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WRANGELL — Wrangell Medical Center Foundation last month issued a letter to supporters informing them it would forgo its annual fundraiser weekend this year. For the past ten years the Brian Gilbert Memorial Golf Tournament and fundraiser dinner is hosted in Wrangell each May in order to raise money for the Foundation. The Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to support the community’s medical needs. The funds it handles fills a few roles, primarily supporting WMC’s bid for a new facility but also procuring new equipment, funding its cance...
The end of 2017 saw more confirmed flu cases in Petersburg than any year since at least 2007, according to medical center lab records. The medical center lab released statistics on the flu season in Petersburg so far. The results, mostly from those tested in the lab from November and December, showed that 62 people were positive for the flu. Liz Bacom, laboratory director and infection control manager for the Petersburg Medical Center, uses a metaphor in responding to those who ask why they...
In the search for a new CEO, the Petersburg Medical Center has received more than 70 applications from across the country, leaving it up to the hiring committee to narrow it down to less than 10. As of Tuesday, 74 people have applied to replace Liz Woodyard, the CEO of the medical center, who plans to retire at the end of June. “We have some highly qualified candidates,” said Doran Hammett, the chief financial officer with the medical center. “I don’t think we’ll have any trouble coming up with some good finalists.” The cutoff to apply was W...
The borough manager hosted a second public meeting last Thursday to hear ideas on how to decrease costs and increase revenue for Petersburg. The manager, Steve Giesbrecht, recommends the assembly take the public's suggestions, review them, and make a list of the top five or 10, he said. "The Assembly could then instruct us which ideas they want implemented," Giesbrecht said. "Using this process, the Assembly could work through the entire list." At the meeting, people filtered in for two hours...
January The Borough assembly started approval of a program called Local Improvement Districts, which asks Petersburg residents whether they would pay for road work in their neighborhoods. The Petersburg School Board discussed the possible loss of federal funding through a program called Secure Rural Schools. The school district reported a case of a Pertussis, or whooping cough, confirmed in Petersburg. Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter said it was not a public health emergency. An engineer led...
Pay present debts first To the Editor: A recent news story mentioning an upcoming study to be done by BDO (I think these are the letters for the company doing the study) concerning building vs remodeling our hospital has me very concerned. This company, supposedly did a study for our neighbors in Wrangell and came to the conclusion that Wrangell could afford to build a $52 million new hospital. Unless I'm not hearing news correctly, I thought that the Wrangell Medical Center has had to go to the Wrangell Assembly for over $250,000 in loans to...
The remodel of the Petersburg Medical Center kitchen facility is nearing completion. Food service will resume in the new kitchen on Jan. 8. The hospital board approved the budget of up to $292,000 in March and made plans to use the Ocean Beauty bunkhouse kitchen to prepare meals during the remodel. Project supervisor Marty Sussort with Alaska Commercial Contractors in Juneau said the project entailed breaking up the kitchen floor to access waste lines that had plugged or failed. "We found the so...
The Petersburg Medical Center is in its early stages of hiring a new CEO while deciding whether to build a new hospital, two major decisions that will have to work congruently in the approaching months. In a hospital board meeting two weeks ago, a financial feasibility study was approved to examine the cost of building a new facility versus remodeling. Days later, the hospital board held a work session that was led by a CEO hiring committee. “Yeah, I think that’s a factor,” said Marlene Cushing, hospital board member and chairperson of the C...
The top executive at the Petersburg Medical Center has announced her retirement for next June. After 44 years in the medical field, Liz Woodyard is retiring as CEO of the medical center, effective at the end of June 2018, she said. "Well, I'm 65," Woodyard said. "I'll be 66 by then, so I'll be at my full retirement age." Woodyard has been CEO of the hospital in Petersburg for seven years. Before that, she pinballed around the west coast from being chief nursing officer in Fairbanks to CEO of a m...
It's flu season, and the Petersburg Medical Center is reporting several cases -- more than usual, including some who were immunized -- but all signs are pointing toward a vaccination that works. "We have seen more cases than we normally see around this time of year," said Liz Bacom, the infection control manager with the medical center. "But it's not like this is an atypical year versus another. Every flu season is different. "We are getting cases but they aren't super serious," Bacom said....
After two months without a hospital board meeting, the medical center CEO gave a report to the assembly on Monday that highlighted its newest staff, projects, in-house statistics and a board that recently added two new members. Liz Woodyard, the Petersburg Medical Center CEO, spoke to the assembly on Monday, starting with a note to long term care. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services gave the nursing department a five star rating based on health inspections, staffing levels and quality...
