Kootenai Health and MultiCare have announced the development of a new 30-acre Prairie Medical Campus at the edge of Post Falls on Highway 41 and Prairie Avenue. Construction is expected to begin this year, and the project's first phase will take two to three years to complete, according to a joint press release. The first phase will consist of a microhospital with a 12-room emergency department staffed with physicians who are board certified in emergency medicine. Imaging center services will provide MRI, CT scans, ultrasound and X-ray screenings. The medical campus will have room for further expansion to meet the growing demand in Kootenai County. "It is our mission to serve this rapidly growing part of our community," Kootenai Health CEO Jamie Smith said in the press release. "It allows us to create something bigger, faster and better in the Post Falls to Liberty Lake corridor than either of us could alone." Kootenai Health will maintain operational control as the managing partner of the campus. (VICTOR CORRAL MARTINEZ)
PRONOUN PREDICAMENT
The Mead School Board wants more local control, and to get that it's asking the (not so local) federal government to intervene. In February, the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction notified the Mead School District that its gender-inclusive schools policy does not adhere to state requirements. For example, the state requires teachers to use students' preferred pronouns while Mead's policy requires teachers to "refrain from the use of gender pronouns and refer to the student by name." Last week, the Mead School Board sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education, claiming that adhering to state law would put the district at odds with President Donald Trump's anti-trans executive orders that threaten to cut funds for noncompliant schools. "Not only is the school board facing a legal dilemma (not of its own making), but it has also been put in the untenable position of being 'unable to win' with its stakeholders," the letter states. In response, community organization Trans Spokane stated, "Asking the federal government for assistance overturning state directives sets a dangerous precedent that all schools in Washington can decide which state laws they choose to follow." (COLTON RASANEN)
HOPE REIMAGINED
As the city of Spokane transitions to a 30-bed scattered site model for homeless shelters, other organizations are being forced to transition, too. Hope House, previously a 100-bed low-barrier shelter for women, will become a 44-bed medical respite site on July 1 for anyone vulnerable to homelessness. "Hope House does not fit the city's new model and cannot scale the cost of a 30-bed shelter to be cost-effective," said Bridget Cannon, senior vice president of program operations for Volunteers of America, to the Spokane City Council members on Feb. 10. Medical providers will be able to refer clients to the new Hope House, which will operate 24/7. Hope House was started in 1997 as a response to serial murders of women on the streets of Spokane. Many of Hope House's current clients have survived assault or domestic violence. "This will greatly reduce the number of places that women feel safe — not that they wouldn't be safe, but they just don't feel safe and comfortable going to mixed gender shelters," Cannon said. (ELIZA BILLINGHAM)
