pediatric cardiologist (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Barrow: best town, insurance, school)

[stacieberry]

Now I don't wanna start a fight but I was wondering what would the best town/city be to find a pediatric cardiologist? Does anchorage Fairbanks ? Are they good?

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by stacieberry

Now I don't wanna start a fight but I was wondering what would the best town/city be to find a pediatric cardiologist? Does anchorage Fairbanks ? Are they good?

Anchorage is probably your best bet. Are they good? I don't have a clue. I do know many people have to go down to Seattle for certain procedures / operations. Healthcare is more expensive then in the lower 48.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by stacieberry

Now I don't wanna start a fight but I was wondering what would the best town/city be to find a pediatric cardiologist? Does anchorage Fairbanks ? Are they good?

Providence Hospital hosts the Alaska Heart Institute (907-561-3211) which has a web page at

Alaska Heart Institute, LLC - Homepage

They have offices in Anchorage and Palmer. There is a Pediatric Cardiology group too (907-261-3655).

In other locations around Alaska the cardiologists from Anchorage make regular trips. The various Native health organizations sponsor regular cardilogy specialty clinics at the various regional hospitals. Individual cardiologists from Anchorage make trips to Fairbanks and other locations to do regular clinics at some specific health care clinic. I don't know if any of the pediatric cardiologists do that type of thing or not, but I'm sure that calling the above telephone number would get specifics and locations.

There is a surgical unit at Providence, with a very good reputation, and they regularly do open heart surgery. Various surgeons, with some who are permanent residents of Alaska and some who are not, are available. They ship special cases to Seattle or elsewhere as required.

[rotorhead]

To be honest, probably Seattle.

No, it's not in Alaska. Yes, you'll probably end up flying there if you need specialty medical care. The Lifeguard flights from Anchorage fly there at least a couple times a week.

If you think someone in your family is likely to need that kind of care, I'd advise that you start checking on the co-pays and additional costs for that kind of transport, it can easily run into the tens of thousands if you're not insured. Flight insurance or membership in a service like Guardian might be something to look into.

[stacieberry]

That sounds like a lot! My son who is 3 has a. VSD simply put a hole in his heart right now he does not need surgery but having to go all that way just to have a check up sounds bad don't get me wrong I would take him to the moon if it would help him. Thanks

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by stacieberry

That sounds like a lot! My son who is 3 has a. VSD simply put a hole in his heart right now he does not need surgery but having to go all that way just to have a check up sounds bad don't get me wrong I would take him to the moon if it would help him. Thanks

You would not normally be doing a medevac, at least for a VSD in a 3 year old. That is clearly congenital and is not ever likely to present an emergency situation. As I'm sure you are aware, it might even repair itself on its own in the next couple years, which is precisely the reason they have not already done surgical repair.

It is certain that regular cardiology examinations would be available in Anchorage, and almost as likely in virtually ever town with a hospital in Alaska. Certainly larger locations like Fairbanks would, but you should check with the pediatric cardiologists in Anchorage to verify other locations.

At the same time you could also verify whether they do surgery in Anchorage for pediatric VSD, though that too is almost a certainty. VSD is a very common congenital heart defect (something like 5 per 1000 live births) so it would be extremely unlikely that they do not handle it in Anchorage.

I can personally recommend the facilities at Providence in Anchorage. I see Dr. Matthew Schnelbacher for regular checkups here in Barrow. (He is Chief of Cardiology Services for the IHS in Anchorage.)

[rotorhead]

For non-surgical routine care, you'll almost certainly get seen in ANC.

Once you get beyond the limited scope of specialty care available in AK, that means a trip down south. When I worked for the Lifeguard Alaska contract at Providence, it wasn't unusual for the fixed-wing team (airplanes) to travel to Seattle every other day in the busy season. Depending on the type of medical care needed and the hospitals workload, they'd head to other places as well, even as far as Phoenix, AZ on occasion.

Keep in mind that the population of the ENTIRE STATE of AK is less than 3/4 of a million people, with perhaps a third of that in the Anchorage area. The Seattle metro area probably has more people than that all by itself. It's not too surprising that we lack specialists in AK, we just don't have enough people to keep them busy.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by rotorhead

For non-surgical routine care, you'll almost certainly get seen in ANC.

Once you get beyond the limited scope of specialty care available in AK, that means a trip down south. When I worked for the Lifeguard Alaska contract at Providence, it wasn't unusual for the fixed-wing team (airplanes) to travel to Seattle every other day in the busy season. Depending on the type of medical care needed and the hospitals workload, they'd head to other places as well, even as far as Phoenix, AZ on occasion.

Keep in mind that the population of the ENTIRE STATE of AK is less than 3/4 of a million people, with perhaps a third of that in the Anchorage area. The Seattle metro area probably has more people than that all by itself. It's not too surprising that we lack specialists in AK, we just don't have enough people to keep them busy.

But medevacs are for emergency care, not for even routine surgery. Even a serious myocardial infarction would not rate a medevac from Anchorage (though from Barrow it would definitely get a Lear Jet to Anchorage).

A VSD is what used to be called a "heart murmur", and very commonly heals up on its own by the time a child is school age. If not, it is commonly repaired with surgery, but that clearly is not an emergency proceedure and I would expect it is done in routinely in Anchorage.

The OP should have no concern whatever about needing a medevac.

The concern would be travel from remote locations to a regional hospital for routine checkups. That means don't move to Saint Paul Island unless that travel is acceptable. But living in any of the major bush towns or one of Alaska's urban areas will almost guarantee that routine cardiology checkups will be available locally. (That needs to be checked for any location outside of Anchorage to be sure, just because this is a pediatric case.)

Last time I knew there were literally hundreds of open heart surgeries performed at Providence every year. Ten years ago they could schedule 2 or 3 a day every day. (Unlike with a VSD, most surgery referals of adults are scheduled within 48 hours and the patient is non-mobile from the time of diagnosis until post-operation.)

Oddly enough there are some medical specialties available in Alaska that rival almost anywhere. I went to a urologist about 30 years ago, and while he seemed okay he was very difficult for me to communicate with. So I asked around to find out if it was worth the effort... what I found out was that the Mayo Clinic had been trying for years to get him to move Outside. He was as good as it gets. My GP literally had tears in her eyes telling me that her father had died of bladder cancer, and she had taken Dad to that particular urologist because he was the best. He lived in Fairbanks because he loved the outdoors too!

[lellenn]

As a parent of a child with complex CHD's I can personally vouch for the Pediatric Cardiologists in Anchorage. There are 3. My daughter has seen Dr. Dona Brekke since infancy and their office is wonderful. Pediatric Cardiology of Alaska is now a part of the Seattle Children's Hospital where she has gone for her 3 surgeries. They are a top notch facility and I can't say enough good things. Dr. Brekke works with Dr. Brauner, however he is nearing retirement. Dr. Scott Wellman is the other doc. I've heard he's good as well. All 3 have offices at Providence Hospital. They go to other communities for clinics but for regular care you want to be close to Anchorage. Providence has a Pediatric ICU and they do work on kids in the cardiac cath lab, but all other stuff gets handled out of state. We haven't had a problem so far and we are dealing with much more complex stuff than a VSD. :-)