The Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors held their regular meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 22 at the WMC meeting room to hear the monthly report from CEO Noel Selle-Rea, receive a letter in support of Dr. Greg Salard and address action items on the agenda.
At the beginning of the meeting, a letter from WMC nurse Beth Kuehn, read to the board by Laura Salard during public comment, came out in favor of Dr. Salard and implored the board to keep him on staff at WMC.
“It is my hope that after reviewing all the facts in this matter you have found no grounds upon which to terminate his employment by refusing to re-credential him,” the letter read. “You have another chance to do the right thing for his wonderful family, for our beloved hospital and precious members of our community.”
Kuehn’s letter also stated that in her time as a nurse she has admired what she considered Salard’s professionalism and demeanor.
“I have worked with hundreds of doctors in my long career as an RN, and Dr. Salard is an excellent emergency and trauma physician,” Kuehn added. “He would be an asset to any facility wise enough to hire him.”
The letter by Kuehn also went on to reference out-of-state court documents that were allegedly distributed around the borough regarding Salard.
“Please allow me to address the initial insult in the form of old court documents that were handed around the community with reference to an allegation of child molestation against Dr. Salard by his former wife,” the letter added. “These allegations were found to be completely false and without merit and Dr. Salard was exonerated.”
Kuehn’s letter to the board also addressed the allegations of Salard’s “solicitation” of expectant mothers to give their children up for adoption.
“In an investigation by the medical staff in April, as well as an investigation by AICS, these charges were found to be blatantly false, without ground or merit,” Kuehn’s letter stated.
Another letter to the board from Floyd and Susan Ramsey also showed support for the beleaguered AICS physician.
“We believe the people of Wrangell deserve the best in care at the medical clinic and also at the (WMC) emergency room and hospital,” the letter stated. “We believe that Dr. Salard has the credentials, talent and the ability to deliver us excellent medical services.”
Wrangell resident Bob Maxand also spoke up in favor of the board providing Salard with full privileges at the hospital.
According to Selle-Rea, the board also received ten letters regarding Dr. Salard with one letter marked “personal and confidential.”
“For the other one, we need to contact that person to see if they meant for it to be public or not,” Selle-Rea said.
In his administrator’s report, Selle-Rea informed the board that the borough had completed dismissal language for dropping a current lawsuit against the hospital. That suit was filed last year in an attempt to sever the borough from any negative outcome of an arbitration action between WMC and InnoVative Capital.
“We expect that it should be dropped soon,” Selle-Rea added.
Selle-Rea also discussed the WMC project team’s recent visit to Wrangell and about what issues are currently on the table.
“The first few days (we were) really focusing on budget issues and working through some things like utility alignment,” Selle-Rea said. “There were some questions about how much power we would need out there, and by when.”
The issue of completing Wood Street – and how that will affect the progress of the new WMC construction – also arose in Selle-Rea’s report.
“The hospital’s position is that Wood Street has to be done in order for the project to go forward and to be able to build on it,” Selle-Rea said. “The way it is now, you can’t. You wouldn’t be able to use Wood Street for what we needed to do. It would have to be turned into a real road.”
Wood Street is currently composed of gravel and dirt.
The issue of what type of roof will go on the new hospital was addressed by Selle-Rea.
“The project team estimated that for gabled type of roof that people have wanted would be $2.7 million,” Selle-Rea added. “That really blows the budget out of the water. It’s all based on limited funds. Looking at the (new) AICS clinic, that woodwork is beautiful. It’s gorgeous, but we just don’t have the funds to put anything like that in there.”
The final decision on what type of roof will be built has been deferred, according to Selle-Rea, until next month when a more finalized budget is in place. The hospital construction committee will recommend a roof type to be used, with final approval by the Borough Assembly required.
The board also passed a resolution to apply for a Deferred Maintenance and Accessibility Improvement Capital Grant through the Department of Health and Social Services and the Alaska Mental Health Trust.
The $25,357 grant will replace lobby area carpet and a number of ADA-compliant doors in the hospital.
According to Selle-Rea, after the board convened into executive session, discussions were held with WMC’s attorneys on the process to facilitate a court-ordered hearing regarding Dr. Salard’s privileging matter.
“There was no discussion of his privileges during that session,” Selle-Rea added. “Rather, we had a discussion and debriefing with WMC attorneys about the upcoming hearing.”
Selle-Rea added that the hearing is tentatively set for Jan. 19, but may change to accommodate Dr. Salard’s schedule.
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