BTB Advertiser Jim Coleman, DDS is holding their annual Stuffed Animal Drive for children who end up in the Highline Medical Center Emergency Rooms, and they’re looking for donations.

Donations must be received before Dec. 22nd.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Jim Coleman, DDS annual Stuffed Animal Drive, to help calm children who end up in Highline Medical Center’s ERs.

WHEN: Now through Dec. 22nd.

WHERE: Donate stuffed animals at Jim Coleman’s offices, located at 1800 SW 152nd Street in Burien.

Jim Coleman, DDS

INFO: Here’s an email we received from Lynn Coleman:

As many of you know, our dental practice collects stuffed animals for the Highline Medical Center Emergency Rooms. These animals are given to children as they check into the ER and I have been assured by the nurses that they have a very calming effect on the kids.

We are again collecting animals and would really appreciate any contributions that you could make.

We will get them to the ER on the 22nd of December so if you want to drop them by our office before then, it will be great!

Let’s make those kids comfortable, loved and cared for in the best ER in the Seattle area!

Thanks,
Lynn Coleman

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aidanmorgan/ / CC BY 2.0

Highline Medical Center announced Friday (Sept. 9) that it will be opening two new ‘urgent care’ facilities this fall, in West Seattle and Des Moines.

Both new facilities will be open seven days a week, with the West Seattle one scheduled to open Oct. 3rd and the Des Moines clinic Nov. 1st.

Highline Medical Center Urgent Care will open in West Seattle in the space adjacent to Highline’s West Seattle Family Medicine in the Alaska Junction. It will offer comprehensive urgent care services, including x-ray, and will be open on weeknights until 9 p.m. and weekends until 5 p.m.

The Des Moines clinic is set to open on Tuesday, November 1, adjacent to Des Moines Family Medicine on Marine View Drive. The urgent care center is open from 7 am to 9 pm on weekdays and 9 am to 5 pm on Saturday and Sundays.

Urgent care centers typically treat a variety of minor illnesses and injuries, from colds and flu to sprains and strains. Urgent care isn’t a replacement for your regular doctor. But if you don’t have a doctor, or yours isn’t available, and you want to be seen right away, it can be a great solution.

If it is a life-threatening emergency, remember to call 9-1-1 or get to the nearest ER. Highline’s state-of-the-art ER in Burien provides emergency services around the clock.

Highline Medical Center has posted a list of when to go to the emergency room and when to go to the urgent care on its website. To learn more, visit www.HighlineMedicalCenter.org.

“We are geographically separated from the rest of Seattle,” said West Seattle resident Aiko Stanley. “Being able to get care right here, without crossing the bridge, is huge – particularly on the weekends or during rush hour.”

It’s summer, which means construction season, and the City of Burien is warning residents to expect delays on 8th Ave SW between SW 160th and Sylvester Road (adjacent to the Highline Medical Center), as major storm drainage improvements are taking place.

The road will be closed to through-traffic at times, with limited access over the next few weeks.

Drivers are encouraged to take take alternate routes to avoid the construction area if at all possible.

Motorists using 8th Ave SW as part of the detour from Sylvester Road, where a bridge is being replaced should use 10th Ave SW instead.

Now this wouldn’t normally be considered news unless you used this road for, oh I don’t know…maybe as the assigned official Detour for the closure of Sylvester Road Bridge perhaps?

We say do yourself a favor and just avoid the area in general…

The Seattle P-I is reporting that a Highline Medical Center X-ray technician accused of sexually assaulting a disabled patient has been charged with a felony sex crime.

King County Prosecutors claim that the man, Michael Ikeda, 54, forced a 53-year-old woman to touch his genitals while he was performing an x-ray on her on Nov. 18, 2010.

Ikeda, of Burien, who was subsequently fired, is alleged to have also kissed the woman as well as expose himself.

He then allegedly asked for her phone number, which she declined to give.

Read the full story here.

For the last three years this event has raised funds for general patient care and community health programs at the Highline Medical Center through a catered dinner, silent auction and raffles.

Guests were encouraged to wear hats to show their support for victims of cancer who have had to endure chemotherapy or radiation treatments, which often results in hair loss.

A panel of judges awarded prizes to hat-wearing attendees in five categories:

• Best Overall: Pam Stallcop
• Best Use of Roses: Mona Anderson
• Best Ensemble: Kerri Schroeder
• Most Creative: Angela Wenger
• Most Vintage: Fred Van Ess

The combined efforts for the weekend raised over $43,500 and resulted in their most successful fundraiser to date.

