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Concerned with increasing cost estimates to repair and renovate the water-damaged 34-year-old public safety building, the borough assembly wants to explore a new option to see if it would be less expensive: Permanently move as many tenants as possible into the old hospital instead. “I’ve been driving this,” Mayor Steve Prysunka told the borough assembly at a workshop Tuesday evening. He said the borough needs to figure out what it would cost to remodel the hospital into space for the police and fire departments, state courts, jail, feder...
Following new federal guidelines, the Wrangell borough has decided that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are no longer required to wear face masks in borough facilities, programs and activities. Individual businesses can set their own policy. The borough issued the change in guidelines on May 18. As of last week, almost 60% of Wrangell residents age 16 and older had received at least one dose of a vaccine. “It’s the honor system,” Mayor Steve Prysunka said last Friday of the mask-free policy that applies only to vacci...
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is encouraging everyone over the age of 12 to register for their vaccination shots. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children 12 to 15 years old. Dr. Elliot Bruhl, SEARHC chief medical officer, said COVID-19 patients are trending younger and people under 50 years old now make up the largest group of new hospitalizations in the country. “We urge parents and guardians to be proactive in protecting themselves and their community against C...
The community is under a face mask order for all indoor public spaces until 11:59 p.m. April 30, though the borough assembly removed any penalties from the ordinance. The April 8-16 outbreak of 16 COVID-19 cases in Wrangell prompted an emergency assembly meeting Saturday to consider the public health ordinance bringing back mandatory face masks for a couple of weeks. Assembly members, however, voted near unanimously to eliminate any penalties for failure to wear a face mask. Mayor Steve...
Leatha Merculieff, who has served both as SEARHC vice president and as Wrangell hospital administrator since SEARHC took over the facility in 2019, has been promoted to the consortium's senior vice president and chief of operations. In her place, Wrangell resident Carly Allen will take over as hospital administrator. Allen is a third-generation Wrangell resident, according to the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium news release on Monday. She has been with SEARHC since 2017, after a...
JUNEAU (AP) - The state health department said Tuesday upcoming appointments for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in Alaska are being canceled or delayed after federal agencies recommended a “pause”to review reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots. State health officials said the federal recommendation shows that safety checks are working and they hope it will bolster rather than hinder public confidence in the vaccine rollout. Dr. Joe McLaughlin, the state epidemiologist, said people with appointments for the...
Face masks are required in all indoor public spaces until 11:59 p.m. April 30 under an emergency ordinance approved unanimously by the borough assembly Saturday morning as the city responds to the COVID-19 breakout in town. The community tallied 16 cases April 8-16. “This is the highest number by double we’ve ever had active in Wrangell at any one time,” Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen told the assembly. In addition to protecting public health, the outbreak is hurting the town’s economy, Von Bargen said. The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health...
The main contractors on the new Wrangell Medical Center have presented a shaman's apprentice mask to display in the facility. "Crafted with red cedar, abalone, operculum shells and horsehair, the mask depicts a profound moment during the practice of a young shaman," the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium said in a prepared statement March 21. "Shamans (Sgáagaa) were known to possess healing powers and bridge the gap between spiritual and natural worlds." The mask, created by Haida...
More than 600 people in Wrangell have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. SEARHC's COVID-19 website reported Tuesday morning that 886 Wrangell residents had received their first vaccination shot. Of these, 612 had received both doses, almost one-quarter of the community's population. Aaron Angerman, with SEARHC, said they have started to share data online about how many vaccines have been administered in their communities....
Free asymptomatic COVID-19 testing will be available to all community members at Wrangell airport this weekend, starting Friday afternoon. In a Facebook post, the city announced that from 2 to 4:30 p.m. today, and from 10 a.m. to noon this Saturday and Sunday, the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium will offer free COVID-19 asymptomatic tests during Alaska Airlines arrivals and departures. The free testing is open to everybody, according to the city’s post, not just travelers. “People who have mild symptoms or who believe they may hav...
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...
As part of ongoing efforts to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the chief medical officer of the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium stood in front of a Wrangell audience - live and on Zoom - to take questions. The Wrangell Cooperative Association had invited Dr. Elliot Bruhl to town, where he explained how the vaccine works, how it was developed, and answered questions from the public Feb. 4 at the Nolan Center. As of Feb. 4, 680 people in Wrangell had received their...
More than 600 Wrangell residents had received their first COVID-19 vaccination shot, and more than half of those had received their second dose, too, as of Tuesday. Meanwhile, the community's health care provider, the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, will open the vaccination list even further as more doses become available in the community and is encouraging people to register for the shot so they are ready when their group is called. "Depending on the people registered and vaccine...
