Lourdes Health is pleased to announce that Carlos Alberto Matute Mandujano, MD, has accepted a position as a Family Medicine provider at Lourdes Internal Medicine & Primary Care Clinic and will begin seeing patients August 9, 2022. 

“We are looking forward to welcoming Dr. Mandujano and growing our family medicine provider base even more,” said Kevin Taylor, Medical Director Physician. “He will be a great addition to our team, for our patients, and for our community.”  

Dr. Mandujano attended medical school at Universidad Católica de Honduras (Catholic University of Honduras) and then completed his Family Medicine residency at University of North Dakota, Bismark and his Geriatric Medicine fellowship at Oregon Health and Science University- Portland, Oregon. 

Dr. Mandujano is fluent in both English and Spanish. He is also a member of Colegio Médico de Honduras (Honduras Medical College), is board certified in Family Medicine and has certifications in advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS). 

Dr. Mandujano practices at the Lourdes Internal Medicine & Primary Care Clinic, located at 507 N. 5th Ave. near Lourdes Health Hospital. Patients can schedule an appointment by calling 509.416.8880. 

Each year, 3 Rivers Community Foundation’s philanthropic efforts culminate in an annual grant opportunity for area nonprofits. For 2022, the application is now available for 501c3 nonprofits serving Benton and Franklin counites and Burbank, WA. Applications will be accepted until September 16, 2022.

“3RCF’s Annual Grant Cycle is a reliable source of funding in our community,” says Abbey Cameron, CEO of 3RCF. “It creates opportunities for established nonprofits to grow or strengthen their programs or for newer organizations to stabilize and meet their missions. It is a critical part of our work.”

The funding for this grant program comes from a percentage of 3RCF’s $7M endowment in addition to direct donations. Donors who have set up funds as part of the endowment may direct their dollars to be unrestricted, which means they will go to the areas of greatest need or to specific causes they are passionate about, such as food scarcity or housing. The 3RCF board reviews, evaluates, and interviews applicants to makes sure dollars will be effectively used to support our community.

Donors who are looking to make a one-time gift are invited to donate to 3RCF’s “Grants for Good” Annual Grant Fund. Donors can be assured that their gift has the largest possible impact and goes to the areas of greatest current need in Tri-Cities. To donate to this fund, visit https://www.3rcf.org/grantsforgood/.
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The Grant Application Portal, guidelines, and exclusions can be found at www.3rcf.org/annual-grant-cycle/. 

Port of Kennewick recently transformed three Benton PUD transformer boxes and eight utility boxes at Columbia Gardens Wine & Artisan Village into public art. This pilot project was a collaboration between the Port of Kennewick and Benton PUD.
 
One transformer is adjacent to Gordon Estate Winery at 313 E. Columbia Gardens Way and the others are near Bartholomew Winery at 425 E. Columbia Drive, Kennewick.

These are the first Benton PUD utility boxes wrapped with artist imagery in the Tri-Cities and feature photographs of vineyards, grapes and natural grasses by Kim Fetrow Photography. Benton PUD plans to offer this as an option for other commercial customers in the future.

“Our investment in public art is about creating a sense of place and a desirable location for business expansion,” said Tim Arntzen, Port of Kennewick CEO. “The utility boxes were a perfect canvas within the wine and artisan village.”

The port has identified public art as an essential element of economic development. The new utility box art joins the Mid-Columbia Latino Heritage Mural, Aspirations sculpture and Rolling Mass bus shelter public art installations at Columbia Gardens.

Trios Health is pleased to announce it is celebrating its 70th birthday on Monday, Aug. 1, 2022.

On Aug. 1, 1952, Kennewick General Hospital opened its doors after a decades-long community campaign. Many healthcare challenges hit the Kennewick area in the early 1900s, including the flu epidemic in 1918, diphtheria, and smallpox, among other illnesses, highlighting the need for a hospital to serve the community. Doctors often made house calls, and several small hospitals were established in homes and other buildings to try to meet the growing healthcare needs of the area.

Wartime in the 1940s tripled the population of Kennewick, and healthcare became even more stretched than it already was. A hospital was needed, and the community responded to that call.

“Citizens formed the Kennewick Hospital Association and began an impressive fund to drive to erect what became Kennewick General Hospital. In 1949, this drive took off in full swing,” wrote Tom Moak in his essay titled ‘KGH…A Community Built Hospital.’ “Events ranged from building a $20,000 house that was raffled off to sponsoring circuses, concerts, and rummage sales. Benton County established a hospital taxing district in 1950 and on November 4th of that year a $350,000 bond issue was passed.”

