Alaska has made strides towards a return to normalcy, but despite rolling back restrictions on the medical sector of the economy in April, mental health has been a gray area. Many patients statewide have felt that telemedicine is inadequate to their needs. Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink, says that the state is working to find a solution that suits those patients while also maintaining community safety.
Dr. Zink: “We’ve been working with the medical board to try to ease some of the restrictions there to make it as easy as possible and are trying to move forward as quickly as possible with mental and physical health to make sure that we’re really thinking about the whole person, moving forward in that space. Through all of these things, there have been some hiccups, and while we’d all like to get back to normal if possible, there has been a big focus on that and we’re hoping to see a lot of progress in that realm shortly.”
Alcoholics Anonymous is a third-party organization that is attempting to offer new care options for those who feel distance meetings are insufficient, such as personal phone calls when-needed, but they are trying to follow health mandates closely. Peninsula Community Health Services of Alaska also told KSRM that while they are accepting new patients for mental health care, they do not have a timetable for when they will be able to offer in-person counseling sessions. As of this publication, all sessions are conducted via distance.
The one consistent from both organizations is that they do not know when they will be allowed to offer in-person service, despite some peninsula residents feeling the need for in-person care.
Dr. Zink: “Mental health is a huge component of this. For some, being able to do the video conferencing is great, but for some, really having the support meetings and face-to-face is really important. So, we have a specific task force working on mental health, working with the Department of Behavior Heath specifically to really make sure that mental health services are available, including substance misuse disorders as well as both in-person as well as telehealth options.”‘
