Of Millions Of Dollars Earmarked For 'Rural Alaska Health', Boroughs Get Lion's Share – Not The Copper Valley

COPPER RIVER COUNTRY  JOURNAL 

A 4th of July parade in Downtown Glennallen shows sparseness of the population of the Copper Valley. 
(Photo, Country Journal archives) 

 August 28th Allocations Of Rural Health Funds Are Going To Places Like The Bristol Bay Borough, Dillingham, Kodiak Island Borough, Kenai Borough, Anchorage, Mat-Su Borough, North Slope Borough...

Desperately Needy Communities Like The Copper Valley, Which Has No Government, Are Overlooked 

Alaska, one of the top nationwide recipients of an often bragged-about $50 billion federal Rural Health Transformation Program, is finding out every Friday how almost $300 million dollars will be used in Alaska this year "to support targeted, systemwide investments" in rural state health. For the Copper Valley, the results of the awarding system are disappointing – even non-existent. The Copper Valley, to this point, doesn't look like it's going to be 'transformed' any time soon.

So far, roadside communities in what is known as the Unorganized Borough, such as the Copper River Valley, don't look high on the list of needy recipients. The federal government seems to be rewarding local governments, and the Copper Valley does not have local government.

Highly structured governmental agencies – such as the Denali Borough, Mat-Su Borough, and even Anchorage – are repeatedly being given vast amounts of money, again and again, as the Friday August 'Rural Health' giveaways unroll this summer of 2026. 

This doesn't refute the fact that much of our huge rural state is in dire medical need. Not just us.

The Denali Borough, which hosts all the many visitors coming to Denali National Park every summer, does not have doctors. It does have a small clinic adjacent to the Princess Hotel in Denali, which operates during the summer months. Like the Copper Valley, which used to have doctors in the past, not long ago the Denali Borough had a far more robust year-round medical system.

In the Copper Valley, there has been some funding on behalf of Chitina and McCarthy. But, so far, the geographically huge core area of the Copper Valley has been left in the lurch.

There apparently remains a possibility that some funding will come to the Copper Valley region on the slowly unfurling rolling Friday schedule, which is about to run out. But as of Friday, August 28th's awarded grants, this hasn't happened yet.

The Copper Valley has a broad and unwieldy low-population base. It's an enormous place which serves as a pass-through corridor between Anchorage and Canada, Fairbanks, McCarthy-Kennicott, and all places in between.

The Copper Valley has the broadest, most far-flung road network in the state of Alaska, and currently has no doctors, and no 24-hour medical service.