Rasmuson Foundation officials have announced a second round of grants through a health care partnership, including two projects specific to the COVID-19 pandemic and others for improved health care access in Alaska.
The 12 grants totaling over $550,000 are funded through the Premera Rural Health Care Fund, established with the foundation in 2019 by Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska.
In Utqiaġvik, Arctic Slope Native Association was awarded $25,000 for oxygen bottles in preparation to care for COVID-19 patients. Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau will receive $65,316 for a triage tent to help with COVID-19 response.
Other communities supported include Hughes in the Interior, which will renovate its health clinic; Maniilaq Association, which is receiving funds for defibrillators for Kotzebue and surrounding communities; and the upper Kuskokwim River community of McGrath, where Southcentral Foundation will install a back-up generator at the health center. Mobile X-ray units were approved for health providers in Naknek and Homer.
