Hospital completes move to new building

Just shy of 20 months after the groundbreaking ceremony, the new $30 million Wrangell Medical Center is fully operational.

The final department to relocate from the old quarters - emergency services - moved in last Friday. Long-term care residents moved in Sunday, said Hospital Administrator Leatha Merculieff.

Departments began a staggered move from the old hospital, next to Evergreen Elementary School, to the new building on Wood Street in late January. There was a slight delay in moving he long-term care residents, Merculieff said, but they are now out and the old hospital is no longer in use.

The new medical center is completely finished as far as construction goes, she said, aside from some furniture

The construction of the new hospital has been a years-long project for the community and the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. SEARHC acquired the old Wrangell Medical Center in November 2018, with the understanding the organization would build a new hospital for the community.

The hospital campus, now at almost 45,000 square feet, includes the existing clinic on Wood Street. The hospital has the same number of long-term care beds (14) and acute-care beds (eight) as before, but the emergency department is larger and the pharmacy and primary care offices are all together now.

"The old hospital was not equipped for providing care in the 21st century and required staff to work extremely hard to care for patients," Merclulieff said Tuesday, highlighting some of the upgrades the new facility will provide.

"Primary care services previously provided by the former clinic are now integrated" within the new building, she said. "Not only will this provide a one-stop-shop for patients who may require appointments from multiple service lines, but it will eliminate the need for providers to travel back and forth between the clinic and hospital. This factor will streamline care and lead to a reduced number of rescheduled appointments due to travel time."

The borough is still working on plans for the old hospital building. Planning is underway for an official grand opening ceremony sometime this year, Merculieff said, COVID-19 permitting.

"Things looked a lot different when we broke ground in 2019," she said. "A pandemic was not on anyone's radar."

The administrator praised everyone who worked on the project. "To meet our early 2021 deadline during COVID is due to the hard work of Dawson Construction, Wold Architects and Engineers, all Wrangell SEARHC staff, and SEARHC employees from across the consortium. Everyone stepped up to complete the project on time and to do so safely. This is a great accomplishment for SEARHC and the community of Wrangell - one that will provide for the community for decades to come."