Lisa Phu

The Bartlett Regional Hospital board of directors has narrowed its interim CEO search down to two candidates.

The board spent more than an hour in executive session during Monday night’s regular meeting. One of two items discussed during that time was the interim CEO search.

Hospital human resources director Mila Cosgrove along with board members Mary Borthwick and Dr. Nathan Peimann will continue ongoing discussions with the two finalists. Cosgrove says reference checks are also not complete.

Board president Linda Thomas hopes an interim CEO is picked within the next week. She says one of the main goals for the position “is to ensure effective communication and status updates with the hospital employees, medical staff, and other stakeholders.”

Another goal for the interim is to minimize transition risk to the longer term CEO, says Thomas.

Cosgrove adds, “The board’s been specific about wanting someone who can keep their strategic plan moving forward. They don’t want to go backwards. They want to keep moving ahead with their plans.”

In the meantime, hospital chief financial officer Ken Brough is acting CEO. Thomas says that’s the normal plan of succession within the hospital. Historically, when the CEO is gone, the CFO takes over.

Brough was part of the four-person senior leadership team that was at the center of a personnel investigation that took place this summer. Two other members of the former senior leadership team, former CEO Chris Harff and HR director Norma Adams, resigned in September.

A committee of board members Kristen Bomengen, Dr. Alex Malter, and Mary Borthwick will begin the permanent CEO search this month with HR director Cosgrove.

Thomas says the board would like to hire a permanent CEO within six months, “and the sooner, the better.”

University of Alaska Southeast and Yukon College signed an agreement this weekend that renews a more than 25-year relationship. The two institutions will continue to work together in various academic fields, including resource development and Native languages.

The agreement says both schools are committed to finding future academic cooperation for the benefit of the region’s people. Chancellor of the University of Alaska Southeast John Pugh and Yukon College president Karen Barnes signed a memorandum of understanding during the Al-Can Summit at UAS hosted by the Juneau World Affairs Council.

“We’ve been working together for 25 years plus and we have lots of relationships in the program areas, but it’s a bit of a push for us,” explains Barnes. “We wanted to resign it to say we’re really serious about this relationship and we can see lots of future possibilities that we want to explore so I think it was a bit of an incentive for us to keep moving and keep growing.”

Barnes hopes to collaborate more with UAS on scientific research, “particularly climate change research and cold climate technologies and I think that there’s been some discussion with our faculty across the line and I think that’s an area that we could see some activity. We’re building a new graduate certificate in climate change and I think that might be a place we could really share,” she says.

Pugh says UAS’s strong expertise on climate change allows it to offer an inter-disciplinary course on it, “Our faculty are looking at that from many different areas, not just the science of it but also the economics of it, the political science of it, and I think that’s something we can really do together in the future.”

Both schools are already teaming up in the area of natural resource development.

“Mining has taken off in both the Yukon and in Southeast Alaska, and we’re both using high tech equipment in terms of training folks and we’ve been able to share the expertise back and forth between Alaska and Yukon, and I think that’s been a really good learning experience and sharing experience,” chancellor Pugh says.

Another established partnership is language instruction. UAS Native language faculty members have visited Yukon College to share teaching materials and strategies.

“I think the partnership between Alaska and the Yukon is a natural one that’s existed before that border was ever there. My people are evidence of that. The stronger that we make that, the more beneficial it’ll be in every area, including language,” says Tosh Southwick, a citizen of the Kluane First Nation in Canada and director of First Nation initiatives at Yukon College.

Southwick says the condition of first languages in the Yukon is at a crisis point, similar to what it is in other indigenous countries. She’s impressed with the language offerings at UAS.

“When I walked past the sign in the hallway that said Tlingit 101 or whatever it is, we’re not doing that,” says Southwick. “That’s great. The fact that anybody in Alaska can come here and take a class in Tlingit is amazing to me.”

Besides Tlingit, UAS also offers classes in Haida and Tsimshian. Southwick thinks the relationship between UAS and her institution will increase the opportunity for the indigenous languages to stay alive

“What we do at an academic institution is share knowledge. Language is a form of knowledge, so that empowerment is crucial. So all of the Yukon First Nation languages will benefit from the stronger partnership here,” explains Southwick. “The Tlingit that’s spoken here – the more fluent speakers we have of Tlingit anywhere – makes it better for my family and for my son.”

Representatives from UAS and Yukon College met in Whitehorse in August. A new component of the agreement commits the two schools to hold an annual meeting to discuss ways of how to keep building the relationship.

State legislators, staffers and others doing business at the State Capitol building will soon be able to walk through the main entrance again.

Juneau-based Alaska Commercial Contractors are wrapping up the first phase of renovations, which started at the end of April.

One of the last things left to do for phase one of renovations to Alaska’s State Capitol, completed in 1931, is replace the original granite stairs.

For the past six months, the stairs have been kept in a storage yard in more than 30 pieces. “They’re all tagged and numbered so we know where they go back at,” says project superintendent Ben Musielak.

When Musielak’s crew first took the stairs apart, they found a mess underneath.

“It was mostly supported by brick, 80-year-old brick that wasn’t doing very well. All of that came out and it’s replaced with new concrete,” he explains.

The top sections of the stairs are back in place and Musielak says the rest will be in by the end of the week.

Alaska Commercial Contractors also removed fill from under the building and replaced a majority of the plumbing and drainage system.

Juneau residents may also notice the building’s four columns are once again fully exposed. Supportive braces installed last year were recently taken off.

