The Organized Village of Kasaan's new health clinic.
Jon Wunrow, Project Manager for the Organized Village of Kasaan and Tessa Axelson, Senior Program Manager, the Denali Commission, cut the ribbon with Richard Peterson (far right), president of the Organized Village of Kasaan looking on.
The Organized Village of Kasaan announced the opening of the new SEARHC Kasaan clinic on Prince of Wales Island on July 26. The new clinic is a prototype “micro clinic” designed for communities with a full time population of under 100 residents. Funding for the design work on this statewide small clinic prototype was provided by the Denali Commission.
The 975-square-foot clinic replaces the current clinic, which is about 250 square feet and did not allow for gurney or stretcher access, adequate storage, a provider office or adequate patient confidentiality. The new clinic remedies all of these issues and also allows for a mobile dental chair for itinerant dental care. The clinic design includes two exam rooms, one of which is fully equipped for dental care, a locked lab and pharmacy space, a provider office, a covered ambulance bay, and is equipped for telemedicine. The clinic will cost the community less to operate as it has been built with extreme energy efficiency in mind, utilizing a highly efficient heating system and insulation envelope which minimizes heating fuel costs. As part of the dedication ceremony on June 15, 2013, the new clinic was gifted to SEARHC (SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium) who, in turn, is leasing the land from the Organized Village of Kasaan.
