I mean, to date, my bills, I think have they've exceeded $1 million.
For many musicians, even basic health care is out of reach.
Now one group is working to change that.
Sometimes you might not find what you're looking for,
but you'll find something else.
Got too much stuff.? Don't toss it.
This place wants it.
And surprisingly, so do many other people.
On average, we see about 3500 patients over the four days.
It shut down during the pandemic.
But a free medical, dental and vision clinic is coming back.
These stories and more next on CityStream.
Hello, I'm Dennis Bounds and welcome to CityStream from the Seattle Center,
where we are honoring the accomplishments of women.
March is Women's History Month,
a time to recognize all the contributions made by women.
Some examples,
local women are leading an effort, encouraging people to reuse items
rather than throw them away.
Another woman is the driving force behind the upcoming
Seattle/King County Health Clinic.
And a group of women broke barriers in the successful fight for equality.
Much more on these women just ahead.
We begin with an issue that affects everyone.
The struggle to find adequate health care.
This can be especially difficult for local musicians
since many have trouble just making ends meet.
But one group is working to change that.
Brian Callanan introduces us to a group called SMASH,
which is helping musicians in a big way.
Music in Seattle.
It's part of our city’s soul, its heartbeat.
But what if that heart stopped beating?
You're getting teeth.
Yeah.
I'm going to remove one, but you're getting it back immediately.
Good.
Today, it's just a trip to the dentist for Lance Mercer.
It's just funny.
There's been a discussion, they’re like, there is a little bit of like what?
You're getting new front teeth?
But Mercer, a musician and the legendary photographer,
who captured the meteoric rise of grunge in Seattle in the early nineties,
was diagnosed in 2014 with stage four lymphoma,
a potentially fatal blood cancer.
One of the downsides of being self-employed
is not having access to proper health care.
You learn pretty quickly that the resources that are available to
you are limited.
Last year I just came to terms with the fact that that it's part of who I am.
Mercer eventually found the chemo and stem cell treatment he needed, but he wasn't
ready for the huge medical expenses that were out there waiting for him.
I ended up in this place where I had major health issues.
I mean, to date, my bills, I think have they've exceeded $1 million.
Local fundraisers, the nonprofit MusiCares
and the Affordable Care Act have helped Mercer pay down his debts.
But unfortunately, his health problems didn't stop,
as some post chemo symptoms began affecting his teeth and his mental health.
I started getting stressed out and worried, and it took up a whole day.
Like, I'm not able to do anything else except focus on what am I going to do
to take care of this.
And that's where a group called SMASH takes center stage.
Seattle Musicians Access to Sustainable Health Care.
Launched in 2015,
musicians fill out a form,
talk to SMASH administrators and get free help
navigating the health system, based on income qualifications.
Come on, flash.
They can also get free medical services
like those provided by Lance's dentist,
Dr. Chris Raforth.
There's no teeth there right now.
That's why it feels wierd.
Raforth, a musician himself grew up in the Seattle music scene of the night,
and, like many artists, remembers working two jobs
without medical or dental insurance simply to get by.
I was just living hour to hour, day to day and just enjoying rehearsal performance,
going to work, paying the rent.
But he started paying it forward.
After finding a career in dentistry and hearing about SMASH
five years ago.
Close and squeeze, I need a little bit of pressure there.
Now he and a growing group of other doctors across western Washington
donate their services to SMASH with SMASH paying for costs
like supplies or appliances.
Raforth sees it as helping
musicians who helped him and his colleagues beyond measure.
We're getting therapy from our artists, as well as giving that therapy to them.
I'm just providing that added bit of stability
to allow them to free themselves
of the stress or the drag that comes with the struggle
of not having the chance to be as healthy as they can do.
We fund services, we pay for services, we have amazing providers
that donate services.
Raforth and thousands of other screaming fans show their support each year.
At a star studded benefit concert where SMASH co-founder Ian Moore
isn't just reaching out to donors, but to fellow musicians
who've put their art first and their health second.
