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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Wastemobile makes hazardous waste disposal easy
When the permanent hazardous waste facilities weren’t enough to deal with all of King County’s hazardous waste disposal demands, the Wastemobile was created.
“We didn’t know how big the demand was; we needed a better plan of doing it,” said Henry Draper who was the original project manager of the Local Hazardous Management Program’s Household Hazardous Wastemobile. “That was the genesis of the Wastemobile.”
Now, celebrating its 25th anniversary, two Wastemobiles serve rural and suburban areas of King County, accepting residential and small business hazardous waste materials.
The Wastemobile is dedicated to recycling and the beneficial reuse and recovery of household hazardous waste, and that starts with being able to determine whether a waste product is hazardous.
“One of the main challenges the Wastemobile program hopes to overcome is educating residents on what constitutes hazardous waste,” said Julie Mitchell, who now manages the Wastemobile program.
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Kudos! Public Health Preparedness gets perfect score in CDC review
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded Public Health’s Preparedness Section a perfect score of 100 in a recent assessment of its ability to receive, stage, store, distribute, and dispense medications during a public health emergency.
In 2004, the CDC established the Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) to increase preparedness for biological disasters and protect the public if there is a public health emergency in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. A public health emergency could include an anthrax attack, an influenza pandemic, or a natural disaster that affects the health of a community.
The goal of the CRI is to ensure appropriate medical supplies and medications can be mobilized during a disaster and provided to an entire jurisdiction’s population within 48 hours of the decision to do so.
The CDC conducts annual technical assistance reviews to assess state and local capabilities and readiness, and results in a numerical score of up to 100 for the participating jurisdiction. In addition to an assessment of the jurisdiction’s handling of medications during a public health emergency, the review also evaluates response plan development, stakeholder coordination, public and internal communication planning, trainings and exercise, and outreach to vulnerable populations.
Michelle Dulaney and Ali Jaffe-Doty in Preparedness led Public Health’s medical countermeasures capability, working with employees in Public Health’s Preparedness Section, Communications, the Communicable Disease Epidemiology and Immunization Section, Community Health Services Division, and pharmacy operations, whose expertise was essential in securing a perfect score.
“Our ability to leverage resources and gain commitment from key partners including commercial pharmacies, healthcare systems, long term care providers, local emergency managers, first responders and private industry has generated resilient, sustainable, community-based capability,” Dulaney said.
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Responders help King County achieve world’s highest cardiac arrest survival rate
King County’s emergency responders have long been recognized as among the best in the world and that standing was enhanced even further this week when it was revealed that the cardiac arrest survival rate in King County, already the world’s best, has reached an all-time high.
Someone who has a cardiac arrest in King County has a greater chance of survival than anyone else in the world, with the survival rate in King County up to 62 percent in 2013, according to the latest analysis by county officials. By comparison, the cardiac survival rates in New York City, Chicago, and other urban areas have been recorded in the single digits.
“People are alive today in King County who would not have survived in most other places in the country,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “Our system delivers rapid, high-quality critical care wherever you are.”
King County’s success in saving lives is based in a coordinated, regional system where everyone – dispatchers, first responders, fire departments, law enforcement, paramedics, urgent care centers, and others – is guided by consistent medical direction and evidence-based practice.
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