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Following is the Wrangell Sentinel's news review for January through June of 2019. Next week the review will include events from July through December. January Jan. 13 - The Fairbanks Arts Association opened their 24th annual statewide poetry contest for submissions this December. Each year, the association picks a new judge for the contest. This year will be judged by Wrangell resident Vivian Faith Prescott. Prescott is the author of numerous works, including The Hide of My Tongue and The Dead...
Construction of the new Wrangell Medical Center remains on schedule and on budget, according to SEARHC Vice President and Hospital Administrator Leatha Merculieff. The future hospital will be about 44,500 square feet, attached to the AICS Clinic off of Wood Street, and cost about $30 million. Construction began in the spring of this year. Merculieff said that there have been some minor delays with getting trusses shipped to Wrangell, but now all major structural materials are on the island....
In last week’s edition of the Sentinel we reported that SEARHC’s CNA training program was the first at the Wrangell Medical Center. The program is new under SEARHC, but the program has existed in Wrangell before....
SEARHC, the medical provider that recently took over management of the Wrangell Medical Center and is currently overseeing construction of a new hospital, held a talk Monday, Oct. 21, on diabetes and traditional foods. The talk was lead by Kelly Lakin, a diabetes educator with SEARHC. Diabetes is a disease that occurs when one's blood sugar is too high, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Insulin is a hormone that the body produces to transfer...
Wrangell Medical Center (WMC), part of the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC), recently received notice of the successful certification of six new Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA) from the Wrangell CNA Training Program. The six-week program, instructed by WMC Registered Nurse and state certified CNA Training Instructor Katrina Ottesen, prepped the half-dozen Wrangell locals for the state exam and an opportunity for employment at WMC. A graduation ceremony will take place in...
With the final votes tallied by the canvass board earlier that morning, the Wrangell Borough Assembly met last Thursday, Oct. 3, to confirm this year's local election. There were several positions open for election on the assembly, school board, and an open seat on the port commission in the election on Oct. 1. The public also voted on a proposition to remove the Wrangell Medical Center Board from the city's charter. In total, there were 365 votes cast on election day, plus an additional 41...
Stephani Ann Ruks, 77, died on August 16, 2019, in Wrangell, Alaska. Ann was born in Louisville, Kentucky and moved with her family to Wrangell when she was young. She graduated from Wrangell High School in 1961 and worked in Nome and Anchorage and the Alaska Pipeline in Valdez. She lived 18 years in Arizona before returning home to Wrangell where she worked at Wrangell Medical Center until her retirement. Ann was a member of the hospital auxiliary and served in hospice for many years. She was...
A total of 365 ballots were cast on Wrangell's election day, Oct.1, plus an additional 40 absentee ballots. There were several positions up for election on the borough assembly, school board and port commission. The public also had the opportunity to vote to make a minor amendment to Wrangell's charter, removing the Wrangell Medical Center Board as the hospital is no longer operated by the borough. The following is the preliminary election results (* indicates preliminary winner): Borough...
Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) Wrangell Medical Center’s (WMC) Cathy Gross, Registered Health Information Technician and WMC Performance Improvement Manager, has been named the 2019 winner of the Front-line Staff Outstanding Performance Award by the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association (ASHNHA). Gross was honored during the September 26 ASHNHA Annual Conference for her years of dedication to patient safety improvements at WMC. She was notified of the award on the first-ever World Patient Safety Day, S...
Sabina Schlotzhauer, at one month old, is one of Wrangell's newest residents. Born to Kassee and Curtis Schlotzhauer, Sabina is facing some medical issues. Kassee said in a Facebook message that Sabina suffers from HIE, or Hypoxic-ischemic Encephalopathy. According to the HIE Help Center, it is a form of brain damage that can occur in newborns when there is a shortage of oxygen in the bloodstream and a shortage of blood flow to the brain. There are a wide range of causes for HIE, according to...
Harbor House, the assisted living facility, closed its doors on Sept. 1. The facility opened in April of 2017 as a place for Wrangell's senior citizens to live, and also became a popular spot for haunted houses around Halloween. Before then, the building was known as the Sourdough Lodge. According to a 2017 article in the Wrangell Sentinel, Harbor House offered five assisted living rooms and an additional 11 rooms for senior housing. According to a letter sent to employees of Harbor House, the...
SouthEast Alaska Regional Healthcare Consortium's (SEARHC) Sitka Long-Term Care (SLTC) and Wrangell Medical Center Long-Term Care (WMC LTC) will be presented with a trio of quality awards this month from Mountain Pacific Quality Health's (MPQH). SEARHC will be awarded "Gold Pans" during the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association annual conference on Sept. 26 in Girdwood, Alaska, with STLC tabbed as a recipient for the Quality Achievement Award and WMC LTC receiving both the Quality...
