Telise Gamble says she had a largely sleepless night wanting to be sure every detail was taken care of — down to making sure there were clipboards for all of the staff. But at 8 a.m. Tuesday when the automatic doors activated to welcome patients to SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium’s (SEARHC) new Vintage Park Campus, the reception area was ready to receive them with a healthy glow.
“We had our first patient walk in, I’d say, at 8:03 a.m.,” said Gamble, the clinic’s supervisor, standing in the newly built main waiting area where a trio of simply lit Christmas trees were along the large-pane windows that are the building’s dominant exterior feature.
Telise Gamble, clinic supervisor of SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium’s new Vintage Park Campus, shows the children’s seating area in the pediatric clinic Tuesday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
The clinic at 3051 Vintage Blvd, adjacent to Safeway, is initially offering urgent care treatment, imaging, and laboratory work on the portion of the first floor that is ready for operation, said Lyndsey Schaefer, SEARHC’s system director of marketing and communications. Primary care and pediatrics services are scheduled to begin Jan. 9, behavioral health and optometry on Jan. 16, and pediatric physical rehabilitation Jan. 23.
The initial patients on Tuesday were there for urgent care services, Gamble said. She said the new facility has all the urgent care services available at SEARHC’s existing Mountainside Urgent Care on Hospital Drive, which is temporarily closed for two weeks to aid the acclimation of the new clinic.
“What we did it we took we moved all of those people involved there, we brought them here to get it all started,” she said. Meanwhile, at Mountainside “we have staff that are there to help direct them and to let them know ‘hey, we have availability for appointments up at Ethel Lund Medical Center,’ or if there’s nothing available right away we’re letting them know to go out to our new Vintage Park Urgent Care to get seen right away.”
Staff await patients in the main reception area of SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium’s new Vintage Park Campus on Tuesday morning. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Work on the new building began in the summer of 2022. The facility will take over optometry and pediatrics care from Ethel Lund — which will continue providing specialty care, pharmacy services and radiology — with both facilities providing primary and lab care.
While Tuesday’s opening was quiet at the new Vintage Park Campus, without any ribbon-cutting or other ceremonies, Schaefer said an official opening celebration is scheduled Jan. 20.
Gamble, who was working at Ethel Lund before, said the new facility offers a chance to expand her involvement.
“I really wanted to be part of the clinical scene,” she said. “Before I was mostly the front desk. Right now I’m more working closely with the doctors and figuring out their schedules.”
Hiring the other providers and staff at the new clinic was a group effort that — as with many healthcare entities in Alaska and elsewhere — proved challenging and required looking beyond Juneau, Gamble said.
“It was kind of really a split between a lot of people,” she said. “There are a lot of leaders involved with opening this place.”
Construction of some interior facilities, especially on the upper two floors, still needs to be completed, Gamble said. But while getting things built also can be a challenge — especially in Alaska during winter — she said she is optimistic the additional services will be available as scheduled.
“Between construction and hiring I think that we’re good,” she said. “I think we’re ready.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
