Firehouse Magazine announced the winners of its fifth annual Station Design Awards program and Kennewick Fire Station 5 received the Gold Award for stations under 15,000 square feet! The awards program recognizes outstanding architecture and design from fire departments nationwide. 

“We are extremely proud that Fire Station 5 is being recognized at a national level. The design came from extensive outreach and partnership with our community. We will also be able to incorporate successful design elements from Station 5 as we plan for future fire stations to support our growing community,” states Kennewick Fire Chief, Vince Beasley.

Fire Station 5 is located at 6016 W 10th Avenue – corner of 10th Avenue and Kellogg Street. The 12,556 square foot station was designed by TCA Architecture Planning Inc. A very successful grand opening was held for the public on August 22nd, 2016 and the station was in full service that afternoon.

On Saturday, November 10th from 7:00am to 11:00am at the Walter Clore Center’s Vineyard Pavilion, Prosser Memorial Health will be providing free breakfast for Veterans and their families. This has become an annual tradition for the hospital with plans to continue each year as a thank you to those having served. Prosser’s annual Veteran’s Day Parade will start at 1:00pm in Historic Downtown Prosser.

Prosser Memorial Health opened its doors as a 19-bed facility in 1947 and was dedicated to the community’s veterans of World War II. Over seventy years later, Prosser Memorial Health has grown into a progressive healthcare organization providing compassionate care, the latest in medical technology, and a mission to improve the health of the community.

To learn more about healthcare services provided by Prosser Memorial Health, visit prosserhealth.org.

Deadlines have been set for a popular Washington renewable-energy incentive program that is nearing the maximum funding level and is expected to meet the incentive limit by June 2019.   Although funds may be exhausted at any time, Washington State University has notified utilities that customers installing residential scale solar projects have until February 14, 2019 to apply for the State Incentive Program.  After that date, customers will be put on a waitlist and applications will only be processed if funds are available.  This is due to the overall program nearing the state funding limit of $110 million, not each utilities specific funding limit.  As of Oct. 17, 2018 around $95 million of the funds had been reserved either through application reviews already underway, existing contracts, or project certification or precertification.  However, there is a strong possibility that funds will be exhausted before the Washington State February 14th deadline. 

Smaller projects, with capacities up to 12 kW (residential scale) or greater than 12 kW (commercial scale), must be installed and pass a final electrical inspection by Jan. 31, 2019, and then apply for incentive payments by Feb. 14, 2019. Application submittals or inspections after these dates will be placed on a waitlist and processed only if funds are available.

The two separate procedures and deadlines were established by Washington State University’s Energy Program, which administers the incentive program, to fairly allocate the remaining funding among the project categories. 

Project team members from Bouten Construction, Lenity Architecture and Vista Pointe Development are celebrating the groundbreaking of a brand-new memory care community in Kennewick, Washington, WindSong at Southridge. 

This project marks the fourth Windsong Community that Vista Pointe Development, Aidan Health Services and Lenity Architecture have collaborated on and the first with Bouten Construction.  Vista Pointe Developments flagship community, WindSong at Eola Hills is located in Salem, Oregon and opened in 2015.  The other 2 communities, WindSong at Rock Creek and WindSong at Northridge are located in Northern Colorado and opened in 2017 and 2018 respectively.  

Located at 4000 W 24th Avenue Kennewick, the community sits on approximately 3 acres and boasts 56 studio apartments, each with its own private bathroom and shower. The one-story, wood-framed project totals 37,000 square feet and consists of two mirrored, secure wings. The community will have a full commercial kitchen with a full-time chef, two interior courtyards, four television rooms, two Montessori rooms for activities and stimulus and two activity kitchens. The building is specially designed with those with memory loss in mind.

The community operations are managed by Salem, Oregon based Aidan Health Services.  There will be seven full-time administrative staff members as well as a full-time Registered Nurse and one specialized care staff member for every seven to eight residents. All professionally trained staff specialize in providing care through the Montessori Inspired Lifestyle approach. Montessori-based dementia care focuses on muscle memory, the five senses, and building on existing skills, interests and abilities. This exclusive approach optimizes the quality of life for residents and provides an avenue for progress and growth that is unparalleled in the industry.

 “We are excited about opening our first WindSong Community in the state of Washington,” said Don Harris with Vista Pointe Development. “We believe there is a growing need in the area for high quality, innovative memory care and we are continually looking to expand our Windsong brand in the region.”

As the population in the United States continues to age, so does the prevalence of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. In fact, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, one in 10 people age 65 and older has Alzheimer’s dementia, and the state of Washington is expected to experience at least a 50% increase in the next 25 years. 

To find out more about WindSong at Southridge and their other memory care communities, please see their website www.windsongmemorycare.com or contact Stacey Flint at 844.238.4859.