Lourdes Health is pleased to announce that Janak Patel, MD, has accepted a position as a family medicine provider at Lourdes Family Medicine, located at 7425 Wrigley Drive in Pasco. Dr. Patel joined our team in September and began seeing patients on Oct. 4.
Dr. Patel recently completed his family medicine residency with West River Health Services in Hettinger, North Dakota. “We are looking forward to welcoming Dr. Patel and growing our family medicine provider base even more,” said Kevin Taylor, MD, Lourdes Medical Director. “He will be a great addition to our team, for our patients, and for our community.” Dr. Patel attended medical school at the University of Medicine and Health Sciences in St. Kitts, West Indies and then went on to complete a one-year internship with Sanford Hospital and CHI St. Alexius in Bismarck, North Dakota. Following his internship, Dr. Patel completed his three-year residency. Dr. Patel has medical experience in urban and rural settings, and his range of rotations have included emergency medicine, urgent care, inpatient management and outpatient clinics. Dr. Patel is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), is board certified in Family Medicine, and has certifications in Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS), Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). Lourdes Family Medicine is located at 7425 Wrigley Drive, Suite 100, just off of Road 68 in Pasco. Patients can schedule an appointment by calling 509.416.8888.
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Lourdes Health is among America’s 100 Best Hospitals in the nation for Spine Surgery, according to research by Healthgrades, the leading resource that connects consumers, physicians, and health systems. This is the second year in a row that Lourdes has been recognized for this award and is also named as the only hospital in Washington State to achieve this honor in 2020 and 2021.
“The importance of hospital quality is top of mind for consumers, as they are becoming more aware of the differences of care provided by different hospitals. Consumers can feel confident knowing that hospitals that are recognized for their performance in Spine Surgery provide high-quality care and superior outcomes,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades. “We are grateful for this recognition from Healthgrades and proud of our incredible teams who make this possible,” said Joanie White-Wagoner, Chief Executive Officer at Lourdes Health. “We are committed to quality, excellence, and positive patient outcomes, and this award reflects the dedication and contribution of our healthcare providers.” Where consumers choose to receive healthcare services can affect their chances of experiencing a complication, which may prolong recovery, or even affect their chances of dying. For example, a patient might be surprised to learn that their risk of having a back and neck surgery complication is, on average, 77.9% lower at a hospital with a 5-star rating than if they were treated in a hospital with a 1-star rating.* Lourdes achieved a 5-star rating in Back and Neck Surgery in 2019, 2020, and again in 2021. For its 2021 analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 45 million Medicare inpatient records between 2017 and 2019 at nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide to assess hospital performance in 32 common conditions and procedures. The Healthgrades Specialty Excellence Awards – such as Lourdes Health’s Spine Surgery Excellence Award – recognize hospitals with superior performance in specific specialty lines and specialty focus areas. Healthgrades recognizes a hospital’s quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5-star (significantly better-than-expected outcomes), 3-star (not statistically different from expected outcomes) and 1-star (statistically significantly worse-than-expected outcomes). View the full list of 2021 Specialty Excellence Award™ recipients here. The complete Healthgrades 2021 Report to the Nation and detailed study methodology, can be found at https://partners.healthgrades.com/healthgrades-quality-solutions/healthgrades-quality-awards/ ![]() Prosser Memorial Health is proud to provide health care to all the members of our communities, including the younger ones. For this reason, we are excited to welcome Pediatrician Brian Proctor, DO, to the team of providers at our Grandview clinic! Dr. Proctor received his Bachelor of Science in Physical Education, majoring in Sport Science with a minor in Biology, from the University of Idaho. He went on to study at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, graduating from the College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Proctor recently completed a residency at the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Department of Child Health. Dr. Proctor’s love for pediatrics comes from the constant joy he is surrounded by. For him, working with kids creates a fun environment that is hard not to be happy around. Dr. Proctor also enjoys watching the resilience of children and their capabilities to recover so well from illness. This is a field that is very rewarding for him. Dr. Proctor has two small children of his own that have given him a more understanding perspective for his patients and their parents. He likes helping others and has given back to the communities he’s lived in through his volunteer work with organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute. In his free time, he and his wife enjoy staying active with activities like hiking, snowboarding, and rock climbing. One of the things he enjoys most about living in the area is the weather and proximity to water, which allow his family to spend more time outdoors. Dr. Brian Proctor will be providing a variety of pediatric services for ages newborn through adolescence. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 509.203.1080 or visit prosserhealth.org. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories is raising its starting hourly wage for U.S. employees to $18 per hour, effective October 1.
