Patient housing facility gears up for January opening
December 9, 2016
The last walls have been built and the final touches are being prepared for the six-story, 202-room patient housing facility to welcome its first guests in January 2017. Earlier this month, ANTHC obtained the certificate of occupancy from the Municipality of Anchorage, which has allowed ANTHC staff to begin filling the guest rooms with the amenities that will truly make it a home away from home for the 60 percent of ANMC patients that travel to Anchorage for their care. The facility is currently being provisioned, including bedding and linens, coffee cups, rocking chairs for family rooms, appliances for communal kitchens and “wiggle walls” – 90-inch interactive video screens that can recognize the movements of children, installed in play areas on the first and sixth floors. “We are especially excited for the amenities designed for families and kids, since these are not typically found in the lodging where our people would stay before,” said Phil Degnan, ANTHC’s Housing General Manager. “These family-friendly spaces will provide moments of fun during their health treatment.” In addition to the final furnishings, new ANTHC staff for the patient housing facility have started training. These staff include the general manager, assistant general manager, front desk supervisors and agents, security officers, facilities supervisor and maintenance technicians. Housekeeping and cafeteria operations will be managed by contract with NANA Management Services, which also operates the ANMC Cafeteria. The final construction to connect the sky bridge from the patient housing facility to the north side of ANMC hospital began this week and will open Jan. 2. Since the project broke ground in May 2015, it has been exciting to see the patient housing facility rise on the Alaska Native Health Campus and we commend the ANTHC Strategic Access staff that have seen the project through since it was an idea in a boardroom.
For more information about the project, visit http://anmc.org/new-anmc-patient-housing/.