Northwest Reports

First Response: Helping Patients Heal After Gun Violence

In the finale of our three-part series, we hear from professionals who help those affected by gun violence find recovery beyond the hospital bed.
Getting stitched up is just one part of a gunshot wound patient’s recovery. People face a long line of stressors after getting out of surgery.  
That’s where Harborview Medical Center’s Violence Intervention and Prevention Program comes in, to ease the burden on patients as they figure out things like transportation to follow-up appointments, help with paying medical bills and access to trauma therapy. 
In our third and final episode of First Response, we hear from Paul Carter III and Tarrell Harrison Jr., two violence intervention and prevention specialists who work closely with Harborview patients after they’ve been shot, about what their work looks like on the ground. We’ll also hear from Mark Rivers of Community Passageways, one of the organizations that Harborview connects patients with as they get close to leaving the hospital.  
Together these three highlight the community-wide effort to help patients and families navigate the hardship and trauma of gun violence. The hope is that these efforts can prevent people from returning to the circumstances that brought them to Harborview in the first place.  
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Credits 
Host/Producer: Sara Bernard and Maleeha Syed 
Reporters: :  Sara Bernard and Maleeha Syed 
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org/membership. In addition to supporting our events and daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS. 

First Response: Taking a Public Health Approach to Gun Violence

In the second episode of our three-part series, we look at Harborview Medical Center's initiative to treat the long-term impacts of gunshot wounds.
There’s been a shift in how medical professionals think about gun violence: Many of them aren’t focused only on making sure a patient lives after being shot ... they’re also thinking about how to help these individuals recover and rebuild beyond the operating table. 
This trend of looking at gun violence as a public health issue has taken shape across the United States, including at Harborview Medical Center. In 2021, the hospital launched its Violence Intervention and Prevention Program, which takes a holistic approach to helping patients affected by interpersonal gun violence.  
People in the program connect with intervention specialists, who get a sense of patients’ needs, build rapport and offer support. This could mean anything from finding transportation to their appointments to help with paying their medical bills. The goal is for these patients to leave the hospital with more support than they had coming in — so they never have to return with a gunshot wound. 
In the second episode of First Response, we speak to the people involved with creating and sustaining this program at Harborview about how the idea first came about; how it got started and how it’s evolved; why the program focuses on people affected by interpersonal gun violence; and some of the challenges that it faces. 
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Credits 
Host/Producer: Sara Bernard and Maleeha Syed 
Reporters: :  Sara Bernard and Maleeha Syed 
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org/membership. In addition to supporting our events and daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS. 

First Response: How Gun Violence Impacts Medical Professionals

In the first episode of our three-part podcast series, two surgeons, a nurse and a paramedic describe the impact of seeing gun violence up close.
Medical professionals in Washington have gotten used to treating people affected by gun violence -- especially in recent years.  
A few months ago, the U.S. Surgeon General declared gun violence a public health crisis at a time when tens of thousands of Americans are dying from firearm-related injuries. This trend is hard to ignore at a place like Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Washington.    
In the first episode of First Response, we speak to medical professionals at the hospital, as well as a King County paramedic, about what this rise in gun violence looks like on the ground – and the impact it has on them.  
Many of these medical professionals aren’t desensitized to gun violence. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: Instead of just responding to the immediate aftermath of a gunshot, health care workers at Harborview want to treat the long-term impact of firearm violence – and, they hope, prevent it from happening in the first place.  
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Credits 
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Reporters: : Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org/membership. In addition to supporting our events and daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS. 

Introducing "First Response," a Series About Health Care Workers and Gun Violence

Stay tuned for a new, scripted series from Northwest Reports, launching September 25.
Harborview Medical Center in Seattle is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Washington. As a result, it has become ground zero for the major crises of our time, including a rise in gun violence.
In this three-part series, we hear what it’s like to be a surgeon, nurse or paramedic in our region amid a historic rise in gun-related injuries – and what some medical professionals are doing to help.
This help goes well beyond the operating table. A new program at Harborview aims to support gunshot survivors and, ultimately, interrupt what is often an ongoing cycle of violence.  
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Credits 
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Reporters: : Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org/membership. In addition to supporting our events and daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS. 
 

Investigating Complaints at a Seattle VA Building

Lizz Giordano and Lauren Gallup discuss their reporting on Puget Sound Veterans Affairs clinic complaints. Plus, what’s changing with Northwest Reports.
Patients and staff have navigated a myriad of concerning conditions in a building on the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System campus in South Seattle.    
Earlier this month, Northwest Public Broadcasting reporter Lauren Gallup and Cascade PBS reporter Lizz Giordano published their joint investigation into the conditions in Building 18, from leaky ceilings to inadequate ventilation during the pandemic.  
In this episode of Northwest Reports, host Maleeha Syed speaks with Gallup and Giordano about their investigation, including how they learned about the story; why they chose to showcase their investigation in different mediums; and their plans for future reporting on this topic.  
Also, we have an update about Northwest Reports: This will be the final episode that we publish on a weekly schedule, because we’re going to start releasing limited series several times a year – with our first one coming out this fall. So keep following us wherever you get your podcasts and be on the lookout for that upcoming series! 
Learn more about the findings from this investigation here and here. 
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Credits 
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Reporters: Lizz Giordano and Lauren Gallup
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS. 

