Grant funding for rural health care announced

March 20, 2008 at 10:08AM AKST

The University of Alaska Fairbanks has been chosen to receive a grant to help train health-care workers who live in rural Alaska.

The Alaska Congressional Delegation announced that the university would receive a $1,858,528 grant through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Community-Based Job Training Grant Competition. UAF was among 400 applicants and one of only 69 who were chosen to receive the grants.

This grant will be used for the Rural Alaska Health Education and Training Project, which trains health-care workers living in rural Alaska.'a0

Health-care jobs in rural Alaska have high vacancy rates, partly attributed to the lack of qualified health education instructors willing to live and teach in rural Alaska. This program seeks to create pathways to health careers and give students the tools to earn the proper licensing and certifications.

Rep. Don Young said he was pleased the Department of Labor acknowledges the importance of bringing qualified workers to the rural areas by giving UAF the funds.

"We must continue to search for new ways to provide access to quality care in our remote areas, but this project is off to a good start, and I congratulate them on being the recipient of this important funding,"'a0Young said.

"The lack of health-care workers in Alaska, particularly in our most remote areas, is alarming," Sen. Ted Stevens said. "In order to address this shortage, we must make quality health-care education and training programs available to rural Alaskans. UAF should be commended for its leadership on this issue, and I am pleased that the U.S. Department of Labor has committed to be a partner."'a0

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the grant recognizes Alaska’s growing elderly population and the lack of medical workers to care for them.

"I applaud the Department of Labor for providing this grant to the University of Alaska Fairbanks to train healthcare professionals," Murkowski said.