In partnership with King County Emergency Medical Services, a division of Public Health – Seattle & King County, 53 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) are being distributed to 53 King County Sheriff’s Deputies. The deputies can be dispatched to a cardiac arrest call along with emergency medical responders.

Equipped deputies who arrive first to the scene of a cardiac arrest will start resuscitation and deliver the first defibrillator shocks. Once emergency medical responders arrive on the scene, they will take over resuscitation duties.

“Training and equipping Sheriff Deputies with external defibrillators is a great service for all residents in King County and will definitely save lives. Rapid defibrillation can literally snatch the life from the jaws of death,” said Dr. Mickey Eisenberg, the Medical Director for King County Emergency Medical Services.

15 deputies have already been trained and are equipped with AEDs. The remainder of the AEDs will be assigned over the next few months as deputies receive the training. “This is a voluntary initiative and all deputies receiving an AED have expressed their interest in participating in this life-saving program,” said King County Sheriff’s Captain Bryan Howard, who is the Emergency Services Coordinator for the Sheriff’s Office.

Public Health provided the funding for approximately 49 of the AEDs. The EMS levy funding is available for special projects related to training for King County and region-wide municipal workforce and providing AEDs for King County facilities and vehicles.

“Seattle and King County already have the best survival chances for cardiac arrest in the country, thanks to Medic One and CPR/AED training for our residents,” said King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert, who chairs the Security Oversight Committee and advocates for AEDs. “Our Sheriff’s deputies often arrive first at the scene of an emergency, and they are already trained to save lives. These AEDs are important tools to have available in the field so we can get help quickly to where it is needed. Recent placement of AEDs in the King County Courthouse already has saved at least one life, and now we can expand this capability throughout the community.”

Story and photo by Deanie Schwarz
Reporting for White Center Now

Another White Center medical-marijuana patient collective will be opening next weekend – Saturday, September 24 – at 9640 16th SW. Northwest Cannabis Market (NCM), a private cooperative of patient-farmers and collective gardens, will be the third medical marijuana venue in White Center.

Managed by Michael Keysor, the NCM cooperative formed in April of this year with plans to operate as a weekend-only patient-farmer market in Everett, according to Keysor. That city, however, took action to put the brakes on medical marijuana. NCM began a search for a new “market” location outside of Snohomish County that was more “friendly to patients” and to “provide safe, secure access” to their medicine.

He said rent costs were prohibitive in Seattle, but the White Center space next door to Uncle Mike’s BBQ provided the square footage needed (3,900 sq. ft.) for the cannabis patient/farmers and patient/medible providers to set up tables, farmers-market-style. A testing area for patient members to sample the varieties of cannabis offered by the farmers will also be incorporated into the “market.” However, Keysor said that this is not like the lounge/socializing model which G.A.M.E. Collective (one-half block south at 98th/16th) operates with. He anticipates members/patients will be in and out of the market within 20 to 30 minutes.

The hours will be limited to Saturday and Sunday only, from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with uniformed, armed, security on site through a private security firm. Keysor thought it was possible that the hours will be shortened during the winter months, but also that they hoped to eventually be open three days a week at some point. The members must provide proof of their tamper-proof medical-marijuana patient cards at the door, along with ID. Non-member patients with paperwork will be able to become members at the door. According to Keysor, this collective is only the second one in the country to use the “farmers market” collective model. The first, he said, is the Cannabis Farmers Market, which runs periodically in Tacoma and Seattle. Based on that group’s market, Keysor believes NCM will have 100+ patients over the weekend at about 10 patients per hour, but currently there are only eight or nine vendors committed for the opening. He anticipated there could be up to 25, however, as the collective network has about 600 members currently.

Keysor told WCN at the end of last week that he had not yet met with any members of the King County Sheriff’s Office and assumed that they would come to him, but that perhaps he would stop by the Storefront Office to introduce himself. Keysor also thought his business would be good for the neighborhood, particularly the food and restaurant establishments. However, he didn’t want to have his photo published; the picture atop this story is the storefront where he plans to open.

