Anchorage-based Alaska Regional is closing its Alaska Regional Senior Health Clinic on Feb. 28 because of staffing shortages, Anchorage Daily News reported Jan. 23.
The clinic has served Alaska's over-65 population for more than a decade and was one of the few healthcare facilities in Anchorage that accepted Medicare.
"We have been unable to keep key positions filled at the clinic and at this time, we can no longer maintain clinic operations," hospital spokesperson Kjerstin Lastufka told Anchorage Daily.
Some community members are raising concerns that the clinic's closure will make it harder for Anchorage's older adult population to receive care.
"We are concerned and sad about the lack of care for seniors in Alaska," Shannon Savage, chief communications and development officer with the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center, told Anchorage Daily. "The clinic closure itself has not caused this problem. However, it has highlighted this deeper underlying issue that has been here for many, many years."