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WRANGELL — A series of meetings between Southeast Alaska Rural Health Consortium and the City and Borough of Wrangell are planned for early next week. The regional health group is entertaining making an offer to assume control of Wrangell Medical Center, a municipally-run critical access hospital which has in recent years fallen into financial difficulties. Starting Sunday afternoon and lasting through Tuesday, SEARHC will hold a series of meetings with city staff, hospital transition steering committee members and the wider community, in o...
A hospital administrator from Nome is slated to become CEO of the Petersburg Medical Center. Philip Hofstetter, who's been vice president of hospital services at the Norton Sound Health Corporation in Nome for about six and a half years, was offered the CEO position at the Petersburg Medical Center. He signed a four-year contract, and his salary will be $185,000 annually. Hofstetter has 25 years of healthcare experience, 20 of which in Nome, with the last five in administration, overseeing a...
WRANGELL - Wrangell's emergency services were the recipients of the first-ever grant from the Walker Foundation, a benevolent fund established after the acquisition of Alaska Island Community Services last year by Southeast Alaska Rural Health Consortium. Governed by an appointed board, the Foundation supports activities that promote health and the welfare of the Wrangell community. "It's on a project by project basis. We currently have about $3.75M," explained Mark Walker, formerly CEO for...
A story last week said that Jeffrey Jones, a candidate for CEO of the Petersburg Medical Center, served in the United States Air Force for about six years. Jones also served as a healthcare administrator from 1990 to 2007, which was not reflected in the article.... Full story
The Petersburg Medical Center Board of Directors decided last week it would invite the finalists for the CEO position to town likely in mid-April. After an executive session to discuss which of the four finalists — one is from Petersburg — to bring to town, the board decided to invite all three. Philip Hofstetter is the vice president of hospital services at the Norton Sound Health Corporation in Nome. Hofstetter, a clinical audiologist, has 25 years of experience as a healthcare professional, 19 of which are in rural Alaska at a Level 4 Cri...
The Petersburg Medical Center has narrowed its search for a new CEO down to three applicants from Alaska and one from Missouri. CEO Liz Woodyard is closing-in on retirement after 44 years in the medical field. Her possible successors include Jennifer Bryner, of Petersburg; Philip Hofstetter, of Nome; Patrick Williams, of Sitka; and Jeff Jones, of West Plains, Missouri. There are scheduled Skype interviews in the coming days, and it’s hoped a decision could be made next week on which finalists will be invited to Petersburg, said Doran H...
Petersburg Medical Center board of directors recognized the long term care department for its recent five-star rating on a Medicare network, along with a quality of excellence award from 2017. The Petersburg Medical Center Long Term Care department was given a five-star overall rating from Nursing Home Compare, a branch of The U.S. Government Site for Medicare. Long term care also received the “Recognition of Quality Achievement Award” in September 2017, presented by Mountain-Pacific Quality Health, a Medicare quality organization for Ala...
WRANGELL — Wrangell Medical Center Foundation last month issued a letter to supporters informing them it would forgo its annual fundraiser weekend this year. For the past ten years the Brian Gilbert Memorial Golf Tournament and fundraiser dinner is hosted in Wrangell each May in order to raise money for the Foundation. The Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to support the community’s medical needs. The funds it handles fills a few roles, primarily supporting WMC’s bid for a new facility but also procuring new equipment, funding its cance...
In the search for a new CEO, the Petersburg Medical Center has received more than 70 applications from across the country, leaving it up to the hiring committee to narrow it down to less than 10. As of Tuesday, 74 people have applied to replace Liz Woodyard, the CEO of the medical center, who plans to retire at the end of June. “We have some highly qualified candidates,” said Doran Hammett, the chief financial officer with the medical center. “I don’t think we’ll have any trouble coming up with some good finalists.” The cutoff to apply was W...
January The Borough assembly started approval of a program called Local Improvement Districts, which asks Petersburg residents whether they would pay for road work in their neighborhoods. The Petersburg School Board discussed the possible loss of federal funding through a program called Secure Rural Schools. The school district reported a case of a Pertussis, or whooping cough, confirmed in Petersburg. Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter said it was not a public health emergency. An engineer led...
The remodel of the Petersburg Medical Center kitchen facility is nearing completion. Food service will resume in the new kitchen on Jan. 8. The hospital board approved the budget of up to $292,000 in March and made plans to use the Ocean Beauty bunkhouse kitchen to prepare meals during the remodel. Project supervisor Marty Sussort with Alaska Commercial Contractors in Juneau said the project entailed breaking up the kitchen floor to access waste lines that had plugged or failed. "We found the so...
The Petersburg Medical Center is in its early stages of hiring a new CEO while deciding whether to build a new hospital, two major decisions that will have to work congruently in the approaching months. In a hospital board meeting two weeks ago, a financial feasibility study was approved to examine the cost of building a new facility versus remodeling. Days later, the hospital board held a work session that was led by a CEO hiring committee. “Yeah, I think that’s a factor,” said Marlene Cushing, hospital board member and chairperson of the C...
