News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1537 - 1561 of 1807
Facing another litany of complaints about mismanagement, hospital commissioners Monday directed changes in two key policies that have angered community members and medical staff. The commission directed CEO Scott Graham to find a legal way to relaunch a popular lab test discount program that has taken place each spring for years but was halted last year on advice from the hospital district’s former attorney. The personnel/compliance com-mittee had been “bombarded” by concerns from the community after Lincoln Hospital of Davenport adver... Full story
It’s times like these that make you wonder if there’s something to astrology. There is always turmoil somewhere in the world, but when it rears its chaotic head in local communities, it begs the profound question, What the heck? With months of employee and community unrest surrounding Coulee Medical Center coming to a head, and a year of heated discontent within the city of Grand Coulee coming to the fore this week, it’s hard not to ask that question. There may be no sign of the Age of Aquarius in sight, but let’s hope that as the new year un... Full story
With their constituents voicing impatience, hospital district commissioners took no actions after coming out of a closed session last week, but they voted in new leadership and streamlined committee assignments. Tom Poplawski got applause from the full meeting room when he said deferring the beginning of action on a standoff between administration and medical staff was "unacceptable." "Make a decision and let's move on," he said. "We need to start with a new goal here of getting somewhere."... Full story
A large majority of registered nurses at Coulee Medical Center have signed cards asking to be represented by a union, an organizer said Tuesday night. Austin DePaolo, of the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local 1439, said more than 70 percent of the nurses at the hospital had signed cards seeking representation. DePaolo said he couldn’t say the exact number of RNs that would be in the bargaining unit, but he suspected it was about 30. DePaolo said both hospital administration and the state Public Employment Relations Commission (... Full story
Colville Members for Justice will meet Saturday morning in Elmer City to discuss the status and updates on their effort to sue the Colville Business Council over decisions on how much of a $193 million settlement with the United States government to distribute directly to tribal members. Their civil complaint was dismissed in tribal court, but the groups has filed for an appeal. A hearing on that is set for Feb. 21. “We still do not have legal counsel and plan to discuss this and other measures available to us,” said Yvonne Swan, who is spearhe... Full story
People are understandably anxious about the lack of resolution of the issues embroiling Coulee Medical Center. While we feel obliged to report on the controversy, it’s not as easy, and much more technical, to report on the hospital’s progress. Although tensions are high and morale may be low at that crucial community institution, everything has not really gone kaput, as one person recently said, despite appearances. After all, CMC reported a slight gain for 2013 of $71,000, and that’s a big improvement from the hole it was in earlier in the yea... Full story
County sheriffs in the region have been collaborating on finding out who has been stealing from rural residents and getting their property back. Last week, the sheriffs of Grant, Lincoln and Adams counties met in Lincoln County with their detectives to discuss the crimes and suspects, Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers said. "As a result of communication, I believe that we have solved numerous crimes," Magers said. "Search warrants in Lincoln County, Grant County, and Spokane Counties were... Full story
On any given week, Star photographers take far more photos than can be used in the newspaper. But the best of the rest are included on a website anyone can explore, and it has just been redesigned. We hope readers enjoy looking through them and feel free to share them in social media as they like.... Full story
Got some good shots at the LRHS Raider basketball game against Oroville Friday night and decided to get a slideshow up for you: To see photos larger, click on them at this site: http://ow.ly/t0SyM... Full story
A worker burned in an accident at Grand Coulee Dam last November is due to be released from hospital today, the Bureau of Reclamation has informed an irrigation district. The Columbia Basin Development League reported to members in its email newsletter last week that the bureau said Dan McCulloch would be released Jan. 22. McCulloch, 54, was flown to Harborview Medical Center with extensive burns Nov. 18 after a mishap with switch gear for Pump Generator 12 in the John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant. Of the 12 units in the plant, six are... Full story
It was uncomfortable at first, but the nursing staff at Coulee Medical Center has made a cultural adjustment for transparency in the service of improvements to patient care at the hospital. So said Chief Nursing Officer Ramona Hicks in a presentation to the chamber of commerce on substantial changes in nursing and other processes at the facility. Hicks, whose CNO position gives her oversight of nursing, surgical services, pharmacy, laboratory, radiology, outpatient services, labor and delivery... Full story
Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers last week awarded Wilbur resident Seth Coffman for his role in the saving the life of a woman thrown from a boat near Keller Ferry Marina in 2011. Magers gave Coffman a letter and a “Lincoln County Sheriffs Office Challenge Coin.” Coffman commandeered a boat just before noon Oct. 7, 2011 when a boat was noticed circling out of control in tight circles. “You had heard the commotion and responded to the marina where you commandeered a boat and heroically responded to the scene to assist the two strangers in ne... Full story
Authorities clamped down on a local fire chief this week, who said he didn’t know burning the kinds of materials he had in his burn pile was illegal. He’s not alone in a lack of understanding of this state’s laws regarding outdoor burning. City hall seems to think that if he had contained his fire to a certain size, had a ready means to extinguish it and kept the burn to unoffending materials, such as leaves, it would be OK. It would not. It is against the law in this state to burn anything within “Growth Management” boundaries. It has been... Full story
