A letter from Alaska’s deputy fire marshal is lending some clarity to recent claims that the older Wrangell Medical Center would face closure if a new facility is not funded and built in the borough.
According to Robert Plumb, the deputy marshal based in Juneau, the federal guidelines covered in the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) could require renovations to patient rooms at WMC.
“If the new hospital is not built, the (CMS) may require bathrooms in the resident rooms in the existing facility to be made accessible (meeting ADA requirements),” he stated. “The current bathroom situation has not been cited because we have not wanted to force the community into spending money to upgrade the existing facility if a new hospital is going to be built. If a new hospital is not built, the rooms will probably need to be modified.”
In a May 31 news story published in the Sentinel, WMC CEO Noel Rea said that if a general obligation bond to fund a new hospital failed the current hospital would require significant upgrades and renovation in order to come into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and American Institute of Architects requirements for health facilities.
A letter from WMC renovation project architect Julia Covington went further, stating that changes would have to be made to the current facility if a new one is not built.
“Within the existing hospital there are a total of 12 patient rooms with 10 being semi-private,” Covington stated in a memo to Rea. “None of these are ADA accessible and only 2 have a sink. AIA requires a sink in each room.”
Covington also explained what would be required to bring those rooms into compliance with current standards.
“In order to meet ADA and AIA requirements, at a minimum, all toilet rooms would need to be enlarged to add a sink,” she stated.
If the bathrooms are made larger, Covington added, it would remove beds from the facility.
“Once the bathrooms are enlarged, the patient room would be too small to allow for two patients within one room,” Covington stated. “Therefore, the hospital should anticipate a loss of 10 licensed beds.”
In the May 31 story, Rea alluded to a loss of financial stability for the hospital if those licensed beds were lost.
“We wouldn’t make it,” Rea said. “We’d have to shut down and we wouldn’t have a hospital in Wrangell. A subsidy of $3 million a year would be necessary to keep the doors open. And, I think it’s important for people to know that we don’t currently receive a subsidy from the city. We’re a completely self-sufficient entity.”
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