The company currently has approximately 300 open positions, with 50 of the openings at its Pullman, Washington, and Lewiston, Idaho, locations. "We have faced a pandemic and figured out how to stay safe while never missing a beat satisfying our customers as they keep the lights on for people around the world,” said Edmund O. Schweitzer III, founder, president and chief technology officer. “And now, we have a tremendous opportunity to increase our production and meet our customers’ growing needs and are excited to continue to hire the best and brightest folks to help us achieve our mission." In addition to offering competitive wages and benefits, the 100 percent employee-owned company provides full-time U.S. employees a stake in the company through its employee stock ownership plan. With this plan, employees receive shares of the company’s stock, which are held in a trust until they retire or leave the company. Employees and their families also enjoy access to the company’s free onsite health clinics and wellbeing centers, located on its Pullman and Lewiston campuses. For more information, visit selinc.com/hiring. Trios Health is pleased to announce its $10 sports physical clinic brought in $7,380 to donate to local schools.
Trios Health offered $10 sports physicals at its Urgent Care to local middle and high school students throughout the summer, with 100 percent of the proceeds being donated directly back to students’ respective schools. “We have conducted this event for more than 20 years as a one-day clinic, but with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic we decided to not host a large event,” said Lorie Orozco, Director of Trios Medical Group Operations. “We are grateful that we found a way to conduct our annual sports physical clinic through our Urgent Care. This actually allowed us to serve more families and students.” Typically, Trios Health sees approximately 300 students during its annual one-day sports physical clinic. This year, however, the Urgent Care conducted 738 sports physicals. Trios is currently in the process of sending letters and checks to the respective schools. “We are thrilled to have been able to offer the sports physicals and that we were actually able to do more of them than ever before. It is so important to us to be able to support our local community and our schools and offer this affordable option for families,” Orozco said. “We are excited to be able to give back to our local schools through this program and hope that they will be able to purchase athletic safety equipment for their school sports programs.” Students from 33 area schools participated in the sports physical offering. Schools included, 3 Rivers Home Link, Bethlehem Lutheran School, Calvary Christian School, Carmichael Middle School, Chiawana High School, Chief Joseph Middle School, Chinook Middle School, Christ the King Catholic School, Columbia High School, Columbia Middle School, Desert Hills Middle School, Enterprise Middle School, Finley Middle School, Hanford High School, Highlands Middle School, Horse Heaven Hills Middle School, Kamiakin High School, Kennewick High School, Kiona-Benton High School, Kiona-Benton Middle School, Leona Libby Middle School, Liberty Christian School, McLoughlin Middle School, Ochoa Middle School, Park Middle School, Pasco High School, Reynolds Middle School, Richland High School, River View High School, Southridge High School, St. Joseph’s Catholic School, Stevens Middle School, and Tri-Cities Prep Catholic High School. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories has created a virtual manufacturing tour in conjunction with the 10th annual Manufacturing Day on October 1. The celebration of manufacturing was created by the National Association of Manufacturers and its social impact arm, The Manufacturing Institute. The purpose of the day is for manufacturers across the U.S. to highlight and teach about manufacturing through events and educational opportunities.
While in-person manufacturing tours have been limited due to COVID-19, SEL is opening its doors virtually by offering community members a chance to tour its Pullman manufacturing operation via a new video. “In a typical year, we take hundreds of people on tours of our manufacturing locations,” said Senior Vice President of Manufacturing Leith Sorenson. “While our facilities currently have COVID-19 safety protocols in place, which limit in-person visits, we wanted to take part in Manufacturing Day by showcasing what we do and what modern manufacturing looks like.” In addition to the virtual tour, SEL’s K-12 Outreach team has created the Career Sneak Peek: Manufacturing Classroom Kit, where students learn about manufacturing by setting up their own “paper circuit” factory. The activity guides them through solving a variety of management and production problems to make their factory more efficient and resilient. As part of its internal celebration, SEL will recognize employees and teams who have invented and implemented new ways of improving manufacturing processes. To view the virtual SEL manufacturing tour, visit selinc.com/virtualtour, and to learn about Manufacturing Day, visit https://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/students/manufacturing-day. Fuse Fund—a startup fund focused exclusively on promoting entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses with a presence in the Tri-Cities region—invested in three startups and is monitoring several others for possible investment. Fuse Fund raised nearly $1.5M from local, community-minded investors; the fund’s goal is to exceed $2M in funding commitments. Fuse Fund’s investments made to date range from $150K to $200K in each of the following startups:
