Treva Lind

Christian music radio station KEEH-FM has sent a signal from Spokane for 30 years, but a 2016 rebrand as Shine 104.9 has led to both wider audience and expansion. As Shine, the station sought to broaden connections with local churches and nonprofits in sharing events and doing interviews with regional leaders. In recent years, Shine also has steadily climbed toward the top in Nielsen ratings among Spokane-area radio stations.

Watching the TV cartoon "Bluey" in a waiting room, 3-year-old Karl Hadley reluctantly walked away Wednesday for yet another of his frequent visits with a Spokane cardiologist. But surprises awaited him in the exam room: Balloons and a toy, Bluey's Family Home, complete with its dog figurine. Dr. Carl Garabedian watched along with Karl's parents Randy and Brenda Hadley as the boy played briefly until his routine checkup began. The gifts marked a milestone for the child three years ago, when Karl at 5 weeks received a liver transplant on Valentine's Day at Seattle Children's. A virus infection had caused his liver to fail. Karl still has ongoing health issues from an unrelated congenital heart defect, called pulmonary vein stenosis, which means progressive narrowing of veins. Since his birth Jan. 5, 2021 in Coeur d'Alene, he has spent most of life in hospitals or visiting them for procedures, both because of the initial liver failure and his heart condition.

Maddy Reyes will wear red Friday, although her color choice might lean toward crimson. A Washington State University sophomore on the school's cheer team, Reyes knows what it's like to have heart issues as a survivor of a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. Friday is the American Heart Association's national Go Red for Women day.

A Spokane clinic designed for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, has received designation as a certified treatment center of excellence. The ALS clinic is at Providence St. Luke's Rehabilitation Medical Center through its physiatry and neuromuscular services. It’s the region's first clinic to get the ALS Association's certification, according to Providence Health. Previously, the closest certified centers were in Seattle and Portland. ALS causes progressive degeneration of motor nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain, leading to weakness and eventually loss of control with muscles that can affect walking, chewing, swallowing, speaking and breathing.

With 100 years of Spokane history, a statewide nonprofit that shifted away from mainly adoptions to child and family services has a new name: Akin. Founded in 1896, it was first Washington Children's Home Finding Society and then Children's Home Society of Washington. Known here for 70 years at the Galland Hall on the South Hill, the region's branch moved in 2004 to the Galland-Ashlock Family Resource Center in Spokane Valley. The Akin name nods to kin or kinship care among families and emerges from a Jan. 1 merger with the Seattle-area Childhaven, an early 1900s agency that first helped single parents with daycare until it transitioned to childhood well-being programs. In Spokane, modern Akin services include child and family counseling, early learning and developmental support for infants to preschoolers, parent education and other family programs.

In its first 15 months, Maddie's Place has cared for 61 infants experiencing withdrawal from drug exposure before birth. Its caregivers learned about another 63 drug-exposed babies in Spokane who didn't go there in that period. Leaders seeking state Medicaid funding for Maddie's Place think the numbers far exceed estimates. A new WSU study will look at its health outcomes and tap Spokane providers about insight into the real numbers in Spokane County. 

Under broadening research, doctors have more reasons to tell patients to spend time in open spaces regularly for better mental health. Now, a statewide study suggests that even small differences in having available urban green spaces and access to waterfronts have ties to improved self-reported mental health among people ages 65 and older, according to Washington State University researchers, who say this also might help offset dementia.

Kootenai Health enters 2024 with big changes, including its Jan. 1 transition from a public hospital district to a private nonprofit to operate Coeur d’Alene’s 397-bed hospital, two rural facilities and more than 20 clinics.

Cutting out booze improved Bailey Bowerman health, but unexpectedly, she also noticed her feelings of anxiety drop significantly. She and her friend recently launched Diversion Events, a business that scheduled its first gathering with mocktails, DJ music and dancing.

MultiCare clinical psychologist Kimberly Chupurdia agrees with recent reports on higher rates of depression among teens – and for some – suicidal thoughts. A Washington state report in 2023 cites that more youth are reporting mental health issues. Chupurdia thinks factors include lingering effects from COVID shutdowns and an uptick in social media use. Some teens have had difficulties transitioning back into social structures, even in recent months, she said.

In mid-December, the Safe Passage Children's Advocacy Center received accreditation from the National Children's Alliance under its standards for best practices. The Coeur d'Alene facility provides support, interviews and exams for child victims of sexual and physical abuse, and family support. Nationwide, centers follow standards in response to allegations by using evidence-based practices and coordination with local agencies for investigation, prosecution and treatment. The center serves North Idaho and conducts 250 forensic interviews a year, working with children ages 3 to 17, and a small number of adults with cognitive disability.

