Arielle Dreher

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News >  Spokane

Closing the gap: The uphill battle to get Idaho students immunized amid rising exemption rates

UPDATED: Wed., Aug. 28, 2019

The Idaho Panhandle has some of the highest vaccination exemption rates in the country,

News >  Spokane

‘If you relax, they can feel you relax’: In retirement, public lands manager cuddles, cares for babies

UPDATED: Tue., Aug. 20, 2019

After a decades-long career working for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Stephanie Snook has changed gears, but not pace, and volunteers cuddling babies in the NICU at Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene.

News >  Spokane

Orofino, Cottonwood hospitals to join with nearby Kootenai Health in effort to improve care

Mon., Aug. 19, 2019

Kootenai Health will take ownership of two critical access hospitals in north central Idaho by 2020.

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News >  Spokane

Schools prepare families for loss of philosophical, personal exemption for MMR vaccine

UPDATED: Wed., Aug. 14, 2019

Families with children who have personal or philosophical exemptions to the MMR vaccination will have to vaccinate their children or get a different exemption before school starts this fall. But the requirement for a new exemption can be easily bypassed.

News >  Spokane

Wheat harvest reaped grain and abundant goodwill as Ritzville rallied to help farmer fighting cancer

Tue., Aug. 13, 2019

Farmers came together to help a neighbor harvest 1,200 acres in six hours after learning that Larry Yockey knew he would not be able to cut his wheat after he was diagnosed with cancer.

News >  Spokane

Judge dismisses yearslong case after state psychiatric hospitals change policies, ‘culture,’ hire more staff

Fri., Aug. 9, 2019

A five-year court battle over how psychiatric hospitals in Washington treat patients who have been ruled not guilty by reason of insanity came to an end Wednesday, when Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice dismissed the case after determining significant improvements agreed to in a 2016 settlement had been made

News >  Spokane

Health district and charitable groups respond to hepatitis A outbreak

Wed., Aug. 7, 2019

The Spokane Regional Health District is partnering with local community organizations to provide vaccinations against hepatitis A and B in the midst of a state-declared outbreak of hepatitis A last week.

News >  Spokane

WSU Medical School, Empire Health Foundation share $10.5 million grant to expand rural health care access

Thu., Aug. 1, 2019

Premera Blue Cross announced Wednesday $10.5 million in grant funding to the WSU College of Medicine and the Empire Health Foundation to expand access to rural health care.

News >  Spokane

E. coli found in some contaminated Hillyard water this weekend

Wed., July 31, 2019

The testing of water samples in southeast Hillyard found no chemical contamination in water apparently contaminated with hydroseed, but three positive E. coli-contaminated sample spots did come back on Saturday. E. coli is a bacteria and, while most strains are harmless, a few can cause disease. Follow up tests were not positive for the bacteria.

News >  Spokane

Spokane replacing residential water meters in effort to restore safe drinking water to portion of Hillyard

Mon., July 29, 2019

The City of Spokane is replacing residential water meters in Hillyard, after residents found their water tainted over the weekend.

News >  Spokane

After pharmaceutical companies poured billions of opioid pills into Washington, rural counties try to recover

Sun., July 28, 2019

Millions of prescribed opioids poured into rural counties near Spokane from 2006 to 2012, according to recently revealed data. But while the extent of the problem is clearer, the path to recovery remains hard to see.

News >  Spokane

Data collection program comes to Spokane as part of effort to boost medical research

UPDATED: Tue., July 23, 2019

A National Institutes of Health program is collecting medical data in Spokane this week as part of a nationwide effort to gather information that will fuel research and promote individualized, precision medicine.

News >  Spokane

Keeping people out of crisis: Unit combines law enforcement, mental health worker

Fri., July 19, 2019

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office’s Community Diversion Unit works to divert people experiencing mental health crises away from the hospital or jail.

News >  Spokane

Providence, nurses enter mediated negotiations over benefits

UPDATED: Mon., July 22, 2019

Nurses and health care workers in the Providence hospital system are protesting changes to their benefits plan, while the nonprofit defends the move.

News >  Spokane

State suspends license of long-term care home for children in Spokane

UPDATED: Mon., July 15, 2019

A local long-term care home for children with intensive medical needs closed on Monday, after the Department of Children, Youth and Families suspended its license.

News >  Spokane

New dental clinic coming to East Central Community Center campus

UPDATED: Wed., July 10, 2019

With a new community clinic set to open in mid-2020, residents of East Central will see improved access to dental care.

News >  Spokane

Finding role models in medicine: Program at WSU Spokane inspires high schoolers to explore health sciences

UPDATED: Fri., July 5, 2019

Medicine is not a field for the squeamish. Just ask Danna Rosales, a high school senior from Kennewick who had an up-close experience with a human cadaver last week at Washington State University’s health sciences campus in Spokane. “It was surreal,” Rosales said. “I got to hold a human heart and a human brain.”

News >  Health

Spokane hospitals say operating rooms clean after mold sickens five and kills one at Seattle Children’s Hospital

UPDATED: Thu., July 4, 2019

Spokane-area health care providers explain their infection controls, following report that one patient died and five others were infected by mold in operating rooms at Seattle Children’s Hospital in the past year.