Out and About

The concept is similar to that of the Little Free Library, but instead of books, the gallery is for art. Anyone can come to the gallery and leave a small piece of art (6 inches by 6 inches or smaller), take a piece of art, or both!

“People, local artists have just contributed really cool little things. And it’s just a way for people to experiment with new mediums [and] to play,” Lyon says.

From tiny pots to quilts to paintings, Lyon has seen a miniature version of just about anything you can think of inside the gallery. She loves the way that people have embraced the concept and simply had fun with it.

“I like to arrange the gallery and swap out who is visiting and take a photo for Instagram, but when people bring or take art, they often re-organize things too,” Lyon says. “A couple of times now someone has put in some kind of bed or couch and I will find one of the ‘people’ laying down inside the gallery.”

The gallery has motivated Lyon to create art more regularly. Additionally, other Bellingham locals — both children and adults — have also been inspired.

A woman recently told Lyon that, since discovering the gallery, her young daughter has wanted to visit it every day. The gallery has not only inspired her daughter to create more art but herself as well.

“As adults with bills and jobs, we can forget how much fun it is to play. But being playful is one way to spark your creativity, and with the gallery, there’s an outlet for all of it.”

Lyon explained how the gallery has created a “little community” of creative people, and this community is constantly growing. These connections the gallery fosters among creators are being made both in-person and online.

“It’s open to all artists, creative pursuits, amateur, professional, dabbling,” Lyon says. “If there’s a piece of art that strikes your fancy, you can have it — it’s free. It’s really just about sharing creativity, inspiring each other to be creative.”

Follow @littlefreegallery_bellingham on Instagram to see what’s happening in the gallery today! Near the Corner of West St. and Eldridge Ave., Bellingham  H AVE YOU EVER WANTED to learn more about mushrooms, or maybe you’d like to be more aware of the nature that surrounds you? Now is your chance to do just that. The North Cascades Institute (NCI) is putting on a workshop titled “Meet the Mushrooms” that allows participants to interact with and learn more about fungi.

“Fungi inhabit their own kingdom of life,” says Evan Holmstrom, the workshop’s instructor.

Holmstrom has been working in environmental education and wilderness learning for about 10 years. He appreciates the fungal variety that Bellingham has to offer and is excited to share his love for this species with others.

Workshop participants will meet at Fairhaven Park and head into the 100 Acre Woods to locate and learn about mushrooms.

“We’re not just talking about mushrooms and looking at pictures,

QUICK STATS

Length: 3 hours Fee: $50

Meet the Mushrooms: Fungus 101 with Evan Holmstrom

WRITTEN BY MARISSA MULJAT | PHOTOGRAPHED BY EVAN HOLMSTROM

but rather seeing them where they occur,” Holmstrom says. “Hopefully, by the end of the day, we can have a basic idea of what identification looks like for mushrooms.”

This workshop will occur in two sessions on October 9. The morning session is from 9 a.m.–12 p.m., and the afternoon session takes place from 1–4 p.m. Sign-ups can be made online at ncascades.org.

NCI was started in 1986 with a mission to connect the community to nature. Holmstrom explains that the organization helps people learn how to sustain and develop a reciprocal kinship with the natural world.

“Essentially, our goal is to educate, inspire, wow, [and] delight people with experiences in nature to the degree that they develop a higher awareness and a deeper familiarity with how amazing and wonderful the natural world is,” Holmstrom says. 360.854.2599, ncascades.org 

New PeaceHealth MitraClip Procedure Provides Less Invasive Heart Valve Fix

THE MITRAL VALVE, LOCATED BETWEEN the left atrium and left ventricle of the heart, is comprised of flaps that regulate blood flow between the two chambers. When working properly, the valve keeps blood flowing the right direction, through the heart and into the body.

But if the mitral valve becomes floppy or leaky and won’t seal properly, blood leaks back into the heart instead of continuing out of it. It’s a condition known as mitral valve regurgitation, with symptoms like fatigue, shortness of breath, coughing and heart palpitations, among others.

Fortunately, cardiologists can repair the valve to reduce or stop severe forms of the condition. This traditionally requires open-heart surgery, but now, a less-invasive procedure called the MitraClip is available for qualifying patients at Bellingham’s PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center.

The MitraClip procedure uses a catheter inserted into a small groin incision. The catheter, which includes the small clip device, is then guided through a leg vein to reach the heart, where the valve is clipped to minimize or stop occurring leakage.

PeaceHealth St. Joseph began offering MitraClip in July of 2021. Three patients have undergone the procedure, with several more scheduled soon, says Dr. Eric King, an interventional cardiologist and the sole conductor of MitraClip procedures. All three patients, Dr. King says, are recovering well.

So why does the mitral valve become dysfunctional in the first place?

There are several reasons. One is simply degradation as people age, causing the valve to tear.

Heart failure, leading to enlargement of the heart muscle, and other serious illnesses that affect the heart can also adversely impact the valve’s function.

Who’s a good candidate?

For patients with mitral valve regurgitation, milder versions can be treated with medications. But when severe forms of the condition necessitate surgery, open-heart surgery is still the standard of care for optimal mitral valve repair.

Due to advanced age, heart or lung conditions, however, open-heart procedures simply provide too much risk of complication for some patients. For them, the MitraClip procedure is ideal.

Patients for the procedure must also be free of infection and blood clots, be able to tolerate blood thinners, and have a mitral valve condition that’s not caused by a case of rheumatic fever. The screening process of qualification includes diagnostic tests like blood work and an angiogram, as well as both an echocardiogram and a transesophageal echocardiogram.

The MitraClip procedure can last three to four hours, a timeframe similar to the open-heart version of the valve fix. However, the recovery time of MitraClip is typically much quicker.

“Patients are usually able to get up out of bed after about three hours,” Dr. King says. “Usually, they go home the following day.”

Moving forward, the use of the MitraClip procedure in Whatcom County will save some of the most vulnerable mitral valve patients a lot of time and worry.

“Previously, our patients were having to go down to a different center in Seattle to get this procedure done,” Dr. King says. “Now, having it here…it’s a pretty awesome thing for the community.”

Patients who have concerns about mitral regurgitation or are interested in MitraClip should contact their primary care physician or cardiologist to learn more.

Authored by and republished with permission from WhatcomTalk. 