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The Petersburg Medical Center is in a good position financially right now, but it’s in the next three to five years that it may face some serious challenges. Representatives from the hospital and its board of directors met at a special meeting with the Petersburg Borough Assembly Monday evening. “Your hospital is strong, you have almost no debt,” said Interim Chief Financial Officer Doran Hammett, who brings in an outside perspective as he does financial work for hospitals around the country. He added that Petersburg has a strong balance sheet...
An 18-member Local Marijuana Regulation Advisory Committee has been formed to discuss the local implementation of a law that took effect Feb. 24, allowing for the private use and commercial sale of marijuana. The assembly unanimously passed a resolution to create the committee at Monday’s regular meeting. Three assembly members, Nancy Strand, Kurt Wohlhueter and Jeigh Stanton Gregor, will sit on the committee with Stanton Gregor appointed as the committee’s chairperson. Joined by the three assembly members are 15 residents who expressed int...
Carol Dyer Johnson, 73, died January 23, 2015 at Petersburg Medical Center/LTC. She was born November 14, 1941 in Haverhill, Mass. She graduated from Haverhill High School in 1958 and attended The University of Massachusetts for three years. In her youth, she was very athletic; swimming for the University synchronized swim team. She loved everything from fashion, art, music, or dance. In early 1960, she was diagnosed with manic depression/bi-polar disease and was challenged with its symptoms... Full story
The availability and affordability of housing in Petersburg Borough and the effects of a changing age composition of the borough’s population were two emerging themes highlighted in a report released Feb. 20 by Agnew Beck, the consulting firm heading up the borough’s new Comprehensive Plan. The report outlines challenges and opportunities in nine key areas that spring from residents’ feedback at the consultants’ last visit to town in December as well as a community-wide survey that closed last month. Over 350 individuals, more than 10 percent... Full story
Petersburg resident Mark Weaver, 59, has pled guilty to one of two felony charges brought against him following an explosion last July in the rock quarry behind the airport. Weaver faced two counts of Possession of Unregistered Destructive Devices, which included Tovex, the commercial-grade explosive used at the scene in an improvised explosive device (IED), and seven hand grenades recovered in a subsequent search of Weaver's property. The second charge, related to the grenades, will be dropped... Full story
Petersburg resident Mark Weaver, 59, has pled guilty to one of two felony charges brought against him following an explosion last July in the rock quarry behind the airport. Weaver faced two counts of Possession of Unregistered Destructive Devices, which included Tovex, the commercial-grade explosive used at the scene in an improvised explosive device (IED), and seven hand grenades recovered in a subsequent search of Weaver's property. The second charge, related to the grenades, will be dropped... Full story
Petersburg Medical Center CEO Liz Woodyard announced that the hospital is considering hiring an occupational therapist to replace physical therapist Leslie Stancliff who announced her retirement from the facility. “One of the things we’ve looked at as far as services is what are our needs and I think an exciting opportunity for us is to look at is perhaps hiring an occupational therapist instead of a physical therapist,” Woodyard said. Physical Therapy Manager Ellie van Swearingen explained the role of an occupational therapist as opposed to ph...
At last Thursday’s meeting, Petersburg Medical Center’s Interim CFO Doran Hammett updated the board on recent efforts to increase cash on hand at the facility by decreasing accounts receivable (A/R) days –the amount of time it takes for a patient to pay money owed for services rendered. Hammett said that PMC’s accounts receivable days have historically been very high for PMC. “Gross A/R days have ranged from 106 to 145 (days) over the past two years,” he said. “Looking at this last fall we realized that we had gotten to a point in our patien...
January More than 600 Petersburg residents signed up for the borough's recycling program. The Petersburg Land Selection Committee requested the borough pursue legislative action regarding the State's calculation of land entitlement for the Petersburg Borough after the committee's determination that the State's selection of land was inadequate. The Petersburg School Board approved a $2.3 million exterior wall renovation project for the Rae C. Stedman Elementary School. Petersburg School District... Full story
With the addition of Marlene Cushing and Kris Thynes, the Petersburg Medical Center (PMC) now has a full board of seven, as well as new officers for the coming year. Tim Koeneman was named board president and cautioned the board that they would have to lean heavily on Darlene Whitethorn, elected vice-president in her absence per her prior assent to the idea and formerly secretary, during the summer months when he is away. “With kids and grandkids all in Juneau, there are vacation times when I’m simply not here,” he said. “I’ll certainly...
Benjamin Iltanen Bunge, 40 died suddenly, at his home in Burlington, Vt. Ben, the second son of Linda and Sam Bunge, graduated from Petersburg High School in 1992. Ben served as a firefighter and emergency medical technician for the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Dept, then attended the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and U.A. at Anchorage, earning a B.S. degree in nursing. He worked several years at Providence Medical Center in Anchorage before moving to Burlington, where he worked as a... Full story
It’s the time of year when Alaska’s fishery meetings kick into high gear - with five set for this week alone. The industry will get a first glimpse of potential 2015 halibut catches when the International Pacific Halibut Commission convenes in Seattle, WA. It’s been a wait and see attitude among fish circles - will Alaska’s catch limits again be reduced, down already 70% over a decade to just 16 million pounds? Or has the Pacific halibut stock started to rebound as some of the science indicates? Tune into the IPHC meetings live via webinar...
