Contributed Photo. Brent Lyles, executive director of Friends of the San Juans.

By Friends of the San Juans

You are invited to a virtual town hall at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 16.

The town hall meeting will be led by Brent Lyles, Friends of the San Juans’ new executive director.

Lyles will introduce himself, share some highlights of Friends of the San Juans’ activities, and open it up to the audience to learn about what you are interested in most.

While this conversation would ideally take place in person, he is excited to meet you virtually and answer your questions. Register at www.sanjuans.org/upcoming-events, and feel free to submit questions for Lyles in advance to [email protected]. Continue Reading

By San Juan Island Library

Join the Mullis Center Book Club at 1:15 p.m., Dec. 14, online.

This month, the club is reading “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine” by Gail Honeyman

Print, large print, audio CD, and downloadable ebook and e-audiobook copies are available through the San Juan Island Library.

Email [email protected], for the Zoom meeting invitation at least 30 minutes before the program begins.

Contributed Photo/Clem Onojeghuo.

By Minnie Knych, NW Workforce Career Center

In San Juan County, by far most businesses are seasonal and thrive during the summer but start to lay off employees in the fall.

With the COVID-19 shutdown, the summer season has been difficult for the tourism industry everywhere, but especially here in San Juan County.

Since March, our hospitality sector businesses in the San Juan Islands have struggled to stay in business with little relief. Several of our businesses will not be able to re-open when Washington state moves to the next phase of the virus shutdown.

Over the year, there was a net employment loss, with all sectors of our economy reporting 12-month losses. Continue Reading

By San Juan Community Theatre

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Pilots in Training, the alternative rock band from the Pacific Northwest.

The flight crew consists of Mark Mazzarella (vocals, guitar), Blake Buckets (drums) and Darvis Taylor (bass).

Pilots in Training released their first album, “Lost in Our Skies” on Aug. 16, 2019, and they just released a new single titled, “Last Dance With Sadie Hawkins” featuring Barry Morgan from the World of Organs.

“Last Dance With Sadie Hawkins” is the first single to be released from their upcoming album and the single was performed live for the first time on Dec. 2, 2020, at San Juan Community Theatre.

Watch the concert at https://www.sjctheatre.org/2020-21-snapshot-season-videos/pilots-in-training-concert.

By San Juan County

The San County Council is searching for San Juan County citizens to fill current and upcoming vacancies on various boards and commissions.

Additional information about each committee is available at http://sanjuanco.com/641/Board-Committee-Vacancies.

Persons interested in serving on a board or advisory committee should fill out an Advisory Committee Application or contact the council office at 360-378-2898 or [email protected]. Continue Reading

Island Near Deer Harbor Now Permanently Conserved

Contributed Photo/SJPT. Reef Island.

By San Juan Preservation Trust

Earlier this fall, the San Juan Preservation Trust received a $4 million donation that enabled the Preservation Trust to purchase Reef Island, which lies just outside of Deer Harbor near Orcas Island’s Spring Point.

Contributed Photo/SJPT. Reef Island.

The donor who made the acquisition possible is Malcolm Goodfellow, who just this past summer made a $5.2 million gift to the Preservation Trust, resulting in a 36-acre expansion of Turtleback Mountain Preserve and a return of six acres of shoreline property (known as Haida Point) to the Lummi Nation.

Reef Island is a prominent part of the Wasp Island group, which the Preservation Trust has long regarded as a high-priority area for conservation.

The island is home to 17 acres of a rare mixed Douglas fir, seaside juniper and Garry oak forest, bounded by just under a mile of rocky shoreline and pocket beaches. SJPT’s management goals on Reef will be to maintain these conservation values and remove the few signs of human use, via recycling and “re-homing.” Continue Reading

Contributed Image/CDC

Public and Nonpublic Employees Must Wear Masks

By San Juan County

As cases rise, it is worth taking another look at what employers and employees can do to protect themselves and their businesses from COVID-19 impacts.

