Sorted by date Results 301 - 325 of 831
The Wrangell Borough Assembly recognized the Lady Wolves high school basketball team during their meeting on Tuesday evening for their hard work over the recent season. Mayor Steve Prysunka, in reading a proclamation congratulating the team, pointed out that the Lady Wolves took first place in regionals, defeating Metlakatla, for the first time in 25 years, and that numerous team members had received several awards and accolades over the course of the season. "I, Stephen Prysunka, mayor of the...
Aminda Skan, the daughter of former Wrangell resident Mercedes Angerman, is a second-year pharmacy student with Doctor of Pharmacy program that is jointly organized by the Idaho State University and the University of Alaska Anchorage. She received her bachelor's degree in biological science from UAA in May 2017. Her doctorate program has ISU's name on it, but as she explained in an email, it allows her to remain in Alaska to achieve her degree. Recently, through her work to increase the number...
Robert Rang came on as the Wrangell Medical Center's administrator in October of 2015. The hospital was only the latest step in a three-decade career. Rang said he started his career as a CNA, and he kept on slowly rising up in the business. He was working in Kodiak when he first heard about this job being available in Wrangell, he said. "The opportunity opened up, it was something I was very interested in. Small town life is what my wife and I enjoy, along with all the other activities that...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly discussed a proposed noise ordinance once again during their meeting onTuesday. The ordinance has been the source of some controversy around town, some seeing it as the result of two feuding neighbors, or that the regulations proposed by the ordinance are unrealistic. When the ordinance was brought up for discussion in the last meeting, on March 12, there was a very large public turnout to speak their minds on the topic. During that meeting, the assembly proposed various amendments to the ordinance. Previously,...
For the second straight month, Wrangell Medical Center’s (WMC) Long-Term Care sits atop the state rankings for nursing home quality, based on an average of 11 quality measures used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). With scores of 4.49 and 3.37 in December 2018 and January 2019, respectively, WMC scored below the CMS national target of 6.0 and well below the state composite scores of 8.5 in December 8.42 in January, besting the 17 other qualified nursing homes in Alaska. “We have a great team at WMC,” said WMC Admin...
February 13, 1919 All of America is expected to be singing during the week beginning Sunday, February 16, and ending Saturday, February 22. The movement is endorsed by United States Commissioner of Education Claxton; leading state, city, and county superintendents: music supervisors; and leaders of community singing throughout the United States. The objects are “to awaken and develop a love for singing and to make America a singing nation and through the medium of songs of the right sort to inspire us to higher ideals and to unite us as a p...
Guardian Flight has resumed their air medical transport service in six base locations across Alaska following a 63-hour search for an overdue Guardian King Air 200 medical life flight near Kake. While services have resumed in Anchorage, Deadhorse, Dillingham, Fairbanks, Ketchikan and Sitka, Guardian Flight base locations in Kotzebue and Juneau will reopen sometime in the future, according Guardian Flight senior vice president of operations Randy Lyman in a prepared statement. "Guardian Flight...
February 6, 1919 We are enjoying a very mild winter, and up to the present have not had any weather below zero. The snowfall has been light; only a depth of eight inches along the river in this vicinity. Also, very little ice is on the Stikine. The trappers are catching very few furs. In fact, trappers say that prospects this winter are the worst that they remember in this district. There is a lot of illness among the Natives at present, and the medical missionary has 22 patients under his care. He said that it resembled Spanish influenza, but...
Valentine's Day is always a popular holiday among those who enjoy eating chocolate. Chocolate and the holiday for love and romance have long been connected. In Wrangell, however, there is another special chocolate-related event in February that chocoholics can look forward to. The Chocolate Lovers Festival will be taking place this Sat., Feb. 9, at the Downtown Pavilion. JoDee Howell, Activities Director with the Wrangell Medical Center, is organizing the festival this year. She said that the...
The borough assembly held a short special meeting last Friday night, Jan. 11. The purpose of the meeting was to approve of two tail insurance policies for the Wrangell Medical Center. Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen explained that tail insurance is designed to cover something that happened in the past, but had consequences that only become apparent in the future. “So rather than insuring operations that ‘are’, you’re insuring things that occurred in the past,” she said. “So if someone should file a claim against operations, or a decision, o...
The Wrangell borough assembly met last Tuesday night to hear an update on the transition of the Wrangell Medical Center to SEARHC control. The regional healthcare consortium took over the medical center late last year and is in the process of building a new hospital in Wrangell. In the meantime, the WMC will be run by SEARHC until the new hospital is ready to receive patients, reportedly in 2021. Dan Neumeister, with SEARHC, said the transition has been very smooth for the hospital’s employees. There have also been some technological and i...
April The Department of Transportation is finally able to get started on a major Wrangell road repaving project. Perforated by potholes, the borough’s Evergreen Avenue will be resurfaced and repaired, with pedestrian improvements and other fixes. The major project has been on hold for half a decade, surviving rounds of budget cuts to capital funding elsewhere in the state along the way. Two local right of way issues which had lately been holding up the project were wrapped up in February, allowing the project to move along. Speaking at a p...
