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The assembly has directed borough staff to get two estimates for possibly resolving the longstanding deliberations over repairs to the rot-damaged Public Safety Building and the future of the former hospital building. One estimate would be for a two-year project to repair and renovate the 34-year-old Public Safety Building, restoring it for full use by the police and fire departments, state court system, federal customs and other agencies. The other estimate from an engineering firm would cover remodeling the vacant Wrangell Medical Center as...
After starting July at 56%, then moving to 58% on Aug. 1, the rate of eligible Alaskans getting at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has now climbed to 60%. Though the rate is improving, Alaska is still far behind the national average of 71%, as reported Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Alaska is two-thirds of the way down from the top in rankings of the 50 states. Just like the state’s rising tally, Wrangell’s rate of eligible residents with at least their first shot has climbed from 61% to 64% in the pas...
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is seeking volunteers to play victims, friends and family members, even news reporters in a mass casualty exercise Oct. 5. The drill is planned for 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Wrangell Medical Center, providing an opportunity for hospital staff “to test their emergency plans and procedures,” SEARHC said in its promotional flyer for the event. “Some (not all) volunteers will receive extensive make-up (moulage) to enhance realism,” the flyer said. “Volunteers should understand that this exercise...
As the Delta variant spreads and as COVID-19 case counts climb throughout Alaska, more health care providers in the state are requiring that their workers get vaccinated. Full vaccination also will be required of students living in on-campus housing at the University of Alaska Southeast and at the university campus in Anchorage. The PeaceHealth hospital system, which operates the Ketchikan Medical Center, announced Aug. 3 that all caregivers will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 starting Aug. 31, unless they provide proof of a medi...
Face masks are going back on in several communities across Alaska as health officials continue urging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The state reported more than 1,000 new cases of the coronavirus Friday through Tuesday, and almost 4,000 since mid-July, as the numbers have climbed to high-alert levels not seen since last January. Meanwhile, vaccination rates have not changed much, reaching 58% of all eligible Alaskans age 12 and older with at least one dose as of Tuesday, up from 57% a week ago. Alaska’s senior U.S. senator, Lisa M...
As the COVID-19 pandemic winds through its second year, many aspects of normal life are returning, including the annual Rally for Cancer Care golf tournament this weekend in Wrangell. The rally is a big fundraising event put on by the WMC Foundation, established in 2006 to support the Wrangell Medical Center. Although the borough hospital has changed hands and SEARHC has its own charitable organizations, WMC Foundation President Patty Gilbert said the group continues to serve Wrangell and other small Southeast communities. The golf tournament...
The COVID-19 case count among the 214 passengers and crew who were aboard the American Constellation’s Southeast Alaska cruise the second week of July has risen to 16, as the ship prepared this week to end its 10-day quarantine in Juneau and resume voyages. Of the 16, four isolated in Petersburg, which was where the first case was discovered on July 8, and a dozen in Juneau, the City and Borough of Juneau reported July 15. As of Monday, nine had recovered and seven people remained in isolation in Juneau, officials said. The 267-foot-long s...
Longtime Wrangell resident Chuck Traylor, 86, died July 13 at Wrangell Medical Center. As Chuck would say, he had a good run, his family wrote. He was born in Nebraska in 1934, and his family was in and out of Alaska several times in the 1940s and early 1950s before settling in Alaska permanently. In 1948, the Traylor family was living at the floating logging camp in Hood Bay on Admiralty Island. There, Chuck and his sister, Vona, adopted a starving orphaned fawn, raised it, and released it....
The first cruise ship to cancel runs through Southeast Alaska this summer due to COVID-19 cases on board is tied up in Juneau, waiting for the 10-day quarantine for the crew to end. The 267-foot American Constellation, which was carrying 162 passengers and a crew of 52, docked in Juneau last Saturday after a day earlier letting off several people in Petersburg for medical care and quarantine. Uninfected passengers flew home from Juneau, while the crew remains on board. “The three individuals who tested positive for COVID-19, along with their cl...
William I. “Bill” Churchill Sr. died July 8 at the Wrangell Medical Center. The lifelong Wrangell resident was 88 years old. He had worked as a tugboat captain, and was well known for his carving and Native artwork. A memorial service is planned for Aug. 14 in Wrangell. A full obituary will follow in the July 22 Sentinel....
Monday, June 7 Welfare check. Noise complaint: Unfounded. Agency assist: Ambulance. Tuesday, June 8 Citizen assist. Motor vehicle accident. Agency assist: Fire. Wednesday, June 9 Intoxicated person. Welfare check. Speeding complaint. Agency assist: Wrangell Medical Center. Agency assist: Hoonah Police Department. Thursday, June 10 Agency assist: Ambulance. Agency assist: Office Children’s Services. Found property. Agency assist: Wrangell Medical Center. Agency assist: U.S. Forest Service. Hazardous play. Missing person. Friday, June 11 A...
The Petersburg borough is offering $10,000 in prizes during June to encourage residents who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 to get the shot. The Sleeves Up Petersburg drawing is sponsored by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, with money distributed through the Alaska Chamber of Commerce. It’s part of a campaign to increase the state’s vaccination rate by 25%. “That’s the drive from the start, to increase our vaccination rate and get out of this pandemic,” said Petersburg Incident Commander Karl Hagerman. “Let’s ge...
