Wrangell Medical Center

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Welcome

Welcome to our web site. We hope you will find information of interest here. While striving to keep our site current, please feel free to send us feedback or requests for more information via e-mail, phone, fax or U.S. mail.

It is our expectation to continually build on our site by adding new features, so check back often.

Again, welcome!

Cadusa

Bald Eagle

Wrangell Area

Tribal House

Mission Statement

Under the ownership of the City, Wrangell Medical Center serves Wrangell and other surrounding communities by providing an array of acute, emergency and preventive services appropriate to our unique setting and available resources. As the only hospital in the area, we serve all persons who come to us seeking care, and we take a leadership role in the coordination of health services in the community.

We will:

Endeavor to improve the general health of the community through care of the sick, health promotion and community education;
Recognize and support the dignity and worth of all patients, long-term care residents and employees;
Support and encourage the continuing education of local health providers;
Cooperate with scientific research.

We will carry out this mission through the application of approved medical practices, high ethical standards, and sound financial management.

The City of Wrangell is located on the northern tip of Wrangell Island along the Inside Passage of Southeast Alaska. One of the oldest non-native settlements in Alaska, it is on the Stikine River, an historic trade route to the Canadian Interior.

The community of Wrangell has worn many hats since its 1811 beginnings as a fur-trading settlement for the Russian-American Company. When the U.S. purchased the Alaska Territory in 1867, it became a military post. When the early gold rushes began, it became an outfitter for gold prospecting. And as the gold played out, Wrangell's focus shifted to fishing, fish processing, and the beginnings of a forest products industry.

Four canneries and a cold storage were in operation when Bishop Rowe Hospital began receiving patients in 1926. Fueled by strong growth in fishing and forest products, the community continued to grow, driving the need for a new hospital at a new location. Wrangell Medical Center opened in 1968.

By 1972, plans were approved for a skilled nursing home. Four years later the long-term care unit was opened.

In 1989, Phase I of a remodeling and renovation project expanded and updated all departments of the hospital, setting the stage for the opening of the Stikine Family Clinic in 1993. The completion of Phase II in 1996 added a new storage building and maintenance.

Although housed in the same building and sharing the services of physical therapy, x-ray, the laboratory and kitchen, the acute and long-term care units are separate, fully-licensed facilities. The acute care facility has 8 beds, and the long-term care facility, licensed for skilled nursing or intermediate nursing home care, has 14 beds.

The hospital is owned by the City of Wrangell and governed by a board of directors appointed by the city council. An administrator is selected by the board to direct daily operations.