Posted on August 1, 2018 by

Funding victory gets staff back to doing what they do best

When funding for a major five-year study of Public Health’s pioneering FLASH sexual health education program was restored last week, employees who work on the program took a collective sigh of relief.

FLASH

Pictured from left to right: Heather Maisen, Andrea Gerber and Kari Kesler.

“We were starting our third year of the project when we received notification that our study, which is funded by the Office of Adolescent Health’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program, was going to be terminated two years early, so we weren’t going to have the final two years of our funding to complete the study,” Andrea Gerber, Health Educator and FLASH co-author, said.

Public Health received a competitive award from the Office of Adolescent Health to do a rigorous, five-year evaluation of the curriculum at the high school level to look at its effectiveness for young people and their families. In July 2017, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced it was cancelling all TPP grants two years early, cutting $2 million from King County–and ignoring the mandate of Congress, which has continually funded the program for nearly a decade.

“Without that last bit of funding all three years and $3 million would have been wasted,” Gerber said. “We wouldn’t have had evaluation results because we wouldn’t have been able to complete our study.”

FLASH is produced by the Family Planning program at Public Health – Seattle & King County and is available to educators everywhere. It’s currently used in every school district in King County, across much of Washington state, and in at least 40 other states.

“The evaluation is looking at the effectiveness of our high school curriculum in preventing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, and improving family communication,” Family Planning Program Manager Heather Maisen, said. “What we were hoping and had intended to do when we applied for this funding was to have results that show the effectiveness of our program so school districts across the country have evidence of why they’re choosing this curriculum.”

U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour ruled on May 29 that HHS acted unlawfully in terminating King County’s funding to study the efficacy of its FLASH sexual health education program. Last week HHS reversed course and approved the $1 million fourth-year payment.

While FLASH is based on the latest research and evidence, the full curriculum has never been evaluated for its effectiveness.

In fact, it’s rare for any sexual health curriculum to receive scientific evaluation because conducting such a study is both complex and expensive. That’s why Congress created the TPP Program, which funds the research.

“It’s been a long journey of uncertainty, so we’re really relieved to get to do the work that we do so well and want to keep doing,” Maisen said.

With the funding restored, the important work of providing evidence and data so school districts can make informed, objective decisions on high school sexual health education is back on in schools in the Midwest and South.

“All of the school districts in King County have adopted FLASH at at least one grade level for youth so the evaluation is not being conducted in King County since we have such a high use of the curriculum and we historically have had,” Health Educator and FLASH curriculum co-author Kari Kesler said. Maisen added, “We need to conduct the study in areas that haven’t had the curriculum so there are no confounding variables, so we can show its true effectiveness.”

Learn more about the FLASH curriculum on this Public Health webpage.

Posted on August 1, 2018 by

Employee Spotlight: Governor Inslee appoints Maureen McKee to King County Superior Court

In a July 20 news release, Gov. Jay Inslee appointed Maureen McKee to the King County Superior Court bench.

McKee has been serving with King County Department of Public Defense as the Managing Attorney of The Defender Association Division, and has served with the division for 12 years.

“Throughout her career, Maureen has developed a strong understanding of the inequities existing within our justice system,” Inslee said. “King County Superior Court will benefit greatly from having someone with her experience and perspective on the bench.”

During her time with The Defender Association Division, McKee rose to a supervisor role, mentoring and providing guidance to less experienced public defenders, before assuming her duties as interim managing attorney. Before joining King County, her experience focused on immigrant, minority and disability rights in the United States and gender and property rights in Mostar, Bosnia.

Judge McKee received her law degree from Cornell Law School, studied at the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs, and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College.

Her appointment is effective today, and she replaces Judge Lori Smith, who was recently named to the State Court of Appeals, Division 1. Judge Smith was appointed to the King County Superior Court bench on January 24, 2012 by Governor Christine Gregoire.

The Superior Court shared the news about both McKee and Smith on Twitter.

Posted on August 1, 2018 by

King County Parks: An opportunity to serve

King County’s Park and Trail Ambassadors Program – and the Adopt-a-Park or -Trail Programs – allow the local community to enjoy the outdoors while serving, maintaining and stewarding their own Big Backyard.

Maintaining a network of 200 parks, 175 miles of regional trails, 215 miles of backcountry trails, and 28,000 acres of open space is a big challenge, and community volunteers help King County preserve these lands for visitors today and into the future. King County Parks receives on average 8,000 volunteers per year and, together, they donate more than 55,000 volunteer hours to improve parks, trails and open spaces. There are currently more than 60 active ambassadors across 28 parks.

Parks Volunteer 2

Two of Parks’ 8,000 volunteers.

“Park and Trail Ambassadors provide steadfast service by alerting staff to imminent safety issues and pertinent park or trail conditions,” said Laurie Clinton, Volunteer Program Manager for King County Parks. “They are a unique group of volunteers for King County Parks and we appreciate their time, effort, and care of their selected areas.”

