Little Dippers is seasonal daycare facility in Skagway. (Mike Swasey photo)
Skagway’s assembly passed a funding bill to spur childcare startups in town, the upcoming vote on whether the Southeast Regional Health Care consortium will purchase its municipally-run medical clinic grows closer, and Jeff Brady wins the Don Hather Award. KHNS’ Mike Swasey spoke with Melinda Munson, co-owner of The Skagway News, for more details.
Swasey – Melinda Munson from The Skagway News, thanks so much for joining us. Let’s talk about what’s coming out in the latest edition of The Skagway News.
Munson – What do you want to start with?
Swasey – Well, you’ve got a couple of big stories. There’s a story about SEARHC in there, I’m sure, and the potential takeover of the clinic and the vote that’s coming up. And I guess let’s start with SEARHC.
Munson – I feel like we talk about it over and over and over again, but once we sell it, if that’s what we do, we sell it forever. So it’s important. So what we did in this issue is we did some commonly asked questions that I’ve been hearing around the community and tried to answer those questions, the best we could with the last town hall, all the way back in 2021 when SEARHC was here last. We had asked SEARHC to do a q&a with the newspaper and they had said they would prefer not to, residents could just get their information from their web page and from the upcoming town halls. So the information that I’m presenting is from that last town hall.
So one question we get is, would Skagway get its own full-time doctor if SEARHC assumed responsibility? The short answer would be a strong hint at no. Dr. Geddis, who was a spokesperson at that town hall, pointed to a model of a consistent visiting physician who would come to town frequently and would also be available via telehealth. Another idea that I’ve seen floating around is the thought that perhaps (Skagway) Borough Manager Brad Ryan was instrumental in bringing SEARHC to Haines. And the answer is no, the Haines clinic sold to SEARHC in 1998 for $1. And Brad Ryan did not move to Haines until 10 years later in 2008.
Another question is because SEARHC is a native-owned health consortium, does that mean that non-natives could receive a lower level of care? And Dr. Aric said we provide health care in our communities to everybody in those communities. So you don’t create lines between tribal members or non-tribal members.
Swasey – What is the latest on childcare development in Skagway? I mean, a couple of bills came through the assembly and one of them passed and one of them got shelved. Why don’t you fill us in on what happened?
Munson – So if you would like to start a licensed daycare facility in the municipality of Skagway, available to you, possibly, is $100,000 from the city. And that would be $100,000 for two new startups for child care. $40,000 In the first year, and then $20,000 for the following three years. There are some stipulations. You have to have at least 10 kids. You have to be open 11 months out of the year. So this is intended for year-round childcare.
And the second resolution, that did not pass, it was tabled and is headed to finance for review, would provide a stipend for currently operating daycares. And if it passed, that money would allow daycare providers to maybe hire another staff position to help take care of younger kids. And so that’s been tabled. We’ll see what happens with that.
Swasey – All right, what else is going to be hitting the shelves?
Munson – A fun story is that the Don Hather Award for the school was named. And (the recipient) was Jeff Brady.
Swasey – Jeff Brady wins the Don Hather Award, yeah.
Munson – He did. And we were pretty excited. He’s the person who started the Skagway News more than 40 years ago. And he’s basically spent the last 40 years serving the school which is what the Don Hather Wall of Fame is for.
Swasey – Melinda Munson, publisher and co-owner of the Skagway News thank you so much for filling us in on what’s coming up.
Munson – Thanks for keeping us up to date. Take care.
The special run-off election to determine the future of Skagway’s medical clinic will be held from 7 am to 8 pm on Tuesday, July 12. Early absentee voting can be done at City Hall between June 27 and July 11 during regular business hours. The deadline to register to vote is Sunday, June 12. Town hall meetings with SEARHC representatives will be 7 pm on Tuesday, June 21 in assembly chambers at City Hall, and at 7 pm on Monday, July 11 at AB Hall on Broadway Street.
