Treva Lind

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.

As veterans pounded nails into the walls of birdhouses on a recent Sunday, their jokes got traded as often as a supply of hammers, nails and drills. A new woodworking club at the Spokane Veterans Home draws six regulars who meet once a week around a long table in the dining room. The group has become so popular that the center has put out a call for community donations of woodworking tools, from hand saws to electric drills.

In 1952, Karl Hoffmann came to Spokane from Germany at age 18 to join his sister and brother-in-law. Hoffmann, 89, died Oct. 28 in Spokane, after complications from a bad fall. Hoffmann left his mark on Spokane through decades of successes in insurance, financial consulting and as a co-founder of the city's earliest soccer teams, the Spokane Spokes and the Spokane Shadow.

Brea Seaburg thought she’d never run another marathon after a surprise Type 1 diabetes diagnosis four years ago.

Raised in north Spokane, Aaron McCarty figured he'd do a short military stint to pay for college. He's nurse manager today of the surgical-orthopedic unit at Providence Holy Family Hospital, where he was born. At his 1995 Rogers High School graduation, he didn't first envision a nurse career. McCarty also didn't expect he'd spend a decade in the U.S. Army, including a year in Iraq. While his military role wasn't medical, he credits that Army experience and Iraq deployment as helping him in his work now in handling sometimes chaotic moments and working with people.

Last winter, 100 Spokane County residents called for help to clear snow-covered residential paths. They're seniors or disabled, unable to do the shoveling, and often can't afford to pay someone. Now, Aging & Long Term Care of Eastern Washington is sending out a distress call before this winter. It urgently needs sign-ups among groups of snow-shoveling volunteers from churches, schools, businesses, community centers and clubs for a new initiative, Adopt a Neighbor.

Arico, 85, has perfected his stained glass handiwork for some 50 years to create suncatchers, lamps, ornaments, characters and glass panels. These days, he sells some pieces at two holiday craft fairs a year, including Dec. 2-3 at Ridgeline High School in Liberty Lake, but he's also enjoys gifting pieces of artwork. He recently made and donated 70 star-shaped ornaments in red, white and blue for a cause. The pieces adorn a patriotic-themed Christmas tree up for raffle at the Cancer Community Charities craft fair fundraiser on Friday and Saturday at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds. The stained glass topper is his handiwork, as well, and the tree with other decor and gift packages is valued at $2,000.

Cody and Laura Brincken's son Isaac needed 13 blood transfusions during his 157 days of life. Those transfusions – made possible by regional blood donors – gave them more days with Isaac before he died Oct. 10, 2018, his mom said. Moved by that generosity, they regularly donate blood and also organize a public Vitalant drive in Isaac's name each October. They also launched Isaac's Bookshelf in 2019 that brings literature to pediatric hospital patients.