Where the Patients Are: Healthcare services expand in the Mat-Su Borough.

• Author: Newman, Amy

"People really want to look for a place that they can feel like it's their home," says Wasilla dentist Tyler Mann. "People want a personal connection to where they go, so we try to be part of the community and participate in community events. We don't want to lose that connection."

To keep the connection with his patients, Mann Family Dental had to expand last fall, keeping pace with the community's growth. The population increase in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough has brought an increased need for all services, particularly healthcare. For decades, Mat-Su residents seeking medical care had two options: wait to get an appointment with one of the few providers close to home or make the trek to Anchorage, neither of which were always practical. But the Mat-Su's growing population has allowed the number, type, and availability of service providers to begin catching up with demand.

"You sort of hit critical mass where people are going to want to get their healthcare services where they live," says Joshua Arvidson, COO of Alaska Behavioral Health, which opened a clinic in Wasilla in April. "I think that's an evolution in the community--and really a great thing, to have services accessible here And that can happen now because there's enough of a population."

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development's (DOLWD) 2016 "Alaska Economic Trends" report showed that the Mat-Su Borough's population increased by 54 percent between 2000 and 2013. The US Census Bureau reports a 20 percent increase from 2010 to 2020. The 2022 "Alaska Economic Trends" estimated that as of July 1, 2021, the Mat-Su population was 108,805.

All indicators show that Mat-Su's growth is expected to continue. DOLWD projects that the Mat-Su Borough's population will increase by 35.6 percent between 2021 and 2050; only Skagway is expected to experience a greater percentage growth, at 45.3 percent. In absolute terms, the Mat-Su Borough's growth will be the largest in the state, and all the projected growth in Southcentral Alaska over that period is expected entirely in the Mat-Su; Anchorage is projected to experience a 3.4 percent population decrease.

"We're trying to be where the people need us to be to give them care that's easy and accessible," says Cyndi Cielsak, clinic manager for Providence ExpressCare, which opened its Wasilla clinic in 2021. "Being where they need us to be rather than us trying to define all the rules."

Cielsak says offering care in the MatSu is a matter of meeting patients where they are. More healthcare providers closer to home also means providers can build stronger connections within the community and become more invested in their patients'...