December 2012

Three nurses at the Ballard Branch of Swedish Medical Center were recently recognized for their hard work.

On Wednesday, Dec. 5, a total of eight nurses, including the three from Ballard, were awarded the prestigious DAISY award, which “rewards and celebrates the extraordinary clinical skill and compassionate care given by nurses everyday.”

The honorees from Ballard were Summer Vandam, RN, who works in OB/GYN; Troy Cavanaugh, RN, who works in Emergency Services; and Glenda Butler, RN, who works in Emergency Services. They were awarded a special, DAISY pin, a certificate and a Shona sculpture entitled “A Healer’s Touch.”
In their letters, nominators had the following to say about the three Ballard nurses:

“Summer is an amazing team player. She goes above and beyond for patients, and will do whatever she can do to make sure that all patients get the best care possible. Summer always tries to secure a good foundation for safety for patients, and is always keeping their health and wellness in mind.”

Sunday, Dec. 9 was a big day for a lot of couples. 140, to be exact.

And that's only counting the ones who got married on Sunday at Seattle City Hall, which was transformed into wedding central for one day to accommodate for the eager same-sex couples on the historic first day they were able to get married in Washington State. Couples had already been getting married since midnight.

From 10 a.m. and into the evening, couples walked out of City Hall and down the stairs through a cheering crowd. A free reception in honor of the couples was held at the Paramount at 6 p.m.

Photographer Heather Nelson was there to capture the moment on camera. Click on the main picture above to view the slideshow or browse through the thumbnails below.

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While many first-time passengers will ride the rails in the 10 car-plus scenic Alki Tours Snowtrain to Leavenworth from downtown Seattle this holiday, many return every year, including Santa and a collection of entertainers. Magicians, historians, Christmas Carolers, and instrumentalists take turns working the narrow Amtrak aisles, competing for the passengers' attention with the sometimes breathtaking mountainous snowscapes and the clickety-clack of the rails underneath.

One of the veteran entertainers who works for the West Seattle-based tour group is German-born Nick Heiting.

"We immigrated from Germany to Canada, then moved to Burien in 1957," he said. He spent his senior year at Highline High School and his father got a job here at Boeing. An electronic wiz, he worked on their 707's.

Said Heiting, "I practice musical therapy at the Riverton Hospital on Military Road in their general psych for 15 years, and have done the Leavenworth tour for 17 years."

His traditional European and Christmas tunes did seem to sooth the souls of the thousand or more passengers on last Saturday's five and a half hour train ride to the idyllic German style village.

Art for Animals Sake an animal advocacy organization recently sponsored a project featuring photographs by street youth of their animals. One of the dozen people who participated was Trenten Fillmore a 13-year-old boy who is living at the Nickelsville encampment on West Marginal Way. The project was featured in a story on KING 5 by photojournalist Ron Sanford.

It was also featured in the West Seattle Herald here.

Trent lives in Nickelsville with his mother Diane.

The budding photographers were all given disposable cameras and the resulting photos were selected and framed by Art for Animals Sake founder David Walega and put on display at Mind Unwind at 2206 California Ave SW on Dec. 2.

Santa will visit Holy Rosary’s “Coffee & Donuts” in the school hall on Sunday morning, Dec. 9th from 9:30 am until 12:00 noon. Visit the tree lot at 42nd and Dakota Street SW.

Children of all ages are welcome to come take a picture with Santa inside the school hall.

Please bring your own camera and your Christmas wishes!

Then, step outside to carefully choose your Christmas tree or lovely wreath to take home & decorate, completing the jolly outing!

The homeless encampment known as Nickelsville at 7116 West Marginal Way suffered major flooding in the heavy rains that came in November, forcing many of the camp's residents out temporarily. The flooding drew a lot of media attention and donations of money, sump pumps, warm clothing and more did come in. But Nickelsville is a place with specific ongoing needs. They get a donation of gravel once a year to help keep the pathways walkable but it's not enough.

The West Seattle Herald paid a visit to the site on Dec. 8 and they provided a list of wishes. If you can help with a donation of money, or these specific items it would help the homeless there.

Wish List

• Fundamentals: Funds for Honey Buckets, Dumpsters, Camp Cell phone and generator.
• Wood: Tree rounds, different sizes of pallets, sheets of plywood, pallet platforms (no painted or treated wood).
• Tents: ALL SIZES old or new, tarps of all sizes, sheet plastic and rolls of vinyl flooring

The Argosy Cruises Christmas ships made their second sailing to West Seattle in as many days Dec. 8, arriving just at dusk at Lowman Beach around 4:35. The Dickens Carolers sang as a crowd estimated to be more than 500 people crowded along the shore at low tide for the event. Seattle Parks provided the bonfire (though they kept people away from close proximity).

Then it was off to the Alki Beach event where an even larger crowd greeted the festively decorated craft. Refreshments were served in the Alki Bathhouse and the band Joyful Noise entertained the crowd once the Christmas ships had done their show.

Santa showed up, but on a motorcycle. It was Steven Bartell who has been riding his red and white Harley down to the Alki Beach event since 1992 bringing candy canes for the kids. "I just love it," he said.

Rev. Judith Laxer

On lucky December northwest days, the Sun barely makes a low, distant arc before descending. He angles in my window, weak and brilliant. The Winter Solstice approaches. Solstice means ‘sun stop’. The Ancients believed this to be a miraculous time when the days were so short, it felt as if sunlight would diminish completely and night would move in and take over. They kept vigil on the longest night and celebrated the sun’s return as it rose the next morning. The life giving sun returns! Each day will begin to lengthen, for a mere few minutes, but we’ll take it. Living so closely to the Earth, the Ancients followed Nature’s ways. They tucked in for a long Winters’ nap. Huddled close to stay warm. Protected themselves against the ravages of the elements. Dreamed of the future. Shared their larders. They were not obliged to go shopping.

Hundreds of White Center residents and supporters gathered at White Center Heights Elementary on Dec. 8 to look back on White Center’s past and look into the future, a fitting topic in the aftermath of a recent vote that denied a Burien annexation proposal.

“This is about bringing residents together to have an influence on what happens here in White Center,” White Center Community Development Association Director Sili Savusa said at the 2012 White Center Community Summit hosted by her organization. “I’m looking forward to having a great year and bringing residents together.”

In addition to free snacks and good music, workshops and community resource representatives were on hand to connect residents with services – from housing to health care. There was also a professional photographer on hand to take free family photos and participants received ever-popular “I (heart) White Center” t-shirts.

Savusa said much of the community was divided over the contentious annexation vote, and that events like this and common goals for the community are the path towards working as one once again.

The West Seattle High School Girls Cheer Team and Son-in-Law Tree Farm are holding a fundraising event Saturday and Sunday, December 8th and 9th.

The WSHS Cheerleaders will be selling hot chocolate Saturday and Sunday Dec 8th & 9th from 10am - 8pm to help raise money to attend cheer camp next summer.

The fundraising event will be held at the Son-in-Law Tree Farm. The tree lot is on the corner of Charlestown and California Ave - look for the blue and gold poms!

Owner of SNL Trees, Greg Potts has generously offered to donate a percentage of each tree sold that weekend to the cheer team as well - so stop in, buy your Christmas tree, garland or wreath, a cup of hot chocolate and help support the girls who support the Wildcats!!!!