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More snow expected to fall this evening
Chad Coleman/Bellevue Reporter
By NAT LEVY
UPDATE, 4:32 p.m.The Bellevue School District announced that all schools will begin two hours late Tuesday, as a result of weather conditions. Release times will follow the standard schedule. Bus trips to the south end of Bellevue will be on limited schedule, according to BSD's website.
More than an inch of snow has already dropped on Bellevue, and the rest of the Seattle metro area, and it won't stop anytime soon.
The Monday evening commute is expected to be impacted by another snow system that has settled over the area and could drop several more inches of snow on the ground by the end of the day.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the Puget Sound Region early Monday, predicting anywhere between two and six inches of snow this evening.
NWS Meteorologist Dennis D'Amico said Monday afternoon that the snow will continue to fall through the night with drier conditions Tuesday. Wind will be a factor, with the potential for gusts as high as 40 miles per hour.
But when the snow fades, the issue of it freezing and turning into sheets of ice comes into play.
"Ice will be a problem if roadways are not treated well," D'Amico said. "Our highs tomorrow will not go above freezing."
To this point, treatment of the roadways has prevented accidents. There have actually been fewer incidents Monday in Bellevue than a normal day, in which more cars might be on the road, said Sheryl Mullen, spokeswoman for the North East King County Regional Public Safety Communication Agency (NORCOM), which operates dispatch centers for Bellevue and other nearby cities.
Mullen applauded road crew work for keeping snow and ice off main arterials and preventing the kinds of accidents that can lock up an entire city, or even the whole Eastside.
"Either people are doing better in the snow than we think," Mullen said, "or the road crews are keeping the roads really clean. We're waiting for things to pick up but they just haven't."
Plows from state and local municipalities have been at it all day, working on highways and city streets.
Plows from the Washington State Department of Transportation have been out all day clearing highways as snow falls on and off.
In Bellevue, the city's 14 plows have been extremely active. Mike Jackman, assistant director of utilities for Bellevue, said all major arterials and neighborhood roads have been cleared.
The vulnerable roads are the small residential streets and those at higher elevations south of I-90. Jackman said utilities crews will continue to work on the main streets, but he hopes to get into most of the neighborhoods overnight so ice doesn't become a problem.
"Our biggest concern is as the temperature begins to drop, there could be some real icing conditions developing overnight," he said. "We'll be all out and trying to de-ice all night long ahead of the morning commute."
But the snow is continuing to impact travel. Roads are beginning to stack up as travel times soar above their average times, according to WSDOT travel times.
For those seeking protection from the weather, Bellevue's severe weather shelter at the Crossroads Community Center will be open beginning at 8:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The shelter, located at 16000 NE 10th St., accommodates 50 individuals and is run by the Eastside Interfaith Social Concerns Council. For more information, the council can be reached at 425-614-8544.
It's Still Coming Down
Seattle, Jane Calbreath Dec. 2010
As the day went on in Seattle and Eastside Neighborhoods, the snow continued to fall. Drivers and People on foot were slipping on icy roadways and sidewalks. As I look out the window in Bellevue at 9:23pm I can see the snow isn't seeming to let up. If you are out in the weather, please bundle up and stay warm, remember that as the wind blows it causes the temperature to drop even more against your exposed skin.
HERE IT COMES!
Light flakes of snow visited Bellevue on Sunday afternoon, not sticking here on Richards Road, but makingthe day pretty.
Craig Groshart, Bellevue Reporte
Magnolia manse inspires a designer to move and compromise
photographed by Mike Siegel
BETTER BUCKLE up, because we're going over to Kelly Rivelo's. And I'm betting, based on the previous homes of this crazy-for-interior-designing woman, that Kelly Rivelo has more energy than all of us put together. "This house is a bottomless pit of want/need," she says. Uh-oh."The kitchen was bad. Really bad. The ceiling was falling down. There were rats. It was a foreclosure on its way to being condemned when the previous owners bought it." Rivelo is standing in what is now the charming French-country kitchen of her latest personal project. Another stately brick home in Magnolia with water/city views. And from this, her fourth residence in that neighborhood in 16 years, Rivelo could rappel down to Palisade for dinner. If she so desired.
