Welcome to the District VIII Neonatal-Perinatal ALASKA page! Our current representative to the Council is Mary Alice Johnson. You can contact her by email @ jdm6617@gmail.com.
Alaska is the largest US state by area, covering 586,412 square miles of land. We are bigger than twice the size of Texas, and only 18 of the world’s sovereign countries exceed our size! We have a lot of elbow room, with a population of just over 710,000, and almost half of us live in the Anchorage area. Our capital, Juneau, cannot be reached by road—you have to fly or travel by boat. Some of our state is served by frozen roads in the winter but not in the summer. Alaska has about 11,500 births per year, still growing steadily. We have a significant (20%) native population, as well as an important proportion of our community serving in the military.
NEONATOLOGY in Alaska:
The Children’s Hospital at Providence houses Alaska’s only Level III NICU, located in Anchorage, and caring for babies from throughout the state. This NICU currently has 66 beds—our all single room unit opened in 2013.
Several Level II NICUs serve patients throughout the state: Alaska Native Medical Center & Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage, and also Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. Other infants are stabilized at Level I nurseries and transported for higher levels of care. Many infants have their start in Wasilla (Mat-Su Regional Hospital), Soldotna (Central Peninsula Hospital), Juneau (Bartlett Regional Hospital), or at Elmendorf Medical Center (Anchorage). A few come to us from hospitals or clinics in Bethel, Kotzebue, Nome, or small villages.
Alaska has an active NNP-supervised transport team, which utilizes Learjets, King Airs and rotor craft for air transport. We also do some ground transports from the Valley (Matanuska-Susitna, or Mat-Su) or the Kenai Peninsula. Our longest transports are over 1300 miles!
Through collaboration with our state’s perinatologists we have enhanced our model of regionalized care for mothers and babies.
There are 5 neonatologists practicing in Alaska, headquartered at the Level III and one of the Level II nurseries in Anchorage, through Alaska Neonatology Associates (ANA). Babies in other NICUs are cared for by pediatricians. Neonatal Nurse Practitioners (NNP) are also part of the teams; currently, 8 (some part time, locums) NNPs practice as members of the ANA group or the hospital/transport team through Providence Alaska Medical Center and the Children’s Hospital at Providence.
LIFESTYLE in Alaska:
Alaska is best known for grand natural beauty, exciting wildlife encounters and world-class fishing, where you can have glaciers and volcanoes in your backyard. Outdoor activities abound in all seasons. They range from year round access to the level and paved Tony Knowles Coastal Trail (which runs 11 miles from downtown Anchorage to Kincaid Park, where you can always count on a moose sighting), midnight marathons and ball games during summer solstice, to getting dropped off with a compass and camping/kayaking/fishing equipment for weeks at a time in summer and fall. The shorter days of winter mean lighted trails for snowshoeing, hiking, and cross country skiing as well as downhill skiing at several ski slopes.
Anchorage is the only city where you can fish for giant King Salmon in the shadow of our downtown office buildings. It is also known as the City of Lights and Flowers. Tourism and oil are big contributors to our economy. Alaska has its share of museums, theatre productions, touring musical groups, and an abundance of festivals and special celebrations throughout the year. We have good schools and affordable housing. We are home to “the Last Great Race on Earth”—the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
We would welcome your visit or your inquiries about relocation, employment, or just a visit! Physicians and NNPs can contact Dr. Evelyn Rider at Alaska Neonatology Associates at (907) 563-3026. All are invited to contact Dr. Teresa Lam(Teresa_Lam@mednax.com) with any other questions about Alaska or our participation in the activities of the AAP-District VIII neonatal-perinatal medicine section.