Treva Lind

Caitlin Quaempts, a new Spokane medical school graduate, has lined up a family medicine residency this June for a path she hopes leads back to the Yakama Nation. After her three-year residency in Klamath Falls, Oregon, she'd like to be a family practice doctor for tribal members – just as her father has. She is a Yakama direct descendent of her dad, Rex Matthew Quaempts, a longtime family doctor for Indian Health Services. Another classmate, Lili Szabo, recently matched to a Spokane internal medicine residency with Providence Sacred Heart, and she hopes to remain here. Both Quaempts and Szabo are among a 2024 class of 60 graduates from the University of Washington School of Medicine's Spokane site. They celebrated "match day" on March 15 for their selections into medical residency programs.

A Spokane nonprofit wants to hear from K-12 teachers about what resources they need in classrooms for students with dyslexia. Two free workshops – one in Coeur d'Alene and another in Spokane – are scheduled in April for educators to give input or ask questions about the learning disorder. The INW Dyslexia Alliance started its program, Champions for Dyslexia, to foster networks and support for educators. By fall, it will form parent-caregiver groups.

A researcher in pivotal sleep studies is scheduled to speak Tuesday night at Gonzaga University about why enough nightly slumber ties into brain wellness. Jeffrey Iliff, a sleep researcher at the University of Washington School of Medicine, plans to share new findings and advice on how to ensure the right type of sleep that's needed for the brain to function at its best. For audience questions, he'll be joined later by Dr. Don Howard, a Providence sleep medicine specialist and pulmonary doctor. The 6 p.m. Next Generation Medicine lecture, hosted by the UW School of Medicine and GU health partnership, is scheduled at the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center.

Before pickleball, racquetball bounced to the heights of popularity in sports. The fast-paced game boomed in the 1980s and into the 1990s, but then faded from the limelight. That doesn't mean racquetball has vanished in the Spokane area, said longtime player Rich Carver. Carver expects 100 enthusiasts will join a May 17-19 racquetball tournament at the Spokane Club. He estimates about 150 people in the area play regularly.

As pickleball's popularity has exploded the past five years – especially in the 50 and older crowd – the number of pickleball-related injuries also is rising. Problems include sprains, fractures and overuse issues such as elbow tendinitis.

Don Duffy is leaving the Panhandle Health District, which covers five North Idaho counties, after a decade and three years at the helm during COVID-19. Panhandle Health has broad services: Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer water quality protection, nutrition services and operation of primary care clinics – one each of its counties. Duffy was the district's incident commander during the pandemic. Duffy said he didn’t choose a briefly-held masking mandate its board of health implemented that was largely ignored by the public. In hindsight, he thinks more focus should have gone toward vulnerable seniors in health care facilities. Leaving May 24, Duffy plans to run a medical consulting practice.

Hoa Tran, 57, was abandoned as a baby and raised in Vietnam. After searching most of her adult life for her parents, she got a DNA match a year ago, leading her to Spokane.

PasstoPass helps people who have Parkinson's disease stay active outdoors by matching them with a support hiker, encouraging their use of trekking poles – and with some help from llamas.