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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay
March 12 - 18, 2020
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Emergency preparedness expo on March 21, page 3
Blaine school district hosts math championship, page 6
Sea Smoke project moves ahead in Semiahmoo, page 15
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Health officials release new guidance following county’s first COVID-19 case By Oliver Lazenby
By Jami Makan Family Care Network’s new medical facility in Blaine could open as soon as the first half of 2021, providing much-needed medical services to local residents. The new facility plans to offer outpatient primary care, on-site urgent care, a laboratory draw station and X-ray capabilities. It will be located on the Gateway parcel, formerly the site of the Blaine Municipal Airport, after the city of Blaine and Family Care Network (FCN) reached an agreement last September for the purchase and sale of about 2.5 acres of city-owned property. FCN’s property will be located in the middle of the Gateway parcel, extending from SR-543 to Grant Avenue. FCN will build on approximately 1.2 acres bordering SR-543, with access from Grant Avenue, and the remainder of the property will be reserved for future development, said a spokesperson for FCN. “The city is in the process of creating an actual lot, and shortly thereafter, we will
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(See FCN, page 10)
Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Coming Up . . . . . 14 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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8,200 square feet, and will consist of one large building with a parking lot. Most of the square footage will be used for outpatient primary care. The building will also contain an urgent care center that will be open seven days a week to all in the community.
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close on the property,” said FCN’s president and CEO, Dr. Rodney Anderson. “The ball is in their court right now, and once the city completes its review process and creates that lot, we will do our final review and close shortly thereafter.” In the meantime, FCN has retained architects Marcus Johnson and David Christensen, AIA to prepare designs for the building. They have already created an internal floor plan, Dr. Anderson said, and are now finalizing external drawings. “We basically want to be ready to submit applications for building permits the day we close, or as soon as possible thereafter,” said Dr. Anderson. Dr. Anderson said FCN has also already committed to a contractor, the Franklin Corporation. “If everything goes as planned and we close on the land, they have given us a timeline of eight to 10 months for the actual construction, and that would put us on schedule for the front half of 2021,” he said. The FCN facility will be approximately
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Family Care Network facility could open by mid-2021
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Photo courtesy of Mike Sowers
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(See COVID-19, page 5)
s A 10-inch water main broke on March 6 at the corner of Bell Road and Peace Portal Drive. Birch Bay Water and Sewer District personnel were on site to lend initial assistance. City of Blaine personnel also responded to the scene and had to hire a contractor, Colacurcio Brothers, to perform emergency repairs. The contractor’s crew worked until 5 a.m. the following morning. It was a difficult repair due to the age of the pipes and the difficulty of turning off valves in the vicinity, said Blaine public works director Ravyn Whitewolf at the March 9 city council meeting, where councilmembers voted 6-0 to declare an emergency and waive competitive bid requirements. Final restoration work still needed to be performed by the contractor, Whitewolf said.
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With the first confirmed Whatcom County case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, announced March 10, the Whatcom County Health Department declared a state of emergency and updated its recommendations to residents. County health officials had said earlier that it was just a matter of time. “This case confirms that it is circulating in our community,” said John Wolpers, incident commander for a team that the Whatcom County Health Department assembled to manage a potential local outbreak. The woman who tested positive is in her 60s and had no known international travel history. She received medical care at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham and was discharged after her condition improved. Since then she has self-isolated at home, health officials said. In a conference call following the announcement, Wolpers and Cindy Hollinsworth, communicable disease and epidemiology manager, did not release any information on when she was admitted or discharged from PeaceHealth, where in Whatcom County she lived or where else she may have been following her exposure to the virus. Some of that information may come out as the health department continues its investigation to determine who she had contact with, but other personal information will not be released, Hollinsworth said. Following the conference call, county executive Satpal Sidhu declared a Whatcom County public health emergency to address the spread of the virus. Declaring an emergency is a procedural step that helps coordination with local and statewide partners and can help the county receive state or federal emergency funding if it becomes available. “This declaration is a step up and a step forward in our preparation to meet the challenges presented by COVID-19,”
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