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Helping babies, moms in crisis Valley Med drill simulates common birth emergencies By TRACEY COMPTON
This infant mannequin that breathes, changes color, cries and responds to delivery staff was used to train Valley Medical Birth Center employees. tracey compton, Renton Reporter
tcompton@rentonreporter.com
Doctors, nurses and staff in Valley Medical’s Birth Center Tuesday participated in simulation training
for emergencies a woman might face when delivering a baby. More than 60 hospital staff went through the drills facilitated by The Doctors Company, a Californiabased, medical-malpractice insurance company. The training simulated three frequently experienced obstetrical emergencies: shoulder dislocation, neonatal resuscitation and postpar-
tum hemorrhage. Expensive mannequins, with motorized parts, fake blood, and sound effects helped the staff learn. The baby mannequin’s chest inflates to simulate breathing; it also changes color and cries depending on what happens in the exercise. While some Valley staff did the [ more Drill page 11]
Cascade Village at the heart of Benson Hill plan By Brian Beckley bbeckley@rentonreporter.com
St. Anthony’s ‘Mrs. O’ is top teacher
St. Anthony School teacher Mary Ormiston, surrounded by her students at sixth-grade camp this week, won the ‘Best Teacher’ category in the Renton Reporter’s ‘Best Of’ contest. Ormiston was at the camp outside of Tacoma when she got the news. Stephen Bucheit
By TRACEY COMPTON tcomtpon@rentonreporter.com
Mary Ormiston, of St. Anthony School, was voted “Best Renton Teacher” in the Renton Reporter’s “Best Of Renton” contest this week. Ormiston has been a teacher with the school for all of her 39 years in the profession. She’s taught fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades. When she got the news earlier this week, she was camping with her sixth-graders outside of Tacoma. “How wonderful,” she said, in a phone interview. “It’s quite a surprise and a
nice honor.” Ormiston currently teaches science and social studies to all 59 sixth-graders at St. Anthony. She’s also in charge of student leadership. Ormiston is fondly called “Mrs. O” by students, according to staff. “We are all very excited for her as well,” said Karen Kranz, in an email. Kranz is St. Anthony’s development director. “She is a wonderful teacher and very special person and this acknowledgement is well deserved!” Ormiston has been taking students to sixth-grade camp for 20 years. There they do group-building exercises and challenge courses. Students recognize at
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camp that they can do more than they think they can, she said. The students also find they have more things in common with each other than they thought, Ormiston added. “I’ve always, ever since I was little, have wanted to become a teacher; I don’t know why,” she said. “It’s always been my goal. It’s been a great 39 years.” Some days are more challenging than others for Ormiston, but she has her mantra to keep her motivated. “My mantra is ‘life is good,’ so I have to find something good in something negative,” she said. “So, I look for the good in everything and keep on moving.”
Back before it was part of the City of Renton, the Cascade Village shopping center served a geographic and commercial center for the Benson Hill neighborhood and a new plan from the city hopes to recreate that experience for the neighborhood. “People remember that, they know it and they want it to be that again,” said Senior Planner Erika Conkling. The new Benson Hill Community Plan, to be presented to the City Council Monday, calls for creating a community heart and focus in the neighborhood and because of its centralized location, “We’re focusing Cascade Village is a lot on Cascade at the middle of the Village because it’s discussion. traditionally been “We’re focusing a lot on Cascade Village that community heart.” Senior Planner because it’s traditionally been that commuErika Conkling nity heart,” Conkling said. Work on the Benson Hill Community Plan began more than a year ago and while it is taking longer than expected to complete, Conkling said that is because of an extensive outreach effort in the community, which has a high percentage of the population for whom English is not their native language. [ more benson page 14 ]
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Winners of Best of Renton INSIDE