In this blog post you will learn how to get information on Alaska’s small-town and rural assisted living facilities (a complete list) and how to see an image of each facility and it’s surrounding area (a fun little research trick I will share)!
Researching and finding assisted living in Alaska is uniquely different and in some ways more difficult than in other states.
(Return to, or visit our Alaska assisted living page)
Alaska, of course, is huge, and there are only a handful of larger cities. The rest of the vast rural areas of Alaska are serviced by very small towns – and places where it would be a stretch to call it a town or city at all.
Because of this, rural families are often faced with not-so-abundant choices when it comes to assisted living facilities and other senior care options in Alaska.
However, they do exist, and there is a very good, very thorough Excel list of what is available statewide. This list can be sorted by city, and you can easily see at a quick glance what is available nearest to where you live in Alaska.
The list looks like this:
It’s actually very wide, so here is another view with the cities column, which can be sorted.
There are over 600 facilities listed on this sheet. Some of them cater more to younger folks, and those perhaps with developmental disabilities, but many of them are for seniors, and are specifically assisted living facilities.
It’s a great resource, and you can get it by visiting the State’s Division of Health Care Services, and their assisted living licensing section here:
http://dhss.alaska.gov/dhcs/Pages/cl/all/default.aspx
Just scroll down a little bit and you’ll see Current Licensed Facilities / Excel Spreadsheet:
One recommendation we have, since this is a list, and does not offer photos, is to enter the address of the facility you are interested in into google maps (http://maps.google.com) and you will get a screen like this:
If you click on the image, you can pan around, and take in a virtual view (street view) of the facility and the surrounding area – like this:
I hope this helps you to identify what’s available nearest to where you live in terms of senior and assisted living options – regardless of where you might be in the great state of Alaska!
There are some beautiful and remote looking locations there, similar to some places in Colorado.
I’m sure some of those remote locations must require extra challenges for staff and residents, especially during winter months.
I definitely think they are more challenging. Of course, in an urban environment, facilities are close to services, medical care, shopping etc. In some of those far off places serving seniors, there is certainly extra planning that has to go into making sure the facility has everything it needs, and the care necessary for it’s residents, as traveling dozens or hundreds of miles every day just wouldn’t be practical.
Very informative article! I am going to move to Anchorage and desperately need this info. Thank you for sharing it! Greetings!