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To the Editor: We are looking forward with anticipation to the upcoming move from the current site of Alaska Island Community Services’ Tideline Clinic to the new location near Alpine Mini Mart. The new clinic will offer patients larger, more family friendly exam rooms whose layout will be even more conducive to privacy. Additionally, having access to more exam rooms will help minimize patient wait times. In order to facilitate a smooth transition to the new building, staff from AICS and Wrangell Medical Center have worked together to d...
The Wrangell Medical Center Foundation held their 6th Annual Brian Gilbert Memorial Golf Tournament last weekend at Muskeg Meadows – under better weather than previous tournaments – and saw a total of 60 players come out over the two-day event. On Friday afternoon, a round of casual golf was played, with a 9-hole best-ball scramble as the format. First place in the event went to the team of Greg Scheff, Ed Rilatos, Dave Doyon and Matt Jurak with a net score of 18, while Keene and Faye Koh...
Concern over a proposed tax rate reduction for the City and Borough of Wrangell – from its current 7 percent down to 5.5 percent – led off Borough Manager Tim Rooney’s report to the Assembly this week saw testimony from two local women brought to the forefront over the issue. The initiative, which will appear on the October ballot, seeks to reduce Wrangell’s sales tax down by 1.5 percent. Currently, Wrangellites pay a 7 percent tax on all goods and services in the Borough. The plan has drawn criticism from Rooney’s office, as well as citizens...
The trial of Wrangell resident Steven Marshall, who is alleged in court document and police statements to have assaulted a former girlfriend – and then attempted to solicit her murder from a jail cell in Ketchikan – is set for June 3-7 in First District Court. Marshall, 52, is accused of sexual assault and assault in the first degree, and is alleged to have raped, strangled and hit his victim, as well as threatening her with a machete, resulting in a hospitalization at Wrangell Medical Center in December 2011. According to court documents, Wra...
With the advent of digital technology, a number of Wrangell’s public and governmental agencies are going “paperless” in an effort to streamline operations, save costs and improve efficiency. One of the main users of digital records technology in town is the Wrangell Medical Center – though the Wrangell Public Schools District can now be counted among such users of this next-generation standard for meetings. According to superintendent Rich Rhodes, a paperless, web-based system known as BoardDo...
Wrangell held tightly to the 2013 Ryder Cup this past weekend as the Borough’s combined teams defeated Petersburg for victory during the annual tournament held May 18-19 at Muskeg Meadows golf course. The tournament, which followed a series of four different mini-tournaments over the course of the two-day event, featured Wrangell beating their neighbors to the north by 8-2 score on Saturday – and forced a tie-breaker on Sunday which local golfer Eric Kading broke with a shot on No. 1 bet...
The Borough Assembly held a public hearing regarding the draft form of the 2013-14 Fiscal Year budget for the city on Tuesday, May 14 at City Hall, taking testimony from two citizens. Cyni Waddington, the manager of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce spoke first in support of the budget, adding that her organization relies on funding from the city to survive. “Speaking on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, in regard to the amount that is provided to us, we absolutely need that money,” Wad...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. May 22, 1913: With the increased demand for Alaska marble in the construction of our modern skyscrapers, Alaska is steadily pressing to the front and is now recognized as the nation's great storehouse for that particular mineral. The past few years have seen large marble industries established and Wrangell has benefitted by these developments. The Vermont Marble Company of Procter, Vt., opened their first quarry at Tokeen but a few years ago and since that time has shipped great quantities of marble...
The transition from paper to electronic files in patient records is a move Wrangell Medical Center is currently in the middle of completing – thanks to the implementation of a new, computerized record keeping system at the hospital. According to WMC Chief Executive Officer Marla Sanger, the conversion from paper to digital is currently being implemented. “WMC continues to make progress with the electronic medical record,” Sanger wrote in her monthly report to the WMC Board of Trustees during their May 15 regular meeting. “The large number...
Ketchikan Medical Center is poised to become the first hospital in the PeaceHealth system and the fourth facility in Alaska to implement the SurgiCount Safety-Sponge in its operating and delivery rooms. The SurgiCount system is designed to prevent retained medical devices being left inside a human body - one of the most common surgical errors. Studies have shown that sponges get left inside one patient in every 6,000 surgeries in the U.S. “We want that number to be zero,” said Patrick Branco, CEO of Ketchikan Medical Center. “By using this...
After a nomination by Assembly member Ernie Christian, former Borough Clerk Christie Jamieson was appointed as the newest member of the Borough Assembly, filling the seat left vacant after the resignation of long-time member Bill Privett. Privett resigned earlier this month after informing the Assembly that he could not hold his position while a family member was seeking employment with the City and Borough of Wrangell. Christian was nominated and unanimously approved as the Vice Mayor, with...
