DELIVERING NEWS TO MID-COLUMBIA SENIORS SINCE 1982
June 2023
Vol. 11 | Issue 6
Kennewick home care agency moves into bigger building By Kristina Lord
kristina@tcjournal.biz
Growth and a desire to offer more in-person training prompted a longtime downtown Kennewick business to move into a bigger office. “People were feeling isolated and missing not having a connection with their fellow caregivers,” said Christine Rose-VanWormer, the owner/director of Visiting Angels, a personal home care services provider for seniors. Rose-VanWormer has been with the company since 2009, buying the Kennewick franchise in 2015. The company has had a presence in the Tri-Cities since 2005. She said her team of caregivers expressed a desire to meet in person for training sessions, especially in the wake of the isolation they experienced during pandemic. Visiting Angels’ new building offers more space and natural light than its old training room, which was small and cramped, Rose-VanWorm-
so caregivers can gain confidence to take care of their clients, including how to lift, transfers, toileting and using Hoyer lifts to move clients. Rose-VanWormer said her agency would like to offer more training and education for families and community members, as well as caregivers, such as how to care for seniors with early-stage, mid-stage and late-stage dementia. Its new building offers about 1,500 more square feet of space than the former office it occupied for 13 years on North Cascade Street – in a building once owned by the Tri-City Herald and used as an intern dorm, meeting space and gym. The new 3,362-square-foot office at 10 N. Washington St. is only a few Photo by Kristina Lord blocks from its former location. Rose-VanWormer said keeping the Owner Christine Rose-VanWormer stands in a future conference room of Visiting Angels in downtown Kennewick. The home care agency recently business in downtown Kennewick moved into the larger office at 10 N. Washington St. was important to her. “I just love the sense of commuer said. presentations and Visiting Angels’ nity here,” she said. The bigger space also will bet- equipment used to train staff. Staff uVISITING ANGELS, Page 2 ter accommodate larger groups for training involves practicing skills
For two decades, this group has fought to preserve iconic Tri-City peaks By Sara Schilling sara@tcjournal.biz
Bob Bass remembers the first time he climbed Badger Mountain. It was 1989 or 1990, and he’d recently moved to the Tri-Cities from California. A mountain climber, he was on the hunt for good training spots in the area, and “I was looking around saw this hill and thought, ‘Cool. I’m going to see if I can get up this thing,’ ” he recalled. It was the first of many climbs for him up the 1,500-foot hill, which has become one of the Tri-Cities’ most
popular recreation spots and beloved natural spaces over the last two decades. That’s thanks in large part to Bass and other members of Friends of Badger Mountain, a nonprofit that formed to preserve and protect Badger Mountain and now is working to create a system of trails connecting four iconic Tri-City area peaks: Little Badger, Badger, Candy and Red mountains. Bass was a founding member of the group, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Back when Bass first started climbing Badger, it didn’t have the network
of well-established trails it boasts today. Instead, the hill had “social trails,” or unofficial paths beaten by hikers over time. But in the early 2000s, Friends of Badger Mountain began working to acquire 574 acres on Badger for preservation. The group raised money, eventually turning the funds over to Benton County to make the purchase and designate Badger Mountain as a county park. The group has followed a similar formula to help preserve Candy Mountain to the northwest and Little Badger Mountain to the east, working
with Benton County and the city of Richland, respectively. The nonprofit group also holds the title to about 80 acres on and around the peaks. The group has taken on responsibility for building most of the trails, and for trail maintenance. Badger and Candy each have multiple trails, and Little Badger is next. The Richland City Council recently approved a master plan, following a period of input from the public. Bass said his group aims to establish a trail to the summit in 2023-24. Friends of Badger Mountain also uBADGER MOUNTAIN, Page 2
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Washington state’s grand old flag hits century mark Page 5
MONTHLY QUIZ
Let’s celebrate forward progress on affordable housing legislation
Page 7
What was the name of the sternwheeler that ran the Columbia River from Pasco to Bridgeport, Washington? ANSWER, PAGE 9
Senior Times 8524 W. Gage Blvd., #A1-300 Kennewick, WA 99336
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PASCO, WA PERMIT NO. 8778