Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Mat-Su Regional Medical Center


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   keep. –  Juliancolton  &#124; Talk 00:44, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center

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fails WP:ORG. hospitals are not inherently notable, the fact that Sarah Palin gave birth to a son there doesn't add to notability. I could only find routine local coverage in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman‎  LibStar (talk) 00:25, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Alaska-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 01:43, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Medicine-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 01:43, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Organizations-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 01:43, 16 June 2014 (UTC)


 * Keep – Yet again, we find ourselves dealing with an AFD because of a poorly-constructed article? Sheesh.

The first problem herein lies in the apparent belief that the current or recent state of an entity is all we really need to know about. Anything of a historical nature tends to be shoved off into a ghetto, whether that means burying it in the revision history or in a separate article. When I was very young, I used to watch The Flip Wilson Show every week. In a recurring sketch, Wilson played the preacher of "The Church of What's Happening Now!" Whodathunk that such a name would more accurately describe the philosophy that many Wikipedians have towards crafting encyclopedic content! This hospital is the latest incarnation of a direct lineage going back to the establishment of the Matanuska Valley Colony in the 1930s. I haven't bothered to Google "valley hospital palmer alaska", the immediate predecessor of this hospital, but I can tell you that moving the hospital out of Palmer was a very controversial issue which did garner lots of coverage. Last I checked, NewsBank archives of the Frontiersman only go back to 2002/3, while that particular debate goes back a lot further.

The second problem should be more obvious, yet I'm continuing to see "I don't know what you're talking about"-type replies when I bring it up. Because Sarah Palin has become the darling of numerous corporate media outlets, people who lack any real knowledge of Alaska are content to follow along. The scores, if not hundreds, of gratuitous, coatracking references to Palin in the articles of every place she's had a cup of coffee in her entire life reached a fever pitch in 2008/9. It's subsided somewhat since then, but still, to this day, there are plenty of editors whose only frame of reference to Alaska is Sarah Palin, and carry on as if your only frame of reference to Alaska should also be Sarah Palin by virtue of their editing activity. If this is due to these aforementioned corporate media outlets, I shouldn't have to point out that one can simply go to those websites in order to get their idol worship on, and leave Wikipedia out of it. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 08:53, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
 * can you provide actual links to sources or references? LibStar (talk) 14:17, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
 * When I can do a proper search at a location with access to NewsBank, or perhaps offline sources? Nifty tip: many local libraries offer free NB access to registered users.  A proper history of the modern-day Matanuska-Susitna Valley would be in order.  To give you the short version, the city of Wasilla went through tremendous turmoil related to growing pains while a colorful and flamboyant person served as mayor.  No, not Sarah Palin, but rather Charlie Bumpus.  Wasilla became a first-class city and generally boomed for miles around.  Meanwhile, Palmer started to exactly resemble the kind of place that Marty McFly went back to.  Having the hospital so far from the center of population became a years-long dispute.  The main sticking point was the involvement of the Lutheran Hospitals and Homes Society in the Palmer hospital. (see below for more)
 * It may also help to point out that Alaska's certificate of need process has a history of controversy, which means that something such as moving a hospital doesn't proceed quickly (another hint: do documents of certificate of need proceedings exist on the state website?). This hospital is at a strategic location next to the Glenn and Parks interchange, which means that it serves Anchorage as well at Mat-Su (Eagle River, amazingly enough, lacks a hospital), and frankly, a pretty broad surrounding area (see for yourself where the nearest hospitals are in every direction except Anchorage). RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions  17:23, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

There are quite a number of stories in the Anchorage Daily News from 1985 and 1986 regarding a failed proposal for a Wasilla hospital. This is how far back the immediate prehistory goes. LHHS's involvement figures prominently. So does Providence Health & Services. Since they didn't wind up with a stake, they operate a competing facility nearby. It's considered a "doctor's group" and therefore exempt from certificate of need requirements. This prehistory also explains the Wasilla facility (closer to the population it serves), even though it's in a different location than the proposed hospital site. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 17:49, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
 * There really are too many stories over too many years in the ADN. As I have to run soon, here's a good example, from September 1, 1994, regarding Valley Hospital's plan at the time to establish a location of some sort in Wasilla:"(Alaska Department of Health and Social Services commissioner Margaret) Lowe's decision is the latest development in a long-running debate over whether the hospital better serves the Mat-Su area by branching out to the west where the population is growing fastest or by sticking to Palmer, where it has been established for nearly 60 years."There's any number of other stories I could dig up if I felt like it.  I did check the state website for CON info, but it's all pretty much recent info.  The earliest info I could find was from 2006/7, or shortly after this hospital opened. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions  01:02, 18 June 2014 (UTC)


 * keeep There seem to be sufficient sources for an article.  DGG ( talk ) 20:15, 24 June 2014 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.