Susan Carbon chosen for Samaritan Healthcare commission
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 8 months AGO
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | July 9, 2020 11:49 PM
MOSES LAKE — Susan Carbon has been selected to fill the vacant position on the Samaritan Healthcare board.
Board members voted 4-0 to appoint Carbon to the seat through the end of the current term in 2021. Carbon replaces Joe Akers, who resigned in May after moving out of the area.
Carbon said she would run for the seat in 2021.
The vote came after the two candidates, Carbon and Allison Russell, were interviewed and the board held an executive session.
Carbon is a member of the Samaritan Healthcare Foundation board and part of the community committee working on the new Samaritan hospital. She retired from her job as a math teacher at Moses Lake High School at the end of the 2019-20 school year, she said. She had been teaching at MLHS for 12 years.
Before her retirement, she was chair of the MLHS math department, and in that role she had to ensure everyone was heard, she said. That is, in her opinion, part of the job of a hospital commissioner, to ensure hospital employees and hospital district patrons are heard and made to feel the hospital supports the community.
She advocated more health education and additional partnerships with community organizations. Being out in the community, promoting the district and its services, she said, are among the most important things commissioners can do.
Carbon said she would like to see the hospital expand its service offerings, citing the pulmonary rehabilitation services as an example. Prior to its opening, patients had to go out of town to get similar services.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Road closures, roundabout, mean construction season underway
EPHRATA — The grass is starting to turn green, the trees are starting to leaf out, construction crews are starting to build roundabouts – hey, it’s spring. At least one roundabout project is in its final phase, held over from fall 2025. The intersection of State Route 282 and Nat Washington Way will be closed the week of April 6 to allow crews to install permanent lights. “This really is the final (closure),” wrote Grant County Administrator Tom Gaines in a media release. “The roundabout will close at 6 a.m. Monday, and we plan to reopen by Friday, possibly sooner if the work finishes early.”
Ybarra announces run for Washington Senate
QUINCY — State Representative Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, has announced his candidacy for the Washington Senate. If he’s elected, he would replace Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, who announced her retirement in March.
Othello Community Museum to open April 25
OTHELLO — With a couple of new exhibits, a new heating-cooling system, rearranged displays and a thorough cleaning, the Othello Community Museum will open for the summer April 25. The goal, said Molly Popchock, museum board secretary, is to operate for a full season.