Five days till the big “Shop Fresh” event around White Center – here’s the official announcement:

The White Center Community Development Association is leading the effort to organize the first White Center Business District Summer Shop Fresh Event in the White Center Business District on Saturday, August 20th from 5-7pm.

The purpose of this event is to raise the awareness of fresh, healthy foods now available in six produce markets and three Halal stores in White Center’s business district. “Exploring Summer Shop Fresh by foot in White Center’s walkable, pedestrian-friendly business district, will allow visitors to purchase healthy fruits and vegetables while learning about unique culinary traditions of our community neighbors,” said Aileen Balahadia, Executive Director of the White Center Community Development Association. The White Center CDA is a catalyst for a healthy community and new prosperity in White Center – creating a better place to visit, shop, and live.

As White Center shoppers enter participating Summer Shop Fresh stores, they will check in at a “Healthy Foods Here” table where attendees will participate in an activity relating to healthy food and fitness. Afterward, they will be gifted a “Spend $6, Get $3 Off” coupon. For every $3 dollars of money spent on a purchase, White Center residents will be able to use this coupon to buy additional food. The coupon is only valid for purchase on August 20 and at participating stores. The more stores the residents visit, the more coupons they will be gifted.

Healthy food cooking demonstrations will also be provided at one of the markets. There are nine food stores participating in the event: Lee’s Produce, West Seattle Halal Market, White Center Market, White Center Mini Market Halal and Deli, White Center International Deli and Halal Store, Phnom Khiev, Samway Market, Hung Long Asian Market and New Golden Village Market.

The White Center CDA thanks co-sponsor Healthy Foods Here project which supports small, local businesses selling fresh fruits and vegetables become certified in the Federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. Stores that accept SNAP and WIC increase access to healthy foods for low-income residents. For more information about the Healthy Foods Here project, please visit the official website at www.healthyfoodshere.com.

6:13 PM UPDATE: WCN contributor Deanie Schwarz talked with GAME Lounge owner Brionne Corbray, who disputes what the county was asking for:

The Game Lounge located at 9803 16th Ave SW, Seattle, 98106 was closed by a Public Health food inspector on July 6, 2011 at 1:50 pm for operating without a valid food business permit. The establishment will be reopened once it’s confirmed that the person in charge of the establishment has completed the steps to get a valid permit per the instructions online at
www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/ehs/foodsafety/FoodBusiness

*Asian Bubble Tea* located at *9835 16th Ave. SW, Seattle, WA 98106* was closed by a Public Health food inspector on Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 12:30 pm for operating without a valid permit.

You can check its status by going here.

This comes while new medical-marijuana businesses continue to open in the unincorporated area, even as the push toward state regulation is mired in political disagreement. Just a few days ago, WCN contributor Deanie Schwarz found another one that has just opened:

She reports: Cannabis Oasis, located at 11109 1st Ave. So., opened for business more than two weeks ago in the Top Hat area as a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary. This is the third known medical cannabis related operation that has just opened or will soon open in the area, along with Herban Legends and Green Piece, both located on 16th Ave. in the central White Center business district. (In neighboring West Seattle, at least two medical-marijuana enterprises are currently in operation and actively marketing themselves, while there are reportedly others that are keeping a low profile; a third that plans to operate openly is coming to 35th/Roxbury.)

State legislators are hoping to get a new bill approved during their current special session, to make up for what was lost when Governor Gregoire vetoed parts of the bill both houses had approved during the regular session. A key player in this is our area’s senior State Rep. Eileen Cody, since she chairs the health committee in the State House. We caught up with her in West Seattle last weekend to ask about the issue:

As for local authorities, we had spoken with them extensively while the now-gutted bill was still going through the State Legislature. They all had hoped for a consistent state law – but barring that, local control might be needed and that’s exactly what King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg has told Seattle Weekly – particularly considering one side effect of the governor’s action is apparently that one rule regarding providing marijuana to patients is about to get a lot tougher, and wasn’t originally intended to work out that way. That, according to our partners at the Seattle Times, leaves the current operators in fear of raids once the new law takes effect in July – unless changes are made before the Legislature’s special session runs out. Again, this is on the agenda for NHUAC tomorrow night – 7 pm, North Highline Fire District</strong> HQ (full agenda here).