The future of healthcare in Wrangell celebrated

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 clinic, is planned to be about 44,500 square feet. Construction is expected to begin next May and is projected to be ready for use by 2021. The entire project will cost approximately $30 million. The current medical center will continue operations until the new hospital is ready to receive patients.

"There are so many people who put in so many long hours to make this deal a reality," said SEARHC CEO Charles Clement. "I think it's really interesting when something feels right, and the momentum that's behind this project and how quickly it can all come together. I've been doing this in Southeast Alaska for about seven years now, and spent the bulk of my career in healthcare, and I've never seen something come together quite this way."

The evening was filled with food, door prizes, and speakers congratulating each other on completing this deal. The party culminated with Mayor Steve Prysunka handing over a large key, labeled "The Future of Healthcare" to Clement. There were many, many people who deserved recognition and thanks for their work, said Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen. Among the many people she spoke about deserving credit were Robert Rang and Dan Neumeister. Von Bargen said that Rang, CEO of the Wrangell Medical Center, gave invaluable leadership to getting the agreement put together. Neumeister, SEARHC senior executive vice president, was also integral to the process. Von Bargen shared a story about how both she and Neumeister share an affinity for peanut M&M's. Whenever they would meet to speak about the plan for the new hospital, she would always bring some candy with her to share with Neumeister. He could always tell how big the problem was, she said, depending on how big the bag of M&M's were.

"I would just, again, like to say thank you to everybody in this community who worked so hard to make this transaction possible, and I'd like to say hats off to SEARHC for making this commitment to our community," said Von Bargen. "You're going to be here for a very long time, and we're very excited about what that means for healthcare, and what that means for our economy, and what that means for the social fabric of our community."