Progress 2021: Q&A with Sunshine Community Health Center marketing director discussing Wasilla location and adapting to COVID-19

The Sunshine Health Clinic reached a new milestone during an already unprecedented year outside their control or anyone else's. They established a new facility in Wasilla in December of 2020, a year into the pandemic.

Below is a question and answer interview with the Sunshine Health Clinic marketing director, Teri Petram discussing the new Wasilla location, and how they’ve adapted their services to keep up with COVID-19.

Q: How has the last year been?

A: “Really, it’s been a lot of work… There were a lot of different pieces and parts and mechanisms put in place to open that facility in Wasilla, and also we had to manage a pandemic. So, while a lot of other businesses were sort of limiting facetime with their customers and patients, we were put in a position where that wasn’t really an option.”

Q: How so?

A: “I mean, we didn’t obviously promote telehealth heavily during the first six months of coronavirus, because we wanted to give people the option to still get the care they need without having to see us face to face. But, when we opened up a new facility in the location where Solstice Family Care was located… We also took over that entire book of business. So, there were a little over 3,000 patients who didn’t know who we were… So, we wanted to make sure we were available in person as well… Prior to coronavirus, we weren’t even doing telehealth. So, to add telehealth, and also add another office, and also add double patient load, like I said it’s been a lot of work.”

Q: So telemedicine is new to Sunshine?

A: “We didn’t do any telehealth. For us, especially being spread out across Talkeetna and Willow, it’s a rural area and a lot of our patients have to travel over 30 miles just to get to a clinic. So, it’s had its pluses, telehealth, in that it’s something that we’ll continue to do and will make healthcare that much more accessible for our remote patients.”

Q: What else has been done to adapt to the pandemic?

A: “We’ve added a ton of staff… We’ve increased the number of medical assistants. We added a pediatrician for our business in Wasilla, and we’re adding an additional physician’s assistant there, and also administrative staff… We bought a couple of conexes so people could do drive up COVID testing.”

Q: What’s particularly exciting about the addition of this Wasilla location?

A: “In opening up the office in Wasilla, we’re adding specialty services… Those types of services typically weren’t available to our patients in Willow and Talkeetna. But, because we have this facility in Wasilla, those specialists can now rotate through… making it more accessible for people who have transportation issues or find it difficult to get to the Lower Valley to get specialty services.”

Q: Are you optimistic about the future?

A: “I think good things are on the horizon with the vaccines, and some of the treatments they’re doing with people that do end up diagnosed with coronavirus. So, we’re very much looking forward to getting back to business as usual.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com