Who’s News
December 25, 2012
Swedish/Issaquah receives patient satisfaction honor
The Swedish/Issaquah emergency room was recently named a 2012 Summit Award Winner by Press Ganey Associates.
The ER received the award by achieving and maintaining patient satisfaction scores in the 95th percentile or above for at least three consecutive years. The Swedish/Issaquah team also won in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
The Press Ganey Summit Award is the health care satisfaction industry’s most coveted symbol of achievement bestowed annually. The Swedish/Issaquah ER is one of 114 health care facilities in the country to receive the prestigious honor in 2012, and one of only 101 to receive it for achieving and sustaining excellence in patient satisfaction.
Eastside Fire & Rescue offers safety tips after holiday-related fires
December 23, 2012
NEW — 2 p.m. Dec. 23, 2012
Eastside Fire & Rescue firefighters have responded to blazing involving holiday decorations and Christmas trees as the holiday approaches.
Decorations can increase the chances of fire and with the holiday only days away, agency officials asked the public to keep fire safety in mind when decorating and entertaining.
The holidays can quickly turn from joyful to tragic when fire occurs.
Based on data from the National Fire Protection Association and the U.S. Fire Administration, about 240 home fires involving Christmas trees and another 150 home fires involving holiday lights, unattended candles and other holiday decorations occur each year.
Eastside Fire & Rescue’s Reindeer Engine to collect food, toys
December 11, 2012
NEW — 5 p.m. Dec. 11, 2012
Eastside Fire & Rescue’s Reindeer Engine is scheduled to deliver holiday cheer — and collect food and toys for families in need — as Christmas approaches.
The fire engine — decked out in blinking lights, reindeer and a sleigh, and a holiday banner — heads to Endeavour Elementary School on Wednesday and then, on Sunday, to Four Lakes, Mirrormont, and other communities in May Valley and on Tiger Mountain.
Residents can donate food and toys Sunday as volunteers from Fire Station 76 on Tiger Mountain drive the Reindeer Engine travels through the communities near Issaquah from 5:30-7 p.m.
Issaquah contributes more for fire protection
November 27, 2012
Eastside Fire & Rescue board members approved the agency’s $22.2 million 2013 budget Nov. 8.
The budget represents a 3.1 percent increase from 2012, something Deputy Chief Wes Collins attributes to already-agreed-to wage and benefit increases for firefighters, as well as to modest increases in several programs that the agency cut during the recent economic downturn, such as volunteer training and protective clothing for firefighters.
“After the downturn, we cut back on a lot of supplies like clothing and bunker gear,” Collins said. “Those things have a shelf life and we’re coming up on a bubble where they’re going to have to be replaced.”
EFR determines each partner’s bill for fire services based on the assessed value of areas covered by specific stations.
Eastside Fire & Rescue’s lack of overtime funds stretches agency
November 27, 2012
Eastside Fire & Rescue could temporarily understaff or even close stations to deal with a shortfall in its overtime budget in the coming months.
The issue has led to an unfair labor practice charge from EFR firefighter’s union, International Association of Firefighters Local 2878.
Union members worry that temporarily shrinking units from the standard minimum of three full-time firefighters to two could lead to a nightmare scenario – firefighters unable to enter a burning building with people trapped inside, for example.
Officials examine Eastside Fire & Rescue’s business plan
November 27, 2012
It remains to be seen whether things will stay cordial when dollar figures get involved, but Eastside Fire & Rescue partners appear to be finding common ground regarding ways to fund the agency.
The agency is in a full-fledged review of the way it does business, with elected officials and city and EFR staff members holding weekly committee meetings to address the way fire service is provided and how cities are billed for it. The agreement between EFR’s partners — Issaquah, Sammamish, North Bend, and King County fire protection districts 10 and 38 — is due to expire at the end of 2014.
Editorial
November 27, 2012
Eastside Fire & Rescue funding change will impact taxpayers
Eastside Fire & Rescue partners — including the city of Issaquah and Fire District 10 serving areas outside the Issaquah city limits — are getting creative in their hopes of finding a more equitable funding model before the partnership contract expires in 2014.
The city of Sammamish is driving the push. Leaders there contend that city taxes are too high for the number of emergency response calls in Sammamish. Without some relief, the city will look to other providers for fire service, namely Redmond.
Eastside Fire & Rescue launches food, gift drive
November 20, 2012
Eastside Fire & Rescue is joining local businesses for a holiday season food and gift drive set to start on Black Friday.
The agency, Issaquah-based First Due Movers and Fred Meyer plan to collect food, clothing and toys from Nov. 23-25 in Lake Sammamish Center at Fred Meyer, 6100 E. Lake Sammamish Parkway S.E. Items donated during the drive go to the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank and the Mount Si Helping Hand Food Bank in North Bend.
Eastside Fire & Rescue to build Issaquah garage
November 20, 2012
Eastside Fire & Rescue board members signed off on a $268,000 plan Nov. 8 to add an outbuilding behind the agency’s Issaquah headquarters.
The 50-by-100-foot garage — plus a 48-by-20-foot covered parking area — would shelter fire trucks, aid units and other vehicles that now sit uncovered behind the headquarters building, exposed to rain, wind and snow. The new building would also allow the agency to free up space in its shop facility that is used to house equipment.
“This is not a Cadillac or Rolls Royce addition,” said Mark Mullet, EFR board member and Issaquah city councilman. “This is barebones … This is the cheapest building we could build.”
The plan for the building includes a 30-year depreciation schedule that allows an EFR partner to be reimbursed for most of its portion of the building if it leaves the agency.
Issaquah fire station, hospital earn honors for energy efficiency
November 16, 2012
NEW — 3:15 p.m. Nov. 16, 2012
Issaquah is a hub for energy efficiency, after a fire station and a hospital in the city earned top honors in the same national competition for engineering and technology.
Eastside Fire & Rescue Station 72 and Swedish/Issaquah garnered first-place ASHRAE Technology Awards — a top recognition for innovative building design.
EFR Station 72 opened last year as the most energy-efficient fire station on the planet. Swedish/Issaquah opened in July 2011, after planners spent years developing a “practical ‘green’” facility to dramatically reduce energy consumption.
ASHRAE — or the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers — plans to bestow the awards on honorees in January at a conference in Dallas.
