BIZ BITS: Trio included in list of top Idaho women

Oct. 9—The first Black female, full-time faculty member of WWAMI Medical School at the University of Idaho was named one of 50 women of the year by a Boise-based publication.

Lynda Freeman is a clinical associate professor and academic skills specialist for Idaho WWAMI, where she has worked since 2015.

Idaho WWAMI is part of the University of Washington School of Medicine's cooperative five-state medical school that serves Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.

She co-leads a course on social determinants of health and race equity, conducts workshops and coordinates tutoring, mental health counseling and testing services for Idaho students in the program.

Freeman is one of three individuals in north central Idaho and southeastern Washington named to the Idaho Business Review list for 2022.

The others are Dr. Ann Lima, a rural family medicine physician at Clearwater Valley Health in Orofino, and Adina Bielenberg, senior corporate director to the president at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Pullman.

All 50 women were selected based on their leadership, mentoring efforts and contributions to Idaho's communities and economic well-being.

Freeman has a number of strengths, according to a University of Idaho news release about the honor.

"She has achieved an historic status at Idaho WWAMI, demonstrates excellence in leadership, mentors and supports future physicians every day and actively raises awareness of Black women in medicine and in Idaho," said Jeff Seegmiller, director of Idaho WWAMI at UI.

In addition to her responsibilities at UI, Freeman founded Dr. Freeman LLC, an educational and leadership consulting firm, and The Liberation Movement Inc., an educational nonprofit.

Like Freeman, Lima works in health care. She has been an expert panelist for the COVID-19 series of Project ECHO Idaho where she has represented the perspective of rural family medicine.

Project ECHO Idaho is a virtual continuing education program that allows the state's health care providers to enhance their knowledge and build community. Lima's involvement in the group started in 2018 when she sought to deepen her knowledge of resources available for patients with opioid and substance use disorders.

She has held a number of positions that support the Orofino area, including as a preceptor for Idaho WWAMI medical school students participating in rural medicine programs; and as medical director for Clearwater County Ambulance Service, Back Country Medics and Clearwater County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue.

Bielenberg's talents benefit the region's largest private employer.

Her duties at SEL include internal communications as well as building and maintaining close working relationships with customers, suppliers, government officials, industry associations and key members of the community. She also represents the company at public meetings and community functions.

Outside of work, she serves on the board of directors for the Gritman Medical Center Foundation and volunteers as a career and life coach in her spare time.

Bielenberg started her career at SEL as an administrative assistant in 2004. She has held roles of increasing responsibility such as public and government affairs manager and executive assistant to the president.

New form of urban transportation might be arriving in Lewiston

Electric scooters could be available for rent in Lewiston in the future.

Bird presented its plans at a Lewiston City Council last week where elected officials took a first step to open the door for its operations.

The City Council voted to have staff revise city code so that a moratorium could be lifted on rentals of electronic scooters and bikes. If the council adopts the new rules and ends the moratorium, any company that met the rules could provide such a service.

The revisions are expected to take about six months, in part because two of the three attorneys on the city of Lewiston's staff have taken jobs elsewhere.

The Bird is eyeing Lewiston partly because it has a central downtown area and a college, amenities present in other communities where it has done well, said Camille Didio, an employee of the company.

"It really does help get people where they want to go and where they need to go," she said.

It already operates in more than 400 cities on five continents, including Caldwell and recently was permitted in Moscow.

It would likely start with 75 to 100 scooters that would be run by a contract fleet manager who is a successful local entrepreneur, she said.

The company has refined its approach over five years in business with a focus on safety, Didio said.

The top speed of the scooters is 15 mph and riders have to be at least 18 years old on trips that are typically 1 to 3 miles.

Injuries happen on one in every 50,000 rides, which is the same as the rate for bicycles, and less than half the medical incident rate of cars, she said.

Bird has developed technology that tracks its scooters wherever they are, one of numerous strategies that generally prevents them from being stolen, vandalized or lost, Didio said.

Even though the council approved moving forward with the concept, elected officials had varying opinions about the motorized vehicles.

Councilor Kathy Schroeder asked if the scooters would be able to handle the steep hills that separate downtown from Normal Hill and the Orchards. Didio said they would.

Council President Hannah Liedkie and Councilor Kassee Forsmann pointed out that it might be difficult for people to find safe places to use the vehicles in Lewiston, adding they enjoy riding the scooters in other places.

Lewiston doesn't have many bicycle lanes. The scooters would be banned on the city's sidewalks and levee trail system, said Dustin Johnson, Lewiston's public works director.

No-ride zone technology would stop the scooters if people tried to ride them on the levees, he said.

It's a great idea, Liedkie said, but she is concerned the city could be positioning itself for problems given the present configuration of its streets.

Councilor Rick Tousley was a supporter of the proposal, noting that introducing the scooters could encourage upgrades to the transportation system.

"You don't wait until it's pedestrian or rider friendly before you start doing these things," he said. "This will help to change that."

Region's dominant power utility seeks feedback from customers

Avista is conducting a survey to learn more about how its customers want the utility to communicate with them.

The survey is available at survey.zohopublic.com/zs/o3BUKd through Nov. 4 and takes about 3 minutes to complete, according to a news release from Avista.

Gathering the information is part of Avista's clean energy implementation plan, a road map of specific actions to be taken over the next four years to show progress made toward clean energy goals.

The Clean Energy Transformation Act passed by the Washington state Legislature and enacted in 2019 established the goals.

CETA requires the electric supply to be greenhouse gas neutral by 2030 and 100% renewable or generated by zero-carbon resources by 2045, according to the news release.

Fed investment supporting LCCU

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has awarded LCCU in Lewiston $4.9 million through the Emergency Capital Investment Program.

The $4.9 million is part of $9 billion that went to financial institutions like LCCU throughout the country. The purpose is to "provide loans, grants and forbearance for small and minority-owned businesses and consumers, especially in low-income and financially underserved communities that struggled the most during the COVID-19 crisis," according to a news release from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The money is a loan for as many as 15 years with a maximum interest rate of 2%, said Trisha Baker, president and CEO of LCCU in an email.

The first two years are no interest loans and it can remain at that rate if lending is in low-income designated areas, she said.

Those rates are much less expensive than most other secondary capital, Baker said.

"The purpose of secondary capital is to boost the net worth ratio so that LCCU can continue its level of loan growth that has averaged nearly 20% over the past five years," Baker said.

WSU staff to get educated about cyber threats

PULLMAN — Cyber security training is now mandatory for employees at the region's largest employer.

Staff members at Washington State University have until Jan. 31 to complete the instruction offered through an online portal, according to a recent WSU news release.

The school made the decision after its technical team detected 952,162 messages with threats and protected 906,694 malicious emails prior to any click in fiscal year 2022, according to the news release.

"The annual training teaches users how to better identify phishing threats, false (website addresses), malicious senders and other potential online dangers," according to the news release.

Wine focus of marketing effort

PULLMAN — Washington State University's School of Hospitality has received $500,000 to research and develop virtual reality marketing experiences to increase brand awareness of the Evergreen State's wines.

The project is covered by a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a match from the WSU Carson College of Business, according to a WSU news release.

"The Washington state wine industry continues to face challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and relatively low brand awareness among wine consumers hampers market growth," said Soobin Seo, associate professor of hospitality business management at WSU Everett and principal investigator on the project.

The grant is part of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service's Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.