The Senior Scene

The city of Tacoma presented its Community Service Award to Cascade Park Communities during the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration Jan. 21 at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center.
The award was in the Employer category. Cascade Park provides assissted living, memory care and adult day health services in Pierce County and the greater Puget Sound area.
In addition to awards, the January event included keynote speaker Clayborne Carson, the executive director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. He participated in the civil rights march on Washington, D.C. in 1963.

A stay in the hospital used to be a pretty simple thing. Patients went in when they were sick and left when they were better. Today, a hospital stay is much more complicated. And patients leave the hospital with ever more complicated conditions.
“Hospital 101,” a free informational workshop sponsored by Pierce County Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC), provides information about preparations that patients need to make before arriving at the hospital. Most importantly, the workshop examines important considerations that need to be addressed before and during the discharge process, officials said.
The free workshop will be held four times in March:
• March 11, 12:10-12:50 p.m., Pierce County Annex main meeting room, 2401 S. 35th St., Tacoma
• March 11, 7-8 p.m., Gig Harbor Library, 4424 Point Fosdick Dr. NW., Gig Harbor.
• March 12, 7-8 p.m, Puyallup Library, 324 S. Meridian, Puyallup.
• March 13, 12:10-12:50 p.m., County-City Building, seventh floor Rainier Conference Room; 930 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma.
Among the issues discussed will be who goes to the hospital and why, what doctor’s don’t know, the distinction between “admitted” and “observation,” and creating a discharge plan that patients can realistically follow.
ADRC, an information, referral and assistance system for disabilty services and long-term care in Pierce County, can be reached at 253-798-4600 and 800-562-0332.

A historic Tacoma icon, the Murray Morgan Bridge, marked its 100th anniversary Feb. 15 – the date it opened in 1913.
City officials declared Feb. 11-15 as Murray Morgan Bridge Week and held a rededication ceremony for the span, which reopened Feb. 1 to vehicle and pedestrian traffic. It had been closed since November 2007, when state Department of Transportation inspectors decided it was structurally deficient. In January 2011, the city started a restoration project.
The bridge, named for a legendary author and historian who once worked on it as a bridge tender, is considered by officials to be a vital link for economic reasons between downtown Tacoma and Port of Tacoma areas and for fire and police emergency services.
Speakers and dignitaries at the rededication ceremony included Governor Jay Inslee and Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland.

Donna Albers has been named to the Pierce County Library System Board of Trustees, replacing her husband, who died last July in a bicycling accident at Mount Rainier National Park.
Albers, appointed by County Executive Pat McCarthy, joined the board in January and plans to complete her husband’s term through August 2014.
Since 1996, Albers has worked with Albers and Company. She is the managing partner for the workplace benefits firm, which provides employee benefits to businesses and organizations throughout western Washington.
“Donna’s business acumen and community service make her a perfect fit to serve residents in Pierce County,” said Neel Parikh, executive director of the Library System. “Her professional experience and compassion for public service will complement our strong board.”
Steve Alberts, 60, suffered a severe head injury when he apparently fell from his bike on a park road while riding in the Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day (RAMROD) July 26. He was riding alone when the mishap occurred. He died the next night at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he was taken after the accident.
The annual 152-mile ride began in Enumclaw in King County and took riders through Eatonville, Elbe and Ashford before entering Mount Rainier National Park.
Donna Albers, a Lakewood resident, has been in the employee benefits business for more than 35 years.
Library officials noted that Albers’ community involvement spans co-chairing United Way of Pierce County’s annual community giving campaign, being a member of Pierce County Library Foundation Board of Directors, and serving as an events chairwoman for the Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital Festival of Trees.
“Libraries are the roads and paths that break down barriers and bridge communities that give a space and place to all people – not only as gathering and connecting centers, but also as literacy and learning cores for communities and individuals,” said Albers.
Albers will be part of a five-member, unpaid board with policy and fiscal responsibility for services and programs to the 555,000 people in the Library System’s service area.
The system is separate from Pierce County government, but by state law, county executives appoint library trustees.
The other trustees for Pierce County’s system are chairwoman Linda Ishem, Allen Rose, Robert Allen and J.J. McCament.