Prosser Memorial Health is pleased to announce cardiologist Dr. Karan Bhatti and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Sam Strebel have joined Prosser Memorial Health.

“It is extremely important for us to be able to offer advanced orthopedic surgery services and cardiology services to our community. The addition of Dr. Bhatti and Dr. Strebel to our group of specialists reconfirms our commitment to provide high quality, low cost healthcare services locally whenever we are able.”

“With the addition of Dr. Bhatti, coupled with our cardiopulmonary services and our state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging and nuclear medicine capabilities we will be able to provide a wide variety of services and care for lower valley patients close to home,” said Craig Marks, Chief Executive Officer at Prosser Memorial Health.

Dr. Bhatti is a non-invasive cardiologist specializing in valvular heart disease, heart failure treatment and management, preventive cardiology, stress testing (treadmill, nuclear and echocardiography), cardiac Oncology, pulmonary hypertension, echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography, arrhythmia management, hypertension management
and hyperlipidemia management. 

Dr. Bhatti recently completed his Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship at the University of Texas- Houston and he is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Echocardiography.

Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Sam Strebel has recently been caring for patients at Tri-City Orthopaedics in Kennewick. Dr. Sam Strebel’s orthopedic services include anterior and posterior approach, total hip, total knee replacement, endoscopic and open carpal tunnel release, Ganglion cyst excision, fracture care, and more. 

Dr. Strebel’s completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX. He went on to complete an Adult Reconstruction Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Strebel is fluent in Spanish.

Dr. Bhatti and Dr. Strebel are now accepting new patients. To learn more about their services or other surgical services at Prosser Memorial Health, call 509.786.5599, or visit prosserhealth.org. 

​The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE’s) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory issued its annual report on distributed wind that shows turbines used for battery charging and remote power made up 99 percent of the total number of small wind turbines last year.

Distributed wind power is clean energy generated where it is used, as opposed to power sent through transmission lines and substations. This wind power is consumed onsite by homes, schools, farms, and businesses. There are more than 83,000 wind turbines in distributed applications across the United States and its territories, which is an increase of more than 2,000 new wind turbines over the prior year. The turbines total 1,127 megawatts of distributed wind capacity.

The 2018 Distributed Wind Market Report highlights the very small wind turbines of less than one kilowatt in size that accounted for 99 percent of the total turbines and 47 percent of small wind project capacity deployed in 2018. These turbines are commonly coupled with energy storage or solar PV systems.

“As the number of small wind turbines deployed in the one- to-100-kilowatt size range has been generally decreasing, the number of deployed turbines with a capacity rating of less than one kilowatt has stayed fairly steady,” said Alice Orrell, who led the study at PNNL. “As a result, these less-than-one-kilowatt turbines, which mainly provide remote power for off-grid locations, now account for a larger share of the small wind market.” 

On the other end of the size spectrum, turbines greater than one-megawatt in size are commonly used for government, commercial, industrial, and utility customers. Distributed wind projects using large-scale turbines and serving utility companies that power homes made up 47 percent of the distributed wind capacity deployed in 2018.

Another 29 percent is used by commercial and industrial customers – up from nine percent in 2017 and five percent in 2016.

Typically using smaller turbines that are no larger than 100 kilowatts, agricultural and residential customers accounted for just one percent of the documented capacity.

U.S. distributed wind capacity reached a total of 1,100 megawatts last year. Projects using turbines with greater than 100-kilowatts of wind capacity accounted for 49 megawatts of the 50.5 megawatts distributed wind capacity installed in 2018.

Texas, Iowa, and Minnesota are the top three states for overall distributed wind capacity, and Iowa, Nevada, and Alaska are the top three states for small wind capacity, although there were no new documented projects in Iowa or Nevada in 2018. Rhode Island, Ohio, and Nebraska led the United States in new distributed wind power capacity in 2018 with large-scale turbine projects. Green Development, LLC added 21 megawatts of distributed wind to its portfolio in Rhode Island in 2018, accounting for almost half of the documented 2018 distributed wind capacity and almost doubling Rhode Island’s cumulative distributed wind capacity.

New York and Alaska had the most reported small wind projects in 2018. New York has been a leader in small wind capacity deployment in past years because of its New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) small wind turbine incentive program.

Now in its seventh year, the Distributed Wind Market Report was funded by DOE's Wind Energy Technologies Office, and helps the distributed wind community — utilities, manufacturers, and federal and state agencies — keep an eye on current market conditions and regulatory environments. It provides the wind power community with a year-to-year comparison to measure growth and trends as well as data such as costs, number of deployments, performance and capacity factors, types of turbines used, customer type, domestic and international markets, and market drivers and barriers.