Here are a few photos from the event shot by BTB photographer Michael Brunk. You can click individual images to view them larger.

Highline Medical Center’s Cancer Care Program received the 2010 Outstanding Achievement Award from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC).

This award recognizes excellence in providing quality care to patients.

The CoC Outstanding Achievement Award is granted to facilities that demonstrate a commendation level of compliance in six areas of cancer program activity: cancer committee leadership, cancer data management, clinical management, research, community outreach, and quality improvement. Compliance is determined during an on-site evaluation by a physician surveyor. CoC surveyors were impressed with how Highline provides care in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Highline’s cancer program is the only program in Washington to receive this award in 2010.

For more information about Highline’s Cancer Care Program, visit www.HighlineCancerCenter.org or call (206) 439-5577.

BTB Advertiser Highline Medical Center’s Cancer Care Program received the 2010 Outstanding Achievement Award from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC). This award recognizes excellence in providing quality care to patients.

The CoC Outstanding Achievement Award is granted to facilities that demonstrate a commendation level of compliance in six areas of cancer program activity: cancer committee leadership, cancer data management, clinical management, research, community outreach, and quality improvement. Compliance is determined during an on-site evaluation by a physician surveyor. CoC surveyors were impressed with how Highline provides care in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Highline’s cancer program is the only program in Washington to receive this award in 2010.

For more information about Highline’s Cancer Care Program, visit www.HighlineCancerCenter.org or call (206) 439-5577.

Dr. Elie Levy

Highline Medical Center (BTB Advertiser) announced that Dermatologist Dr. Elie Levy recently received the President’s Volunteer Service Award from the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation for the number of volunteer hours he provided during 2010.

“Dr. Levy donated time and services to the patients in his community including free skin examinations, skin cancer screenings and more,” reads the announcement.

In 2003, President Bush created The President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation to recognize the valuable contributions volunteers are making in our communities and encourage more people to serve. With the recognition, Dr. Levy also received a letter from President Barack Obama acknowledging his commitment to his community and thanking him for his devotion to service.

Dr. Levy has been in practice since 1997 and has been a member of Highline Medical Center Medical Staff for 13 years. He teaches at the University of Washington, as he excels in state-of-the-art therapies. He tailors his treatment to the individual and focuses on prevention.

According to his website:

Dr. Levy was born in Paris, France. He left at age three months to San Francisco. There, his father completed a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UCSF. Dr. Levy’s father recently finished 40 years of research.

In 1970, Dr. Levy moved to Seattle, where he attended private school until he began his studies at the University of Washington. There he majored in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, while pursuing his pre-med program–a heavy load! There he also focused on learning languages: Hebrew, Arabic and French. Dr. Levy is also fairly fluent in Spanish.

For medical school Dr. Levy attended the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He spent six months at the prestigious New York University Skin Cancer Unit working with Drs. Kopf and Bystryn, who are leaders in skin cancer research. This partnership then lead to publishing two papers on Melanoma and one on Basal Cell Carcinoma. Dr. Levy graduated medical school with a special degree in Cutaceous Oncology, skin cancer. This is quite a feat for a medical student!

For the next three years, Dr. Levy completed a full residency in Internal Medicine at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. There he met his lovely wife, Miriam, now mother of seven (all theirs!).
Dr. Levy moved up north a bit to Montreal, Quebec, Canada for his dermatology residency. His two best friends were Canadians living in New York at the time.

Dr. Levy underwent special training in MOHS Skin Cancer Surgery under Dr. Bernstein at the Mayo Clinic and Dr. Billick at the University of Miami. There, Dr. Levy published monthly articles on all forms of skin disease in a local medical journal and presented rare cases at Quarterly meetings.

Dr. Levy began his practice in Burien in November of 1997. He was the first to bring the technique of Mohs Surgery to South Seattle. This provides a 99% cure rate for skin cancer.

In 1999, Dr. Levy began teaching future dermatologists at the University of Washington Dermatology Division and enjoys doing so to the present. He continues to educate and teach dermatology by going to many conferences annually. It is important to maintain one’s knowledge. Dr. Levy has no spare time for hobbies-his life’s goal is to do only good to others. He is very generous to his staff and community.

Dr. C. Michael Kramer Jr.

We’d like to welcome our newest advertiser, Dr. C. Michael Kramer Jr. He’s the new “Gastro-guy” at Highline Medical Center. In fact, Dr. Kramer’s practice is so new that it has just begun this week making appointments for patients that he will begin seeing April 4th.