Declarations for candidacy in Wrangell's upcoming October elections closed at 4 p.m. last Friday, Aug. 30. From city hall to the school board, there are multiple positions open as well as people willing to run for them. The following is a list of open seats and a list of candidates, courtesy of city hall: Wrangell Borough Assembly Two open seats for three-year terms: Incumbent Julie Decker and incumbent Patricia Gilbert. Two open seats for one-year unexpired terms: Incumbent Anne Morrison,...
Construction of Wrangell's new hospital is on track, according to Hospital Administrator Leatha Merculieff. Construction began back in April, as land next to the AICS Clinic was cleared of trees and leveled. An official groundbreaking ceremony was held on May 30. Back in 2018, the old Wrangell Medical Center was acquired by the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. As part of this deal, SEARHC agreed to build a new hospital for the city. Designs for the new hospital will connect to the...
Last weekend was the Wrangell Medical Center Foundation's Rally for Cancer Care Tournament, held at Muskeg Meadows. The annual event draws sizable crowds from both Wrangell and Petersburg, to raise money to cover cancer patients' travel expenses. This year was no exception. On Saturday, Aug. 17, 51 women attended the tournament. Of these, 31 were from Petersburg. This was not a serious tournament, but an excuse to hang out with friends and enjoy several golf-themed contests. Food, and a silent a...
This coming weekend, Muskeg Meadows Golf Course will host the annual Rally for Cancer Care tournaments. The rally has become a longstanding and popular tradition for people in Wrangell and Petersburg, drawing people from both towns. Betty Abbott, with the Wrangell Medical Center Foundation, said that the program has been around since 2009. She explained that the foundation uses the tournament to raise funds, which they then use to help offset travel expenses for cancer patients. As Southeast...
City Park was crowded and colorful last Saturday as people came together for the annual Long Term Care Color Run. The event is sponsored by the Wrangell Medical Center and its Long Term Care unit. There were 22 people who participated in the color run this year, according to organizer Alyssa Dame. The run is a fun way for Long Term Care residents to raise money, she said. This year they were going to donate their proceeds to Hannah's Place and local youth sports organizations. The color run star...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association, along with Corvus Design and SALT, a consulting team, held a workshop at the Nolan Center last Thursday, June 13. The workshop was part of the Administration for Native Americans grant project, which has been led in Wrangell by Ruby McMurren and Talea Massin of the WCA. The project was designed to look at ways to prevent the out-migration of the native community in Wrangell. Through several meetings with community and tribal leaders, McMurren and Massin...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly gave a second reading of the proposed FY 2020 budget during their meeting on Tuesday, June 11. This year's budget season has been a challenge for local governments across the state, thanks in part to an ongoing battle over the state budget in the Alaska legislature. City governments and school boards are all looking at financial challenges in the near future, and Wrangell is no exception. The proposed budget for the borough has revenues set at about $16.62 million,...
June 3, 2019 Animal complaint: Dog killing chickens. Traffic complaint. Report of assault. Traffic stop: Verbal warning for driving habits. June 4, 2019 Parking complaint. Traffic stop: Verbal warning for driving habits. Violating conditions of release: Unfounded. Disturbance: Unfounded. June 5, 2019 Motor vehicle accident. Found property. June 6, 2019 Suspicious circumstance. Parking complaint. Civil matter. Fireworks. June 7, 2019 Agency assist: Line crew. Agency assist: Wrangell Medical Center. Suspicious person. Agency assist: Public...
A groundbreaking ceremony was held next to the AICS clinic on Wood Street last Thursday, May 30, signifying the official beginning of construction of Wrangell's new hospital. Wrangell has been seeking a new hospital to replace the Wrangell Medical Center for some time now. The Southeast Alaska Health Consortium, SEARHC, acquired the medical center in 2018. Part of this acquisition deal was the construction of a new hospital. The new medical center, which will connect with the existing clinic,...
Southeast Alaska construction company SECON has returned to Wrangell to do some road work. They were working in Wrangell last summer to renovate Evergreen Avenue, which runs from the ferry terminal past Petroglyph Beach, before transitioning into the Airport Road. These renovations included resurfacing the entire street and constructing a sidewalk along the road. This year, according to Project Manager Ralph Vigilante, SECON will be doing some extensive work on the other side of the airport loop, on Bennett Street and Airport Road itself....