Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium officials, state lawmakers and the director of the Indian Health Service dig into dirt on Wednesday at the Alaska Native Medical Center in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the hospital's $257 million emergency department expansion. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium officials, state lawmakers and the director of the Indian Health Service dig into dirt on Wednesday at the Alaska Native Medical Center in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the hospital’s $257 million emergency department expansion. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska Native health officials and other dignitaries gathered Wednesday in an Anchorage ceremony where they grabbed shovels and moved bits of dirt to celebrate the start of an emergency department expansion…