John Stucke

The Shriners intend to collect money from insurers and taxpayer-subsidized health programs for the first time, a change that should prevent the closure of its Spokane hospital and five others that treat children with orthopedic conditions.

Providence Health Care has laid off 44 employees and reassigned 45 others at its two large Spokane hospitals. The numbers are lower than feared last winter, when executives hinted at hundreds of job losses to cope with a deepening recession and the resulting cutbacks in government health care spending and unpaid medical bills.

The Shriners Hospital for Children in Spokane has been given a reprieve as delegates to the charitable organization’s annual meeting tabled a vote to close six of its 22 hospitals.

Providence Health Care has laid off 44 employees and reassigned 45 others at its two large Spokane hospitals. The numbers are lower than initially feared last winter when executives hinted at hundreds of job losses to cope with a deepening recession and the resulting cutbacks in government health care spending and unpaid medical bills.

Thomas Masters, a former Metropolitan Mortgage and Securities Co. executive implicated in one of the fraudulent real estate schemes that unraveled the firm, has filed a $26 million personal bankruptcy and moved to Nevada to seek work. Masters had five development projects under way, including three in the Tri-Cities and two in Spokane – one each in Hillyard and the Five Mile area. When investors withdrew financing for the projects, Masters decided to avoid the personal guarantees he made on developments by filing for bankruptcy, said his attorney, Dan O’Rourke.

State officials have rejected Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center’s plans to add 152 patient beds. The decision by the Washington state Department of Health puts an end to a $175 million construction project that was expected to span several years and employ as many as 700 people.

Patients with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders are frustrated by a decision by the new owners of Deaconess Medical Center to close a clinic and dismiss its director, Dr. Anthony Santiago. The Movement Disorder Clinic will close Aug. 5, Deaconess informed patients in a letter. Patients and their families were encouraged to find other neurologists from a list of four other medical groups in Spokane, or the Booth Gardner Parkinson’s Center near Seattle.

Three Spokane teens have recently overdosed on the seeds of a hallucinogenic plant called jimson weed. Spokane Regional Health District spokeswoman Julie Graham said people should be wary of jimson weed’s toxicity.

Regional wheat farmers hope the political unrest roiling Iran won’t disrupt a business breakthrough that during the past year resulted in the first grain sales into the country in nearly 30 years. Drought in the Middle Eastern country of 66 million people turned it into the world’s largest wheat importer during the past year.

Three Spokane teens have recently overdosed on the seeds of a hallucinogenic plant called jimson weed. Health officials want to warn teenagers and their parents about the possible dangers of jimson weed now that the school year is over and many children are left home alone.

Sen. Maria Cantwell remains cool to a centralized public-option health care plan that, if it worked as envisioned by the Obama administration and supporters, would compete with the private sector to hold down insurance and medical costs. And she is cool to a new tax on health benefit plans that run in excess of $15,000 annually when combining the amount paid by the employee and the employer.

Spokane County’s new Health Sciences & Services Authority intends to issue grants exceeding $900,000 this autumn. The authority was created by the 2007 Legislature. It’s a novel way of funding local health priorities, said Spokane attorney Nancy Isserlis, who heads the board. She announced the group’s first request for proposals, aimed at bolstering the region’s abilities for bioscience research. The board will review applications in hopes of issuing a $675,000, two-year grant.

A Hayden construction company has filed a foreclosure action after failing to collect payment for work at several lots at the upscale Estates at Black Rock Bay overlooking Lake Coeur d’Alene. SI Construction LLC claims it is owed $78,446 for building roads, sewer and water lines. The firm has sued multiple business entities, including The Ridge at Black Rock Bay, Inc., The Ridge at Black Rock Bay Homes, Inc., Black Rock Homeowners Association Inc., and others, along with individuals associated with the property.

A Spokane Valley chiropractor has agreed to a 10-year license suspension to settle allegations of double-billing, having sex with a patient and smoking marijuana. Travis Broughton denied the allegations made by a woman he referred to as his “crazy ex-girlfriend.”

A Hayden construction company has filed a foreclosure action after unsuccessfully collecting payment for work at several lots within the upscale Estates at Black Rock Bay overlooking Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Five new Spokane cases of H1N1 influenza have been confirmed in the past week, and local health officials say the virus is now common and infecting people throughout the region. The recently confirmed swine flu cases include a Rogers High School student and his father, an infant and the two prisoners at the Airway Heights Corrections Center whose cases were reported last week. The newest cases may be just a small sample of the number of people with the headline-grabbing flu strain.

Spokane health officials believe the H1N1 influenza virus – commonly called swine flu – is infecting people throughout the region. Five new cases confirmed in the past week, including a Rogers High School student and his father, along with an infant and two prisoners at the Airway Heights Corrections Center, may be just a fraction of actual number of people with the flu strain that grabbed headlines this spring.

Health officials suspect that contaminated cocaine has killed one Spokane woman and sickened three others in the area. A muted response by the Spokane Regional Health District – which knew about the contamination for more than a month without issuing a broad health advisory – is the subject of an internal review launched Thursday by new health officer Dr. Joel McCullough.