The Road to Independence: Foundation Health Partners cares for Fairbanks.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: Corporate 100

In 2015 the Board of Trustees for the Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation made a bold decision: taking the year of 2016 to prepare for independence, embarking on a journey to be both locally-owned and -operated starting January 1, 2017. Foundation Health Partners (FHP) Board Chair Jeff Cook says, "This was a courageous move by the board with the full support of FMH [Fairbanks Memorial Hospital] administration. It was the most significant decision made since the separation from the Sisters of Providence in 1967, maybe of greater importance."

Building a Foundation in Fairbanks

Cook was born in Fairbanks at the city's hospital--then called St. Joseph's Hospital--which was owned and operated by The Sisters of Charity. St. Joseph's Hospital was significantly damaged by a flood in 1967, the final straw for a structure that was already aged and deteriorating, having been built some sixty years earlier. Cook explains that the Fairbanks community "voted down a government, borough-owned hospital. Likewise, city voters voted down a bond issue to build a city-owned hospital. Some few of those that were involved in not wanting a city-owned or borough-owned hospital formed The Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation," envisioning a new, community-owned hospital.

The Fairbanks Memorial Hospital replaced St. Joseph's, opening at 1650 Cowels Street in 1972; in 1994 the Foundation opened the Denali Center, a ninety-bed, short- and long-term facility geared toward providing services to the elderly; and in 2008 the organization purchased the Tanana Valley Clinic "to increase access to healthcare for Medicare patients in our community," the Foundation states. Cook says that from 1968 until 2016, whatever properties the Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation owned were operated through partner organizations, the most recent of which was Banner Health. "The culture of Banner changed to the degree that we did not feel we could maintain that relationship," he says. The Foundation looked at other entities to run operations, but ultimately decided instead to form FHP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation, to run operations for the hospital, Denali Center, clinic, and other related office buildings and properties.

Cook says, "The beauty of that is we look at the world from Fairbanks, Alaska. We have a great management team and they're excited about taking this on." He continues, "The easy...