Bring Back Home Health
Dear Editor: The SEARHC decision to shut down Home Health because of its ‘‘heavy administrative burden’’ is unacceptable.
My wife Betsy spent a good portion of 2019 in Seattle at Swedish Hospital receiving cancer treatment. She got good care but her greatest fear was having to die in a hospital. We returned to Sitka. Some procedures had to be done at the SEARHC hospital. She had a good surgeon and got good care there. Because of Home Health she had to spend only one night in the hospital. After that she was able to be home. The SEARHC Home Health nurses came to our home on a regular basis to care for Betsy. Those amazing women were angels who did such a wonderful job and I will always be grateful for their care for my wife. Dr. Robert Hunter came to the house every week.
It would have been extremely difficult for her to be in the hospital for this time period.
SEARHC Needs to reverse their decision to end the Home Health program.
While this letter is about the Home Health decision, I would like to take the opportunity to also give thanks to the wonderful Brave Heart Volunteers who came to our home to be there so I could shop, run errands, etc.
Mike Trainor, Sitka
Mayflower Society
Dear Editor: The Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Alaska will celebrate its 60th anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 14, at its annual meeting in Anchorage. We invite current, former, and any potential new members who are descendants of someone who came over on the Mayflower to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620, to join us. There will be a luncheon, business meeting and talk by Mayflower historian, author and genealogist, Caleb Johnson. Copies of his books will be available for sale and autograph. Cost to attend is $15 and lunch is available for an additional $25.
To pre-register for the meeting, please contact Treasurer Lezlie Wilfer at 49wilfer@gmail.com by October 1. For information about lineage research to join the Alaska Mayflower Society, please contact historian Sidnie Kruse at kruse@ptialaska.net.
Lezlie Wilfer, Treasurer
Alaska Mayflower Society
P.O. Box 70192
Fairbanks, AK 99707
907-378-2307
Hospice
Dear Editor: When my father was dying from complications of Parkinson’s Disease, he was admitted to a hospice facility down south, and Medicare covered 100 percent of the cost. Despite Sitka’s aging population, there is no hospice facility here, because ‘‘the numbers aren’t there.’’
During my three decades as a social worker at both SEARHC and Sitka Community, there were times when I had to explain to families that their loved one would have to be discharged because their insurance wouldn’t cover the continued stay.
If a bed was available, they could sometimes stay at the Long Term Care Unit, but if they didn’t have Medicaid or VA authorization, the family would be required to pay a month in advance – over $30,000.
With Home Health closing, now would be a good time to take another look at creating a Medicare-funded hospice facility in Sitka.
Cliff Tincher, Sitka
