Just saw this from #Alki ⥠pic.twitter.com/koECAWsYjA
— Theresa Arbow-O'Connor (@TheresaArbowOC) July 21, 2023
A column of fire and smoke rose from First Hill as explosions echoed through the neighborhood in a massive encampment fire in the greenspace below Harborview Medical Center and I-5 early Friday.
Seattle Fire sent multiple units to the “significant encampment fire” on the west side of Harborview reported just before 5:30 AM near 7th and James. Continue reading
(Image: SPD)
Police were investigating after a man was shot Tuesday afternoon outside Harborview.
According to SPD, the altercation outside the busy First Hill hospital and trauma center was reported just before 4 PM with reports that a man had been shot and a woman had fired shots into the air during the fracas. Continue reading
(Image: SDOT)
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A caution sign hangs from the fence surrounding the loading dock of the closed Harborview Research and Training Building on Feb. 19, 2020. On May 2, 2019, 13 people were exposed to radiation while trying to transport an irradiator from the building. (Image: Conor Courtney)
By Conor Courtney, UW News Lab/Special to CHS
The loading dock looks almost normal, sitting in the shade behind the Harborview Research and Training Building.
But there are no lab technicians running back from their lunch break, no one delivering packages, no movement around the 9th Ave building, which has been closed since May 2, 2019 when 13 people were exposed to a radioactive substance while trying to disassemble an irradiator.
The night of the leak in the middle of First Hill, a Department of Energy team working to remove the irradiator from the building accidently cut into a capsule containing a radioactive powder called cesium-137. The radioactive contamination quickly spread around the loading dock, the first three floors and one of the staircases of the Research and Training Building.
The leak forced responders to turn off the HVAC in the building to prevent the spread of the powder and it remained off for multiple days as officials tried to clean up the leak.
Department of Energy deputy director for public affairs Gregory Wolf said the Department of Energy is handling the remediation and cost of the incident, but did not specify when the building would reopen nor the cost of the remediation. Continue reading
(Image: UW Medicine)
There are some big decisions to make this election year. In November, King County voters may face a vote on a $1.74 billion bond to renovate and expand Harborview Medical Center.
The hospital, situated on First Hill, is owned by King County, but staffed and operated by the University of Washington. As a publicly owned and operated hospital, Harborview serves many people who need healthcare and would not be able to pay for it including, but not limited to, the area homeless population.
In addition, Harborview serves as the Level 1 trauma center for the states of Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana. It is the disaster preparedness and control hospital for Seattle and King County. In short, if you find yourself there, something very, very bad has likely happened.
The hospital has 413 beds, 40 of which are in single rooms, and 20 of those 40 are reserved for patients in need of psychiatric care. The hospital says that typically, 50 beds in double rooms canât be used because of infection protocols. According to the King County Executiveâs office, it had more than 16,000 admissions last year. All this adds up to a hospital that routinely has more patients than it has places to put them. Continue reading
