Faced with yet another back surgery, John Fisher remembers slumping in his chair, dispirited. “I guess I knew that’s what it would come to,” the Spokane man said. “And I knew that, eventually, my pain would return.” It was the kind of hurt that dropped him to his knees. Made him scream.And then he ...

Seven area high schools, including Mead and Ferris from the Greater Spokane League, won nine spring academic state championships, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association announced.Mead won the academic title in 4A boys tennis with a 3.832 grade-point average while Ferris was the 4A gi...

Seven Central Valley students recently competed in DECA's International Career Developement Conference in Louisville, Ky.Joe Britt and James Notrica competed in the Chapter Awards Project, a presentation of Central Valley DECA's Program of Work for the past year.Joesph Guerrinha and Michael Barnhar...

For those wondering what health care cost containment might look like, check out the $15.7 million federal grant that was awarded to Inland Northwest Health Services. Only 15 communities across the country have landed these coveted grants by demonstrating trailblazing work in information technology...

The day after a stroke paralyzed the left side of Donald McKenzie’s body, his thoughts were of his daughter as one of the most important days of her life approached.How could he give Heather away on the day of her marriage if he couldn’t walk more than a step or two?“It is important to her and impo...

Michelle Kazuba, 15, who competes with the Spokane Area Swimming Team, had four top-seven finishes, including a second, in the Can/Am Disabled Swimming Championships last weekend in San Antonio.Kazuba, who competes in the S6 classification, was second in the 200 backstroke against the best disabled...

Valerie Wang has been a physical therapist for 36 years, but says she didn't recognize the need for specialized therapy for post-operative breast cancer patients until last year, after she had become a patient.Now, she's using what she's learned through personal experience and follow-up research to...

American life is fast-paced, busy and productive. But in that rush and stress, it’s easy to lose touch with what’s going on in our bodies and how they are reacting to the hustle and bustle of daily living. Anyone who’s come home with a tension headache has experienced this disconnect. The headache ...

A cough, a sneeze, a blown out knee. A heart palpitation, macular degeneration, a deep laceration. Infections, disease and clogged arteries. A headache, a foggy haze and a general malaise. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to the ills we suffer. Finding a doctor to help you get better shouldn't...

Fourteen-year-old Michelle Kazuba throws the javelin for East Valley Middle School at a track meet on May 14. With her dark hair swept back into a ponytail, 14-year-old Michelle Kazuba warmed up with the East Valley Middle School track team on May 20. At 4 feet tall, Kazuba is the smallest teen on ...

“I want Batman this year!”“Mom, can I have the pink one with Hannah Montana?”At stores throughout the Inland Northwest, moms and dads are hearing these pleas – including myself as the parent of a kindergartener this year. As we enter another school year, students are shopping for new school supplie...

After suffering a stroke last fall, Carol Wendle could no longer move the right side of her body.She lost the ability to walk or write. She couldn’t dress herself. In order to eat, she needed someone to feed her. Wendle, in her mid 60s and a retired school teacher who walked every day and led an ac...

St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute says it has hired two additional staff physicians, essentially creating an in-house physician’s group at the 102-bed facility. Until recently, only two physicians on the institute’s medical staff were employees of St. Luke’s – Dr. Stefan Humphries, medical direct...

Team St. Luke's, a sports team created by St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute for children with physical disabilities, traveled to Piscataway, N.J., to compete July 19-27 in the National Junior Disability Championships at Rutgers University. The team sent 15 athletes who brought home 134 medals and...

St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute, dedicated to inpatient and outpatient medical rehabilitation, announced that they have two new physicians on the physician team. Dr. Mark S. Gordon, received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of South Dakota, interned in psychiatry at the Eisenhower Arm...

St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute’s main clinic is undergoing renovation as a part of a $1.2 million improvement project. Along with the improvements at the main clinic, St. Luke’s north outpatient clinic has moved to 9631 Nevada St. at the far north end of Spokane, closer to rural patients. For ...

Wearing black gloves that look like a smaller version of boxing gloves, Chelsea McClammer punched at the hand rim on her wheelchair Monday.Making her way down the track at Hart Field on Spokane's South Hill, the teen looked as if she were swimming, her arms forming a butterfly behind her. She seeme...

At the age of 64, Larry Miller has been through cardiac rehabilitation at St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute twice. Not because it didn’t work – but because it worked so well.In January of 2007, Larry Miller started having episodes and went to see his family physician. “In my gut, I knew I would n...

The Center of Occupational Health & Education at St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute here says a recent study shows its efforts have reduced the cost and duration of workers’ compensation claims considerably since it began operations five years ago.COHE, a pilot project funded by the Washington sta...

For many Bloomies, slogging up the course's legendary hills becomes a feat of endurance.Try completing Bloomsday with muscles that don't always perform.That was the challenge last year for 18-year-old Chattaroy resident David Watts, who a race official says may have been the first wheelchair athlet...

In a little more than a decade, St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute has improved its fiscal condition from critical to stable and improving, says Gary Smith, the Spokane rehab hospital’s chief operating officer. Along the way, St. Luke’s has become the largest free-standing hospital in the Northwes...