“Those are the original marble columns. We cored out the center of them, took a four inch hole all the way to the bottom, and then grouted in some seismic reinforcement. In the event of an earthquake or any seismic activity, they in theory will stay there. This whole time, for the last 80 some years, they’ve just been stacked up there with nothing really holding them together,” says Musielak.

The portico above the columns, which used to be sandstone, is now concrete. The iconic ‘Alaska State Capitol’ sign that adorned the front of the portico will not be returning in this phase of the project. Musielak says it may be another few years until that goes back up.

The budget for the first phase of renovations was $1.7 million.

Musielak says the main entrance of the capitol should be open by the end of the month.

Former Bartlett Regional Hospital CEO Chris Harff left the hospital on Saturday, one week earlier than anticipated. In an email to Bartlett employees, Harff identified CFO Ken Brough as acting CEO.

The search for an interim CEO begins Thursday during a special board of directors meeting.

After a year in the position, Harff resigned last month, saying her expertise and skills were not a good fit for the city-owned hospital.

Hospital spokesman Jim Strader says he doesn’t know the number of candidates or who they are. He says the interim CEO search committee is still in the process of determining that information. “My understanding is they’re all going to be Skype interviews, that no candidates were actually flown in at this point,” Strader says.

The board intends to name the interim CEO sometime Friday, Strader says, with the person in place by the end of the month. A permanent hire won’t be made until next summer.

Middle school students in Juneau get a chance to sample courses in art, music, dance and sports Thursday during Lights On Afterschool. The event celebrates afterschool programs in Juneau as well as highlights the need for more.

Light On takes place at Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School, Floyd Dryden Middle School, and the Zach Gordon Youth Center.

“There’ll be Art Studio, an abstract art course. There’s going to be a Get Rhythm, which is a music course. Students will have an opportunity to try something Yoga-Dojo-Disco and dance fitness,” says Terri Campbell, an afterschool ambassador through the national organization Afterschool Alliance.

Other activities include judo demonstrations and opportunities to connect with adults in a “Her Space” and “Guy Space” activity.

“Our purpose for the Lights On Afterschool event is to engage kids who might not already be involved in afterschool and give them a sampling of some of the afterschool opportunities that they’ll be finding in the coming months at the middle schools,” explains Campbell.

Campbell says afterschool programs provide a safe and supportive environment for middle school students and help working families.

“One of the most dangerous times for our kids is right after school and in Juneau about half of our middle school population is home alone after school.”

The afterschool program for middle school students called B.A.M., or Body and Mind, launched last year and is run by the Juneau Afterschool Coalition. The Coalition formed shortly after federal budget cuts closed the Boys and Girls Club in 2009.

Lights On Afterschool takes place today from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at Dzantik’i Heeni and Floyd Dryden and at the Zach Gordon Youth Center from 3 to 6:30. All middle school students are encouraged to attend.

Crystal Bourland’s full time job is helping people enroll in a health insurance plan under the new federal Affordable Care Act. Her first day on the job was Monday.

Meet Juneau’s navigator:

“My name is Crystal Bourland and I am a navigator with the United Way of Anchorage. I am here to help people enroll in the new health insurance marketplace and provide community outreach on the Affordable Care Act – aka Obamacare – and how that affects Alaskans.”

“As of right now, I have an email, I have a phone number, and I’m ready to pretty much open my doors to people and help them out and explain all of these details of the Affordable Care Art and the new marketplace,” Bourland says.

The marketplace is a new way to shop for and buy health insurance. Bourland says it makes a process that’s usually confusing easier to understand.

“This is the first time where people can go to one place to shop around for a number of plans, compare them, but also see if they qualify for these subsidies to help them get that healthcare coverage and afford it,” she says.

As an individual, if you make between $14,000 and $50,000 annually, Bourland says you’ll likely be eligible for a subsidy.

Bourland’s office is located in the National Alliance on Mental Illness office at 9000 Glacier Highway. When you enroll for a health insurance plan, you’ll need social security numbers and proof of household income, like W2s or pay stubs.

“When people first come in we’ll just start by talking about your circumstance and what you’re looking for,” Bourland explains.

Anyone who goes to Bourland to enroll for health insurance will need to sign a consent form.

“We’ll jump onto healthcare.gov. We’ll put in the state of Alaska and we’ll start to fill out some information to get you started on the process,” she says.

Bourland says healthcare.gov is still experiencing glitches, but she’s confident it’ll be functional soon. Plus, she says, it’s okay to wait a week or even a month to sign up for healthcare.

“There’s not going to be any difference. If you enroll by December 15, your coverage is going to start on January 1, 2014 regardless of when you enrolled between October 1 and December 15,” Bourland says.

The “Get Insurance” section on healthcare.gov isn’t working yet, but the “Learn” section is, and Bourland encourages people to learn about the new health care plan first anyway.

Bourland won’t be stuck in an office; she’s also mobile.

“I hope to be able to meet people where most convenient to them, so that will sometimes maybe mean using libraries and I’m reaching to other partners in the community and organizations to see what’s best for maybe their clients or consumers that are uninsured and want more information,” Bourland says.

Bourland will have access to interpretive language services for those who need it.

Juneau will have additional help signing up for health care. Insurance broker Enroll Alaska will have agents at Bartlett Regional Hospital and Walmart later this month.

There will be an information session and Q&A on health care coverage coming up on November 4.