The Petersburg borough is offering $10,000 in prizes during June to encourage residents who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 to get the shot. The Sleeves Up Petersburg drawing is sponsored by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, with money distributed through the Alaska Chamber of Commerce. It’s part of a campaign to increase the state's vaccination rate by 25%. "That's the drive from the start, to increase our vaccination rate and get out of this pandemic," said Petersburg Incident Commander Karl Hagerman. "Let's get back t...
Congressional action exempting large cruise ships from having to stop in Canada on their summer voyages to Alaska will provide a boost to heavily tourism-dependent Southeast communities. Although Wrangell was never on the itineraries of the largest ships, it’s possible the town may see some additional visitors with the change in U.S. law. Without the temporary exemption from a century-old U.S. maritime law, the foreign-registered ships would have been required to stop in Canada, which has not been possible since the country shut down its p...
We need to preserve the biggest of the kings Tyee is a Native word that has several meanings. The Big One is the one that describes a 30-pound or bigger king salmon. At the south end of Wrangell Island, there are five rivers that at one time had a lot of big kings, like the one that derby winner Gary Smart caught in 2017. Not all kings are created equal, the genetic strain is what makes the big ones so special. If we lose this genetic strain, it will be lost forever. More than 70 years ago, the...
Joanne J. Roberts, a 27-year Wrangell resident, died May 13 at the SouthEast Regional Health Consortium's Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center. She was 74, and died of pulmonary disease, her family said. "Wrangell was her style," her family said. Roberts moved to Alaska with the U.S. Army in 1976 and later, when she grew tired of big cities, left Fairbanks and moved to Wrangell, where she tended bar, worked aboard commercial fishing boats and hunted. "She lived a colorful life." "She was married five...
Wrangell graduating seniors received scholarships that could total almost $175,000, with many extending through four years of college. The scholarships were announced at the high school awards ceremony Monday. Students received scholarships from 21 different programs. Among the larger awards was the Alaska Pulp Corp. scholarship of $20,000 per student over four years to attend the college of their choice. The former owner of the since-closed Wrangell sawmill started the program in 1992, and sinc...
Born to Les and Reita Olds in Tillamook, Oregon, on June 4, 1960, Clinton Thomas Olds was the youngest of three sons. Clint passed away on April 30, 2021, due to complications of pneumonia. He was 60. For a boy of 7, a trip to Alaska in 1967 was an adventure when he, his mother, father and two brothers embarked on the state ferry Malaspina with a short stop in Sitka and then on to permanent residence in Wrangell. Clint thrived in the small town, hunting and fishing with his family and...
The community is under a face mask order for all indoor public spaces until 11:59 p.m. April 30, though the borough assembly removed any penalties from the ordinance. The April 8-16 outbreak of 16 COVID-19 cases in Wrangell prompted an emergency assembly meeting Saturday to consider the public health ordinance bringing back mandatory face masks for a couple of weeks. Assembly members, however, voted near unanimously to eliminate any penalties for failure to wear a face mask. Mayor Steve...
Leatha Merculieff, who has served both as SEARHC vice president and as Wrangell hospital administrator since SEARHC took over the facility in 2019, has been promoted to the consortium's senior vice president and chief of operations. In her place, Wrangell resident Carly Allen will take over as hospital administrator. Allen is a third-generation Wrangell resident, according to the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium news release on Monday. She has been with SEARHC since 2017, after a...
Face masks are required in all indoor public spaces until 11:59 p.m. April 30 under an emergency ordinance approved unanimously by the borough assembly Saturday morning as the city responds to the COVID-19 breakout in town. The community tallied 16 cases April 8-16. “This is the highest number by double we’ve ever had active in Wrangell at any one time,” Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen told the assembly. In addition to protecting public health, the outbreak is hurting the town’s economy, Von Bargen said. The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health...
"I think it was '52 that we got married, I met her just before," Elmer Mork said about his wife Patricia. "She was the 1950 queen, Fourth of July Queen. The first one. I'm kind of lucky to find a queen." Elmer and Patricia Mork met back in the 1950s at a dance, Elmer said. He caught her eye and said she would like to meet him, and asked him to dance. The rest is history. "My older sister taught me how to do the jitterbug thing," he said. Elmer, 91, and Patricia, 87, have been married about 70...
The main contractors on the new Wrangell Medical Center have presented a shaman's apprentice mask to display in the facility. "Crafted with red cedar, abalone, operculum shells and horsehair, the mask depicts a profound moment during the practice of a young shaman," the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium said in a prepared statement March 21. "Shamans (Sgáagaa) were known to possess healing powers and bridge the gap between spiritual and natural worlds." The mask, created by Haida...
SEARHC had more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine than people registered to get the shot as of Tuesday, and is looking for younger people to sign up. While the state just last week dropped its restrictions on who could receive a vaccination, opening the program to anyone 16 and older, SEARHC, which serves Wrangell and almost 20 other Southeast communities, has offered the shots to the general public the past several weeks. "Through efficient processes and steady allotments of vaccines, SEARHC staff...
Schools ready to help students in need Due to COVID-19, the level of depression and anxiety our teens are experiencing has skyrocketed. Hospitals across the country - including Juneau - are seeing huge increases in youth attempting suicide and other types of self-destructive behavior. Social services are being overwhelmed. For instance, the state Office of Children's Services supervisor for all of Southeast Alaska recently told me that the number of child-welfare referrals they are receiving...
