Healthcare news
At its Jan. 15 meeting, the Vashon Health Care District passed its compassionate care agreement to help uninsured islanders access DispatchHealth; reported increasing numbers for DispatchHealth patient usage and addressed delays in getting the service covered under Kaiser and Molina insurance offerings; passed an agreement to fund a part-time social worker at the Vashon Senior Center; and saw the resignation of board member Alan Aman.
Due to time constraints and limited space in the paper, The Beachcomber will revisit this meeting in greater depth in next week’s paper.
Dems pick Alvarado for Senate seat
The 34th District Democrats have selected State House Rep. Emily Alvarado as their recommendation to take outgoing Sen. Joe Nguyễn’s seat, as first reported by the West Seattle Blog.
The decision was finalized at their Jan. 19 meeting, in which the Democrats also recommended Seattle School Board president Gina Topp to take Alvarado’s place. Brianna Thomas, who has worked in the Seattle mayor’s office, and Burien deputy mayor Sarah Moore were also selected as options to fill Alvarado’s seat.
Those recommendations go to the King County Council, which has the final say on the appointments. The 34th District includes Vashon, West Seattle, White Center and parts of Burien.
The appoints must be made because new state governor Bob Ferguson appointed Nguyễn as the director of the Department of Commerce in his executive cabinet, a role he officially took on Jan. 15. That opens up Nguyễn’s seat, and because Alvarado is also a sitting legislator, her seat must also be filled if she is appointed to Nguyễn’s role.
The King County Council is expected to vote on the appointments this week, during or after The Beachcomber’s process of going to press. The appointed politician or politicians will hold their seats until their successor takes office after being elected in November 2026.
Lacrosse Club
Registration for the Vashon Lacrosse Club is open for school-age kids. High school girls’ registration closes Saturday and practices start mid-February. Visit vashonlacrosse.net for more information.
Public meetings
The following taxing districts, government bodies and citizen groups have civic meetings coming up.
• Vashon Island School District’s next regular board meeting starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 23, at Chautauqua Elementary School, Room 302, 9309 SW Cemetery Road. Visit vashonsd.org for more information.
• Vashon Island Fire & Rescue will hold its next regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 10019 SW Bank Rd, also accessible on Zoom. Visit vifr.org/events for more details.
• Vashon Park District: The Park District board’s next regularly scheduled board meeting is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 28, at the Ober Park Administration Building (17130 Vashon Hwy SW) and via Zoom. Visit vashonparks.org for more information.