Legacy Salmon Creek offering
sign language classes for babies

                                "Milk"

                                  "Eat"

                                 "More"

“Imagine a baby distinctly communicating that he or she is thirsty or finished with a meal instead of crying or throwing food on the floor,” reports Maggie Huffman, Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital spokeswoman, in a news release about sign language classes for babies and their parents. “Sign language makes this possible,” Huffman says.

A four-week level one series of hour-long workshops is being offered by the hospital. The first in the current series is at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10 in conference rooms C and D in the hospital, 2211 NE 139th Street.

Participants and their babies receive instructional support and reassurance as they learn how to communicate with their preverbal babies in ways that encourage the use of signs. Topics include signs for food and drink, action words, people, places and things and favorite animals. The workshops are geared for families with babies from birth to approximately two years old.

The instructor is Dawn Prochovnic, founder of SmallTalk Learning, who is a certified instructor in Sign2Me. The course is $55 for a baby and one parent, $70 for a baby and two parents. For further information, call 487-3500.

Photographs courtesy of Sign2Me/Northlight Communications, publishers of  Sign with your Baby, Joseph Carcia.

Weather people expecting snow;
county public works gearing up

Snow plowing, road sanding and de-icing crews are on-call, prepared to keep county roads as safe as possible if exceptionally cold weather and snow strikes during the night and early Wednesday morning, as most weather persons are predicting.

According to Denis Ryan, Clark County public works manager, crews will focus on major streets in urban areas and key roads in rural areas.

Ryan says unsafe road conditions should be reported to the Public Works customer service line, 397-2446.

Opportunities abound to help women
and families through YWCA

An opportunity to hear about the ways volunteers can make a positive difference in the lives of women and families in Clark County is being offered by the YWCA of Clark County during an introductory program on volunteering scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16, in the YWCA Helen Schoen Center, 3609 Main Street.

Volunteers are making a positive difference, says YWCA’s director of volunteer development, Al Flory.

Flory says adult volunteers are critically needed to serve as court-appointed special advocates for abused and neglected children, sexual assault victim advocates to work with adults and youth, support group facilitators for the Y’s SafeChoice domestic violence program, and as volunteers providing education and resource information to women in jail.

For further information, call Flory at 696-0167.

Waste Connections offering tours

Been waiting for an invitation to tour a waste transfer station? Wait no longer. Waste Connections Inc. is inviting anyone in Clark County to tour its West Van Materials Recovery Center from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 3.

In addition to the tour, attendees will be offered a one-hour, backyard composting class taught by the Master Composters of Clark County.

West Van Materials Recovery Center is at 6601 NW Old Lower River Road. To register for the tour and class, call 397-6118.

People

Clark County Public Utilities’ commissioner Nancy Barnes today was elected president of the three-member board of commissioners. She succeeds Carol Curtis, who was elected secretary of the board. Bryon Hanke was elected vice president. n Carol English, Vancouver league sports coordinator, has been appointed Washington Softball Association state commissioner. English has been a player, league director, deputy district commissioner, district commissioner and deputy state commissioner.

Calendar

The North Salmon Creek Neighborhood Association meets at 7 p.m. this evening in the community room in Three Creeks Library, 800 NE Tenney Road.

Tuesday, Jan 9, headlines