The Cordova Community Medical Center (CCMC) will soon receive a $3 million check for what hospital officials say are much-needed infrastructure improvements.
That’s thanks to a federal appropriations bill Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced last month.
“CCMC was excited and relieved to learn of this funding,” said Dr. Hannah Sanders, the CEO of CCMC. “As a small critical access hospital, it is a challenge to balance patient care improvements with infrastructure investment.”
CCMC is a 23-bed critical access hospital – meaning it’s located more than 35 miles from the next nearest hospital, and has no more than 25 beds.
Sanders said the hospital plans on using the majority of the $3 million to update the backup electrical and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, which are 40 years old.
She has said CCMC would need at least $10 million to get all the deferred maintenance infrastructure projects done. However, at a February City Council meeting she added: “It’s super exciting to be able to have [$3 million] and be able to correct some of these things.”
The $3 million capital infrastructure funding comes off the heels of another federal grant the hospital received last summer.
CCMC, Petersburg Medical Center and South Peninsula Hospital in Homer jointly received a $100,000 Health Resources and Services Administration grant to create a rural health network that allows the medical centers to share resources. The three facilities are the only independent critical access hospitals in Alaska, according to KFSK Radio.
CCMC is a business operated by revenue generated from patient care, according to Sanders. Because of the business model, she encourages people to utilize the medical services CCMC provides.
“I always put that plug in – use the hospital,” Sanders told the City Council. “If you want to have a hospital here in Cordova, make sure you get as much health care as you can from there.”
She’s even urged Cordovans to call their health insurance providers to ask them to put CCMC under their in-network umbrella, in an effort to benefit both patients and business revenue.
“It’s so important that we get payments from insurance companies, that’s how we stay alive,” Sanders said.
