Qigong Class featured on King 5 News
Marianwood Love story in Seattle Times
Harley Event & the CBS Morning Show
Sudanese Staff & Tom Brokaw
Patient Kellie Cosner & Dr. Phil
Other events in the news
Qigong Class featured on King 5 News
 Marianwood's Qigong class was featured on King 5 News in Jean Enersen’s Health Link (March 2006). Johann Sasysinuk, owner of the Kung Fu Club of Issaquah, leads a class at Marianwood in the ancient martial art of Qigong. Traditionally Qigong is done standing up but students at Marianwood are all in their 80's and 90's, and most of them are confined to wheelchairs so the movements have been modified. "If they don't move, they will ossify. If they move too much, they will hurt themselves. So the trick is to find the tai qi–that means balance–between the two," he said.
The program started a year ago at Providence Marionwood as a way to get patients gently moving again. Recreation director Diane Bixler says it's made a noticeable difference in residents’ balance and range of motion, as well as an increase in their ability to breathe and to relax.
Click here for more about Johann’s Kung Fu studio in downtown Issaquah.
Marianwood Love Story in the Seattle Times
 Mr. and Mrs. Buck are an inspiration to all of us at Marianwood. They are devoted to each other. Mrs. Buck is a resident at Marianwood and Mr. Buck lives next door and visits daily. Their story was told on the front page of the Seattle Times on Valentine's Day this year. Click here to view the whole story.
Photo by Ellen M. Banner, Seattle Times.
Harley Event & the CBS Morning Show
 The Eastside Harley Davidson Owners' Group (HOGs) has been coming to Marianwood twice a year since 2002 to spend the day, and to give residents, patients and their families rides. Friendships have been forged and each visit is highly anticipated by residents and HOG club members alike. Many residents have Harley paraphernalia on their wheelchairs and in their rooms year-round. Everyone gets to ride that wants to, even those who are paralyzed or wheelchair bound. Each rider and resident motor through a cheering crowd and then off they go on a short route nearby. It's hard to explain the joy and deep satisfaction felt by all those involved, but a CBS film crew did a pretty good job of capturing it. The CBS Morning Show filmed a segment that was aired on June 3, 2004. Click here to view the video on the CBS website.
Since then newspapers and magazines have covered the event, and many inquiries have been received from long term care facilities around the country. Twenty-two other similar programs have been started based on our Harley program, one as far away as Germany.
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Sudanese Staff & Tom Brokaw
 Three young men, refugees from Sudan, enrolled in our Nursing Assistant Certification program in 2001. They were Daniel Lual, Daniel Deng and James Deng. The opportunity to work with these young men enabled staff to put our mission and core values into action. Our HR director transported them to and from classes and our Staff Development Coordinator took them under her wing, giving them special help with their transition into healthcare.
Others assisted them with driving lessons, filing taxes, and even taking them into the mountains to see their first snow! All who spent time with them would agree that they benefited much by knowing these young men.
Tom Brokaw and NBC Dateline had been doing a series on "The Lost Boys of Sudan" and asked to film a segment at Marianwood. On August 7, 2001 Tom Brokaw and a TV crew filmed several scenes on site. The segment aired on September 9th of that year.
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Patient Kellie Cosner & Dr. Phil
 Kellie Cosner and her husband were only 26 years old and celebrating their first anniversary, when a tree fell on their car in a freak accident, taking the life of her husband, and almost killing her. She was in the top 2% of the worst cases seen at Harborview. Two months and many surgeries later, Kellie came to Marianwood for intense rehabilitative therapy.
Kellie had so many challenges to face; finding the mental strength to work on rehabilitating her body, while grieving over the loss of her husband and her life as she had known it.
Slowly over the the weeks, she found the will to want to regain her physical abilities. She realized she wanted to be able to eat Chinese food with chopsticks and she wanted to walk and she wanted some assemblance of a normal life back. Although all the staff grew very attached to Kellie and her Mom, who was at Kellie's side through the whole recovery period, Nancy Dunn worked the most with Kellie. Nancy is a physical therapist who has been at Marianwood for many years. At the top of Kellie's list of tasks and goals, Nancy wrote the words "baby steps," encouraging Kellie to be patient with herself. Three months later, although still in a wheelchair, Kellie felt strong enough to leave Marianwood. A lot of tears were shed saying goodbye to Kellie and her Mom. As many patients do, they had become family to us.
Kellie continued with her rehabilitation and did reclaim her ability to walk. She then returned to Marianwood walking of her own accord (see photo)! We were so thrilled to see her doing so well and of course more tears were shed. Kellie's recovery was remarkable. Eventually, she was even able to go back to work. Her story was covered extensively in the local newspapers and she appeared on the nationally syndicated "Dr. Phil" show which featured people who had survived and recovered from immense struggles.
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Other events in the news
 Qi Gong classes - (September 2005) Channel 5 evening news filmed a segment for Jean Enerson's Healthlink portion of the evening news. Qi Gong is a meditative martial arts practice that include slow sweeping movements. It is taught by a local expert to our residents every week. Since taking the class, mobility has been improved by many of the regular participants.
Annual Resident Picnic - (August 2005) The recent annual resident picnic was featured in the Issaquah Press with a photo layout and story. It showed residents fishing, sitting by the fire (we reserved the park on the only cool day in August!) and enjoying a barbeque lunch.
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 Laughter Therapy - (June 2005) Issaquah Press did a front page article on the Community section of the newspaper about our weekly laughter therapy sessions led by our certified laughter therapist Gail Wolz. Gail uses wonderful techniques to encourage laughter, such as wearing wacky outfits, and fun tools such as balloons and "foam noodles." Gail said it isn't so much about jokes, slapstick and forced humor as it is about building a sense of mirth through a series of prescribed exercises that end up in "laughing for no good reason." Not only does laughter help residents breathe more deeply, lower blood pressure and increase endorphins, it is just plain good for the soul.
 Pet Therapy - (January 2005) The Seattle Times ran an article on our pet therapy program, specifically about one specific therapy dog. He was a corgi named Abe and was beloved by staff and residents alike. The article explained that Abe was Delta-certified to work with patients. The article talked about how visiting dogs are welcome and that we have several who come in daily.
(Note: Since that article we have added several resident cats. So far mixing dogs and cats has not been a problem. In fact one of the staff brings in her poodle Belle. Belle and one of the resident cats, Felix, are best friends and play together constantly. See Stories from the Heart for photos.)
 Life Magazine - This photo of Marianwood resident Ailee Little, was named "Picture of the Week" by Life Magazine. It was included in their May 20th newspaper insert and distributed to 12 million readers nationwide.
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