. Alena Naiden/News-Miner
One of the trauma rooms in the Upper Tanana Health Center is seen on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. The room allows medical workers to treat more people at the same time. Alena Naiden/News-Miner
Chief PJ Simon talks to the Tanana Chiefs Conference delegation at the loading station of the Upper Tanana Health Center on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Alena Naiden/News-Miner
From left, First Chief of Evansville Tribal Council Frank Thompson and Leah Thompson, Deputy director of Clinic services, talk about X-ray services offered at the Upper Tanana Health Center on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Alena Naiden/News-Miner
One of the dental chairs in the Upper Tanana Health Center is seen on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. The room is designed to have natural light for restoring teeth's color. Alena Naiden/News-Miner
A new health clinic in Tok is providing high-level medical care in a state-of-the-art spacious facility.
Upper Tanana Health Center opened in November 2020 and now offers primary and urgent care, dental and behavioral health services, a lab, a retail pharmacy and a radiology room — all in one location. The clinic allowed the Alaska Native nonprofit Tanana Chiefs Conference to expand health and social services in the region.
“It can potentially save lives, and it has probably already saved lives,” First Chief of Tanacross Herbie Demit said. “Depending on the injury, if you get into a traumatic car accident or something like that, you come here and you can get help and get stabilized.”
While each community in the region has a health aide, patients with more serious medical issues will be coming to the new clinic before going to Fairbanks or Anchorage, Demit explained.
One of the patients of the clinic, Irene Arnold, said the level there was even higher than in other bigger medical facilities.
“Nothing was left unnoticed,” she wrote in her review to the clinic. “They paid attention to my every need.”
Before the new clinic opened, TCC already offered Upper Tanana residents emergency and primary care, as well as behavioral health and dental services. However, the services were scattered between three smaller locations, and helping larger numbers of people was a challenge.
“There’s been times in the old clinic where they’ve had to actually put accident victims in the conference room on the table,” said Leah Thompson, deputy director of clinic services. “There wasn’t enough room.”
The new location, which was built in about a year and a half, combines all the services under one roof and allows TCC to admit more people at the same time.
Each week, about 120 patients come to the 16,000-square-foot clinic, said Joni Young, director of Tanana Health Center. While at the old locations, TCC had three exam rooms and two trauma beds. Now they have seven exam rooms and four trauma beds.
“So we pretty much doubled or more the number of people we can actually see,” Young said.
One innovative feature at the Upper Tanana Health Center is the negative pressure room — a space where air circulation directs germs away instead of letting them out the door. The technology is useful for working with patients with Covid-19 virus, tuberculosis and airborne diseases.
Protected by several security cameras, the clinic has a waiting room for patients’ family members; a lab for looking at blood cells and doing Covid-19 tests; and four dental chairs for working with cavities and doing dental check-ups.
A behavioral health services center also is integrated in the building, offering the services of two clinicians, a behavioral health consultant and a substance abuse counselor.
“We have a beautiful building that we’re super, super proud of,” said Juanita Wilson, a medical office assistant at the clinic.
With the new clinic, the Upper Tanana region now has a retail pharmacy for the first time here.
“Maybe some of the elders had mentioned how hard it was to get medications — if they ran out or something, the meds had to be mailed from Fairbanks,” pharmacist Samantha Ervin said. “So they asked for a pharmacy, and TCC delivered it.”
Ervin is an Alaska Native pharmacist from the Upper Tanana Area, and the clinic allowed her to come back to the area to work.
“This is something that I never thought would be possible,” she said. “I thought that the closest I can get to home is Fairbanks. So this is great. My mom is a tribal member here, and she gets her care here. So now I can make sure that her care is superior.”
Contact staff writer Alena Naiden at 459-7587. Follow her at twitter.com/FDNMlocal.