Academic-community partnerships in rural and frontier communities: improving services for children with autism and other developmental disabilities in Alaska
Pages 395-396 in N. Murphy and A. Parkinson, eds. Circumpolar Health 2012: Circumpolar Health Comes Full Circle. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, August 5-10, 2012. International Journal of Circumpolar Health 2013;72 (Suppl 1):395-396
Department of Health Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA
Center for Human Development, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA
Source
Pages 395-396 in N. Murphy and A. Parkinson, eds. Circumpolar Health 2012: Circumpolar Health Comes Full Circle. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, August 5-10, 2012. International Journal of Circumpolar Health 2013;72 (Suppl 1):395-396
Children and youth with autism and other developmental disabilities and their families in Alaska face significant problems receiving family-centred, coordinated systems of health care and related services. Access to health services is seriously challenged by shortages across the professional workforce. Alaska shares this problem with other rural and frontier states, but the challenges are magnified by the diversity of populations and their wide dispersion across the state. With only 25% of Alaskan communities connected by road systems, travel to remote communities is extremely expensive, time consuming and weather dependent. The isolation of remote areas creates a barrier to screening, diagnosis and intervention services for children with autism and other developmental disabilities. The health services delivery system in rural Alaska depends upon a network of village health clinics, staffed by Community Health Aide/Practitioners (CHA/Ps). Specialty staff is only available on an itinerant basis, if at all. The complex needs of these children are intensified by overarching health disparities.