Business in brief: Hospital wins hiring award

Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center Tuesday was awarded Spokane County Community Services’ Employer of the Year award for outstanding commitment to incorporating the disabled into the workplace.

Executive Director Peggy Mangiaracina said the center has hired eight disabled employees since a presentation five years ago showed how they had been integrated into the work force at a Cincinnati hospital.

The program has been so successful, she said, Sacred Heart is planning a second phase that will introduce high school students to hospital work.

County Commissioner Todd Mielke said during a luncheon that 350 of the 6,300 county residents with a disability are working, earning $2.2 million, and becoming more self-sufficient.

Nationally, more than 80 percent of those with disabilities are unemployed, he said.

Staff report

Businesses award college support

Associated Industries and three area businesses are providing college scholarships to 38 students through the Bright Promise program.

UnitedHealthcare, Moranco & Associates, a Spokane-based insurance agency, and Inland Insurance, based in Spokane Valley, provided $100,000 toward the scholarship program. The goal is to continue the program in collaboration with Associated Industries, a Spokane for-profit provider of business services.

Scholarships will pay about half of students’ yearly tuition at the Community Colleges of Spokane or Eastern Washington University.

Most of the scholarship recipients are considered nontraditional students — meaning they are older and already have hands-on experience in their field of study.

Fourteen of the recipients are from Spokane. Nine have entered EWU this fall and the other five have started at one of the Community Colleges of Spokane.

Tom Sowa

Wal-Mart plans Post Falls store

Work is expected to start soon on a $10.3 million, 150,000-square-foot Wal-Mart supercenter near Cabela’s in The Pointe at Post Falls. Construction on another Wal-Mart in Hayden isn’t far behind, city officials say.

In Post Falls, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. spokesman Josh Phair said site work likely will start within two weeks, and construction typically takes nine to 12 months.

Wal-Mart also has planned a 200,000-square-foot store in Hayden at the southwest corner of Honeysuckle Avenue and U.S. 95 for about six years. Phair says construction at that location likely will start before 2010 and should be complete by late next summer.

The company has nearly 7,000 workers in Idaho and is among the state’s biggest employers.

Associated Press