Karen Margaret Johnson, 83, passed away April 15, 2013 at Wrangell Medical Center. Karen Margaret Skulstad was born on January 31, 1930 on the island of Unga, Alaska to Dora and Thorvaid. She joined her brother Thorvaid and later came sister Fern and then brother Kenneth. They lived on a dairy/fox farm on Simeonof Island near Unga. Thorvaid was also a fisherman. She often spoke of her interesting childhood on the island. Her father passed away a month before WWII broke out, and all were...
To the Editor: The April 11, 2013 issue of the Wrangell Sentinel contains a quote by me regarding the need for Thomas Bay General Manager qualifications that have been interpreted by some to cast a negative opinion of SEAPA. In the clarity of hindsight, I certainly wish I had phrased my statement differently as that was not my intent. When going into the process of filling the vacant General Manager’s position there was some discussion as to the qualifications that the Commission deemed necessary to move Thomas Bay Power Authority forward a...
February wasn’t exactly the best month financially Wrangell Medical Center has seen, with the hospital showing a net loss of $184,124. According to WMC Chief Financial Officer Garth Hamblin, even though the hospital came in under budget for capital outlays, a downturn in revenue was to blame for the deficit. “For the month of February, total revenue charges was significantly under budget,” Hamblin wrote in his report to the WMC Board of Trustees during the group’s April 17 meeting. “Net re...
Sentinel writer When you look at a website, a business card, or just about any sign or graphical image you can imagine, you can expect to see information. That information is usually one-dimensional and does not extend beyond what you might see with your own eyes. A group of students from Wrangell High School are working to change that, however. An after-school “AVATAR” club led by WHS teacher Michele Galla has been working on developing a technology that will “augment” the reality of images...
STEPHEN PRYSUNKA Why should you be appointed to the Borough Assembly to fill the vacancy left by William B. Privett? I think that I should be appointed to the vacant position because I will bring an open mind to the council. I have no agenda or preconceived notions regarding any of the issues currently facing the Borough. I will be open to all opinions and will educate myself to the best of my ability on the various topics. I will work with other council members and city staff to ensure that our...
Two young ladies from Wrangell are making a difference through their art and a philanthropic streak that will help both locally and abroad. Sisters Jing and Sophie O’Brien were the winners of the joint Wrangell Medical Center and Alaska Island Community Services poster contest in the third through fifth grade category. With their win they took home the honor of having their art featured – and also a cash prize that will be utilized both in Wrangell and across the world in Nepal. The cash prize o...
Alaska Island Community Services unveiled their new “NextMD Patient Portal” program at the Wrangell Health Fair on Saturday, April 6 at the James and Elsie Nolan Center. The application, which is a web-based method of communicating with your physician or other medical staff is now online and provides a way to request, book or cancel appointments, receive and review your medical documents, request medication renewals, send messages to health care staff, and update personal medical information. The system, while online, is secure – and allow...
The Wrangell Medical Center Board of Trustees took no action on three key proposals at their March 20 meeting at the James and Elsie Nolan Center, instead deciding to hold off on making any decisions for the near term. The first item the board considered was whether or not to allow attendance at executive or other closed sessions by electronic means, including telephone, Skype or other methods. After a lengthy discussion by the members, board president Woody Wilson restated the feelings of the...
William Dennis Eastaugh 1941- 2013 William Dennis Eastaugh died quietly at Wrangell Medical Center very early Tuesday morning, March 19, 2013. He was born in Wrangell at the old Bishop Rowe Hospital on August 25, 1941 and, as it happened, was the very first cesarean delivery ever in Wrangell. He attended grade school in the big old white schoolhouse that stood next to our library. The family lived on Greif Street in the old pink house opposite the Roman Catholic Church. As with many young boys,...
THANK YOU The WRANGELL VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT is to be commended for their superb handling of Dennis Eastaugh from home to the hospital. Several obstacles impeded the way: a steep incline in the path which was partly paved and partly loose gravel, tight corners within the house and a steep pitch to the driveway. Nothing insurmountable but certainly difficult. You entered the house and did what needed doing in a most professional way. You worked well together as a team, not just smoothly but flawlessly. How kind of you to have driven so cerem...
The 2013 Wrangell Medical Center Health Fair is scheduled for April 6 at the Nolan Center – and this year’s fair will include a new Vitamin D level test in addition to the normal Health Profile, Thyroid Screen, Prostate Screen and Hemoglobin A1C diabetes screens. For the past 19 years, WMC has sponsored the event – which has grown in size each year. Cathy Gross, WMC’s Director of Health Information Management, said the event is unique in Southeast Alaska. “Wrangell Medical Center sponsors...
After a civic presentation on “Lemonade Day 2012” by Wrangell teen Helen Decker, three attempts to pass a motion that would have set up an “energy committee” to study future divestiture plans from the Southeast Alaska Power Agency, the decision to form such a committee was halted after disagreement over membership was raised. Assembly member James Stough modified the original motion, saying he wanted to see membership in the committee include citizens or officials from Petersburg and Ketchik...
