Hamblin takes on CFO position at hospital

By Greg Knight

Sentinel writer

With the retirement of Olinda White as the Chief Financial Officer and interim administrator of the Wrangell Medical Center, a leadership vacuum has been left which required someone of capable shoes to fill – at least in terms of crunching numbers.

Enter Garth Hamblin, who most recently served as the CFO of Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau.

Hamblin, who has used his extensive experience in balancing the books for Bartlett for more than 20 years, said he has a number of goals in mind looking ahead.

“I think helping Olinda retire is my first real priority,” he said laughingly. “She has done a great job and the audits look good, so I plan to come on board and continue doing what we can to make improvements. I plan to use some of the experiences I have had to help move the hospital forward. Nothing here is broken, so there isn’t much to fix.”

And moving toward the new WMC facility is a task Hamblin said he would ultimately share some responsibility for.

“I understand that there is a reapplication for funding and part of that process will be to look at the financials and update the numbers,” he said. “It’s something I have quite a bit of experience in, having done it in Juneau. We literally went to New York City and met with the bond-rating agency and worked in conjunction with the state. I assume that is something that we’ll need to do in this case as well and I am excited to help because it looks like a great project.”

Hamblin’s position in Juneau was eliminated in February when the Bartlett board of directors decided to hire their administrator and CFO directly, rather than contract through the Tennessee-based Quorum Health Resources, Hamblin’s former employer.

A graduate of Brigham Young University, Hamblin holds a Bachelors degree in accounting and began his career with Hospital Corporation of America.

Hamblin is also a full-time traveler throughout Southeast Alaska in his position as Stake President for the Juneau Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religious lay position which is equal to, in terms of responsibility, that of an archbishop in the Catholic Church.

Although his position at WMC is slated for a 6-9 month interim period at this point, Hamblin said he and his wife Sandy plan on making Wrangell their home after the New Year.

“It’s a great Southeast Alaska community here in Wrangell and I’m glad I have the privilege to come here,” he added.