I’ll drive through a friggin blizzard with like, you know,
I could have an arm missing. I mean, I think I could play with one arm.
I don't you know, I'm, I hate canceling.
A focus on improving self care, led SMAH to launch a mental health campaign
in April of 2020 on KISW radio.
Music industry studies say half of musicians report dealing with depression
compared to less than 25% of people like you and me out there in the audience.
Anybody that thinks they don't need a therapist
just hasn't been to the therapist yet.
SMASH helps find therapy for musicians
or subsidizes payments to a therapist they already have.
And even helps them connect with telehealth therapy providers
to break down any barriers to treatment.
And I think that's the first thing,
is taking the stigma out of saying, I need help.
And that help is literally a lifesaver for musicians all around Seattle.
Research shows the average musician has a life span
that's 25 years shorter than the average person's, 25 years.
Just imagine how much music we're not hearing.
If I could show you how many benefits I played for people that had preventable
cancer, heart attacks because they didn't have the health care they needed
and so they didn't get the care.
And 20 years down the road, you have a major, you know, health care.
We don't need to have that stuff happen.
And helping musicians pay for health care
is a boost for the health of the entire music scene.
Just ask Mike McCready.
He played the
2022 SMASH benefit, but he's rocked the Moore Theater
for decades, even before he was lead guitarist for Pearl Jam.
Certainly I've had a lot of success and I'm very lucky and grateful for that.
And the first time I played at the Moore was 1983.
So I've been I've been in a metal band called Shadow,
and we, so I've been in Seattle since I was, forever, since I was four.
What he's noticed over the years, the rising overall
cost of living in Seattle, including medical care.
Unfortunately, you know, with with inflation
and how much it is to live here, and a lot of musicians,
a lot of artists have had to move away, down to Portland or wherever.
And that's sad because it used to not be that way.
That resonates
with Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Gibbard, who shares McCready's
concerns about the future of arts and culture in the Seattle area.
Reports from King County show a third of people
working in the arts are considering leaving it behind.
You know, the nineties were great. I love the nineties.
I lived through them,
but I don't want that to be the end of the story for Seattle music.
For him, SMASH is a shot in the arm
for Seattle musicians and the industry, they're a part of.
For artists of this era and for many years to come.
If we want to still have a music scene,
if we want have a thriving music scene, we have to kind of cultivate
young artists now.
And not just sit on our laurels and talk about the good old days.
SMASH is celebrating those good old days.
And working to ensure the beat goes on.
Not too perfect right? That's amazing.
It's something to smile about.
For artists like Lance Mercer, whose life and life's work,
thanks to SMASH, have plenty of encores still to come.
It's more than just having a doctor.
To me, SMASH has meant that I can
be comfortable and that I can know that if I,
if anything happens, that I have support.
Thanks everybody, thank you.
If you'd like to learn more about the services offered by SMASH,
which stands for Seattle Musicians Access to Sustainable Health Care,
check out their website.
SMASHSeattle.org.
And for anyone in need of medical, dental
or vision care, a free clinic is returning.
Details as CityScream continues.
CityStream returns from Seattle Center, where six weeks from now,
thousands of people will gather to receive free medical, dental
and vision services.
It's all part of the Seattle/King County Clinic, which spans
four days from April 27th to the 30th.
Recently, the world observed International Women's Day.
This year, the theme is innovation the technology for gender equality.
And one woman who embraces the essence of that theme
is the person who organizes this massive health clinic each year.
With us now is the project director, Julia Colson.
Thanks for being with us.
Thank you for having me.
Julia, the pandemic put the clinic put a lot of things on hold over the past
couple of years, but it's back to full clinic is back at the end of April.
Remind us what's being offered.
We are so excited to be back after a three year pandemic hiatus.
In broad strokes, we offer free dental, vision
and medical care to people that are in need.
We also provide social services to help patients find resources
in the community that can help to support their continued care.
A lot of specialists there.
We're not talking about just a cursory visit with a doctor, but something fuller.
Correct.
We have quite extensive opportunities available.