This allowed for Kennewick General Hospital to be built, with ground breaking in March 1951 and the new, 46-bed hospital opening its doors for the first time on Aug. 1, 1952. An article in the Tri-City Herald prior to the official opening of the hospital stated, “Kennewick General Hospital is a symbol of what a community – this community or any other community – can do if it gets solidly behind a single project, and, with unity and selflessness, drives on to ultimate victory.”

“Today, 70 years later, we are incredibly grateful to the community of Kennewick and those citizens who campaigned relentlessly to ensure that their healthcare needs could be met through a hospital system,” said Jerry Dooley, Trios Health Interim Chief Executive Officer. “We hope that they are proud of what we have accomplished in the 70 years since then and look forward to continuing to serve our community for many years to come.”

In the 70 years since Kennewick General Hospital opened, the hospital system has undergone many changes and grown to a multi-faceted health system with Trios Southridge Hospital anchoring the system and several outpatient care centers treating patients for same-day or ongoing medical needs.

The name of the system was changed to Trios Health in 2013 to recognize that it serves the entirety of the Tri-Cities and surrounding communities. In 2014, the new Trios Southridge Hospital opened its doors, while the Trios Birth Center remained at the original downtown KGH building until it could be relocated to the Southridge campus in 2022. In August 2018, Trios Health was sold to RCCH Healthcare Partners in Tennessee, which was sold just a few months later to LifePoint Health in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Trios Health – along with Lourdes Health in Pasco – is now part of LifePoint’s Health growing network of community hospitals in more than 20 states.

“We are privileged to still be here and thankful for the opportunity to continue to grow our services to meet the needs and demands of this great community,” Dooley said. “We are so proud of our roots and of our dedicated professionals who continue to show up to work each day to provide quality, compassionate care to the people we serve with the mindset of Making Communities Healthier.”

The Port of Pasco is slated to receive  $3.6 million in congressionally directed spending in the just released  2023 Senate Transportation Appropriations bill.  Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell secured the congressionally directed spending to help build the last mile of rail needed for the Port’s Reimann Industrial Center.  The rail project will support Darigold’s planned expansion in Pasco as well as help attract other industrial users to the region.

“We are incredibly grateful to Sen. Murray for including this important project in the Senate funding bill,” stated Commission President, Vicki Gordon.  “Sen. Murray and Sen. Cantwell have been champions for funding infrastructure that helps bring family wage jobs to our diverse community.”

The Reimann Industrial Center is being developed by the Port of Pasco to bring new manufacturing companies to the Port District.  Darigold was the first business to purchase ground at Reimann and expects to break ground on Sept. 8th for their new state-of-the art production facility.

While the Reimann Industrial Center rail project is included in the Senate Transportation Appropriation bill, the Senate and House are not expected to complete the final 2023 federal appropriation bills until after the November, 2022 elections. 

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a Small Community Air Service Development grant to the Tri-Cities Airport (PSC). The $750,000 grant, announced today, will enable the airport to establish a minimum revenue guarantee fund and marketing program to recruit, initiate, and support new air service to Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW).  

DFW is a major gateway for Tri-Cities passengers, providing critical access to destinations to the eastern U.S. as well as to Latin America and the Caribbean. On its own, the Dallas/Ft. Worth area is one of the top-10 most popular destination for Tri-Cities residents, but there has never been service from PSC to any airport in Texas. Buck Taft, Airport Director, hopes this grant will change that. 

“We are so excited to receive this grant and jump-start our acquisition of nonstop service to Dallas/Ft. Worth,” Taft shared. “We would like to thank Representative Dan Newhouse for his unwavering belief in our airport, as well as Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, for ensuring that Tri-Cities Airport continues to remain an important part of our state’s aviation system.”

“Local airports spur a significant amount of economic development throughout our district and provide a steady source of income for our communities,” said Rep. Newhouse in a statement. “This grant is a substantial federal investment that will help our community to continue to grow and thrive.”

The Small Community Air Service Development Program is a federal grant program designed to help communities address air service issues by supporting locally proposed solutions to deficiencies. In this case, the grant money will establish a minimum guaranteed profit margin for the new route, which minimizes an airline’s risk in starting the PSC-DFW service. This federal grant will help the airport attract new service but is not a guarantee that an airline will fly the route. “This is the first step in the process,” Taft continued. “We will begin working on this opportunity immediately and hope to offer nonstop service to Dallas, Ft. Worth, and beyond, as soon as possible.” 

Trios Health is pleased to announce that Ethan Estoos, MD, has joined Trios as an Intensivist. Dr. Estoos will be working in the ICU at the Trios Southridge Hospital, located at 3810 Plaza Way in Kennewick.

Estoos earned his medical degree from Loyola University of Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Advocate Christ Medical Center, and his Critical Care Fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University. He is currently a member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Estoos to Trios Southridge Hospital,” said Jonathan Demke, Interim Director of Trios Medical Group Operations. “His experience and knowledge are of great value to our patients and our community.”