Interim CFO Doran Hammett told the Petersburg Medical Center board at a special meeting Monday that a draft cost report revealed some $928,000 was due to Medicare. Though PMC still has $380,000 on hand from a mid-year overpayment by Medicare to pay the bill, the amount due was unexpectedly high and prompted further investigation by Hammett and the consultant who prepares the reports, Martin Michiels of Health Care Consulting Services, LLC. Hammett told the Pilot on Wednesday that after recalculations by Michiels, the hospital now expects to... Full story
Veterans were honored for their service around town Tuesday, Nov. 11 in celebration of Veterans Day. Students from the elementary, middle and high schools as well as many community members attended an assembly at the high school Tuesday morning. Honored veterans sat front and center with family members to listen to speeches and music performed by students of all ages. The audience was treated to information ranging from the historical background of the holiday given by the high schoolers to... Full story
A thorough discussion of public services under the Borough charter was had at Monday's regular Assembly meeting. Member John Havrilek broached the matter at the last meeting and asked for a public comment period wherein discussion and clarification of services for outlying areas would be addressed. Since then, Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht worked with department heads to assemble a matrix outlining services offered before and after Borough formation. According to that matrix, no services have been discontinued due to Borough formation. That'...
The hospital’s debts took a dive after a large payment went out to pay off the cost for improvements to the electronic health records (EHR) systems ― down to $643,576 owed from a former $1.2 million. “We have made a significant payment on that with the money we received from the Meaningful Use (EHR incentive program),” CFO Doran Hammett reported, with CEO Liz Woodyard adding in that the debt was incurred previously, but payments were not required until funds began arriving from the incenti...
Phone lines to listen in at the Medicaid Reform Advisory Group’s final public input session were overwhelmed on Wednesday, as about 88 callers from across the state attempted to dial in to the Anchorage meeting. The meeting is the final in a series soliciting public input for the recently formed group. Gov. Sean Parnell named nine Alaskans to the board on March 7, with the expressed goal of crafting a “meaningful proposal to the state’s Medicaid program.” Cathy Stadem, public information officer of Alaska Department of Health and Human Service...
Petersburg Medical Center Board members were apprised of the hospital's ongoing measures to stay current and protected against Ebola and other infectious agents on Wednesday in a report by Elizabeth Bacom, infection control and lab director for the hospital. Though the hemorrhagic fever is unlikely to ever arrive on the island, Bacom said it remained sound practice to be prepared for anything, and continually updated measures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) applied to several diseases. “Ebola is not the only disease t...
Petersburg Assembly Members finalized the 2015 Capital Projects list for the borough, looking to primarily address infrastructure upgrades in the top items. “The borough departments, as well as the school and hospital, have reviewed the 2015 Capital Needs list and have provided updates to the list,” Mayor Mark Jensen said, adding that Borough Manager Stephen Giesbrecht had recommended keeping the list smaller at 10 to 12 items to, hopefully, increase legislative attention. The list of Capital Projects remained largely unchanged, shuffling only... Full story
Petersburg Medical Center is continuing to balance the books and expand its services, but the budget still will be tight around the edges as it moves forward on some big ticket purchases after recent, costly, repairs. The hospital’s resource committee had met on Sept. 22 to discuss which projects to fund, now and in the future, as members weighed their chances of PMC’s requests appearing higher on the borough’s own capital projects list to be submitted to the state appropriations committee, and therefore be more likely to receive state fundi...
Petersburg's hospital won top marks and recently was honored with the Quality Achievement Award, the highest possible, from the Mountain Pacific Quality Health foundation (MPQH), Liz Woodyard, Petersburg Medical Center's CEO, reported, recognizing the efforts of Quality Specialist Shelly Hjort in providing accurate, timely reports. Medical facilities were scored on seven national quality areas, a composite score known as the Appropriate Care Measure. Heart attacks and failures, pneumonia,...
Petersburg Medical Center board members revised the hospital’s Paid Time Off policies during their Sept. 25 meeting, placing a closer cap on how much time off employees can bank away, moving from a previous two-year limit to 18 months. Under the new policy, approved unanimously by board members, PTO accruals would max at 300 vacation hours for two- or less year staff, up to 480 hours for those employed for a decade. Previously, those numbers ranged from 400 to 640 hour limits. “Grandfathered’’ staff, those who were hired at PMC prior to Marc...
The Petersburg Borough municipal election will be held Oct. 7. Voters will decide who should fill the positions of 37 board and commission slots, as well as weigh in on seven ballot measures. In the coming weeks, the Pilot will publish candidate profiles with information about candidates and their responses about why they're running. This week we profile school board candidates Sarah P. Holmgain, Megan Litster and Jay Lister who are running to fill the board's three open seats and hospital...
The Petersburg Medical Center (PMC) hospital board meeting last week covered many topics, several of which revolved around financials as the center received their annual audit and a financial report indicating a break-even year for the fiscal year ending June 30. One new cost also came to the fore as Maintenance Director Mike Boggs reported the fuel oil boiler—one of two boilers used to heat the facility— has a leak and needs to be retubed. However, due to the cost to repair and maintain the old boiler, an estimated $37,900, and fuel costs to...