The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is encouraging the public to register for their COVID-19 vaccination shot, as the latest allotment of doses has arrived and more will be on the way. SEARHC is providing vaccines first to people at least 65 years old and to frontline essential workers, according to a Jan. 19 press release. However, anyone can register regardless of where they fit in the availability sequence for their community, and they will be notified when their turn comes up. Mo...
July July 2: With recent national attention on racial bias and police brutality, the community met via web conference June 29 for an evening town hall meeting to discuss policing practices in Wrangell. The meeting provided an opportunity for residents to ask questions of Chief Tom Radke and to share their opinions on the Wrangell Police Department. Those who spoke in the meeting, by and large, expressed support for the police and their current practices. July 9: The cities of Wrangell,...
The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium will host a training program for certified nursing assistants in Wrangell, starting next week. While the program has existed in Wrangell in the past, it is still a relatively new program under SEARHC leadership. This will be the third CNA training program offered by the Wrangell Medical Center. Issabella Crowley was one of six people who completed the first SEARHC CNA program in Wrangell in 2019. She has worked as a CNA with the hospital for a...
Construction of the new Wrangell Medical Center, ongoing since a groundbreaking ceremony in May of 2019, is nearing completion. According to a Dec. 22 press release from the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, the project has reached 95 percent completion. "WMC staff are excited to begin caring for patients in the new facility," said SEARHC Vice President and WMC Hospital Administrator Leatha Merculieff in the press release. "Select staff have already relocated to completed...
On December 22, the first allocations of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination arrived in the communities of Wrangell, Klawock, Haines, Hoonah, Kake, and Angoon. SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) providers and staff are working with medical leaders to coordinate vaccine protocols in respective communities. The shipments were delivered to SEARHC facilities just four days after the vaccine received an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration. "We are...
December 17 Jamie Roberts, with the Wrangell EOC, reported that there are currently no active cases of COVID-19 in the community. Statewide, Alaska’s case count is 41,859 as of yesterday. This is an increase of 3,151 from last week. Wrangell received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 16. According to SEARHC, following guidance from the Alaska Vaccine Advisory Council, vaccinations will be given to frontline health workers first, along with first responders, and l...
The Alaska Native Sisterhood recently honored one of their members, according to a press release from Anne Fuller, ANS Camp 70 secretary. Ethel Lund was recently elected to Grand President Emeritus. Her Tlingit name, according to the press release, is Aanwoogeex', meaning "The Raven as he walked about when creating the earth." Grand President Emeritus is an advisory role, Fuller explained to the Sentinel, and there is only one Grand President Emeritus at a time. These people have years of...
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) will introduce weekly community COVID-19 testing for asymptomatic patients across the region in July. Asymptomatic testing will be available to Tribal beneficiaries in Juneau, and to all community members in other SEARHC communities. The initial testing will start on July 11 and 12 in Juneau, Wrangell and Sitka, and in other communities later in the month. Expanded community testing is being made possible by a grant from Indian Health...
On Sunday evening, June 7, the first positive case of COVID-19 was announced in the community of Wrangell. A joint press release from the city and SEARHC reports that the patient is an unnamed female. She is a resident of Wrangell, according to the press release, and is asymptomatic. Contact tracing, trying to determine who might have come into contact with the patient and may potentially be at risk, is currently ongoing. "SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) representatives are...
On Wednesday, May 27, members of the Wrangell Unified Command met via videoconference to consolidate pandemic information and response from respective local organizations. Wrangell Medical Center (WMC) leadership commented on expansion of testing for select community organizations, while the City and Borough of Wrangell (CBW) Manager announced new cleaning supply stock and the potential purchase of an ambulance with CARES Act funding. Representatives from Emergency Medical Services (EMS),...
Wrangell's Unified Command participated in their weekly conference call on Wednesday, May 6, to provide organizational updates on COVID-19 developments and changes in respective protocols. The City and Borough of Wrangell (CBW) mayor and manager were joined by Wrangell Medical Center (WMC) and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) leadership, as well as Tribal and Public Health representatives, to discuss Borough Assembly allocations, testing initiatives, and available community resources. Borough...
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) recently administered COVID-19 tests on all staff at Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center (MEMC) and Wrangell Medical Center (WMC). Both hospitals utilized Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS) tents outside the respective facilities to safely conduct staff tests off-site. SEARHC recently received additional COVID-19 testing supply kits from the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. Along with the recent addition of rapid test kits...
