Sorted by date Results 276 - 288 of 288
Heather Thomas, owner of the local video store and director of Sea Monster Films, stands shivering underneath the porch as rain beats down. "I just need a few seconds to think," Thomas says to her crew. But Thomas and her crew don't have the luxury of seconds. Starting Thursday evening, Sea Monster Films had 360,000 seconds to come up with an idea, write a script, shoot scenes, edit and produce a short film. It's now Saturday. With roughly 180,000 seconds left, they have an idea, a script, now...
WRANGELL — An Alaska Division of Insurance ruling will effectively cancel a widely used medical evacuation membership plan across Southeast. The ruling, issued in a letter of judgment Nov. 12, effectively invalidates the Airlift Northwest’s Alaska AirCare membership plan. Airlift Northwest is a subsidiary of the University of Washington, and until mid-November the Alaska AirCare membership plan was designed to eliminate co-payments for emergency medical costs in Southeast. Wrangell citizens typically use a combination of plans to cover the cos...
Borough Assembly and Petersburg Medical Center hospital board members discussed the financial state of the hospital and funding assistance for capital projects from the borough last Thursday morning. The discussion was also directed at how the public will perceive a potential tax levy to help fund a hospital that has remained financially independent of the city, now the borough, throughout its existence. “The public has a healthy skepticism on the borough’s spending habits,” assembly membe... Full story
The public deserves a complete and candid explanation from the Petersburg Medical Center administrative staff concerning the allegations and information presented at the May meeting of the board by Ramona Thompson, an employee of PMC just prior to her termination before the board meeting on May 23. At that meeting, Thompson presented a long list of problems at the facility that have resulted in billing errors, loss of billable income, a warning from Medicare and other concerns. Thompson charged that department heads are not working with the...
A former business office manager of Petersburg Medical Center, Ramona Thompson, attended the regular meeting of the Hospital Board Thursday evening to question the processes of the PMC business office. “In my long experience in hospitals’ practice management, facility bailout consulting work and the revenue cycle, I have seen facilities with far less issues than PMC has, close,” Thompson said. “The PMC business office has been understaffed since the business office manager left in 2011. During 2...
The Petersburg Medical Center Board of Directors during a regular meeting on March, 30 decided to end the Patient Satisfaction Surveys. The year-long survey program asks patients to rate their medical care. “I think over time we’ll have less and less returned surveys, so the data will become more and more meaningless,” said PMC CEO Elizabeth Woodyard. “If our scores varied tremendously [the surveys] would remain,” she said adding that based on the surveys, patients are satisfied with their level of care, but not “wowed.” “We have a lot of p... Full story
Petersburg residents began seeking higher ground after an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 hit just before midnight Friday evening. This major earthquake struck 58 miles west of Craig and 203 miles south of Juneau and immediately prompted a tsunami warning for almost the entire southeast region of Alaska. “After realizing this was an earthquake, I immediately grabbed the phone and called dispatch, knowing they would be inundated with calls,” Petersburg EMS Director Sandy Dixson said. “I just... Full story
Petersburg Medical Center Board has chosen Bettisworth North Architects and Planners, Inc. to design the remodel project for the long-term care facility. Two proposals for the project were reviewed by the board, with the second proposal coming from Jensen, Yorba and Lott. “Jensen, Yorba and Lott made several changes to the design,” Petersburg Medical Center CEO Liz Woodyard said. “These changes will raise the price exceedingly more than we have money for.” The PMC Board placed the Long Term Care facility on the City’s capital improveme...
Petersburg Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Woodyard will remain in Petersburg after being offered the CEO position at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau. “I applied for the position because professionally it was an opportunity too good to pass up,” Woodyard said. “But my heart is here in Petersburg.” Woodyard was offered the position in Juneau but turned it down. “I talked it over with the Hospital Board Chair and my husband and decided to stay,” Woodyard said. She explained t...
wrangell — In what was their final meeting as an elected quorum, the Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors terminated the contract of WMC CEO Noel Rea on Wednesday, June 20. The dismissal came in a 6-1 vote, with board member Dorothy Hunt-Sweat voting against the termination, and members Jake Harris and Delores Norman not present. Eight members of the board; Mark Robinson, Jake Harris, Linda Bjorge, Lurine McGee, Delores Norman, Jim Nelson, Sylvia Ettefagh and Leann Rinehart were r... Full story
WRANGELL — In the end, the special election to recall 8 members of the Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors accomplished what it set out to do – removal of all those facing recall. The recall, which evolved from an effort spearheaded by Wrangell residents Gary Allen, Sr., and Mike Otteson, Sr., asked voters in the borough to remove board president Mark Robinson, and board members Jake Harris, Linda Bjorge, Lurine McGee, Delores Norman, Jim Nelson, Sylvia Ettefagh and Leanne Rinehart. Board member Dorothy Hunt-Sweat was the sole mem...
The current Chief Executive Officer at Petersburg Medical Center is now a finalist for the top hospital administrator position in Alaska’s capital city. Elizabeth Woodyard, who has been CEO at PMC since 2011, will travel June 14-16 to Juneau’s Bartlett Regional Hospital to take part in the final assessment of candidates for the job – and will be interviewed by hospital staff, government and community leaders, and a panel of hospital stakeholders. The BRH Board of Directors announced Woody...
WRANGELL — With eight members of the Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors facing recall in a June election, tensions were high among members of the board, supporters of the recall effort, and citizens of the borough at the directors’ most recent meeting at WMC. At the May 23 meeting, board member Jim Nelson inquired of CEO Noel Rea whether allegations of WMC losing as many as 10 beds if the hospital is forced to update to current ADA standards was a “scare tactic.” “I think when the (general obligation) bond question came up everyone...