The basics are nothing new: cover our faces, wash our hands, stay home when sick.

That said, it is important to understand the ways in which a business can be affected, and some of the things that help minimize risk.

While nearly all island businesses are doing an incredible job with face-covering in public areas, a small number of workplaces have nonpublic spaces where employees operate unmasked. We know this because some San Juan County Health & Community Services contact tracing efforts have been complicated by groups of employees who work out of view with their faces uncovered. Continue Reading

By San Juan Island Prevention Coalition

We want to extend an invitation to add your voice to prevention!

Your input help’s the San Juan Island Prevention Coalition and the state to continue funding wellness promotion in our community, which includes: Youth Leadership Development, the Student Assistance Professional in the San Juan Island School District, LifeSkills Training, Second Step, Strengthening Families, and the Mentoring Program (SJI Family Resource Center).

Please take the 4-5 minutes to complete this annual anonymous survey in English or Spanish as it is part of the state’s funding requirement for our coalition.

The survey expires on Dec. 15.

Thank you for your time and support.

Maintain Children’s Check-Ups

By Mark Fishaut, MD and William F. House, MD, Eventide Health

As the number of positive COVID-19 cases in children surpassed 1 million, pediatricians continue to grapple with the pandemic’s impact on their patients, practice, work-life balance and finances.

Fortunately, severe illness due to COVID-19 remains rare in children, with 133 pediatric deaths nationally through mid-November.

However, the pandemic has taken a toll on the health of children, families, communities, physicians and frontline medical teams in other ways.

Widespread concern has been shared by nearly all pediatricians surveyed nationally about the pandemic’s social and financial impact on their practice community. Many commented that families are hard hit by financial and medical stress, and patients need help connecting with mental health services and other resources.

Pediatricians are experiencing high stress in their professional and personal lives during the pandemic, too. Especially in rural areas like ours around the country, numerous small pediatric and family practices have permanently closed leaving huge gaps in child care that may never be restored.

As the coronavirus pandemic upends the daily life of all of us, families must continue to follow public health recommendations by staying at home and limiting contact with others whenever possible. But an unintended negative consequence of the pandemic is the news that up to 80 percent of American children are not visiting their pediatricians’ offices right now and are missing out on routine well-child visits that include important developmental screenings and vaccinations.

We too at Eventide Health have seen a similar drop in well-child and young adult visits despite our island’s having avoided the worst of the pandemic thus far. Continue Reading

By Mark Fishaut, MD and William F. House, MD, Eventide Health

A medida que el número de casos positivos de COVID-19 en niños superó 1 MILLÓN, los pediatras continúan lidiando con el impacto de la pandemia en sus pacientes, la práctica, el equilibrio entre la vida laboral y personal y las finanzas. Afortunadamente, la enfermedad grave debida a COVID-19 sigue siendo poco común en los niños, con 133 muertes pediátricas a nivel nacional hasta mediados de noviembre. Sin embargo, la pandemia ha afectado la salud de los niños, las familias, las comunidades, los médicos y los equipos médicos de primera línea de otras formas.

Casi todos los pediatras encuestados a nivel nacional han compartido la preocupación generalizada sobre el impacto social y financiero de la pandemia en su comunidad de práctica. Muchos comentaron que las familias se ven gravemente afectadas por el estrés financiero y médico, y los pacientes necesitan ayuda para conectarse con los servicios de salud mental y otros recursos. Continue Reading

By EDC

The San Juan County EDC will host a listening session with State Representative Alex Ramel (WA-4o) from 5-6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 10.

The event will be held via Zoom and pre-registration is required.

Representative Ramel hopes to hear from you about the challenges you’re facing throughout fall and winter, what successes you had during summer that you’d like to see continued, and how the state can find innovative and immediately responsive ways to support you, your business, your employees, and your community.

To register for this event, visit https://www.sanjuansedc.org/edc-will-host-on-12-10-a-listening-session-with-state-rep-alex-ramel-wa-40/.

