November 12, 2026, Seward Folly

Pregnant women in Seward could soon make fewer trips to larger communities, such as Anchorage, for routine care. Providence Seward Medical Center has received two Rural Health Transformation Program awards: $1,086,793.17 for an Advanced Prenatal Access project and $381,512.34 for a Social Services Hub.

Prenatal Project

The prenatal project will add a hybrid obstetric care model to the hospital’s existing specialty clinic. Patients will be able to receive prenatal visits, ultrasounds, fetal monitoring and non-stress tests in Seward, with access to obstetric specialists in Anchorage through telehealth. The funding also supports equipment and technology needed to provide those services locally.

For patients who now travel to larger communities, such as Anchorage, repeatedly during pregnancy, local appointments could ease the cost, time and uncertainty of making the trip, particularly when road and weather conditions are poor.

Karen Wright, expectant mother-to-be, explains her situation: “I’m glad to hear Providence will be able to offer a wider variety of prenatal services. I currently have shared care with Seward Providence and my primary OB is in Anchorage. Right now, I travel to Anchorage about every other month, and the months in between Anchorage visits, I am able to go for a short checkup in Seward. I have a low-risk pregnancy, so being able to share care in Seward has helped me a lot because I don’t have to take so much time off work for a routine doctor’s appointment or spend so much money on gas. The Anchorage OB I see does not have weekend appointments, so every time I need to receive care in Anchorage, I need to take at least a half day off work if not more.”

The project does not create a labor and delivery unit in Seward. Patients will still travel to larger communities, such as Anchorage, to give birth, and those with higher-risk pregnancies may need care there sooner or more often, depending on their circumstances and their physician’s recommendations. Providence is working with two obstetric groups in larger communities and reaching out to other facilities so patients can connect with specialists and have options for delivery care.

Social Services Hub

The second award will support a Social Services Hub intended to make it easier for residents to find help with needs that affect their health, such as food insecurity, housing instability, transportation difficulties, behavioral health concerns and domestic violence. The grant covers care coordination, outreach, service navigation, partnerships and the lease and preparation of a community space outside the hospital. A site has not yet been selected.

The hub is designed to connect existing services, not replace the organizations that provide them. Providence has invited local healthcare providers and community groups to discuss how they can work together, including the Seward Community Health Center, Glacier Family Medicine, the clinical collaborative, SeaView, He Will Provide Food Pantry and others.

Helena Jagielski, chief administrative officer of Providence Seward Medical Center, said the hub’s priorities draw on several local assessments, including the community health needs assessment, a city assessment, a homeless coalition assessment and additional community input gathered after the award. Those findings pointed to basic needs, particularly food and transportation, as pressing concerns.

“A healthy community is our greatest need. We can build parks and recreation facilities, but people need to be healthy enough to use them. Everyone deserves access to basic necessities, no matter who they are,” Jagielski said.

She added, “At Providence, we want to help those who are most vulnerable and bring the community together around a shared vision: providing services here in Seward that meet people’s needs without placing an unsustainable financial burden on the community.”

Both projects are meant to reduce gaps in care that can be especially difficult to navigate in a rural community. The prenatal project would bring more appointments and monitoring closer to home while preserving referrals to larger communities, such as Anchorage, for deliveries and higher-level care. The hub would help residents and providers make better use of the services already available in Seward and identify needs that remain unmet.

Rural Health Transformation Program

The awards are part of the Rural Health Transformation Program, a $50 billion federal effort to improve healthcare in rural areas across all 50 states. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services awarded Alaska $272,174,856 for the program’s first year. According to the Alaska Department of Health, the state is among the top recipients nationwide, reflecting its large rural population, geographic challenges and long-standing barriers to care. The funding is intended to improve access to services and strengthen the long-term stability of Alaska’s healthcare system.