Five Questions with Dr. Mickey Eisenberg, Co-Director, Center for the Evaluation of EMS, Public Health
1. What does your role with the Center for the Evaluation of EMS involve? I am co-director of CEEMS along with Dr. Tom Rea and Dr. Peter Kudenchuk. We supervise all federally and other funded evaluation projects.
2. What do you like most about your job? I work with amazingly bright, energetic and dedicated people. We are all passionate about improving our emergency medical services.
3. What is the biggest challenge in your job? Finding time to ride with firefighters, paramedics, and listen in at 911 communication centers.
4. King County’s cardiac survival rate is now up to 62 percent, considered highest in the world. How have Public Health employees helped achieve this? There is no simple answer to your question. Our high survival rate is due to citizens who recognize cardiac arrest, know to call 911, start CPR, telecommunicators who provide telephone CPR instructions, firefighters who start or take over CPR and provide defibrillatory shocks, paramedics who provide advanced life support, hospitals who provide post resuscitation care. It takes a system to save a victim of cardiac arrest.
5. What can any employee do to be ready to help someone suffering cardiac arrest? Learn how to do CPR. Find out how.
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Featured Job: Park District Maintenance Coordinator
Application deadline: Fri. 06/06/14 4:30 PM
Salary: $30.70 – $37.11 Hourly
Department: Department of Natural Resources & Parks – Parks & Recreation Division
Description: The responsibilities of the Park District Maintenance Coordinator position include developing work plans, scheduling and assigning work, monitoring budget expenditures, completing work orders, ordering equipment and supplies, resolving complaints, performing maintenance and repair work, and overseeing and evaluating the work of subordinates at assigned parks, public grounds and/or facilities. This position is open to current King County Career Service employees only.
Learn more about this position or view all available jobs.
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Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)/Automated External Defibrillator (AED)
Public Health’s Emergency Medical Services Division offers free CPR/AED training to King County employees. All classes are American Heart Association Heartsaver classes. Take a three-hour Basic class or, if you’ve taken CPR training within the past two years, a two-hour Refresher class. Classes are held in the first floor conference rooms in the Chinook Building, 401 Fifth Avenue. Pre-registration is required. To register for a class send an email to Andrew Burns. Please note that these classes do not meet the requirements for Health Care Provider BLS CPR/AED training.
Basic CPR/AED Training
- Tuesday, August 5, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m., Chinook Conference Room 126
- Monday, Sept. 29, 9 a.m. – noon, Chinook Conference Room 126
- Thursday, Oct. 30, 9 a.m. – noon, Chinook Conference Room 126
Refresher CPR/AED Training (For those who have taken a CPR/AED training within the past 2 years.)
- Thursday, June 26, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m., Chinook Conference Room 115
- Tuesday, August 5, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Chinook Conference Room 126
- Monday, Sept. 29, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m., Chinook Conference Room 126
- Thursday, Oct. 30, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m., Chinook Conference Room 126
If your worksite has at least 12 – 15 people who need training, we can come to you. Contact Anne Curtis to schedule CPR/AED training at your site. Public Health Center managers can schedule Health Care Provider BLS CPR/AED training for Public Health staff through Anne Curtis.
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PAO receives 2014 Technology Achievement Award
The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (PAO) has been presented with King County’s 2014 Technology Achievement Award for a technology project that delivers value.
The PAO’s new computer system for case management, called PbK, was fully installed and implemented last year. The project was the result of the hard work on the part of attorneys and staff in the office who put in a lot of long hours getting the system ready for implementation.
The extraordinary effort of the team led to the completion of the project on time and under budget. Assistant Chief Deputy (MRJC) Dan Clark and Strategic Program Manager Kassie Tadsen oversaw the project. Congratulations to the PbK team!
Above: The PAO’s PbK team and the 2014 Technology Achievement Award. From L-R: Erin Ehlert, Ann Summers, Elaine Pauly, Ann Westberg, Cheryl Woods, Elizabeth Mazich, Craig Haynes, Dan Clark, Kassie Tadsen, and Val Epperson. Not pictured are team members Wynne Brame, Maureen Galloway and Cammy Hendrix.
(Excerpted from The Prosecutor’s Post, May 21, 2014)
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Pet terrier helps employee lose weight, get healthy
When Debra Billups’ nurse practitioner told her she wouldn’t keep her as a patient unless she changed her eating habits, Billups decided it was time for a lifestyle overhaul.
“I had to make the life change. I had to make that decision, it had to be mine,” Billups said.
Billups, who helps customers with questions about their ORCA card auto-load in Metro Transit’s Customer Communication and Services group, was diagnosed in 2009 with osteoporosis, a condition of thinning bones and then diagnosed with asthma shortly thereafter. In January of 2012, she had 153 pounds on her 4-foot-6 ½-inch frame. In the summer of 2012, she lost 30 pounds and in the past two years, has been able to keep it off.
