Sunshine Clinic leaders outline new initiatives and path forward

Near the end of May, Randall Kowalke took over as interim CEO of Sunshine Community Health Center.  Shortly afterwards, Dr. Paul Forman was named as the chief medical officer.  Both say there are significant changes coming for the clinic. 

Interim CEO Randall Kowalke uses terms like “righting the ship” when it comes to his approach to taking the lead role at Sunshine.  That’s understandable, given that the last CEO, Melody West, was terminated after staff and public criticism over a wide variety of topics.  Not long after, Dr. George Hightower resigned as chief medical officer.

Kowalke says his interim period will likely last awhile, at least nine months.  He says that’s because the current leadership team wants to put changes in place to address the concerns raised this spring.

One of those concerns has to do with the opening of the Wasilla clinic location.  Some Northern Valley locals have expressed concern that a clinic in Wasilla would pull attention away from the pre-existing facilities in Talkeetna and Willow.  Kowalke acknowledges the logistical challenges raised by the new facility, and plans to set up a structure that he hopes will allow necessary attention to all clinic locations.

“We’re working on a new organization chart that’s going to bifurcate north and south so that we don’t have folks spending a lot of windshield time driving back and forth as far as management.  So we’re going to have a Clinic Director South and a Clinic Director North.”

Many of the complaints from staff in April that culminated in a change in leadership had to do with treatment of staff.  Sunshine’s new Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Paul Forman, says a lot of change is in the works, and some of it will take time, but a focus on staff is a big part of that plan.

“We’re going to be supportive of our staff.  We’re going to create healthy environments where the staff can feel good about what they’re doing, and when you feel good about what you’re doing, you go the extra mile to provide the most excellent care in the world.”

Some staff members who left under the tenure of Melody West and Dr. Hightower have returned, according to Kowalke and Forman, and there may be more returning moving forward. 

Kowalke says transparency is important in rebuilding trust with both staff and patients, and that he tries to be proactive in addressing rumors directly.

“I’ve developed an item called ‘CEO Comments.’  When there’s a rumor I hear, I send what I know about the actual circumstances to the entire employee base.”

In addition to organizational changes, Dr. Forman says there are new initiatives that Sunshine is working on to provide care to those in the Northern Valley.  Those include a potential new opiate treatment program that does not rely on medications like suboxone, as well as a potential partnership with Mat-Su Borough EMS that would allow the local clinics to treat less serious cases instead of transporting patients all the way to Wasilla.  Forman says that plan would benefit both emergency responders and patients.

“Then the ambulance stays in the community and isn’t pulled out of the community for hours at a time, and patients don’t have the long trek home for just a minor laceration or something more simple. So we’re trying to look at how can we better serve the community?  What are the needs that are out there? And kind of cater our services to the needs.”

Both Kowalke and Forman say they aim to lead Sunshine in a direction that will allow for development of the Wasilla clinic while making sure that the facilities in Talkeetna and Willow don’t get left behind and continue to expand as well.