(Photo by Shelby Herbert / KFSK)
Petersburg Medical Center is starting to fill ranks in its nursing department, following several months of staff shortages. That’s according to a report that will go before the Borough’s Hospital Board at its meeting tonight.
Petersburg Medical Center has struggled to recruit and retain staff since the COVID-19 pandemic. But now, the skies are starting to clear — at least, in the hospital’s nursing department. Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Bryner’s monthly report said their certified nursing assistant, or CNA staffing is now “(…) adequate to meet the needs of our residents and patients.”
Her report said that the nursing department has had to rely on help from a few traveling nurses to get through the winter. She said recruiting nurses has been difficult, but they’ve managed to fill a few permanent positions. And more help is on the way: she has one student in training to become a CNA, and looks forward to onboarding two more staff members who will graduate from the University of Alaska, Anchorage in May. To invest in its workforce in the longer term, the nursing department is planning to offer a CNA certification class at the local high school next year. Bryner said she’s grateful for the help of the competent travel nurses on her team, but she predicts that the hospital will need far fewer of them as they fill more permanent positions this year.
While the department’s staffing situation has improved somewhat, Bryner said they’re still hurting for space. She’s having a hard time finding room in the aging hospital facility for the staff she already has. For example, the nursing department’s UAA students have to take their exams in the operating room because it’s the only place in the building where they can find any privacy.
Bryner said she’s been involved in planning for the new hospital to ensure that it has enough space for her department’s needs.
Hospital CEO Phil Hofstetter announced several new developments on the hospital replacement project in his monthly report. He said local construction company Rock-n-Road is putting in foundation rock from the Borough’s quarry at the site of the new facility. In December, the Borough Assembly agreed to give Rock-n-Road about 600,000 cubic yards of surplus rock in exchange for digging out a new access road to the local quarry. The deal gave the Borough better access to the rock in the quarry and brought down construction costs for the new hospital project.
Rock-n-Road estimates that they’ll complete the sites for the main building and another building — the Workforce Education Resource Center — by mid-May. PMC plans to negotiate a guaranteed maximum price for the full project with Dawson Construction, its main contractor, in April.
To date, PMC has secured about $30 million for the new hospital project. It still has about another $70 million to go. This month, the Borough submitted two federal funding requests for the new hospital — worth $15 million each — to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. Its request for a $37 million line item in Alaska’s 2025 Capital Budget is still pending.
In other news, PMC has an optometry clinic scheduled through April 3. And a psychiatrist will be onsite through the end of March and will return in May. They’re also planning to host a dermatology clinic in May.
The hospital is offering endoscopy clinics in partnership with a surgical team from the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, or SEARHC. They’ve conducted 40 colonoscopies so far, and are primed to see more. But the exams are delayed at the moment due to the decreased availability of the surgeon and anesthetist.
After the board reviews all of its departmental reports, they’ll hear a presentation on colorectal cancer awareness from Michele Parker — she’s the committee chair for Beat the Odds, a nonprofit cancer support group under PMC’s tax umbrella.
March is colorectal cancer awareness month, and Parker’s report notes that Alaska Natives have the highest rates of colorectal cancer in the world, making it a pressing statewide health issue.
At the end of the meeting, the Hospital Board will enter into an executive session — closed to the public — to go over staff appointments.
Petersburg’s Hospital Board will meet tonight at 5:30 p.m. in the Assembly Chambers. KFSK will broadcast that meeting live.