Becky Hammill believes in mental health recovery that taps trained peers with similar experiences. She also backs the power of respite care, letting someone hit a pause button if life gets overwhelming. At the helm of Passages Family Support for more than 20 years, Hammill is the founding director of that nonprofit, which for Spokane County provides various mental health services mainly for state Medicaid-eligible residents. She has advocated to grow certified peer counseling and to build a Spokane respite house with trained staff support for people who fall in a gap for mental health services – needing more than outpatient services but not quite behavioral health care in a hospital. Now, Hammill can say both became reality, and she's just overseen the newly-built facility for adults called Termonn, Gaelic for sanctuary, opening by Dec. 31 on the Passages campus.

A new study adds a twist to how much sleep boosts our health.

Describing her life since December 1979, Ami Atkins can say she hasn't ventured far from pediatric intensive care spaces at Providence Sacred Heart Children's Hospital. Born 44 years ago there, she spent two days in the neonatal intensive care unit because of a swelling on her head – gone by the next day. It was precautionary then because Atkins was otherwise healthy. By age 21, Atkins walked into that unit as a NICU nurse, when she finished an associate's degree as a teen mom. After working 10 years in the NICU, Atkins moved to the nearby Pediatric ICU, where she works today.

MultiCare Health System returned to a temporary mask mandate beginning Monday in patient care areas that include Deaconess and Valley hospitals, based on the past week's rise in respiratory illnesses.

For nine years, Jodi Rivas has matched the Christmas wishes of Medical Lake children with donors who buy those gift requests. Also a Medical Lake resident, Rivas decided for this holiday season, she had to do more for her town after the summer's Gray fire. Rivas extended the gift drive to any neighbor who lost a home or had a financial hit because of the disaster, including adults without kids. This time, donors covered entire families and were from across the region. Requests were humble, "lamps, extension cords, a snow shovel, cleaning supplies, warm socks, a jacket, a robe ... They just want a little bit of home back."

New treatments and research for Alzheimer's disease have room to expand in downtown Spokane where neurologist Dr. David Greeley has opened a center. As new drugs emerge, he expects more innovations to fight the disease within a few years. Greeley bought the building at 1520 W. Third Ave., formerly Global Credit Union headquarters. In November, he moved his independent practice, Northwest Neurological, and separate research company he owns, Kingfisher Cooperative, to the renovated ground level.

Each year around this time, Salvation Army volunteers know which tags still hang from the organization's angel trees in stores – gift requests for teenagers. That gift gap seems wider this season with inflation, said Captain David Cain of the Spokane Corps of the Salvation Army. Early this week, he said Christmas requests still weren't fulfilled for about 20 youth in Spokane, both males and females, ages 12-20. "Every year, teens are the challenge because it’s just easier to buy for the little ones, but particularly now it is when $25 used to go a lot farther," Cain said. The angel trees are located at Spokane-area stores of Fred Meyer, Walmart, J.C. Penney and Old Navy. The local organization also has an Amazon wish list open through this Friday, with a link on its website, www.makingspokanebetter.org.

Thick, fleece-lined socks – 218 pairs – sit bundled in a Post Falls home ready for delivery Christmas morning to people who can feel isolated as the holiday nears.

Receiving a liver transplant at age 3, Ruby Mwamba turned often to books and a favorite bracelet during long days in the hospital.

Pothen, 43, of Greenacres began Mountain Creek Miniatures at the University of Montana. She first made tiny wind chimes. Today, she runs a part-time hobby business around full-time work. She crafts miniature holiday cookies on baking pans, chocolate bars, landscape items, wizard tools and vegetables for dollhouses or one-room themed boxes, which mimic rooms in a home or businesses.

Betsy Godlewski has long held a fascination for historic architecture and early theaters – particularly those in the Art Deco style.

The concrete staircase easily could be missed – one side is tucked among trees near a dead end of Perry at 20th Avenue. But the pedestrian pathway linking neighborhoods on the South Hill is beloved by many residents nearby.

Becky Van Keulen has worked nearly a decade to expand the reach of Cancer Can't, a cause she credits to her late husband Jonathan. As he fought a form of bone cancer in 2014, the couple realized this region didn't have resources dedicated to adult oncology, so they co-founded the nonprofit. After his death in 2016, Van Keulen continued that work, such as a transportation program for people getting to treatments and a plan to build a lodging facility for patients and families traveling to Spokane for cancer care.