For more information about the distributed wind report, as well as its companion reports on utility-scale, land-based and offshore wind power, see the announcement from DOE. And, for more information about PNNL's wind power research, visit PNNL's wind website.

Beginning September 3, the Ben Franklin Transit (BFT) Knight Street Transit Center in Richland will be closed for renovations. Transit center operations will relocate onto a nearby section of Northgate Drive, which will be temporarily closed to all other traffic beginning August 26 to accommodate frequent bus activity during the renovation work.

The Knight Street Transit Center has long needed improvements including asphalt and bus platform concrete but will also be upgraded to include new amenities such as modern shelters, benches, and lighting, as well as landscaping and conduit placement for future digital signage.

To help riders navigate, signage will be placed along the temporary street-side bus staging area on Northgate to assist with finding their route connections, and BFT’s website and social media will be used to convey important rider information. The renovations are expected to begin on or around September 3 and conclude before the end of the year, with no other route or schedule impacts anticipated in the interim.

“This effort has involved a lot of collaboration with the City of Richland and Columbia Basin College to accommodate moving our transit center operations for an extended period,” said Gloria Boyce, general manager. “The City has been a great and generous partner in providing us with bus-only, street-side access nearby, and CBC has graciously agreed to allow transit customer parking near their Health Science Center, which is providing us a best-case scenario for this temporary disruption.”

​More information about Ben Franklin Transit and its services can be found at www.bft.org.

Trios Health is pleased to announce that Matthew Fewel, MD, neurosurgeon, will be joining Trios Health, effective Sept. 1. Dr. Fewel specializes in neurological surgery and spine surgery. He has practiced locally for 14 years.

Conditions and treatments include cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine surgery, minimally invasive spine surgery options, degenerative spine disorders, herniated discs, spinal stenosis, scoliosis, spine trauma, spine infections, revision spine surgery, spine instability, spine tumors, spine fusions, artificial disc replacements, and non-operative management of spine conditions.

Dr. Fewel attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate, earning a B.A. in business administration. He went on to receive his Doctor of Medicine with Highest Distinction from the University of Southern California in 1998. While at USC, Dr. Fewel was the top medical student in clinical years, earning him the AMA-ERF Achievement Award. After USC, he completed a neurosurgical residency at the University of Michigan from 1998-2005 and received the Resident Award for Outstanding Research from the Michigan Association of Neurological Surgeons for his work on brain tumor research.

Dr. Fewel will see patients at the fifth floor Trios Care Center clinic at Southridge and will perform surgeries at the Trios Southridge Hospital.

Appointments can be made by calling (509) 221-6550.

On Monday, August 19th, 2019, the Tri-Cities Cancer Center welcomed Radiation Oncologist, Sherry Zhao, MD to our medical team.

Dr. Zhao is experienced in the treatment of all cancer diagnoses that are radiation appropriate. Dr. Zhao is licensed in Washington and is accepting new patients.

Dr. Zhao studied medicine at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa, Florida. She completed her medical internship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts and her Radiation Oncology training at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

Dr. Zhao joins Medical Director, Sue Mandell, MD, and Guy Jones, MD who are Board Certified Radiation Oncologists at the Tri-Cities Cancer Center.

“We are extremely excited to have Dr. Zhao join our team. Her fresh perspective and patient-centric, collaborative approach are a great addition to the Tri-Cities Cancer Center team,” stated Chuck DeGooyer, Tri-Cities Cancer Center CEO. “We are delighted to welcome Dr. Zhao to our first-class team providing the world-class treatment that our community deserves.”

The Tri-Cities Cancer Center is pleased to announce we have opened a Hermiston satellite office. The office is located at 600 Northwest 11th Street, Suite E-23 at Good Shepherd Medical Center in Hermiston. Our office will be available for patient consultations, follow-up visits, support services, as well as survivorship appointments. The Tri-Cities Cancer Center’s Hermiston office will initially be open every Monday. To schedule an appointment, please call (509) 783-9894.

“We want to ensure that our patients are served well across the region,” states Chuck DeGooyer, CEO of the Tri-Cities Cancer Center. “With many of our patients coming from Hermiston and the surrounding communities, we want to make it easier for them to receive their cancer care and support close to their home. We are pleased to be working in partnership with Good Shepherd Medical Center staff, physicians, and Kadlec Regional Medical Center to bring our services to Hermiston.”`

Lori A. Selby, PhD | CFP® | CMFC®, Vice President at Epic Trust Investment Advisors, LLC in Kennewick, WA has been authorized by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board) to use the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and CFP® certification marks in accordance with CFP Board certification and renewal requirements. Ms. Selby has worked at Epic Trust Investment Advisors, LLC since March of 2017 and is responsible for financial planning and managing investments.

