Facility will offer health services to rural areas along Glenn Highway Men, women, children, Elders and other community members danced together in celebration of the official groundbreaking for the new Ahtnahwt’aene’ Nay’dini’aa den (“Ahtna People, Chickaloon Place”) Gathering Place, a community health center in Sutton, Alaska, on April 9. A project nearly 12 years in development, this new health clinic will provide health and wellness services to people in the Sutton and Chickaloon area.
The new building, made possible through a partnership between the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council (CVTC) and Southcentral Foundation (SCF), will replace the two-room clinic that currently delivers essential medical services to local residents. Located on about 10 acres of Chickaloon land off the Glenn Highway, the two-story structure will house the CVTC Health and Social Services Department, the Community Health Center and a new Wellness Center with an exercise area and health education classes.
Grants from the Rasmuson Foundation and the Mat-Su Health Foundation helped make this project possible. The building was designed by the Anchorage architecture firm of Bezek Durst Seiser in collaboration with Sutton community members. SCF and CVTC officials hope to open the new clinic’s doors by the end of this year.