So in dental care we have cleanings,
fillings and extractions depending on what the patient needs.
In medical care, we've got so many different types of service areas,
especially including some of the diagnostic imaging.
We've got laboratory services.
We even have chiropractic and acupuncture care for patients to be able to see.
And then in vision we offer complete dilated eye
exams as well as new prescription eyeglasses for people that need them.
So if a patient has a problem,
they're going to find someone to help them. Absolutely.
Do you have to be a resident of Seattle or King County?
And that's one of the misnomers of our name.
No, you do not have to be a resident of Seattle or King County.
The only requirement is that you get yourself here
and get in line to get a free ticket.
Usually when you go to a doctor or a dentist or the eye doctor,
you have to worry about that little thing called a co-pay.
What about at the clinic? Correct.
All clinic services on site are free.
No payment whatsoever.
We don't ask for any information about income.
We don't ask for any information about health insurance or not.
We just have you show up.
And if you have a need, we're going to try to fill it.
The professionals, the doctors and the dentist and the eye
care people and the interpreters, they all are providing services.
And you have general volunteers as well, but you still
this is a four day clinic as I understand. Yes. And you still need help.
Absolutely.
So the days that we tend to need help across the board
with general support volunteers
as well as health care professionals tend to be Thursday and Sunday.
We tend to see lower volunteer turnout on those.
So we really love to bolster those days,
definitely to be able to serve the patients.
We also have a high demand for dental and vision care,
and so trying to get as many professionals from those fields as possible
in to be able to support our patients.
General support side, we need people to do all sorts of things
from escorting to help register patients, but also interpretation.
They don't have to be medically certified, but we have usually about
35 to 50 different languages spoken in the clinic.
So we need interpreters to help them,
help people to navigate the clinic and some of the questions that we ask.
This is a big event.
You've held a number of them in the past.
Remind us the scale of the event.
How many people are actually being served?
Yeah, on average, we see about 3500 patients over the four days.
Finally, if you're out there and you need to avail the services
of a good doctor or a good dentist or a good eye care provider,
how do they find out about what services are offered and how do they sign up?
Sure, they can go to our website, which is SeattleCenter.org/skcclinic.
And there are fliers there, informational fliers for patients
and volunteers to learn how to participate in whichever way they choose to.
But for patients, what they will do is they will come to Fisher Pavilion
at Seattle Center on the day of, and they will get in line and they will
we will start distributing the free tickets for that day at 5:30 a.m.
And once there's a limited number of tickets each day,
So once those are gone, we'll stop distributing them
and people can come back on another day if they didn't get one the first day.
Julia Colson, who is project director of the clinic.
Congratulations on clinics past and good luck on the one coming up late next month.
Thank you very much.
Next on CityStream, if you have a bunch of stuff
just taking up space, we'll show you how to put it to good use.
Saving the planet isn't just for superheroes anymore.
We can all play a part
that includes getting odd things that keep accumulating in your home.
A second chance.
One local nonprofit has been helping Seattlites turn trash into treasures
for years, and women there are leading the way
as we continue to celebrate the achievements of women.
This story is a prime example.
It was created by producer Kathy Tuohey, photographer/editor Valerie Vozza,
and narrator Jenny Cunningham.
Walking into Seattle Recreative
reuse center is like entering an arts and crafts wonderland.
Every nook and cranny is packed
with donated materials just waiting to be transformed.
The mission of Seattle ReCreative is to promote creativity, community
and environmental stewardship through creative reuse and arts education.
For eight years, crafters of all types have flocked to the store, drawn in
by the ever changing inventory, the low prices and the eco friendly vibe.
What we really want to do is help keep usable
materials out of the landfill and available for the community to use.
$5.24 is your total.
We do that by having our retail art thrift store here in Greenwood.
We also have a whole arts programing wing where we do after school arts,
we do camps and classes, all of those sorts of things
besides the traditional arts and crafts
supplies like yarn, fabric paint.
This is eight yards, the fabric, $3 a yard.
They offer nontraditional art supplies like mattress springs,
pill bottles and whatever this is.
