Health Services

Community Health Aides and Practitioners

CHAs and CHPs are the frontline in rural health services. They provide direct medical care in the villages as well as education and preventative services. Aides and practitioners are on-call 24 hours per day and provide indispensable support to Chugachmiut programs such as Diabetes Prevention, Behavioral Health and Regional Public Safety.

Mid-Level Providers

Physician’s Assistants (PAs) and a Medical Assistant (MA) are based at the North Star Clinic and travel throughout the region to provide areas of care that our health aides cannot.  PAs are formally trained and certified to provide diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic services as designated by a licensed physician. Working as members of the health care team, PAs can diagnose illness and disease, examine and treat patients, instruct and counsel patients, order and interpret lab tests and X-rays and prescribe medications.

MAs are certified to take medical histories, explain treatment procedures to patients, assist a physician during exams, perform certain laboratory tests, instruct patients about medication and special diets, authorize prescription refills as directed, draw blood and tak electrocardiograms.

Itinerant Providers

Chugachmiut employs certified CHPs and mid-level practitioners to augment permanent staff in our clinics. They are oriented to our clinics, trained in electronic health records and all policies and procedures. Itinerants fill in at clinics when our primary health aides are on personal leave, attending conferences or enrolled in training or certification classes.