12/26/2023
2023 Report to the Mountain View (and Anchorage) Community
Hello all, 2023 has been a busy and productive year at the Mountain View clinic.
The Mountain View Urgent Care center provided 6,000 medical care visits this year bringing our total to 12,000 individual patients. (We have provided 23,000 patient care visits since we started in 2018.)
We also provided Behavioral Health services including assessments and on-going therapy to hundreds of clients, helping with the healing process for people with mental health conditions.
We also medically treated over 200 patients with psychiatric problems and provided same-day access to care for people in behavioral health crisis who were brought to the clinic by the Anchorage Fire Department Mobile Crisis Team.
Last winter, we also provided a weekly clinic at the Sullivan Arena, and we worked closely with other non-profit organizations to locate and treat people who were discharged to the street from the Sullivan Arena this past spring when the shelter closed. Specifically, we provided care to people who were unable to care for themselves to due severe mental illness. Our work saved the life of at least one man who was experiencing psychosis and had a life-threatening medical condition. Working together with other agencies, we were able to locate him and get him into life-saving medical care.
This summer, our psychiatric nurse practitioners provided homeless outreach at the 3rd Avenue and Mountain View homeless camps to help identify health needs and get people access to medical and psychiatric care. We want to thank our sponsors for this program, Bristol Bay Native Corporation, Alyeska Pipeline, and Kroger, whose donations made this outreach work possible.
This past year, I served as a member of the Syphilis Taskforce for the State of Alaska. Since we started the clinic, we have screened more than 700 hundred patients for syphilis and treated 27 people with syphilis including one pregnant female. We also distributed 300 home pregnancy tests to homeless shelters as an early intervention tool to prevent congenital syphilis.
In 2023, we also helped train three PAs (Physician Assistants) with the MEDEX Program and three Alaska WWAMI Medical Students.
Many of our staff also served on the Anchorage Complex Behavioral Health Task Force this summer. We offered recommendations that were included in the Task Force’s final report, including forming a municipality-led mobile health team to address the needs of the homeless population.
Also, throughout 2023 I worked with Nurse Panna Jarussi, a Doctor of Nursing student to implement a quality improvement program that addresses adolescent mental health disparities. We implemented a new program to screen every adolescent that comes to the center for depression (with parental consent of course).
Our major donors this year include Carr Foundation (again), Bristol Bay Native Corporation, Alyeska Pipeline, Kroger, Rasmuson Foundation (again), and we also received funds from the ARPA grant - passed through from the Anchorage Assembly and Municipality Administration (again). In addition, we received multiple gifts from generous individuals in the community - thank-you!
To summarize our work this year: we have been very busy and proactive in the community, seeking out ways to serve and meet the health care needs of our community; our services strengthened the healthcare infrastructure of our community and built local resilience. This year our donors were very much appreciated, and their donations made a real difference in the lives of many citizens of Anchorage.
This year we also had struggles. Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements failed to meet the rising costs of overhead: rent and medical supplies increased while insurance reimbursement was stagnate. We had to drop primary care services due to the increased staffing demands for primary care.
In 2024, our hope is that we can continue to operate the clinic in Mountain View. For sure, our challenge as an Anchorage community is to be able to provide access to care to those who need health care the most, and provide a robust safety net for those with difficulty accessing traditional health care systems, including those with Medicare, Medicaid, and people with disabling mental illness and substance abuse problems.
In summary, 2023 was an exciting, yet challenging year with many opportunities, yet many struggles. In 2024, the Mountain View clinic will continue to transform and provide health care to those who need care the most.
Thank you to our donors/supporters. Thank you to our patients. Thank you to the Mountain View and Anchorage community.
Jon Van Ravenswaay, MD
Medical Director
Mountain View Health Services
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