John Stucke

Parents and children stood in a chilly mix of rain and snow Thursday afternoon outside of Shiloh Hills Elementary School for the last walk-in swine flu vaccination clinic. Though there are two more scheduled clinics – Nov. 7 at the Spokane Valley YMCA and Nov. 14 at the north Spokane YMCA – appointments are required.

The first mass vaccination clinic against the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, may be over, but the community is still wrestling with illness and trying to ensure that the people at greatest risk get immunized. About 2,100 people received vaccine shots or nasal mist Saturday – about half what the Spokane Regional Health District was prepared to give. Dr. Joel McCullough, hired last spring as health district officer, offers a few insights regarding the swine flu outbreak and what’s being done. Here is an edited version of an interview with McCullough on Saturday. Q.Did the first clinic go well? What’s next?

County health officials vaccinated about 2,100 people against the swine flu Saturday as thousands of people lined up outside the Spokane Arena to fend off the aggressive virus that is sickening people across the county. Health officials had about 4,000 doses on hand and held the mass vaccination clinic in an effort to reach the region’s most vulnerable: pregnant women and young people with underlying health conditions.

Some 2,100 people inoculated against virus

Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center’s chief executive charged Rockwood Clinic’s leaders with bad-faith dealings and ethical lapses the day after Rockwood stunned Spokane’s medical community by announcing it would align with Sacred Heart’s main rival. “It is clear to us that the interim leadership of Rockwood is leading the Rockwood physicians down a very dangerous path fueled purely by profit motive,” said Sacred Heart CEO Dr. Andrew Agwunobi.

Spokane is in the grip of a swine flu outbreak that has sickened thousands of people, swamped hospital emergency rooms and filled hospital beds with children and young adults. On Wednesday, more than 200 people with flu symptoms sought help at local emergency rooms. Many were sent home with instructions for bed rest and fever treatment. Many others with respiratory issues were hospitalized; at Deaconess Medical Center alone, more than a half-dozen pregnant women were in the hospital because of swine flu. The flu epidemic has put the county’s infectious disease planning to the test and stretched hospitals to capacity, said Shelley Peterson, chief of nursing at Deaconess.

POMEROY, Wash. – It is autumn in this small town along Pataha Creek, tucked into the rolling hills south of the Snake River. The downtown is populated with a handful of shoppers, pickups and minivans. It boasts nine churches and two bars. This wheat farming town also has the distinction of being the seat of Garfield County – with 2,400 people, the state’s least populous. These aren’t heady times for Pomeroy. The price of wheat is down, big-box stores in larger towns lure away local dollars, and the recession has delivered a wallop. Yet there’s a bit of rejoicing about the arrival of the town’s newest resident. After two years of searching, Pomeroy has a local doctor again.

Dr. Barbara Smit finished her fourth eye surgery by 10 a.m. Monday and began preparing for another. It’s a typically busy morning at the Spokane Eye Clinic’s new surgery center. The building, erected along Interstate 90 near downtown, was a $10.9 million project and focus of community curiosity during the past year, as dollars became scarce and health care reforms and cost controls dominated the national debate.

The first batch of swine flu vaccines have arrived in Spokane, though inoculation appointments to ward off the aggressive virus won’t begin until next week. People can call the Spokane Regional Health District beginning at 8 a.m. Monday to schedule an appointment to receive a free vaccination. The number to call, (509) 324-1648, won’t be activated until Monday, according to a press release.

During football practice a few weeks ago C.J. Pier took a helmet-to-helmet hit to the head. The seventh-grade quarterback and wide receiver at Greenacres Middle School went down. He remembers what happened, including the pain.

The escape of a paranoid schizophrenic killer while on a field trip to the Spokane County Interstate Fair has reignited a long-smoldering conflict between advocates of two basic American principles: justice for criminals and compassion for the mentally ill.

Eastern State Hospital’s top administrator has resigned in the aftermath of last week’s escape during a Spokane County Interstate Fair field trip of a criminally insane patient committed to the hospital for the slaying of a Sunnyside, Wash., woman 22 years ago. The escape ignited public fury and led to calls for changes to state law. The controversy also prompted Harold “Hal” Wilson to leave his post by Oct. 1.

Eastern State Hospital’s top administrator has resigned in the aftermath of last week’s escape during a Spokane Interstate Fair field trip of a criminally insane patient committed to the hospital for the slaying of a Sunnyside woman 22 years ago.