We have a couple of programs for free supplies.
One is our free for black, indigenous or artists of color.
And then we also do that same type of program for public school teachers.
Where teachers can come in and shop certain materials for free once a month.
First Grade Teacher.
When York Jones uses the program to find supplies for class science projects.
These are going to be amazing legalities.
How many do you need? About 200.
The Free for Teachers program is really great.
It allows me to come in and get things for my classroom that,
you know, I would normally have to pay for myself.
So it's it's amazing.
Local artists come here searching for unusual supplies
and inspiration to bring their work to the next level.
A lot of my work is already like mixed media
and scrappy, so this is like really convenient for me.
I am making puppets.
I have a puppet studio in Georgetown.
I love how it's folded.
I know. Gives you an idea, doesn't it?
Frequent shoppers.
Wendy, James and Nicola Beason are mixed media artists
who are always on the hunt for just the right piece to finish a project.
This came from here.
This was a rubber stamp that some artists
made, you know, donated.
And then we find it and we're like,
Hey., I can put that in something.
I've been coming to Seattle ReCreative since at least 2017.
Mostly I look for odds and ends
and strange antiques or things from another time.
Just things that inspired me.
Visiting Nicola's art studio,
you can't help but be delighted to see where these odds and ends landed.
I picked these up at Seattle ReCreative last week.
A few different options for an assemblage piece
that I'm working on now, and I really thought it needed
some sort of beads or something to hang on these cool old hinges.
Everyone, in addition to coming in to shop here, should follow us
on Instagram or Facebook because we often will post the latest things
or very popular items or particularly interesting items.
Sometimes you might not find what you're looking for,
but you'll find something else.
So you'll always find something.
Yeah.
Donations keep things interesting.
You never know what might come through the door.
Today it's sewing machines.
So I'm just weighing the donations that just came in.
We weigh the donations Just because we track how much we divert
from the waste stream for an average month is about 4500 lbs. of materials.
That's 54,000 lbs. or 27 tons a year.
For those who are counting,
besides
benefiting the environment, creative reuse provides
people a unique opportunity to think about things differently.
I might have a cork, but I'm not using it to stop a bottle.
I'm using that cork for something else.
I think kids are really good at looking at a cork
and saying, Oh, it's a person, it's a rocket ship or whatever it is.
And I think adults are able to do that too.
They just need a little bit more encouragement.
One of the things that I love the most
is when a customer shopping, hears
another customer ask a question and then offers their own solution.
All these connections help again build community and allow people
to connect with each other about something they love too, right?
Making things.
We have great staff.
We have amazing volunteers.
Here, you want to see a great draw that a volunteer organized today.
We have built
something really awesome and I love that we keep the good stuff
out of the landfill too, you know, like I like that we do that piece as well.
Okay.
You are already thinking about stuff you can donate.
It is easy.
Head to the website
SeattleReCreative.org and take a look at what they accept
then email them for an appointment.
As we honor Women's History Month,
meet a brave and determined group with a dangerous duty, same as men.
That story as CitySream continues.
As we've mentioned,
March is Women's History Month, a time to celebrate the accomplishments of women,
especially those who have fought for change and embraced equality
in the workplace.
A group of courageous women at Seattle City Light fit that description to a tee.
In fact, they broke barriers and proved they could do one of the most dangerous
jobs in the world.
Working on high voltage power lines.
Linda Byron shares their inspiring story of will
and determination.
Of all the jobs in the world, it's one of the most dangerous.
I've seen asphalt melt.
I've seen wire jump.
It could go wrong really, really fast
through that tiny, itty bitty wire.
Over 14,000 volts.
Working with electricity is risky enough, but doing it high in the air.
Just make sure you tell your loved ones I love you every day.
Because it is a hazardous job. It is.
On a pole.
It's a job dominated by men.
Keep that leg locked.
Erika Belsby is the sole woman in this group of ten.
Recently hired for a four year training to become
journey level line workers at Seattle City Light.
For me, I'm fine being around around the men.
I'm just.
