Juneau’s Bartlett Regional Hospital announced plans over the summer to open an outpatient mental health care office in Haines, but due to turnover at the hospital’s highest level of management, the plan has been delayed indefinitely.
In mid-August, Haines Borough Mayor Douglas Olerud sent a letter to Bartlett’s CEO Rose Lawhorne requesting assistance with mental healthcare to meet needs associated with the December weather event and the pandemic. “Our response is absolutely yes to the request,” Bartlett’s chief behavioral health officer Bradley Grigg told the CVN at the time. “We’re not going to take our time on this. We are moving very quickly.”
But both Grigg and Lawhorne resigned in September, and Bartlett has deferred plans to open a behavioral health office in Haines. “Last that I heard from them (two weeks ago), it’s still in the discussion,” Olerud said, but timing and “whether or not it will actually come to fruition” are still unclear.
In an email to the CVN, Bartlett spokesperson Katie Bausler said the hospital’s behavioral health team “will not be returning to Haines for the time being.” (Interim chief behavioral health officer Karen Forrest was not available for comment before press time.)
After the December landslide, Bartlett sent staff members to Haines to aid in disaster relief. Groups of 10 staff, including psychiatrists, nurses and social workers, spent two weeks in Haines in December and two more in January.
Lawhorne stepped down from her position as CEO after the city attorney learned of a relationship she had with a subordinate hospital employee that violated municipal code. (The hospital is owned by the City and Borough of Juneau.) Grigg, in his resignation letter, cited “personal issues” as his reason for leaving the job.
The Haines Borough posted a list of mental healthcare contacts on its website this week. The SEARHC Mountainside Behavioral Health Clinic has “in-person, telehealth, and phone crisis counselors available to support people struggling with stress related to the anniversary of the Haines landslide,” spokesperson Maegan Bosak said. Call 907-766-6313 for assistance. SEARHC also operates a 24/7 crisis hotline at 877-294-0074.