News Account
Dear Editor: Thank you KCAW news director Robert Woolsey!
Commonly, Sitka Police Department employees protect and serve themselves first and foremost. Woolsey’s broadcast, Thursday, Aug. 23, revealed internecine conflict within the Sitka Police Department.
To their everlasting credit, Officers Silva and Ferguson ‘‘blew the whistle.’’
Jeff Kinnan, Sitka
Fundraiser Thanks
Dear Editor: On behalf of the Sea Mountain Golf Course, Sitka Community Hospital and Sitka Cancer Survivors Society; Maybelle Filler and the planning group would like to extend a hearty and heartfelt thank you to all those volunteers, businesses, sponsors, and GOLFERS that came together Sunday, Aug. 5, to make our 10th annual Cancer and Diabetes Awareness Golf Tourney and Silent Auction a huge success, raising over $3,000.
Dedicated golfers, auction buyers, and lunch eaters came out in what turned out to be beautiful weather, to raise money for the Sitka Cancer Survivors Society and the Sitka Community Hospital Outpatient Diabetes Program showing that Sitkans get on board when it comes to raising money to help those in need.
Thank you to the Sea Mountain golf course tournament committee, Chef Mitchell and the rest of the crew at Sea Mountain Golf Course for all their hard work and dedication. Thank you to our hole sponsors: Ernie’s Old Time Saloon, Sitka C.H.A.R.R, Venneberg Insurance, White’s Pharmacy, Horan & Co., Sitka Bottling Co., Sitka Vision Clinic, Foreign Automotive and ALPS Federal Credit Union. Even though no one won the $25,000 hole-in-one, we’d like to thank our sponsors for that hole: Hames Corporation and Pioneer Bar.
Also, thank you to the rest of our sponsors who provided items for the silent auction, raffle and golf hole prizes AC Lakeside, Abby’s Reflection Apparel and Quiltworks, Agave Mexican Restaurant, Alaska Pure Sea Salt, Arrowhead Press-Sitka Sentinel, Art Glass by Kiki, Ben Franklin Crafts-New Archangel Trading Co., Bev’s Flower & Gifts, The Cellar, Elizabeth Faulkner, Joan Rada Filler, Fitness Can Be Fun (Sue Conrad), Goldsmith Gallery, H. Pitts Enterprises, Hames P.E. Center, Highliner Coffee, Murray Pacific Supply Corp., NAPA Auto Parts-Sitka Motor Supply, Northern Sales Co. of AK, Orion Sporting Goods, Petro Marine Services, Random House-Russian American Company, Russell’s, Salon 264, Sitka Artisan Meals, Sitka Bazaar, Sitka Realty, Sitka True Value, Skookum Canvaswork, Stedman Insurance Agency Inc., Spenard Builders Supply, Therapy Services (Mo McBride), Winter Song Soap Co., and Maybelle and Stan Filler. And finally, a very special thank you to our countless volunteers who came and helped before, during and after the event (setting up, prepping, cleaning up, monitoring holes, providing media and generally pitching in wherever needed). We appreciate you!
Maybelle Filler on behalf of Sea Mountain Golf Course,
Sitka Community Hospital &
Sitka Cancer Survivors Society
Decision on SCH
Dear Editor: Two experts from Quorum recently gave the Assembly their professional opinion regarding the SEARHC offer to buy SCH. These two men that help manage over 700 hospitals nationwide didn’t sugarcoat the truth. A small town the size of Sitka isn’t big enough to support two hospitals. They said half the people in town are on Medicare/Medicaid and they use the services of both hospitals and the other half travels out of town for their medical care. The numbers don’t lie.
My hope is the Assembly members will base their decision on facts and not emotions. SEARHC has offered to hire every employee at SCH so Sitka wouldn’t actually lose any jobs. SEARHC wants to build a new $100 million hospital complex here which would provide a huge boost to our economy. My fear is SEARHC will change their mind if our Assembly fails to support their growth plans and build their hospital somewhere else. We could end up with no hospital at all in Sitka.
It will be a sorry day for Sitka if our largest employer decides to build that new hospital somewhere else and Sitka loses hundreds of stable high paying medical jobs. Not only could we lose these hundreds of long term hospital employees but the hundreds of high pay construction jobs it will take to build the new SEARHC medical complex.
Clyde Bright, Sitka
In Appreciation
Dear Editor: Baranof Elementary and the Sitka School District would like to thank Jasmine Shaw for her ongoing engagement with Sitka’s students and their families. Most recently, Jasmine volunteered at Baranof’s Meet Your Teacher event. She greeted families at the door, gave directions to classrooms, signed up parent volunteers, and was on hand for translation services.
Through her work at UAS with the Cooperative Extension Program, Sitka’s 4-H program, Sitka Kitch, and volunteering for the school district, Jasmine connects with K-12 student, their families, and the community. A great impact at Blatchley Middle School has been Jasmine’s participation in Discovery Week and Day of Caring.
We would like to sincerely thank a community member who is an asset to our kids. Thumbs up, high fives, and complimentary cups of tea are in order!
Kari Sagel, STEPS Grant,
Sitka School District
Hospital Issue
Dear Editor: As the Assembly takes on the thankless task of deciding what to do next with our Sitka Community Hospital, it is important to recognize the deeply held values and emotions that have surfaced with such passion and intensity around this issue.
During President Obama’s tenure, I was often flabbergasted and saddened by the vitriol and hate directed at him by those in the other camp. Fast forward to President Trump and now a similar disdain and revulsion for this incumbency have become the common currency exchanged between those who feel politically unrepresented. Both groups are driven by fear that their sacrosanct values and world orders are threatened.
I believe related forces are at play in the discussion of our community’s hospital services. We are living in an increasingly divided American and, to an extent, Sitka.
Very valid and compelling reasons have been advanced for keeping SCH open. It has been the medical home for many in our community for decades and done so with distinction, quality and deep caring. However, I am disheartened when I hear arguments for maintaining two hospitals that include statements about different beneficiaries, missions and cultures. My family and I have received care at SEARHC and SCH. We have been well cared for at both. Culture, mission and ethnicity have not been factors.
Another repeated concern is that SEARHC receives government funding and thus has an unfair advantage. As with SEARHC, SCH accepts a significant level of government subsidy through its Medicaid, Medicare and Affordable Care Act patients, plus support from the tobacco tax and the city’s general fund. This is a reality across the U.S.: rural hospitals cannot exist without our tax dollars.
It is my hope that if the Assembly votes in favor of a SEARHC assumption of service we can come together as Sitkans. If the Assembly decides not to move in this direction, then it should provide SCH with adequate funding so it can pursue its focus of delivering high quality care to our community. Regardless of what action is taken, we, as a community, need to move forward in a respectful and caring way.
Mark Gorman, Sitka