Finding and Losing Housing in Washington

After being forced to move from Seattle and, this year, Snohomish, Sandra Mears and her partner are still searching for a place to call home as renters.
Sandra Mears rented in Seattle for years – until she and her partner had to leave their home because it was getting torn down. 
They moved to a spot in Snohomish, where they could go to the farmers market, walk to restaurants and feel a sense of community.  
They lived there for years, but in January they learned that their house was being sold and they had to leave within 90 days. Suddenly they found themselves scrambling to find a new place – again. 
In this episode of Northwest Reports, host Maleeha Syed speaks with Mears about what it was like to get pushed out of her home once more; the ongoing struggle to find affordable housing in the region; and the toll this most recent move took on her and her partner.  
Read more about Sandra's story here.
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Credits 
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Guest: Sandra Mears
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS. 

A Chat With the Seattle UFO Network

Ahead of World UFO Day, we spoke with Carole Williams about the community she’s found with others who share her interest in extraterrestrials.
We’re talking aliens – and community – ahead of World UFO Day.  
People generally celebrate World UFO Day on July 2 – though historically the celebration has also been held on June 24, thanks to a 1947 event involving a pilot’s report of nine flying objects near Mount Rainier.   
This incident spawned a flurry of sightings and popularized the phrase “flying saucers.”   
In this episode of Northwest Reports, host Maleeha Syed speaks with Carole Williams, an organizer with the Seattle UFO Network, about her interest in UFOs – and the community she’s found with others who share this interest.  
Learn more about Washington's ties to UFOs here. 
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Credits 
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Guest: Carole Williams
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS. 

KEXP Host Kevin Sur on the Limits of an Acronym

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander month. KEXP host Kevin Sur shares why broad terms don’t always speak to communities like his own.
AANHPI Heritage Month is coming to a close. 
May is widely recognized as a time to celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, or AANHPI, communities. There have been different versions of this acronym over the years – from Asian Pacific American (APA) to Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI).  
For some community members, these acronyms are a little too broad.  
In this episode of Northwest Reports, host Maleeha Syed speaks with Kevin Sur, a Native Hawaiian who co-hosts Sounds of Survivance, a KEXP show that spotlights global Indigenous music. Sur talks about why he thinks terms like AAPI fall short in capturing the nuances of the communities they cover.   
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Credits 
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Guest: Kevin Sur
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS. 

Meet Samuel Wolfe, Director of Origins Season Three

Wolfe and his team will focus the five-part docuseries on reefnet fishing and its significance to PNW Indigenous communities.
Cascade PBS has just revealed what’s to come in the third season of Origins. 
The company recently announced Samuel Wolfe as the director chosen to take on the newest season of Origins, a project that awards regional filmmakers $40,000 to create a docuseries on communities they belong to. Previous seasons have focused on refugees in the state and the experiences of growing up Black in Seattle.  
For the third season, Wolfe is going to explore the relationship between Pacific Northwest Indigenous communities and reefnet fishing.  
In this episode of Northwest Reports, host Maleeha Syed talks to Wolfe about how he plans to bring his five-part docuseries to life. Wolfe explains what reefnet fishing is; how his identity impacts his perspective; and what he hopes will come out of the project.  
Read more about the upcoming season of Origins here. 
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Credits 
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard
Guest: Samuel Wolfe
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS. 

Swimming in Idaho as a Transgender Man

After taking steps to affirm his gender, Torrey Stephenson decided to take a plunge – and became a triathlete in the process.
Torrey Stephenson was born biologically female.  
Over the years he realized that he identifies as a man, and took measures to align with his gender — for example, getting top surgery in 2020.  
As he grew more comfortable in his body, he wanted to try something new: swimming.  
In this episode of Northwest Reports, host Maleeha Syed speaks with Stephenson about how he took the plunge into the sport; why, even though he’s more comfortable with his body, he still has nerves about being trans in Idaho; and how, in just a few months, he went from learning the ropes to competing in a triathlon.   
Read more about Torrey's swimming journey here. 
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Credits 
Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Isaac Kaplan-Woolner
Guest: Torrey Stephenson
Story editor: Ryan Famuliner
Executive producer: Sarah Menzies
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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.