Carbitex pioneered flexible carbon fiber composites; currently, they focus on performance footwear, but there are many other potential applications. On the strength of their innovative products, Carbitex grew rapidly over the past few years, and they now have more than 50 employees. Most of their employees work at Carbitex’s manufacturing facility in Kennewick, shipping to clients around the globe. Adidas, a major client, incorporates Carbitex flexible carbon fiber into their performance footwear. Humming Hemp produces several hemp-based products including their signature Hummingbar, which is a hemp protein bar. Hummingbars are a healthy snack that are made with hemp seeds and other all-natural ingredients including raw honey. Humming Hemp initially launched with the help of Fuse programs and resources, and its products are sold by Kroeger, Fred Meyer, and Amazon. Brook developed a remote patient monitoring and health coaching platform using artificial intelligence to help manage chronic health conditions. Brook enables health care providers to proactively monitor patients’ chronic conditions, track progress, and provide coaching and health advice. While Brook is headquartered in Seattle, they agreed to locate an engineering team in the Tri-Cities on the strength of the Fuse Fund investment. About Fuse Fund: The purpose of the fund is to enable the success of entrepreneurs in eastern Washington. Investors in Fuse Fund not only bolster regional startups, but over the life of the fund, Fuse Fund intends to achieve solid returns for investors as the startups increase in value. Fuse Fund will close the fund to new investors by the end of 2021. Fuse Fund is operated by Fuse Advisors, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuse, SPC. Anyone interested in learning more about Fuse Fund or becoming an investor may contact Marty Conger, Managing Partner of Fuse Advisors, LLC, or any of the other board members (Brett Spooner, David Lippes, Meghan Chalk, and Ron Boninger). About Fuse: Fuse is an SPC (Special Purpose Company) with a mission to enable an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Tri-Cities region and provide resources to support the success of local entrepreneurs and startups. Fuse is located at the Fuse-operated coworking facility at 723 The Parkway in Richland. For more information, go to https://fusespc.com/. What do Chicago, Denver, Orlando, Sydney (Australia), and the Tri-Cities have in common? All have been named “Trailblazers,” or high performing destinations, according to an assessment conducted by an industry-leading consulting firm specializing in travel and tourism.
Visit Tri-Cities contracted MMGY NextFactor to lead the organization’s development of a three-year strategic plan. The process included an assessment of the Tri-Cities using DestinationNEXT, a tool which uses data-driven methodology to create a shared vision and practical strategies for ongoing success as premier destination. The assessment categorizes destinations (Trailblazers, Mountaineers, Voyagers and Explorers) based on it’s the success factors of destination strength and community alignment, with “Trailblazers” being the sought-after category. “Every destination that we have assessed aspires to be a Trailblazer, but only about 40% of the more than 200 destinations we have worked with are in that category,” said Paul Ouimet, Partner and President of MMGY NextFactor. “The Tri-Cities being a trailblazer among world renown destinations is a testament to what can be achieved when you have an amazing destination and strong community partnerships.” MMGY NextFactor engaged with residents, community leaders, elected officials and industry stakeholders through in-depth interviews, focus groups and surveys. Feedback regarding Visit Tri-Cities included:
“It was evident during our research the community is proud of the Tri-Cities as place to live, work and play,” said Deb Archer, Executive Consultant for MMGY NextFactor. “Thanks to the innovation of Visit Tri-Cities, their strong strategic partnerships and the community’s shared values, the Tri-Cities is well positioned to take on unique challenges the tourism industry is facing.” The insights gathered from the community helped shape the strategic initiatives Visit Tri-Cities will be using as a road map for the next three years. For more information about Visit Tri-Cities, check out VisitTri-Cities.com. Baker Boyer announced that it has been selected as a winner of a 2021 FIS Impact Award. The annual program recognizes forward-looking organizations that use FIS technology to enhance customer service and drive tangible business results. Winnings go to charitable organizations supporting local communities.
Baker Boyer Asset Management worked with the IT Solutions team who was behind the project to create two-way data integration streamlining the account opening process to be set up within minutes instead of hours. The goal of these new automations was to create efficiencies for employees so they could better serve clients. For clients, the result was that the account opening experience has been greatly improved. “This initiative is part of our continuing dedication to constantly work toward improving the client experience. It was an ambitious project, and I am really proud of everybody that worked so hard to make it a success. We are grateful that our efforts also benefited Blue Mountain Action Council which provides such important services and resources to our community.” said Baker Boyer Asset Management Manager, Vesna Dodge. Winning this award involved selecting a charitable organization to partner with in giving back to the community, one of Baker Boyer’s greatest values. They chose to donate the $10,000 award to Blue Mountain Action Council (BMAC) who serves southeastern Washington and provides several resources for those experiencing poverty. “These generous funds will allow us to offer financial foundation courses in English and Spanish, allowing the community free access to personalized learning that helps teach the basics of financial independence. Together, Walla Walla Valley residents will build greater financial security and stability for themselves and their families.” said BMAC Development and Outreach Manager, Tracy Parmer. To learn more about the FIS Impact Awards, visit https://www.fisglobal.com/impact-awards. ![]() The City of Kennewick is pleased to announce that Anthony Muai has accepted the Community Planning Director position. The City began a recruitment process for the position after the retirement of Community Planning Director Greg McCormick in July. Anthony Muai has worked for the City of Kennewick since April 2007, most recently as the Planning Manager and Interim Community Planning Director. He graduated from the University of Washington - Tacoma with a degree in Urban Studies and a Certificate in Geographic Information Systems. He also holds certification with the American Institute of Certified Planners. |
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July 2024
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