In the early 1990s, Bethel elders Nora Guinn, Elias Venes, and Gladys Jung discussed the need for a long-term care facility (nursing home). They observed that the lack of of a facility in the YK Delta meant that elders needing such a facility were forced to relocate out of the region in order to obtain long-term care. During the discussion, Nora made the first contribution of $50 on the spot and the three pledged to raise funds for a local long-term care/nursing program. They named it the Betty Guy Memorial Nursing Home Fund, after one of the Delta’s first health aides. For about 20 years, the fund was held as an independent trust. In 2009, family members voted to close the trust and use the existing funds to create the permanent endowed Betty Guy Memorial Nursing Home Fund at BCSF. Since then, these funds have been used to bring art and culture to the YKHC long-term care facility, which opened in 2013.
Betty Guy of Kwethluk began working as an unpaid health aid in 1962. The health aid program was aimed at fighting tuberculosis in the YK Delta.
