Advanced Medical Techniques Abound in Alaska.

• Author: PARMELEE, CATHERINE

Alaska is gaining ground in health care services.

More and more, medical institutions speckled far across the broad face of The Last Frontier are expanding services using highly evolved technologies, equipment and procedures. Consequently, fewer and fewer residents are forced to fly Outside to receive health care, making healing easier on patients, their families and their finances.

Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage, for example, offers a full range of cardiac services from the acute to the maintenance stage. "We provide cardiac catheterization and cardiovascular services, such as coronary artery bypass surgery," said Kjerstin Lastufka, director of marketing and public relations.

The hospital's Health Management Center is staffed by experts and offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatient cardiac rehabilitation. "Basically, we teach them to become proactive regarding their personal health," Lastufka said.

The Alaska Native Medical Center, also in Anchorage, offers cardiology assessment, testing and monitoring. Individuals who might need surgery can be referred across the nation.

Further services in Anchorage can be found at the Providence Heart Center, which provides an extensive heart program that includes diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of cardiovascular conditions. More than 300 open-heart surgeries and 1,400 cardiac procedures are performed annually by the hospital's team of specialists. Services include, among other things, prevention, intervention and cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation.

In Southeast, Juneau's Bartlett Regional Hospital also offers cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation. In both programs individuals receive a personalized exercise plan. Dietary, lifestyle, medication, stress reduction, smoking cessation and other concerns are also addressed. Home cardiac rehabilitation is available using an Event Home Heart Monitor--a patient-activated device that records heart rhythm.

Statewide, the Alaska Heart Institute provides cardiac assessments and follow-up care in Bethel, Fairbanks, Homer, Juneau, Kodiak Palmer, Seward, Soldotna and Wasilla. The institute's outpatient services in Anchorage include echocardiograms (ultrasounds of the heart) and nuclear exams (a procedure wherein radioactive matter is injected and then photographed for diagnosis).

Cutting edge cancer care is also available within the state. Alaska Native Medical Center offers an Oncology Clinic that services rural Alaska as well as the Anchorage area. Furthermore, the Providence Cancer Center in Anchorage provides...