2020 DSHS News Releases

Welcome to DSHS' news releases for 2020. You may search by keyword and release number.

To read archived news releases, please choose the appropriate year below:

 

Email addresses erroneously disclosed to distribution list

Aug 14 2020

DSHS Office of Communications, Lisa Copeland, (360) 902-7844

 

OLYMPIA—The Department of Social and Health Services’ Developmental Disabilities Administration confirmed today that on June 22, 2020, email addresses of clients and their representatives were improperly disclosed through an addressing error.

The purpose of the email was to notify DDA clients of their rights, as required by a new law that went into effect in June 2020. The email mistakenly listed the email addresses of recipients in the “To” line rather than the “Bcc” line. ...read the full news release

Eastern State Hospital names Chief Nursing Officer

Jul 24 2020

DSHS Office of Communications, Kelly Von Holtz, 360-902-7739

MEDICAL LAKE – The Department of Social and Health Services is pleased to announce that Jayme Skehan, RN, MSN, DNP has accepted the position of Chief Nursing Officer at the agency’s Eastern State Hospital.

Skehan may be new to this position, but she is not new to Eastern. She came to the hospital in 2017 through a consulting firm as the Interim Quality Director. That year, she assisted the facility in maintaining its accreditation by the ...read the full news release

DSHS receives federal grant to help older Washingtonians navigate post-coronavirus economy

Jul 17 2020

DSHS Office of Communications, Chris Wright, (360) 628-1043

 

OLYMPIA - The Department of Social and Health Services received a federal grant of nearly $890,000 to provide work-based job training for low-income, unemployed older Washingtonians. This grant will help prepare hundreds of older adults in Washington state for a post-COVID-19 economy.

DSHS will use the money to provide remote training opportunities and job preparation and coaching. Training will focus on gaining and retaining employment, digital literacy and technical ...read the full news release

DSHS provides Automatic Voter Registration for clients

Jul 14 2020

DSHS Office of Communications, Norah West, 360-902-7833

OLYMPIA -- Thanks to Automatic Voter Registration, or AVR, the Department of Social and Health Services can now register eligible clients to vote automatically when they apply for benefits.

"At DSHS, our mission is to transform lives and part of how we do that is by being good stewards of the public’s resources," said agency secretary Cheryl Strange. "In the case of Automatic Voter Registration, we’re making efficient use of existing IT programs, fulfilling our state and federal legal ...read the full news release

State achieves many milestones as first year of Trueblood project comes to a close

Jun 26 2020

DSHS Office of Communications, Kelly Von Holtz, 360-902-7739

OLYMPIA — Washington state has marked one year of progress in implementing a federal judge’s orders stemming from the Trueblood vs. DSHS lawsuit.

Trueblood challenges unconstitutional delays in competency evaluations and restoration services. The state has been ordered to provide court-ordered competency evaluations within 14 days and competency restoration services within seven days.

“Through ...read the full news release