Wrangell Medical Center was a City-owned healthcare organization that was financially stressed. The hospital was in an aged facility that had antiquated infrastructure and was beginning to see signs of structural movement. Leadership recognized that they needed to reorganize their operations and capitalize on an opportunity to partner with a regional health consortium to stabilize the long term health and wellness of the community of Wrangell, Alaska.
To complete the partnership, they needed to achieve community consensus to support the partnership, as well as a replacement hospital design that met the financial terms of their partner Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC). The community of Wrangell and SEARHC partnered with Wold to collaboratively develop a plan to “Keep the Blue H sign on the Highway” that runs through Wrangell.
Through a series of community meetings to define needs and expectations, and with the facilitation of a Core Planning Group process, the City of Wrangell, SEARHC and Wold partnered to create a facility master plan for the replacement hospital to be added onto the existing SEARHC clinic located on the Island of Wrangell. The replacement hospital expansion created a healthcare campus for the community with a primary and specialty care clinic, a full service critical access hospital with emergency services, a long term care community with 14 private resident rooms, and an outpatient and retail pharmacy for the patients.
The reimagined campus will provide an enhanced experience for the local patients and their families, a better work environment for the providers and the care team members, a home and community for the long term care residents, that will serve the current and future generations of the residents living in this vibrant southeast Alaska community.