People can volunteer through two different programs. Park and Trail Ambassadors commit 100 hours per year of their time to a specific site. They work with staff to meet the goals of the Parks and Recreation Division and uphold the policies and procedures of the organization. Tasks can vary depending on the person’s interest and include helping with or organizing volunteer events, picking up litter, brushing trails, building and maintaining backcountry trails, directing people to their desired paths, and giving time to special projects.

The Adopt-a-Park or -Trail program asks groups to make a commitment of three or four volunteer work party events per year. A work party can include brush clean-up, litter pick-up, tree planting, flower-bed weeding and/or planting, invasive weed removal, trail maintenance, monitoring restoration efforts, and much more.

Volunteers from both the Park or Trail Ambassadors and Adopt-a-Park or -Trail program remove more than 50 cubic yards of invasive weeds and maintain more than 5,000 miles of backcountry trails annually to provide an excellent system for recreation.

Parks Volunteer 1

One of Parks’ 8,000 volunteers.

“Their reports and direct communication with staff on trail and park conditions are extremely helpful,” said Clinton. “Their wide array of service result in a tremendously beneficial impact to Parks and the community.”

Projects are open to individuals, schools, families, corporations, religious organizations and service organizations. There is also a monthly project newsletter, if you are interested in signing up for a work party update your preferences here.

King County Parks’ employees educate volunteers on the area they are helping to improve, how to stay safe, and what their contribution means to the region.

If you are interested in signing up for either program, or in volunteering for projects, please contact Volunteer Program Manager Laurie Clinton at Laurie.Clinton@kingcounty.gov.

Posted on July 31, 2018 by

Get to know Whitney Abrams, Chief People Officer

Executive Constantine recently launched a Get to know the Senior Leadership Team video series with a video featuring Chief Performance Officer Gary Kurihara.

In this second video, we spotlight Chief People Officer Whitney Abrams, what she is working on, and what brought her to King County.

Whitney red arrow

Click the image above to watch the video. If you missed Gary’s video you can catch it here, and look for the full series of videos over the next couple of months as we feature Budget Director Dwight Dively, Chief of Staff Rachel Smith and Chief Operating Officer Casey Sixkiller.

Posted on July 31, 2018 by

Celebrating summer learning

Crossposted from Best Starts for Kids Blog

BS4K learning to code Capture

Learning to code with the guidance of ‘Geeking Out Kids of Color’

Robots whizzing across the floor while kids learn coding languages to control them. Creative writing exercises that become movement-based art about what it’s like to be a young person today. A youth-led book club discussing The Hate U Give, a young adult novel about the aftermath of racist police murder. These are just a few examples of the incredible summer learning opportunities we saw while celebrating Summer Learning Day last week with our partner School’s Out Washington. As part of hundreds of Summer Learning Day celebrations across the country last week, we visited two sites where Southwest Youth and Family Services, Geeking Out Kids of Color, and Arts Corps are  providing technology and arts education for youth at King County Housing Authority sites. It’s just one of example of the 19 Best Starts for Kids partnerships expanding access to quality summer and after school learning and enrichment opportunities throughout King County.

Check out more photos on the original post and click here to read School’s Out Washington’s reflection from the day.

Posted on July 30, 2018 by

With investments by Amazon and City of Seattle, King County Metro will offer more frequent, reliable service on some of its most popular routes

King County Metro will offer more frequent and reliable bus service on some of its most popular routes beginning this fall thanks to significant investments by Amazon and the City of Seattle.

Amazon’s investment will provide 22 additional weekday trips for two years across some of Metro’s busiest routes serving West Seattle, Shoreline, Ballard, and Capitol Hill. The additional service provides room for roughly 1,700 weekday boardings, and includes the RapidRide E Line and C Line, and Routes 8, 40, 62, and 63.

The additional service hours will be part of Metro’s September service change, which will add 88,000 service hours annually on more than 50 bus routes. This includes 20,000 hours under a separate partnership with the City of Seattle, thanks to the 2014 Seattle Transportation Benefit District.

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“We will provide faster, more reliable transit service on some of our most popular routes, thanks to our partnerships with Amazon and the City of Seattle,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “Demand for transit continues to grow throughout our region, and we are stepping up to deliver.”

Amazon will invest $1.5 million to fund additional Metro service. The company has paid more than $60 million since 2014 to support public transportation by providing ORCA passes to its employees through Metro’s ORCA Business Passport program.

“Adding 12,000 hours of additional bus service across the county and city’s busiest routes will benefit all King County and Seattle residents,” said John Schoettler, Vice President of Global Real Estate and Facilities at Amazon. “More than half of our employees get to work in ways other than a single occupant vehicle – including more than 20 percent that take the bus. We are excited to see the increased capacity, and will continue to work with Metro and the City of Seattle to find innovative solutions that provide long-term transit options for the region.”

