PUBLISHER'S NOTEBOOK: Supporting Mat-Su Regional’s Certificate of Need

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center CEO Dave Wallace announced that his team has submitted a certificate of need to the State of Alaska. The need is to expand the Emergency Room with eight more treatment rooms and four secure treatment rooms that will function as a psychiatric emergency department. The population growth of the Mat-Su and the aging population are reason enough to expand the ER at Mat-Su Regional.

The underlying pressure on the current emergency room situation can also be traced to the epidemic of addicts in the valley. In 2017 Governor Walker declared a public health crisis in order to battle opioid addiction. The epidemic has put tremendous stress in many areas of our community. The emergency room at Mat-Su has seen a 20% increase in behavioral health patients.

Two aspects of the crisis parallel each other. One is the amount of pressure that civic patrols are putting on the Alaska State Troopers and the other is peer to peer recovery groups putting pressure on medical facilities. The Mat-Su Regional Emergency facility is probably seeing the most impact from these recovery groups.

Civil patrols and peer to peer groups are pure in their intentions. They have virtually the same mission. One wants to draw attention to and prevent the criminal activities of addicts while the other merely wants to help the addict find a better path on life’s journey. Neither group are professionals. Both have minimal training in the complex battles they are fighting. One particular peer to peer group, fiend2clean is claiming an almost 80% success rate. Addiction is a lifelong battle and with fiend2clean’s short history it may be too early to state that number as long-term success.

As well intentioned as these groups are the fact of the matter is that they put pressure on the professionals. For almost all addicts getting clean is an unbelievable physical and mental challenge. It takes professional care and while these peer groups have referral programs. It’s hard to image that an addict is pulled from a trap house and given a referral and all is good. The work to get the addict to a place to think about their future of clean living has to be a long road. It requires a tremendous amount of effort from the peer group to the professionals, their friends and family and the addicts themselves. And in their darkest hour they are not going to their family practitioner. When they are in the depths of their most physical and mental anguish and it is too much to bare they are going to the emergency room.

This is not to discourage those who are taking action and making a grassroots effort to curtail crime and drug addiction in our community. Their actions are showcasing the need for expanded public safety and treatment needs for our community. This is to emphasis that for their efforts to be successful they must have professional back up. Expanding the emergency facility at Mat-Su Regional is a must in order to provide the best care that the growing number of patients coming through their doors need. That need goes beyond recovering addicts. Look around, our population is growing. We need emergency services for the elderly, the deeply depressed, young families and more. The list goes on and on. Our services particularly medical services have to grow to match.

I am urging the State of Alaska to approve Mat-Su Regional’s certificate of need to expand and upgrade the emergency facilities. I would encourage you to send an email or letter to the State of Alaska supporting the certificate of need.

Below is the contact information;

Alexandria Hicks, Certificate of Need Coordinator

Department of Health and Social Services, Office of Rate Review

3601 C Street, Suite 978

Anchorage, AK 99503

Phone: (907) 754-3428

Email: Alexandria.Hicks@alaska.gov