SEARHC to add four rooms at long-term care facility

The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium plans to break ground in June on a four-room expansion to the 14-bed long-term care facility at Wrangell Medical Center.

The 1,800-square-foot expansion was prompted by the community’s need for long-term care rooms “that are typically hard to come by,” SEARHC spokesperson Lyndsey Y. Schaefer said via email on Friday.

SEARHC is adding to the building for the extension, she said Monday, but declined to provide a cost of the construction. “As it’s a pure estimate at this point, I’d rather not share. When the project is underway, I’d be more open, but it’s premature at this point,” Schaefer said.

Juneau-based Dawson Construction is the general contractor for the expansion project, Dwane Ballou, facilities manager at SEARHC, said last Wednesday.

Dawson Construction is the same contractor that built the $30 million hospital and long-term facility, which opened in 2021.

Ballou said he will oversee the construction and his boss, Michael Pountney, director of facility services, will manage the project for SEARHC.

The expansion should be complete by the end of the year, Schaefer said.