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Description

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About Cordova Comm Medical Center
Cordova Community Medical Center is a 23bed Critical Access Hospital dedicated to providing the best possible healthcare to the Cordova community Owned by the City of Cordova and governed by a Cityappointed Health Services Board the Medical Center is your center for health care

Bigger isnt always better Our compassionate and caring medical nursing and ancillary staff meet the healthcare needs of our community each day We are your neighbors your family your friends

Our providers and staff are skilled in working in rural areas and network with specialists both in Alaska and out of state

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History

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The information contained is from employees and former employees that worked at this facility
The original hospital is now the Cordova Electric Cooperative building The front desk of the Community College was the nurses station and the CEC offices were business emergency delivery and operation rooms while the doctors offices were in the basement In 1979 problems occured when the Federal and State Government realized our hospital was not up to code and those agencies threatened to close the hospital down if it could not meet existing codes

Hollis Hendricks the vice mayor of the Cordova city council worked with Ed Zeine the hospital administrator and two District Representatives to have the State do a study of other hospitals for comparison The State then sent a contractor in to determine whether they should repair the current hospital or build a new one The contractor said it would be best to build a new hospital

Problems occurred when Governor Bill Chefield was appointed because he was opposed to the construction of a new hospital facility in Cordova Through a lot of hard work the hospital board was able to change his first impressions Governor Chefield funded 8000000 to the building of the new hospital Ed Zeine said it was not nearly enough but the newly appointed Governor assured him he would grant the rest of the funding needed the following year He kept his word The Chairman of Providence Hospital MoKadish was a friend of Bill Chefield and helped gain access to the proper equipment needed for the new hospital

The location of the new hospital was originally going to be built on Whiskey Ridge residents of the area were against it because they thought it would disrupt the peace due to ambulance calls The new hospital was built at its present location because the land was available and had better accessibility in the event of an emergency The new hospital location is off of the Copper River Highway at 602 Chase Avenue

The Cordova Community Medical Center was official opened on May 31 1986 Senator Jay Kerttula Representative Bette Cato and Administrator Edward Zeine used a pair of golden scissors to cut the red ribbon as an official opening of the hospital

quotThese scissors were used to cut ribbon during the dedication ceremony on

May 31 1986 By Senator Jay Kerttula

Representative Bette Cato

Administrator Edward Zeinequot