The San Juan County Economic Development Council strives to strengthen and diversify the economy of San Juan County. We believe a strong economy builds a strong community.

By San Juan County

San Juan County has been directed by the Washington Office of the Secretary of State to recount Orcas East Precinct votes in the race for Governor of Washington State.

This direction comes following a request for a recount from a political party representative.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to RCW 42.30, that the San Juan County Canvassing Board or its duly appointed delegates will convene at 8:30 am on December 7, 2020, for the purpose of setting the date and time of a manual recount of the votes cast during the 2020 November 3, General Election for the office of Governor in San Juan County precinct Orcas East. This meeting will convene in the San Juan County Elections Office at 55 Second St, Suite A, Friday Harbor, WA.

The canvass board will again convene at 3 p.m. on Dec. 10, 2020, in the San Juan County Elections Office, to review and sign the certification documents for the recount.

Additional information concerning the recount may be obtained by calling the Elections Office at 360-378-3357 or by visiting the elections office webpage at www.sanjuanco.com/elections.

This year’s 22^ndAnnual Community Thanksgiving adapted to our covid circumstance and was appreciated by many islanders in the form of a free “take-out” Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings.

The event was sponsored by King’s Market, Printonyx, Islanders Insurance and the Mullis Center and organized by Diana and Kevin Porter.

Diana says a hearty “Thank You” to all who helped out… Each of you went above and beyond to feed a whole lot of people.

I do not know how many people we served but if I gage it by the green beans and the yams, we provided somewhere between 480-576 servings of food. In years past we have served up to 500 people, however, that included food for our 100 volunteers.

This year, some community members and many of our volunteers went away hungry.  By 2:30 p.m., there was not one bite of food left. Continue Reading

Contributed Photo/EMS. Paramedic Lainey Volk delivers Thanksgiving dinner to an islander.

By San Juan Island EMS

San Juan Island EMS Community Paramedic Lainey Volk spent a portion of her day on Thanksgiving delivering dinners to 15 of her patients/clients who are vulnerable and shut-in.

Several of these people have no other family on the island.

The meals, including turkey with all the trimmings, were procured from the San Juan Island Community Dinner and delivered to all ends of the island.

Contributed Photo/EMS. Paramedic Lainey Volk visits a patient on Thanksgiving.

“Several cried at the kindness. I was called an angel by a few as well. Sometimes this job is very rewarding” said Volk.

The main goals of the community paramedicine program are to improve the quality of life and health of our citizens while reducing the cost of healthcare. This meets the hospital district’s goal of “aging in place,” by helping meet the needs of higher-risk patients while keeping them in their homes.

Continue Reading

By Washington State Department of Health

The Washington State Department of Health is adopting the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to reduce quarantine for people who have been exposed to COVID-19.

Although both the Washington State Department of Health and CDC currently recommend a quarantine period of 14 days, there are circumstances that allow for a shortened quarantine.

These include:

• If a person who is in quarantine has no symptoms, quarantine can end after Day 10.
• If a person who is in quarantine receives a negative COVID-19 test and has no symptoms, quarantine can end after Day 7. Get tested within 48 hours before ending quarantine.

Continue Reading

By Town of Friday Harbor

The Town of Friday Harbor thanks the community for supporting the local food bank with their generous contributions to the Harbor Life Ring program this November.

Town utility customer donations of $3,010 were matched with a $2,000 grant from the town for a total donation of $5,010 to the Friday Harbor Food Bank.

This is the eighth year that supporters of the Harbor Life Ring program have helped the food bank provide for island families during the holiday season when the need threatens to outweigh the supply.

“The continued support from our community has been just amazing,” said Friday Harbor Mayor Farhad Ghatan. “We are so very thankful, especially during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.”

The Harbor Life Ring program was established in 2013 to assist families in need of financial relief on their town utility bills.

The program is funded through donations that town customers add to their monthly bill payments.