A majority of hospital district commissioners voted Thursday to immediately hire new legal counsel, then went into closed session with the new attorney. Commissioner Jerry Kennedy said the board’s reasons for changing attorneys had been compounded the week before when the hospital administration mailed a notice of a privacy breach, reportedly to thousands, saying a doctor had violated federal patient privacy rules. “One of the hopes that I had was that … having legal counsel involved in that would help minimize reputational damage to the insti... Full story
One of the doctors who felt his reputation was unneccessarily harmed by a notice sent to his patients and placed in the newspaper, last week explained the work he had been up to. In an interview, Dr. Andrew Castrodale said the “HIPAA” notice, made under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, implied the work had been about figuring out bonus pay, but was actually meant to devise a reliable tool for measuring and reporting the efficiency and productivity of health care providers at Coulee Medical Center. Although it did... Full story
by Scott Hunter A draft budget for the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District could be slashed in half, or not, depending on what other agencies do. The $57,005 bottom line for the agency with no direct revenue of its own would have to be altered substantially if levels of support from local cities stay low, or if Grant County commissioners don’t approve a grant request for work the district would like to accomplish this year. Chairman Phil Hansen’s simple budget includes a donation of $9,000 from Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam, but neither has... Full story
A computer used by Coulee Dam’s former mayor is missing, and the new mayor has asked the sheriff to investigate the possible theft of public property and destruction of public records. Newly elected Mayor Greg Wilder said when he entered the office at the beginning of the year, a brand new computer was already there for his use. It had never been used, and no files existed on its hard drive. Wilder, who defeated Quincy Snow in the mayoral race last fall, had earlier lodged a complaint with the state Public Disclosure Commission alleging the i... Full story
A special meeting of the commission that governs Coulee Medical Center, originally called for last night, was postponed, likely until Thursday night, Jan. 9, because an attorney central to the agenda could not make it out of Spokane due to snowy roads. [Update 1-9-14: Confirmed: the meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight.] A majority of the five commissioners called the special meeting to consider, among other things, hiring a different law firm, a proposal that died at a regular meeting of the commission Dec. 26, less than two weeks earlier.... Full story
An Omak woman was injured and flown to a hospital after the car she was driving hit black ice Friday morning. Maya Best, 31, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with unspecified injuries after the 2007 Ford Freestyle she was driving slid off highway 155 about 11 miles north of Nespelem, close to Disautel Pass. As Best was southbound at 7:15 a.m., her car hit black ice and slid off the road to the right and into a boulder, then came to rest blocking the northbound lane at about milepost 56, according to a Washington State... Full story
A fire that scrambled area fire departments to the Third Powerhouse at Grand Coulee Dam last week started in an air filter. It put out a lot of smoke, but, unlike fires in other power plants at the dam last year, didn’t affect power production. A contractor working on the overhaul of of G-24, one of six massive generators in the power plant, had been sand blasting the interior of the generator’s shaft, according to Public Affairs Officer Lynne Brougher. In that process, a dust collector separates air from dust, which it deposits in a bar... Full story
A committee formed to try to heal a critical breach between health care providers and administration at Coulee Medical Center recommended hiring a consultant to investigate what the committee heard from staff and community members over the last five weeks. Commissioners Jerry Kennedy and Kris Hare reported at a regular meeting Dec. 26 that many had shared concerns in confidence and were afraid to speak critically of administrators for fear of job consequences. “Many of the personnel concerns expressed require additional investigation, more inve... Full story
The weather elsewhere is disrupting events in the coulee tonight. A special meeting of the local hospital district commission will be postponed until probably Thursday, Commissioner Geary Oliver said. An attorney central to the agenda can’t make it from Spokane, where cars are piling up due to snow conditions. And tonight’s Raider basketball games with White Swan have been cancelled due to inclement weather in Yakima. They will be rescheduled, said Athletic Director Rich Black....
A special meeting for Tuesday night has been called of the commission that governs Coulee Medical Center. A majority of the five commissioners set the special meeting to consider, among other things, hiring a different law firm, a proposal that died at a regular meeting of the commission Dec. 26, less than two weeks earlier. At issue were public complaints about stopping a popular discounted lab test week. Commissioners Jerry Kennedy and Geary Oliver had served as a committee to look into obtaining independent legal counsel for the board to...
An Omak woman was injured and flown to a hospital after the car she was driving hit black ice Friday morning. Maya Best, 31, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with unspecified injuries after the 2007 Ford Freestyle she was driving slid off the highway 155 about 11 miles north of Nespelem, close to Disautel Pass. As Best was southbound at 7:15 a.m., her car hit black ice and slid off the road to the right and into a boulder, then came to rest blocking the northbound lane at about milepost 56, according to a Washington State... Full story