Since 2015, the City of Seattle has purchased transit service through the voter-approved Seattle Transportation Benefit District. It currently invests $40 million each year to provide more than 270,000 hours of Metro service. The Seattle City Council recently approved changes to allow for investments in more routes across the city, such as the RapidRide E Line, that connect North Seattle neighborhoods to downtown Seattle.

This September, the Seattle Transportation Benefit District will pay for about 20,000 hours of increased Metro service on 12 routes. This includes improving the Routes 41 and 70 to 10-minute service, adding peak period capacity on Routes 8, 17, 18, 40, 56, and RapidRide C, D, and E Lines, and adding late evening trips on Routes 7 and 106. In total, this will add more than 50 weekday trips to some of the busiest routes in Metro’s system, providing capacity for more than 4,000 additional weekday boardings.

“As Seattle continues to grow, we must continue our strong investments in transit, which is the backbone of our transportation system. Adding more trips on Seattle’s busiest routes gives more people more options to get around our great city,” said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan.

Metro has increased bus service across King County by 15 percent since 2014. Transit ridership in the greater Seattle area continues to lead the nation, reaching a record 122.2 million trips last year.

More service and better reliability on Metro’s most popular route

Passengers on the RapidRide E Line – Metro’s highest-ridership route with more than 17,000 weekday riders – will benefit from 14 additional trips each weekday. Amazon and the City of Seattle will each fund an addition 2,500 services service.

Benefits to the RapidRide E Line will include:

  • 9 additional southbound trips, including 3 morning peak trips
  • 5 additional northbound trips, including 2 afternoon peak trips
  • Schedule improvements to reflect current traffic conditions

The RapidRide E Line connects Shoreline, North Seattle, and downtown Seattle along Aurora Avenue and serves customers with diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Its ridership growth has been largely fueled by job growth in South Lake Union in recent years.

Creating partnerships to meet growing demand for transit

Amazon is the latest partnership Metro has created to meet the growing demand for transit and the largest current private-sector contribution to directly fund bus service. Metro also has partnerships with Microsoft and the cities of Redmond, Sammamish, and Issaquah that provide about 9,000 hours of bus service each year. Metro covers two-thirds of the costs under those agreements.

The University of Washington’s football program pays for 4,500 hours of additional shuttle service during Husky home games. Public and private school districts purchase service for students.

Visit the Executive’s news release for more information, relevant links and quotes.

Posted on July 30, 2018 by

Kudos! to Public Health’s King County Vital Statistics team at Harborview Medical Center

KUDOS tweetCaptureCatherine Hinrichsen reached out to Executive Constantine and King County on Twitter after having had a great customer experience with the Vital Stats team at Harborview Medical Center. “Wish all interactions with local govt agencies were like this. Thanks to you & staff!”

Kudos, Vital Stats!

Posted on July 30, 2018 by

King County Community Court grand opening in Redmond

The King County Community Court in Redmond will be holding its grand opening celebration Wednesday, Aug. 1 at 1 p.m.

Visit the new site and click on the infographic sample below for more information.

Community Court Redmond grand opening Capture

 

Posted on July 30, 2018 by

Proudly in defense of breastfeeding, in King County and everywhere

Crossposted from Public Health Insider

Statement from Patty Hayes, Director of Public Health—Seattle & King County, responding to news that the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services aggressively attempted to water down international support for breastfeeding through the World Health Organization.

Patty-Hayes-Portrait-High-Resolution

Patty Hayes, Director of Public Health – Seattle & King County

“The notion that any national or international health agency would not completely support breastfeeding is truly shocking. Breastfeeding is broadly endorsed by both the medical community and nutrition community – and for very good reasons. Decades of research have demonstrated benefits such as:

  • Breast milk supplies antibodies, which lowers the risk of many illnesses
  • Breastfed infants have fewer respiratory infections, fewer diarrheal diseases, half as many ear infections
  • Breast milk is easily digested and supplies the ideal nutrition
  • Breastfed babies tend to gain the ideal amount of weight
  • And for the mother, breastfeeding lowers the risk of ovarian and breast cancer and for Type 2 diabetes

“And the research suggests that breastfeeding is linked to prevention of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, higher IQ scores, and lower risk of diabetes and asthma.

“The list of benefits is even longer. The health dividends translate into an estimated economic savings totaling more than $13 billion per year nationally, if we reach a 90% rate of breastfeeding.

breastfeeding Capture“In King County and Washington State, we are proud to have one of the highest rates in America of infants who are exclusively breastfed at 6 months, at 28%. Across our local health systems, we continue to increase breastfeeding participation. We now have 13 hospitals and birthing centers that have earned the W.H.O. designation of “Baby Friendly” for their commitment. I’m particularly proud of the 19 Public Health—Seattle & King County employees who earned designation as internationally board-certified lactation consultants.

