Tucker Lazare credits the Vashon fire department with saving his life as a baby, and after volunteering there for the last 10 months — tending to islanders facing their own emergencies — he is moving on, having earned a coveted spot with the Seattle Fire Department.
This story was updated to reflect an additional cougar sighting on Aug. 1.
Neighborcare Health, a network of primary medical and dental care clinics in Seattle, reached an agreement in principal late last week to administer the health center at Sunrise Ridge.
With slightly more than a week before the Franciscan clinic is set to close, talks are continuing with the health network that may begin running the health center at Sunrise Ridge, but no firm agreement is yet in place.
When islander David Mielke’s independent grandmother was 103, he moved her to the island and set her up in her own apartment. Afflicted with arthritis in her hands, she could no longer cook, so Mielke called in Meals on Wheels, a program he called a “godsend” in the last months of his grandmother’s life.
A fire caused considerable damage to a house on the south end of the island on Wednesday.
A former intern at Vashon Youth & Family Services is suing the agency and its previous clinical director, who served as the intern’s supervisor and provided counseling to her and one of her children in his private practice.
Thanks to a specialized paddle board purchased through a grant from Vashon Rotary, island firefighters say they can now respond to marine rescue situations more quickly and safely.
Over the recent holiday weekend, Vashon Island Pet Protectors fielded calls for about 15 lost dogs, and one of those dogs is still missing.
Almost 50 years ago, a few dedicated, ambitious volunteers founded Vashon Maury Health Services (VMHS) with two or three nurses operating a small clinic in a rented house in Burton. From that humble beginning, health services on Vashon grew as VMHS acquired a 30-year lease from the U.S. government; built, with grants, volunteer labor and private donations, the present health center on an old U.S. Army base; started an auxiliary organization called Health Center Volunteers (Granny’s Attic) to help offset costs of operating a clinic; hired a medical staff, including Drs. Koch and Kappelman and actually operated the clinic for most of the past 40 years.
Moved to action by the humanitarian crisis in Syria, a group of islanders is hoping to help immigrants, including refugees, settle on Vashon and is asking the community for assistance as they work to bring a family to the island soon.
The Franciscan clinic is set to close in three weeks, and Dr. Gary Koch, the medical director there, announced on Monday that a solution has likely been found to keep the Sunrise Ridge clinic open.
Vashon Island Fire & Rescue responded to a southend brush fire last night just off the beach near the Tahlequah ferry dock.