The top executive at the Petersburg Medical Center has announced her retirement for next June. After 44 years in the medical field, Liz Woodyard is retiring as CEO of the medical center, effective at the end of June 2018, she said. "Well, I'm 65," Woodyard said. "I'll be 66 by then, so I'll be at my full retirement age." Woodyard has been CEO of the hospital in Petersburg for seven years. Before that, she pinballed around the west coast from being chief nursing officer in Fairbanks to CEO of a m...
After two months without a hospital board meeting, the medical center CEO gave a report to the assembly on Monday that highlighted its newest staff, projects, in-house statistics and a board that recently added two new members. Liz Woodyard, the Petersburg Medical Center CEO, spoke to the assembly on Monday, starting with a note to long term care. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services gave the nursing department a five star rating based on health inspections, staffing levels and quality...
WRANGELL — Cash flow problems have again been ailing Wrangell Medical Center, with the public hospital putting forward a request for $250,000 to the city on Tuesday. At its own board meeting on October 18, WMC’s chief financial officer, Doran Hammett, explained the situation. Cash on hand had by the end of September dropped to $311,069, down from $838,604 at the start of the fiscal year on July 1. It costs around $28,000 a day to operate the hospital, meaning WMC had only around 11 days’ worth available for its payroll and other expendi...
The CEO of the Petersburg Medical Center is asking the Borough to change how all city board members can attend meetings, making legal and official business easier to conduct. Liz Woodyard, the Petersburg Medical Center CEO, wants to amend an ordinance that would allow board and assembly members to attend meetings electronically, and their attendance would still count toward a quorum. Woodyard reported last week that she is working with Borough Clerk Debbie Thompson to present the proposal to...
The hospital Board of Directors held a work session on Friday to further discuss its relationship with the Borough, to which it feels like the ugly stepchild. Jeigh Stanton Gregor was at the meeting to represent the Assembly and offer his input on the discussion. “Feeling triggered by the ugly step sister comment,” Stanton Gregor said, “I don’t think anyone feels that way. We want to know what you want. Tell us what you want the relationship to be like.” The board discussed adding a provision to the Petersburg Charter that would require t...
The Petersburg Medical Center and three of its physicians are being sued over a wrongful death claim being brought by Mary Katasse Miller. Superior Court Judge William Carey set the trial date for November 20, 2018 at a scheduling conference on August 21. Also named in the suit are PMC physicians Courtney Hess, M.D., Kris Sargeant, M.D. and Jennifer Hyer, M.D. Hess has been employed at PMC since July 2014, Sargeant since Aug. 2012 and Hyer since Aug. 2011. Miller represents the Estate of Malcom Miller and herself. Her late husband died on June...
Turnover rate is a figure often monitored by employers in different ways, interpreted differently by one manager to the next and calculated using unique formulas. But there will always be a singular constant – money. The cost to replace an employee can be in the thousands. And turnover rate is often unforgiving, as it usually accounts for any person separating from his or her job. Borough governments in southeast Alaska often approach turnover differently, if they approach it at all. The H...
Why do a story on Petersburg Borough employee turnover? We were asked this question many times in the days leading up to the publication of this week’s story by reporter Ben Muir. Employee turnover is costly, for both private businesses and government. Replacing an employee requires: • Training time • Possible damage to equipment and property by inexperienced employees • Productivity losses • Lower teamwork output • Additional cost of overtime for remaining employees until vacancy filled Often managers don’t think about employee retention, be...
Following a recommendation from the Petersburg Medical Center's Long Term Planning Committee the hospital board voted Thursday night to proceed with building a new hospital in lieu of making extensive renovations to the existing facility. In May 2016 architects from the firm Jensen Yorba Lott presented the PMC board with five options: do nothing; make systematic replacements; make phased renovations; build an addition and renovate in phases and construct a new facility. PMC CEO Liz Woodyard...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted in its second reading to approve an ordinance that provides an 8 cent power rate for the school buildings. The break-even power rate applies to the aquatic boiler room, the aquatic center, the high school, middle school and elementary school. The request comes after meetings between the Petersburg School District, Petersburg Medical Center and borough administrators on how to maintain services without increasing fees or taxes. During its last meeting, member Jeigh Stanton Gregor suggested the assembly appro...
Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) has completed its acquisition of Alaska Island Community Services (AICS), with the transition formally taking effect on April 1. Started in 1975, SEARHC is a non-profit tribal health consortium representing 18 Native communities in the region. Among its other programs, it operates Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital and the Ethel Lund Medical Center in Juneau. One of the largest private employers in the region before the merger, the deal with AICS extends its reach to 24 communities. Established in...
The Petersburg Medical Center Board approved a budget of up to $250,000 plus design costs of $42,000 to renovate the basement kitchen at the hospital at a special meeting last night. The kitchen is located in the basement of the Long Term Care facility adjacent to the hospital. That building is located in the oldest section of the facility that was built in 1969. CFO Doran Hammett told the board that design and renovation expenses should be taken from the hospital's long-term investment...
WRANGELL – A planned-for merger between two regional healthcare providers has been put on hold for two months. Alaska Island Community Services was to merge with larger organization SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) on February 1, but the consolidation will have to wait until April 1. The merger was formally announced last October, and heads of both organizations subsequently met with Wrangell officials in November and in January to explain the transition. AICS executive Mark Walker has said the move was needed due to g...