The past year has been a busy one for the community of Wrangell, and also one full of changes. Elections have come and gone, the school district saw a new superintendent and two new principals, a high school swimming and diving team was organized, and a new reporter came to town. A new organization was formed, BRAVE, to help bring people together to enhance life in the community for Wrangell’s younger population. Other organizations like the Senior Center and Nolan Center saw new faces, as well. There were lots of physical changes to W...
City officials, Wrangell Medical Center staff, SEARHC representatives, and many community members were present at the Nolan Center as the "future of healthcare" in Wrangell was celebrated. The party, which took place on the evening of Dec. 13, commemorated the SEARHC takeover of the medical center. SEARHC, a health consortium that serves Southeast Alaska, agreed to a four year lease of the medical center and to construct a brand new hospital. The new facility, which will be added to the AICS...
December 19, 1918 Reappearance of epidemic of influenza now threatened in many parts of the country. The Surgeon General of the United States Public Health, however, has issued a warning. The epidemic persists widely. Everywhere the epidemic and other abnormal conditions created by war has left millions of people particularly susceptible to disease. Risks are aggravated by the fact that medical and sanitary facilities have been depleted to meet war needs and cannot be restored to normal for some time nor without concerted effort. In view of...
A little over a month ago, the Alaska Supreme Court made a ruling that found a part of the municipal code of the Borough of Kenai Peninsula to be unconstitutional. The code required an invocation be given before an assembly meeting could take place. The court found that it was illegal to require an invocation in the municipal code. This became a hot topic of debate in Wrangell, which also has an invocation as a part of its code. A proposed amendment to the borough’s municipal code, which would remove the invocation from future meeting a...
Jimmie "Jim" Wayne Thompson, passed away peacefully on July 5, 2018 at the Wrangell Medical Center. His health had declined over the last several years after suffering from several small strokes, and one substantial one in 2011 while he was visiting his mother in Texas. After spending several weeks in rehab, he was able to return back to his home in Wrangell where unfortunately his health continued to decline. He was born to Leon and Lorene Thompson, November 17, 1937 in Montague County, Texas....
Long time resident Jim (James) E. Smith, 69, passed away on Nov. 1, 2018 at the Wrangell Medical Center, while surrounded by his loved ones. An obituary will follow....
The Wrangell Medical Center Auxiliary is an organization that has worked to assist the hospital in providing services to its patients and to “promote the health and welfare of the community,” according to its stated purpose in the bylaws. With the hospital being transferred to the control of SEARHC, however, the organization has been questioning what its future holds. In a meeting on Monday, Oct. 29, the Auxiliary discussed future disbandment, and what to do with the auxiliary’s funds. The members of the auxiliary that were present for the m...
The Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors met on Oct. 17 for their last meeting before the long-planned transition of authority to SEARHC. This comes after the successful passing of a ballot measure on Oct. 2 allowing SEARHC to take charge of the medical center. Senior Executive Vice President of SEARHC Dan Neumeister attended the meeting to give the board an update on the transition, which is scheduled to officially take place in early November. The Wrangell Medical Center will keep the same name after SEARHC takes over operations, Neumei...
To the Editor: Does the Wrangell Hospital Auxiliary have a future? For nearly half a century, the group has existed to raise funds and otherwise support our local hospital, paying many thousands of dollars for equipment and items to improve the care and quality of life for patients and residents. November 1, 2018, marks the transfer of Wrangell Medical Center to SEARHC. With a stronger revenue stream, the hospital administration will have adequate operating funds. SEARHC will purchase all equipment necessary for the planned new hospital...
The Wrangell Medical Center held a flu shot clinic for Wrangell's senior citizens last Friday at Harbor Light Church. The clinic was open to community members aged 65 and older, who were able to come in and were able to receive a high-dosage flu vaccine. An article on the medical center's website explained that, while receiving flu vaccinations are important for everyone, it is especially important for senior citizens. People over the age of 50, those with certain chronic medical conditions,...
The city and borough assembly of Wrangell held a special meeting last Thursday to certify the election that took place on Oct. 2. The election saw votes cast for a new mayor, several open positions on the assembly, school board, and other organizations. The election also saw large amounts of voter support for Proposition 1, which allows for the lease of the Wrangell Medical Center and the construction of a new hospital. The assembly certified the results of this election, and also passed out cer...
The Wrangell Planning and Zoning Commission held a special meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 3. It was a short meeting, with only two final plats to be approved. The first plat was of the Wrangell Medical Center subdivision. The commission explained that, essentially, this final plat involved consolidating seven lots into a single lot, comprising where the medical center currently sits. An alleyway was vacated from the plat, and some utility easements were added. This final plat was approved with little discussion. The second plat was a replat of...
BRAVE is a Wrangell-based organization that works to connect people with resources to help themselves and their families. Their work was put on display last Tuesday night at the Nolan Center as a "family resilience fair" was held. The fair brought together about 20 organizations that offered one form of support for Wrangell families or another. The organizations ranged from religious groups, medical organizations, government entities, and sports groups. Organizations that participated include...
