Residents press SEARCH on long‑term care, home health and market concerns at Sitka presentation
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Summary
At a Sitka presentation, residents and a local House district representative pressed SEARCH officials about plans for long‑term care, reinstating home health services and whether SEARCH's expansion is crowding out other providers; SEARCH replied that long‑term care is on the horizon, home‑health approaches vary and expansion is driven by patient choice and partnerships.
Audience members used the post‑presentation Q&A to press SEARCH on services beyond the new Sitka hospital. A resident asked whether SEARCH planned to expand both long‑term care and childcare across other communities; SEARCH representatives said they have intentionally chosen not to enter childcare and are focusing more on long‑term care planning and transitional bed space, with conversations ongoing about Sitka, Haines and Prince of Wales Island. "Long term care is definitely on the horizon," Megan Bosak said, adding that applications for facility work are in progress and master planning will determine specific uses.
Rebecca, who identified herself as representing House District 2 in Sitka, asked whether SEARCH could restore home‑health services and how community input is gathered. SEARCH described annual listening sessions, tribal council outreach and data sharing as primary feedback channels and offered to follow up offline with more detailed clinical information. Matt Carl said SEARCH tries to present data showing past and current approaches so communities understand "what we were doing before and what we are doing now."
A participant new to the state voiced a concern that "SEARCH is gobbling up everything," framing expansion as market concentration. Matt Carl rejected that framing as SEARCH described it, emphasizing patient choice and partnership with other local providers: "A patient should have the choice ... if we're providing the right care ... hopefully people will come to us for that type of care." Megan Bosak added that SEARCH works in partnership with local providers such as Bartlett for behavioral health and other services.
SEARCH staff also described workforce solutions raised during questions, including apprenticeships, clinical ladders and youth outreach led by a workforce development staff member (named in the presentation as Amber Fromhurst). The organization pointed to workforce housing (46 units in Sitka) and community partnerships as central to recruitment and retention. SEARCH repeatedly offered follow‑up and additional detail to attendees and said decisions about reuse of the current Sitka facility remain under master planning.
