Treva Lind

The nonprofit Cancer Pathways' day camp for ages 5-17 ran at Manito this past week. With 20 years on the state's west side, Camp Sparkle in Spokane finished a second year at no cost to children and teens impacted by cancer, either for themselves or a family member affected.

Taylor Swanson, 31, of Spokane has her sights set on Paris this summer, but not for her once-held Olympic dreams as a sprint runner. After competing about 15 years as an "able-bodied" track sprinter, she is set to go to the July 18-20 U.S. Paralympics Trials, because it was only about a year ago that Swanson learned she has cerebral palsy.

A few years after World War II, Margaret Craig Dikes told her mother about a family business idea for improving senior care, saying, "Mom, I think we can do better." That 1949 company – still operated by a third generation of family members  –  is Sunshine Health Facilities in Spokane Valley, offering longtime senior and behavioral health services, and it plans to celebrate 75 years with activities on Thursday.

MultiCare cancer center nurse practitioner Marie Brenden, 59, has a record for a 270-pound bench press. She's also a grandmother who got a pacemaker in April.

Carl Garabedian still recalls sickly, lethargic children staying at his parent's house, and then days later, those kids after heart surgeries couldn't stop running. He was struck then by his dad Hriar Garabedian's work as a pediatric cardiologist and entered the same field. Two Garabedian doctors, father and son, have since helped shape children's critical care.

After a national search for a new director, Panhandle Health District selected one of its own. Erik Ketner, first hired by the district in 2001, began the new job May 24 and was previously administrator of the agency's environmental and health protection division.

U.S. heart failure mortality is climbing after decades of a decline, and it started with a 2012-21 reversal, according to research in the Journal of the American Medical Association that relied on death certificate data. It cited a peak particularly among people under age 45. Two Spokane cardiologists asked about the JAMA report said the picture is broader. One key: People are living longer after heart attacks, cardiac treatments and with other diseases that affect the heart.

When breastfeeding moms used cannabis, low amounts of the psychoactive component THC showed up in the milk they produced, a new study showed. The Washington State University-led research in testing breastmilk found no consistent time when THC peaked and then declined. Next,  a follow-up is examining potential effects, if any, on infants.