The assembly unanimously denied a request by the Petersburg Housing Coalition that asked borough departments for data and solutions to the homeless population in town. Assembly Member Jeff Meucci asked for the coalition’s request to be on the agenda, not because he supports it, but rather that he wants the public to be represented. “I kind of feel strongly that people come up here and speak at the podium, and in the past, their letters or their requests -- it seems like they fall on deaf ears,” Meucci said. “I just wanted to make sure that when...
Medical staff, an advocacy group and the police station in Petersburg have created a three-pronged approach to sexual assault cases. "Understanding what sexual assault is, it's kind of eye-opening," said Annette Wooton, the executive director of a Petersburg advocacy group called WAVE, or Working Against Violence for Everyone. "For a lot of people, when you look at the statutes, you realize 'oh, I've been assaulted.'" The Sexual Assault Response Team, or SART, is headed by local police, medical...
Some readers have suggested that this newspaper make exceptions to the public record. A retired doctor from the Virginia Mason Medical Center stated our report of a lawsuit brought against local doctors and the Petersburg Medical Center should not have been printed until the lawsuit was settled. In another case, WAVE representatives told us the names of those seeking protective orders should be omitted from our reports. Neither can happen. Because we are a newspaper, we print the public record. Legally, it defines our purpose as a...
Ashlin Larsen from University of Washington School of Medicine will be at the Petersburg Medical Center for her third year Family Medicine Clerkship. She will be here until November 3. Ashlin received a major in Biology and minor in Chemistry from University of Oregon. She was born in Anchorage, Alaska and has also lived in Eugene, Oregon. She has travelled to the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Spain, Italy, Canada, and multiple US states. Her interests include running, hiking, kayaking, and...
The CEO of the Petersburg Medical Center is asking the Borough to change how all city board members can attend meetings, making legal and official business easier to conduct. Liz Woodyard, the Petersburg Medical Center CEO, wants to amend an ordinance that would allow board and assembly members to attend meetings electronically, and their attendance would still count toward a quorum. Woodyard reported last week that she is working with Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson to present the proposal to...
The hospital Board of Directors held a work session on Friday to further discuss its relationship with the Borough, to which it feels like the ugly stepchild. Jeigh Stanton Gregor was at the meeting to represent the Assembly and offer his input on the discussion. “Feeling triggered by the ugly step sister comment,” Stanton Gregor said, “I don’t think anyone feels that way. We want to know what you want. Tell us what you want the relationship to be like.” The board discussed adding a provision to the Petersburg Charter that would require t...
September 14, 1917 – Jacob Johnson, I. J. Erickson , and Dr. J. L. Buckley received notice last week that, upon recommendation of Governor Strong, President Wilson has appointed them members of the exemption board for the town of Petersburg. The appointments to the board, the governor’s letter states, are in the nature of a draft, and they are advised that the board will in all probability continue in existence during the period of the present war. “The duties of the local or city, exemption boards,” the instructions read, “are broadly,...
All is not clear To the Editor: This is regarding your article in the August 31, 2017 edition “PMC & physicians face wrongful death claim". I am sorry to see this kind of reporting and journalism in your paper. There are many issues in a case like this and much emotion, obviously. The reporting of a claim that has not been settled in the court, by judge, jury and peers of those involved such as this results in, loss of confidence in your local medical institution and staff without due process, that would have been fair. Thus, I think that y...
Lynn Ewing and Liv Husvik-Perschon of Petersburg and Robin and Gary Paul of Juneau, announce the wedding and reception of Sonja Ewing and Carson Paul. The couple are residents of Petersburg with Ewing working at Petersburg Medical Center and Paul working at Rocky's Marine. The wedding will take place at the Petersburg Lutheran Church on Saturday, September 9, with a reception to follow at the Sons of Norway Hall....
The Petersburg Medical Center and three of its physicians are being sued over a wrongful death claim being brought by Mary Katasse Miller. Superior Court Judge William Carey set the trial date for November 20, 2018 at a scheduling conference on August 21. Also named in the suit are PMC physicians Courtney Hess, M.D., Kris Sargeant, M.D. and Jennifer Hyer, M.D. Hess has been employed at PMC since July 2014, Sargeant since Aug. 2012 and Hyer since Aug. 2011. Miller represents the Estate of Malcom Miller and herself. Her late husband died on June...
The hospital in Petersburg is an independent operation that makes its own decisions, despite being owned by the Borough. It makes finance decisions on its own with no proviso that the Borough oversee those moves. But one condition in the Borough Charter says the Petersburg Medical Center Board and the Assembly should meet annually. And they did last week — the first joint meeting since March 2015, confirmed by Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson. “There hasn’t been any dialogue between the Borough and the hospital,” said George Doyle, a hospita...