Now, Dr. Kramer may be new to HMC, but he’s not new to the medical profession. In fact, he’s been practicing Gastroenterology and Hepatology in South Seattle since 1982. He was part of Southlake Clinic from 1986 through 2010. The clinic is part of Valley Medical Center. While practicing there Dr. Kramer was elected two terms as Chief of Medicine at Valley Medical Center and served an additional 8 years on their executive committee.

He recently decided that change would be a good thing—especially because it brought him back to the City of Burien and to his hometown medical center, HMC. Dr. Kramer has lived here for 30 years. “This change gives me an opportunity to practice Gastroenterology in a small, single specialty group that will be more patient friendly while focusing on excellent state-of-the art gastrointestinal care,” he explained. It’s also given him a great commute!

Dr. Kramer probably bleeds Husky Purple and here’s why. This Tacoma native graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS degree in Chemistry from the U of W’s honors program. In 1973 Dr. Kramer was a finalist for the University of Washington’s highest undergraduate academic award, the President’s Medal. He received his medical degree from the University of Washington Medical School in the honors program. In addition, Dr. Kramer was elected to the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Honor society and was nominated to the national medical honor society.

While studying to become a medical doctor, Dr. Kramer also got to experience some traveling. During the summer of 1975, he was awarded a basic science grant to do cancer research at Columbia University Medical School’s Francis Delafield Hospital in New York City. In 1976, he studied at Oxford University in England as the Paul Beeson Visiting Medical Student. After further training at Baylor College of Medicine, located in Texas, and the Oregon Health Sciences Medical Center, he completed his Gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Washington.

Dr. Kramer is an active clinical faculty member of the University of Washington. Since 1982, he has reached the rank of Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine. He is Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. He has been a member in good standing of the American Gastroenterology Association, the Pacific Northwest Gastroenterology Society, and the King County Medical Society since 1982.

His most recent accomplishment came in May of 2007. Dr. Kramer was inducted as an AGA Fellow. Fellowship in the American Gastroenterological Association is an honor bestowed by the AGA for superior professional achievement in practice and/or research in the field of gastroenterology. AGA members who are awarded a fellowship have accomplishments and contributions that demonstrate personal commitment to the field of Gastroenterology.

Dr. Kramer lives in Burien with his wife Jean Gruber and their three children. His two sons attend UW and his daughter hopes to start there in this fall. His favorite hobbies include playing adult men’s soccer, co-rec softball, downhill skiing, traveling, cooking, reading, live theater, and hiking, and riding bicycles. Dr. Kramer also has coached elementary school and junior high school basketball for over 15 seasons. He has donated his time and efforts to numerous charitable, community service, and church activities over the last 30 years.

Dr. C. Michael Kramer Jr. is a devoted dad, coach, husband and doctor. HMC’s newest ‘Gastro-guy’ starts in his office April 4th, but here’s a reminder, you can start setting up appointments with his staff on March 23. You’ll find them at:

Burien Digestive Health Center
16259 Sylvester RD SW, Suite 403
Burien, WA 98166
206-242-1300

And a final reminder from Dr. Kramer is that his former patients can now resume seeing him at HMC in Burien. Just call his Burien office and they’ll set you up. And to all patients, he’ll be continuing his practice of accepting all major insurances.

Highline Medical Center Foundation has just completed its 2010 Employee Campaign with a record-setting $53,000 in pledges and donations.

“This is the most successful year of the employee campaign with close to 200 participants!” said Gloria Brain from the laboratory at the Burien medical center..

“These contributions exemplify employees’ commitment to Highline Medical Center and our community,” Brain added. “Funds raised go to support the hospital’s greatest needs, building renovations, advanced medical equipment, employee and patient education, and low-income patient assistance.

“In the four years I have worked at Highline, I have seen the Foundation put much needed equipment for the Hospital, fund the new Emergency Department’s treatment room number 1, supply educational funds, and now they are helping fund the remodel of the Geriatric Psychiatry unit – all much needed to assist us in better serving our patients.”

Highline Medical Center Foundation is a nonprofit organization that raises money for Highline Medical Center, with its main campus in Burien and a satellite campus in Tukwila.

Funds raised benefit programs, patients, employees and services throughout South King County. For more information contact the Foundation at 206-901-8500 or visit www.highlinemedicalcenter.org/support-highline.