The main encouragement for getting healthy, Billups said, was her dog Shaka, a Manchester terrier with a lot of energy. Read More
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Employee’s work helps to save a veteran
Jodi Riley-Kauer, a Social Worker with the Department of Community and Human Services Veterans Program, recently helped a veteran (“John”) who was homeless and having a really hard time finding work. 
“Jodi said she would help me, but on the condition that I would follow her direction, which I did,” John said.
After a few meetings, Jodi recommended that John go to the Veterans Administration medical center to be screened for mental illness.
“I knew she was probably right because I had thoughts of hurting myself and had some anger built up inside me.”
John is now being treated and has also moved into his own apartment. He says that because of Jodi’s experience and caring, it’s fair to say that she saved him and he is happier and feeling better about life.
Photo: Jodi with her husband, Roy A. A. Kauer III, a retired Army veteran. (Excerpted from DCHS’ Touching Base newsletter)
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Home Repair Program makes life easier for local family
Before the King County Housing Repair Program, Shawn Price had to carry her son Elijah, who suffers from a rare form of muscular dystrophy, up and down the stairs to her home.
“I would take him out of the wheelchair, pick him up and carry him up the stairs,” Price said. “You have to do it so I took muscle relaxers and I would just do it, it was a lot of pain.”
Now, thanks to the program, Price was able to install a ramp leading to her front door.
“It’s a beautiful ramp, it contributes to the house,” Price said.
The King County Housing Repair Program offers loans and grants to low- to moderate-income households to enable necessary household repair projects such as fixing roofs, pipes, electrical systems and flooring. Residents, who qualify for assistance based on their income, receive no interest loans and no payments due until the house is sold. Watch the KCTV video.
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FBI honors probation counselor for work with sexually exploited youth
In late 2013, Deb Stuckman, a Juvenile Probation Counselor with Superior Court, was recognized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for her work to help commercially sexually-exploited youth.
Deb received the award “…for your excellent work with the Central Sound Child Exploitation Task Force that has achieved notable success in major crime control efforts. Your close cooperation with officers from other jurisdictions also contributed to the Task Force’s successes on behalf of the public. These operations are complex and sensitive, and the FBI is grateful for your outstanding contributions.”
Deb began working for King County Juvenile Court in May 2005. About a year later she became involved with the collaborative efforts around juvenile domestic minor sex trafficking. This collaboration was in the very early stages and included a few members of the Seattle Police Departments Vice section, a few probation officers, and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) doing outreach work with at-risk youth.
About four years ago, Deb was approached by the Special Agent in Charge of what was then known as the Innocence Lost Task Force. Deb meets with the Task Force twice a month, as time permits, and maintains her contact with other organizations.
Deb has attended many local and national trainings which has led to an incredible knowledge base, and she is always willing to share her expertise and information with others who have questions and concerns, and to address issues that arise.
“The majority of work that I do with the Task Force is collaboration,” Deb said. “I work with officers from agencies throughout the region to ensure services are in place, they are connected to some sort of system or advocacy program—or often both. If a network of communication needs to be set up, I do my best to assist. I also work to advocate within my own agency to promote best practices when working with youth who are involved in commercial sexual exploitation or are at high risk.”
She continues to collaborate with the local NGOs to increase awareness within the department of available services and to familiarize advocates and case managers with the court process. Deb also works with the Commercially Exploited Youth Multidisciplinary Team Coordinator discussing this multifaceted issue, brainstorming issues, looking forward, and supporting the work that is being done.
The Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) Hotline is 855-400-CSEC or 855-400-2732.
(Excerpted from The Superior Court / Department of Judicial Administration Newsletter).
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Featured Job: Contract Specialist II
Application Deadline: Thursday 6/5/14
Salary: $71,905.60 – $91,145.60 Annually
Department: Department of Executive Services – Finance and Business Operations Division
Description: King County’s Procurement & Contracting Service Section (PCSS) is looking for a detail oriented Contract Specialist. A successful candidate for this position will have knowledge of contract administration, possess positive negotiation and project management skills and have experience in improving operations. Some of the responsibilities for this position include determining and developing a procurement approach, working with client groups to analyze and develop the scope of work, holding public pre-proposal meetings, compiling contract terms, scope and price, and providing training for Contract Specialists and administrative staff involving the requirements and regulations of the procurement process. Interviews for this position will be held on June 9, 2014.
Learn more about this position or view all available jobs.
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Victim Advocates help abused women escape, start again
Emily Elting, a Domestic Violence Victim Advocate for the King County Prosecutor’s Office, helps abused woman find their way out of domestic violence through the justice system and into new lives. One of those women is Jane Gregory, who was beaten nearly to death by her partner in 2012. Jane got the help she needed from Emily and was able to testify at her abuser’s trial. Watch the KCTV video here. Note: the video contains some graphic images.
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