I'm just another one of the guys.
Her opportunity is possible because of a few women
who broke barriers at City Light 45 years ago.
Author Ellie Belew documents their struggle in high voltage women.
It was right after the Boeing bust in the early seventies.
In order to get federal dollars for major infrastructure,
the city had to meet the minimum affirmative action
requirements of the feds, and the feds were finally starting to enforce them.
And so that meant this was going to be a poster
child program for demonstrating that the city was stepping up.
City Light hired a racially diverse
group of ten women to train for electrical careers at the utility.
You have that moxie.
Among them, automotive worker Angel Arrowsmith and laundry worker
Megan Cornish, an English lit grad from Cornell.
It's a new day, announced superintendent Gordon Vickery,
“practicing no discrimination regarding sex, religion, race or any other factor.”
We were entering into a career at City Light
and we could go all the way to the top.
But behind the scenes, Vickery appeared
to resent the women even wanting them to fail.
Cutting training after a week and sending them
into the field unprepared.
They were isolated, one woman per crew.
But they shared a common experience.
Unrelenting harassment.
There was a very strong mystique that this was a macho trade.
And, you know, a lot of people felt
threatened by women trying to do it.
The women persevered
until three months into the program when they were suddenly fired.
They sued.
It took a year, but they won their jobs back with a pay raise.
We knew it was not going to be easy, but
it was an adventure starting.
Looking back, this photo symbolized
a naive belief that trouble was behind them.
No, actually, it was really kind of worse until we let them know that, yeah, we did
win this job back because we're women and no,
you can't touch us
and we can't be fired.
Too often, the women faced male hostility.
Obscenities and pornography.
Stony silence.
Having tools dropped on them, nearly being thrown from a moving truck.
Looking at my body language, I'm kind of slumped and
hunched. Shoulders.
I just it was a stressful
it was a stressful time.
The darkest moment came when a 21 year old trainee,
pressured by the men to work faster, fell and broke her back.
Two years later, Heidi Durham was back on the job.
They wanted to give her a secretary's job after all of that.
And she said, Oh, no, I'm going to be in the electrical trade.
They found allies and in particular, the black men tended to be
the ones who gave a lot of support to people, gave training,
gave undercover support. Of the ten trainees,
eight would go on to have long careers at City Light.
And we were proud to be able to have been
given the chance to prove ourselves.
And we did.
We did it real good.
Coming on the high side,
they stand as heroes to the high voltage women of today.
I'm just so proud of them. And they made it.
And and that they kept going
through the tough times because it opened up doors for
people like myself. Shari Ryder and Shannon Fitch.
Describe a vastly different relationship with their male counterparts.
It's like having a whole bunch of brothers that look out for you.
Still, the number of women
working in the electrical trades at City Light is very small.
And as recently as last year, sexual harassment complaints made headlines.
In response, the mayor hired a woman to lead the utility.
I want to welcome our next CEO of City Light, Deborah Smith.
She wants a place where we can actually do good work for the people of Seattle
without being distracted by internal stuff.
And that needs fixing the workplace culture and increasing equity.
It's the right thing to do.
It's the right time to do it. It's right for women.
And I think it improves the quality of work life for everybody.
I hope that she really stands up for the women,
not just because she is a woman.
If she does right
by her job title, she will bring a lot of changes.
If the message was that that bias behavior
is not going to be allowed, it wouldn't be there.
Simple as that.
These policies are made from the top.
It's important for the Erika Belsbys of City Light,
being the only woman on a crew is lonely.
And when doing one of the world's most dangerous jobs,
teamwork can determine whether you go home
at the end of the day.
Today, the city of Seattle has an office of employee ombud.
The office give city employees a confidential way to report workplace
concerns, such as harassment and discrimination.
We'll be right back.
And that wraps up this episode of CityStream
at Seattle Center, where the Seattle/King County Free Clinic returns in April.
If you like more information about this free medical, dental and vision clinic,
go to SeattleCenter.org/skcclinic.
I’m Dennis Bounds
thanks for watching.