Unalaska’s clinic has secured its first big donation from a corporate charitable foundation -- and it’s one locals will recognize.

Shell Oil’s Shell Foundation is giving Iliuliuk Family & Health Services $30,000 to pay for specialists to visit the island over the next year.

The clinic gets money from the state and federal government, but director Eileen Conlon Scott says private donations like this are rare. She says she asked several foundations for help during a recent fundraising effort, and Shell was the only one who responded.

"Going after major corporations, we haven’t heard from a lot of people with those. When you tell them the community’s only 4,000 [residents] -- they don’t like to give money to 4,000," she says. "But Shell, because they’re coming here, I think want to show a good rapport with us and try to help us along."

The Shell Foundation focuses primarily on sustainable energy projects, according to its website. But the company has some stake in Unalaska: they’re looking to anchor their fleet here again ahead of this summer’s Arctic drilling season.

Scott says Shell didn’t use the clinic much the last time they were staged in town.

"The Shell employees pretty much are all in really excellent health. They’re not going to ship anybody that’s not in really good health all the way up to the Arctic," she says. "So we gave them tours of the facility, but we really didn’t see any patients unless they needed a medication refill."

But she says the donation will help Unalaskans get more treatment on-island that normally requires a trip to Anchorage. The money will pay for an orthopedist to visit in March. Scott hopes to bring an allergist, dermatologist or eye, ear, nose and throat specialist out later in the year.