“I’m horrified to imagine the implications for the health of millions of babies and their mothers globally if we in any way weaken or undermine the support for breastfeeding. To echo the words of the American Academy of Pediatrics, ‘Breastfeeding and human milk are the normative standard for infant feeding and nutrition.’”

(originally published on 7/16/18)

Posted on July 29, 2018 by

Purple Loosestrife – July’s Weed of the Month

Crossposted from Noxious Weeds Blog

purple-loosestrife-flowers-july

Purple loosestrife flowers are quite lovely. In July, the flowers start to open on the lower parts of the spikes first, followed by the upper flowers.

Although it is perhaps one of the prettiest noxious weeds, purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is widely recognized throughout North America as a highly invasive and damaging weed in wetlands and along shorelines. Vigorous perennial roots and rhizomes, combined with incredibly prolific seed production, result in one of the most successful invasive plants we have on this continent.

Unfortunately, dense populations of purple loosestrife significantly reduce the habitat quality of wetlands and shorelines for waterfowl, amphibians, fish and other critters. Purple loosestrife does not play well with other plants and can completely dominate the areas it invades. It can also clog up waterways and increase flooding.

Purple loosestrife is a tall, multi-stemmed perennial with narrow spikes densely packed with small magenta or purple flowers. The stems are 4-6 sided, especially on the newer growth, and the leaves are long and narrow with untoothed edges. The leaves attach directly to the main stem and are arranged opposite or whorled on the stem. Purple loosestrife grows mostly in wet areas such as shorelines or marshes, but it can survive in gardens or on roadsides as well.

Identifying purple loosestrife is sometimes challenging because of several similar species that flower at the same time. The plants that are most often confused with purple loosestrife that are native to Washington include Douglas spirea (Spiraea douglasii), fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium), and Watson’s willow-herb (Epilobium ciliatum ssp. watsonii). None of the look-alikes have the combination of square stems, untoothed leaf edges, opposite leaves, perennial roots, and tightly packed flower spikes that are found on purple loosestrife plants.

purple_loosestrife_flower-20120723-jwilhelm

Purple loosestrife flowers have 5 to 7 narrow petals and are attached right to the stem. Photo by Jo Wilhelm.

In King County, purple loosestrife is our most abundant regulated aquatic noxious weed. It is found on about 30 lakes in the county, including all three of the large lakes, four of the large rivers, many creeks, ponds, wet ditches, and numerous other sites. Over 1,000 sites of purple loosestrife were surveyed in 2017, but many of those are small. If all the patches were put together, they would only cover about 15 acres.

We are making progress in spite of the challenges. Although the populations are very persistent, purple loosestrife is no longer found at 28 percent of the sites we’ve found since 1997, and we continue to try to eliminate more populations. Although we do find new sites each year, we are finding fewer new sites now, and more and more sites get controlled every year. Each year we survey more of the county’s lakes and wetlands, trying to find where this plant is hiding out. Our goal is to continue hammering away at purple loosestrife with a combination of tools, focusing our efforts where they can do the most good and working to reduce the overall impact of this weed on our county’s lakes and wetlands.

Even individual plants are very difficult to control due to purple loosestrife’s ability to regenerate from very small fragments of roots or stems left on moist soil. And, if you are able to control the existing plants, you will continue to fight the plants coming from the seed bank for many years. Combine this with the fact that purple loosestrife invades highly sensitive and often inaccessible wetlands and you can see how challenging this plant is to keep in check.

purple-loosestrife-wetland-infestation

In wetlands, purple loosestrife can grow so densely that it excludes native plants and fills in open water habitat.

In addition to the traditional weed control methods of hand removal and aquatic herbicide treatment, we have several biocontrol insects that are very helpful for reducing the impacts of purple loosestrife where we can’t use other methods. The most visible biocontrol agent is the loosestrife beetle Galerucella. The other two insects are the loosestrife root weevil Hylobius, and the seed weevil Nanophyes. All three insects have been tested extensively and only have impacts on non-native purple loosestrife in Washington. They will never eradicate their host plant, but they do help reduce the dominance of purple loosestrife in areas where we can’t control it with other methods due to access problems or for very large infestations.

If you see purple loosestrife in King County, especially somewhere we might not see it, or if you are worried that no one is doing anything, please report the location or contact us by email at noxious.weeds@kingcounty.gov or by phone at 206-477-9333.

For more information about purple loosestrife, please visit our website: https://www.kingcounty.gov/services/environment/animals-and-plants/noxious-weeds/weed-identification/purple-loosestrife.aspx.

For more great photos with information, visit the original post on Noxious Weeds Blog.

 

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