Unalaska, AK – A group of Unalaska residents registered formal concern over clinic hiring decisions yesterday.

Over the course of half an hour, seven complaints about the status of Iliuliuk Family & Health Services' behavioral health services were voiced. The comments focused on the hiring and continued employment of department director Edwin Feraco, despite his lack of an Alaska license to practice.

"Right now you do not have a behavioral health department. It is non-existent in my opinion," commented Carol Bunes. "You have a director who is unqualified and unable to get a license in a community that now has one more reason why they don't want to go to the clinic for care."

Feraco joined the clinic staff last July, and the Alaska Board of Social Work Examiners denied his licensing application in October. According to the letter of denial from the state, his application for a clinical social worker license was rejected after an investigation concluded that Feraco "failed to demonstrate good moral character." The letter says that he failed to name a former employer on his application, and that his behavior during his employment at Gateway Human Services in Ketchikan and the Maniilaq Corporation in Kotzebue called into question his professional suitability. His license was also denied because of a reprimand issued by the State of Connecticut's Department of Public Health and a charge of criminal impersonation pressed by the Ketchikan District Attorney's Office, which was ultimately dismissed. Further, the state board deemed that Feraco failed to provide adequate references and to establish that he had met continuing competency requirements.

In a February interview, clinic executive director Sonia Handforth-Kome said that the application denial was the result of a clerical error, and that she's optimistic that the licensing situation will be resolved shortly.

"We hire folks that have national certifications or licenses in other states. We work them toward getting their licenses, because Alaska state can take quite a long time in getting folks licenses," said Handforth-Kome. "Ed is eligible for three licenses, including the one that they denied initially in October. He has reapplied for that license. He is eligible for it."

Handforth-Kome was not available for comment today.

Feraco maintains active clinical social worker licenses in the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island. According to the application file obtained through a state public records request, Feraco intends to reapply for a clinical social worker license or another license in his field, and he believes that his application was inappropriately denied. In e-mails to the licensing board, he also expressed interest in appealing the decision despite having missed the deadline to do so. Throughout the investigation, Feraco protested that the state licensing board overstepped "his professional and personal boundaries" and violated his privacy by contacting family members. In an email complaint sent in September, Feraco wrote that the "tactics that have been employed by this office surely indicate that this department is rouge [sic] and ignorant to federal and state law," and notified the department that he was considering legal action. Feraco declined to provide comment for this story.

Don Habeger is the director of the Division of Corporations, Business, and Professional Licensing, and he says that the state board followed standard procedure when reviewing Feraco's licensing application.

"The application says that you as an applicant give the division permission to check into some of these things," says Habeger. "We do a check, and if we find that indeed what you said wasn't true and we can verify that, then that goes before the board and the board will determine again a sanction, if you will."

Habeger also added in a subsequent e-mail that, "[t]here is no provision to allow a social worker licensed in [another state] to practice in Alaska and call themselves a licensed social worker' while their application is pending." For behavioral health positions, the clinic requires that providers have their licenses within six months of hire. To bill Medicaid and Medicare patients, providers must have a license issued by the state where they are practicing, a point that was registered by members of the public during the clinic board meeting.

Other complaints about clinic management were also made during the board meeting. When speaking to the board, Nancy Luff registered concerns about the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of Janet Giles, Feraco's former colleague in the behavioral health department.

"If the community doesn't stand up and say, 'We don't want this going on in our clinic,' and if the board doesn't know what's going on at the clinic, then things can go haywire," commented Luff.

Giles had alleged that Feraco had assaulted her on clinic property, and the matter was investigated by police. No charges were filed. Over the past three months, the Unalaska Department of Public Safety has looked into a cease and desist letter issued by Feraco and another assault allegation. Meanwhile, Feraco has filed restraining orders against Giles and another former clinic employee, Victor Fisher.

Sharon O'Malley also expressed concern over these instances and how they relate to his prior employment record.

"His behaviors here in our own town corroborate allegations made in other places: the writing of a threatening letter to a community member, obscenities used at the post office regarding an employee, frivolous restraining orders against people who dare to question or disagree with him," listed O'Malley.

No charges have resulted from any of these complaints. The clinic has also run its own separate investigations into these matters.

Dick Peck is the president of the clinic board, and he says that the board is taking these complaints seriously. The board does not participate in individual hiring processes, but it does communicate with the executive director about its concerns and is able to shape hiring policy.

"We as a board always take any complaint very serious, and we listen to the complaints," says Peck. "Some of those items were discussed in executive session last night. We really appreciate the people bringing these issues to us, and we take our responsibilities very serious [sic]."

Because these complaints concern a personnel issue, Peck could not comment on the matters discussed during last night's executive session.

Following the executive session, Michelle Cochran, one of the members of the public who spoke, informed the board that she and others present at the board meeting plan to attend the City of Unalaska's funding meeting if their complaints are not addressed. IFHS has traditionally received between $145,000 and $150,000 from the city annually for its counseling services.