Katie Anastas

Bartlett Regional Hospital has started offering crisis care to adolescents.

The crisis stabilization unit, part of the new Aurora Behavioral Health Center, opened on Monday. It’s staffed with psychiatrists, nurses, counselors and community navigators to help teens get the treatment they need.

The unit is on the center’s top floor. There are common areas with board games and puzzles, yellow bean bag chairs and warm lighting. Wallpaper in the hallways depicts mountains, trees and water.

“I think the space and how it’s designed presents the care with such dignity,” said Sarah Zaglifa, Bartlett’s clinical director of behavioral health services.

Patients’ rooms have built-in nightstands and desks, and the windows overlook the Gastineau Channel. There are rooms with couches and armchairs where staff can talk to whole families or take parents aside.

In 2020, suicide was the leading cause of death for Alaska Native youth aged 10 to 19 and all youth aged 10 to 14, according to the state. It was the second leading cause of death that year for Alaskans aged 15 to 34.

Bartlett’s unit serves youth aged 12 to 17. It follows a Crisis Now model, which aims to reduce reliance on law enforcement and emergency rooms when people are in crisis. 

Teens and their parents won’t have to call ahead before going to Aurora. They won’t need a referral from the Juneau Police Department or the Office of Children’s Services to get treatment. It’s meant to be as accessible as an emergency room.

Dr. Marie Roy Babbitt, a child and adolescent psychiatrist leading the new crisis services, said the goal is to provide well-rounded services all in one place.

“We can offer medications, we can offer a medical check-up, but we also have one-on-one counseling, family counseling and that link to services outside of the crisis unit,” she said. “It’s all on the same floor within the same space, so somebody isn’t getting shuffled from all over the building.”

Most teens will be there for less than a week. Before they leave, staff will work with families to explain the treatment plan, which may involve medication or working with the teen’s school on an Individualized Educational Plan. The unit’s navigators will keep working with teens and their families to make sure they’re getting the outpatient services they need.

Zaglifa said teens had to go to the emergency room for crisis care before the new unit opened.

“This gives us an alternative that’s more developmentally appropriate for adolescents, is warmer, more inviting, less clinical or sterile and adult-focused, like an emergency room can sometimes feel to an adolescent,” she said.

Teens can still go to the emergency room if they feel like that’s the right first stop. Jennifer Carson, Bartlett’s executive director of behavioral health services, said there’s no wrong door into Bartlett’s crisis services.

“Even if they’re not appropriate for admission, our goal is to help get them to the right location,” she said. 

If you or a loved one are experiencing thoughts of suicide, you can call or text 988. You can also call the Careline at 877-266-HELP for grief support or if you just need someone to talk to.

In this newscast:

• The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium opens a new urgent care in Juneau
• The Alaska Supreme Court orders the Office of Public Advocacy to resume assigning public guardians for patients
• A defense bill approved by Congress includes $200 million in funding for construction at Alaska military installations
• The U.S. State Department expands the country’s territory based on undersea geography

Juneau’s streets and city-owned parking garages will have a new fee collection system this spring.

At a Public Works and Facilities Committee meeting on Monday, Parks and Recreation Director George Schaaf said the current system is time-consuming for drivers and labor-intensive for staff.

“The processes that we use right now would have been right at home in the 1950s and ‘60s, if I’m perfectly honest,” he said. “They haven’t kept up with technology.”

Right now, Juneau residents have to go to City Hall to buy a parking permit. City staff use scissors, a laminating machine and rubber stamps to make about 1,000 parking placards each year. 

Then someone has to walk through the parking garages to check for the placards. It’s a similar process for on-street parking. Juneau Police Department employees drive around in three-wheeled vehicles, looking for illegally parked cars. 

“They go around with a clipboard, a pen and a piece of paper, they note the license plate, the vehicle location, the time of day and the location of a tire valve stem on the vehicle for every single vehicle parked on the street in downtown Juneau every couple of hours,” Schaaf said.

With the new system, the drivers will be able to buy permits online, and they won’t need placards. Cameras will scan license plate numbers as cars enter and exit the parking garages.

The three-wheeled police vehicles will also have cameras. They’ll note the license plate numbers, GPS location and even the location of the valve stem as they drive by. Drivers will be able to pay fines or issue appeals online.

Hourly lots will accept both cash and credit cards. Schaaf said internet connectivity was one of several challenges the city faced when it tried to add pay stations for on-street parking a decade ago. But he said they’ll use the same carrier Docks and Harbors uses with its pay stations now.

“We’re confident they will work with no trouble,” he said.

Schaaf said he’s hopeful the new system will be easier for customers to use and less labor-intensive to run.

He said the parks department is working on a public outreach campaign to educate drivers about the new system.

In this newscast:

• Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget includes large Permanent Fund Dividends and no increase to education funding
• Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium closes its Sitka hospital’s home health department
• Crowds attend the annual open house at the governor’s mansion

The Juneau School District’s director of administrative services, who oversees the district’s budget, has resigned. On Friday, the school board authorized spending up to $50,000 on contract work for the district’s upcoming budget cycle.

Cassee Olin had held the role since 2021. Before that, she worked as the Sitka School District’s business manager. Her resignation was effective Dec. 1, according to a school district report. Olin declined to comment on her decision to resign.

Last month, an audit of the district showed it ended the previous fiscal year with an almost $2 million deficit in its operating fund. Lower-than-expected enrollment has grown that deficit to nearly $3 million. 

Budget revisions to address that deficit could include hiring freezes for certain positions, Superintendent Frank Hauser said Friday.

The district is now seeking a contractor to help revise this year’s budget and develop next year’s. Will Muldoon, who chairs the school board’s finance committee, estimates that the district will be facing a $7 million shortfall as COVID relief and one-time state funding ends. 

The district is also seeking a new administrative services director. Hauser told the board that the new hire would work with the contractor on next year’s budget.

“The plan is that they’ll be working hand in hand on the budget development process, kind of onboarding the new director of administrative services,” he said. “The contractor will have a more solid understanding of our budget, having worked with it probably a month to two months more.”

Hauser said other district directors and the chief of staff will take on the role’s other duties in the meantime.

In this newscast:

• Students were evacuated from a Juneau elementary school after it received a bomb threat
• A Juneau woman and two children are in stable condition after being hit by a truck while crossing the street
• One of Juneau’s last independent pharmacies closes its doors
• Ketchikan residents will lose access to cable television next fall