The CFP® marks identify those individuals who have met the rigorous experience and ethical requirements of the CFP Board, have successfully completed financial planning coursework and have passed the CFP® Certification Examination covering the following areas:  the financial planning process, risk management, investments, tax planning and management, retirement and employee benefits, and estate planning.  CFP® professionals also agree to meet ongoing continuing education requirements and to uphold CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Rules of Conduct and Financial Planning Practice Standards.

CFP Board is a nonprofit certification organization with a mission to benefit the public by granting the CFP® certification and upholding it as the recognized standard of excellence for personal financial planning.  CFP Board owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and federally registered CFP (with plaque design) and CFP (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete initial and ongoing certification requirements.  CFP Board currently authorizes more than 80,000 individuals to use these marks in the United States.  For more about CFP Board, visit www.CFP.net.

The Academy of Children’s Theatre is performing a production of “Matilda: The Musical” for two consecutive weekends beginning September 27.  The show brings to life the classic story by Roald Dahl of an extraordinary girl with a vivid imagination and sharp mind who courageously struggles with cruel parents and a headmistress.  

The show performs on September 27, 28, October 4, and 5 at 7 p.m. and on September 29 and October 6 at 3 p.m.  All performances are at Richland High School auditorium. 

Tickets are now available on line at www.academyofchildrenstheatre.org, by calling 509-943-6027, or by visiting the ACT office.  Ticket prices are $16 for adults, $13 for seniors (65+) and youth (13-18), and $10 for children ages 12 and under. 

Playing the lead role of Matilda, the young girl whose love of reading teaches her the important values and lessons of life, is Hannah Damrell, a junior at Kamiakin.  Jamie Goad plays the hilarious role of mean headmistress Miss Trunchbull.  Portraying the goofy heinous parents are Stephen Miller and Megan Vaughn Boggs.  The play is directed by Josh Darby and features a cast of 53 youth actors and five adults. The musical is engaging, thought-provoking, and profoundly funny. 

For tickets and information, contact ACT at 509-943-6027 or email [email protected].  

Gesa Credit Union is proud to announce the Gesa Local Heroes Affinity Debit Card Program, supporting first responders, veterans, and teachers. Gesa’s Local Heroes Affinity Debit Card Program earns money for law enforcement, firefighters, veterans, and teachers each time a cardholder swipes their Gesa Visa® Local Heroes Debit Card. These cards join Gesa’s 13 current Affinity Debit Cards which to date have raised over $300,000 for Washington schools and youth sports. 

“First responders, veterans, and educators are the backbone of our community. They help our neighbors in times of need, they are our heroes in times of crisis, and they are mentors helping to shape our children’s future,” said Don Miller, President and CEO of Gesa Credit Union. “We are proud to help our members honor these local heroes through Gesa’s program.” 

With every swipe of a Local Heroes Debit Card, Gesa will make a small donation to the Local Heroes Fund at Gesa. The money raised from these cards will be used to fund grants for fire departments, police departments, teachers groups, and veterans’ organizations, or those who support them, throughout the state of Washington. Organizations interested in applying for a grant are encouraged to apply online at www.gesa.com/local-heroes during the grant funding window. A call for grants will be announced annually by Gesa, at a later date. Local Heroes Affinity Debit Cards are available exclusively at Gesa Credit Union. These cards are free to Gesa members with a checking account and there is no fee for members to switch their card to any of the Local Hero designs.
​ 
To learn more about Gesa Credit Union, visit www.gesa.com. 

A dedication ceremony for the House of Crosses will take place August 27th, 10:00 a.m., at the Prosser Cemetery. The community is invited to the public dedication ceremony. Structural improvements, new benches for families, and landscaping from Yellow Rose Nursery are part of the House of Crosses unveiling. A private communal burial will take place at a later date for those families that have experienced loss and wish to be included in the “Little Wings” Communal Burial Services. “This is a true celebration of what we have accomplished over the last two years, raising money, and completing the restoration of the House of Crosses. More importantly, it is a celebration of what the House of Crosses and the Little Wings program mean for our community. We are able to offer families who have suffered a loss, a place close to home where they can seek comfort and closure,” said Cindy Raymond, Director of the Family Birthplace.

The original purpose of the House of Crosses was to allow families of any faith to place a cross or crucifix inside the building in memory of their loved one, a tradition that will continue. The purpose has been expanded to include a vault where babies under twenty weeks gestation may be placed, without any cost to the parents. The House of Crosses was designed and donated to the Prosser Cemetery by Mrs. Ann Grets Bertrand as a memorial to lost children and beautification project in 1977. It also stands as a personal memorial to the Grets Family who are buried at Prosser Cemetery.