Sitkans will have an opportunity to share concerns about the future of home health in a town hall next week.
The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, or SEARHC, announced earlier this year that it would close its home health department in September. Home health provided a number of services to Sitkans, including physical and occupational therapy and end-of-life care in the home. SEARHC maintains that it’s just the “administrative structure” of the department being eliminated, and it will continue to provide the same services through other departments, but some Sitkans remain concerned about what the change could mean for patients.
The Sitka Woman’s Club is hosting a facilitated listening session on November 15 at Harrigan Centennial Hall. Martina Kurzer is a board member, and thought they could provide a platform for discussion.
“I thought, well, we could do something about it, because I am a professional event organizer was my nonprofit, and I can do that,” Kurzer says. “We can offer a forum for those voices to be heard. And we can invite SEARHC and other agencies that overlap in this area. And that is at least one step.”
The discussion will be facilitated by SWC board member Audrey Hudson. Kurzer says it’s important that the event provides a space where everyone can be heard.
“We did not want to have something like a SEARHC bashing. We really want this to be neutral ground, so that we can listen [to] where they’re coming from, and they can listen to everything that comes up in the community by people who have been there or who have been caregivers or are caregivers,” Kurzer says.
Kurzser says the community deserves more clarity around the future of home health options.
“There are so many different questions, and I think SEARHC owes that to the community, to be open. And we are actually asking for a little more transparency in this whole process.”
Kurzer says representatives from SEARHC were invited to participate in the event, including CEO Charles Clement and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Elliot Bruhl. KCAW reached out to SEARHC on Wednesday to confirm whether a representative would be attending the event, but did not receive a response by press time on Thursday.