When we last visited Rivelo it was in another stately brick, just down the road, the old Blackstock Lumber family manse. She spent a fair amount of time scraping, rebuilding, papering, painting, tiling, carpeting and pampering that house into perfection.
And then she went to an open house.
"A Realtor friend of mine called and said, 'Kelly, I think you should see this house. It's just coming on the market.' I told her, 'I am not going to buy another house.' But I went. As I got to the bottom of the steps the owner saw me, grabbed my hands in hers and said, 'I know you're going to be the one to buy my house. And I want you to be the one to buy my house.' "
Can't fight fate.
Rivelo bought the house in 2007 and set out to make it her own. This is a woman who goes both ways: loves "The Great Gatsby" and "Me Talk Pretty One Day," classical music and Cheap Trick. Is a fan of the Facebook page "I'm not cranky, you're annoying." In other words, she has a wild sense of great taste.
But Rivelo has remarried, and her husband, Dr. Bill El-Kawa, is a contemporary man who does not share his wife's taste for eclectic-country-traditional.
In compromise, "I've really toned down my drag-queen chic," she says, laughing. A magnet of drag-queen Divine reminds. It is stuck to the front of the royal-blue Lacanche in the expanded kitchen. But, still, there's a Carerra marble farm sink. Matching custom zinc counters and exhaust-fan hood (crafted by Christopher Lee Plummer of CLP Designs, flown in from Pennsylvania).
The home, designed by Joseph Cote, was built in 1915 for Charles L. Hibbard in 6,800 square feet over three floors; three bedrooms, a den and five baths. Separate staircase for the servants. The backyard sits on two levels on more than half an acre. You can see it all Dec. 4 during this year's Magnolia Holiday Tour of Homes.
Yes, one 1940s bathroom with mint-green everything remains. But Rivelo is working her way through the square footage. Thirteen can lights in the master bedroom are gone.
This house has good energy and loves a crowd, Rivelo reports. "I can seat 25 in the dining room," she says. "Yeah, it's a party house." Case in point: Rivelo hosted a friend's wedding recently. Seventy-five people and a band. An anniversary party included 120 guests and another band.
"I put in two dishwashers. It's so easy to cook for parties. The kitchen closes off; it's great for caterers.
"I'm not moving again," she says with a big sigh. "I can't.
"Maybe France. For the winters."
Overlake Hospital launches program to improve patient care, reduce hospital readmissions
Nov 20 2010, 1:07 PM
Initially, Overlake is focusing on heart failure patients age 65 and older - those most at risk for readmission - and will expand the program over time to include all Overlake hospital inpatients. The program is managed by Overlake’s Senior Care staff that provides coordinated care and comprehensive services for adults over age 55.
Care Transitions Intervention is a nationally recognized, evidence-based program developed in 2003 by Eric A. Coleman, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado, Denver. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid encourages the implementation of such programs to improve care quality, reduce preventable readmissions within 30 days of discharge and reduce overall healthcare costs for Medicare patients.
“Care Transitions is designed to help discharged hospital patients successfully care for themselves at home so they can recover fully and stay healthy,” said Joan Luster, Manager of Overlake’s Senior Care program. “While all patients currently receive discharge instructions from their doctor or nurse before leaving the hospital, it’s very difficult for many people to remember and follow all the instructions, especially those who are elderly and managing multiple health conditions."
Luster said the program enables an Overlake nurse to spend critical one-on-one time in the patient’s home to coach them through caring for their health condition after they leave the hospital.
Overlake’s Care Transitions Intervention consists of a 30-day program conducted by a registered nurse that begins with an initial contact when patients are still in the hospital. Follow-up visits include one in-home visit within three to seven days after discharge, and three follow-up phone calls to check on patients’ progress, help them manage their medications, prepare for doctor visits and answer questions.
