Work is officially underway on a new Houston Health Department facility to better serve the Sunnyside community, a focus of Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Houston Complete Communities Initiative.

Mayor Turner joined District D Council Member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, health department director Stephen Williams, and community members on Wednesday to break ground on the new Sunnyside Health and Multi-Service Center at 4410 Reed Rd.

“This project is another example of the outstanding collaboration between my Office of Complete Communities, the Houston Health Department, and the community itself,” said Mayor Turner. “This new center will make a crucial difference and help improve the lives of people in Sunnyside and surrounding communities, among the most under-resourced in our city.”

The 57,165 square foot center will combine community service-oriented multi-service center programs and health center programs into one facility, a first for the health department. A large two-story indoor atrium will connect the health and multi-service areas as well as the front and back porches.

“People visiting the new combined center for a community event or a class typically offered at a multi-service center will now also get a chance to see and learn about health services,” said Williams. “I look forward to seeing the ways this center helps Sunnyside residents live healthier and improve their lives.”

The center will include immunization, dental, family planning, sexual health, tuberculosis, and WIC services, in addition to programs for mental health, new mothers, and seniors.

A large auditorium, conference rooms, and classrooms are included for use by neighborhood and non-profit organizations. The site will also include a fitness room, quarter-mile mile walking trail, exercise equipment, community garden, and benches.

The new $25.8 million centers will replace the current facility, which opened in 1975 with an anticipated building life of 30 years. The current center averages about 4,500 monthly client encounters.

Kirksey Architecture and J.T. Vaughn Construction lead the project with an opening anticipated in October 2022.

Rendering of the new Sunnyside Health and Multi-Service Center.

Source: www.houstontx.gov

Mayor Sylvester Turner is partnering with the Houston Health Department and Judah Brown Project to raise awareness about the risk of childhood drownings, educate parents and caregivers about reducing the risk, and link people to additional resources to help save lives.

Mayor Turner and the non-profit organization recently produced a public service announcement video and the health department developed an educational webpage.

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children ages 1-4.

“I can’t imagine the unbearable heartache of losing a child, but the Browns experienced it and have a powerful story to share to prevent others from experiencing the same pain,” said Mayor Turner. “This valuable partnership further extends Judah’s legacy and gives parents and caregivers valuable information and resources.”

The Judah Brown Project partners with agencies that offer survival swim instruction, CPR certification, and other lifesaving education to families of children ages 1-4. Annette Courtney, Judah’s preschool teacher, established the charity following the 3-year-old’s drowning death. Judah’s parents, Christi and Mark Brown, then partnered with Annette.

“Most of the time parents of children who drown are not outright negligent; they simply have a false sense of security regarding their child and water,” Mark said. “For example, parents need to understand that traditional swimming lessons do not provide children under four the skills to save themselves from drowning. That ability comes from survival swim lessons.”

No child is “drown-proof.” However, parents and caregivers can significantly reduce the risk by using the following layers of protection:

• Designate a “water watcher.” This adult is responsible for keeping their eyes on all children in the water and should be free of all distractions — including cell phones and socializing. The “water watcher” should be switched every 15 minutes to avoid attention fatigue.
• Teach children to swim. Survival swimming lessons teach children self-rescue techniques to help prevent water accident deaths. Traditional swimming lessons teach children proper swimming strokes.
• Learn CPR. Become certified in CPR and update your skills annually. It could save the life of your child or another person.
• Have proper barriers. Ensure the fence around your pool is at least five feet tall with a self-closing and self-latching gate. Make sure doors and windows to the pool are always locked and alarmed. Install a pool alarm to alert you when anyone goes into the water.

Information about free and low-cost swimming lessons, organizations that offer swim lesson scholarships, and more water safety resources is available at HoustonHealth.org.

Concerns about the safety of pools in Houston can be reported to Houston Health Department pool inspectors via 311.

Source:  www.houstontx.gov

Mr. Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, President of the Republic of Panama, made a historic visit to Port Houston on Thursday, highlighting the importance of the connection between the Panama Canal and the Houston Ship Channel. The country of Panama is home to the Panama Canal. The 2016 expansion of the canal helped open new business opportunities and spurred the growth of Asia trade for Houston.

The canal’s expanded capacity to accommodate larger vessels has helped increase the number of larger ships calling the Houston Ship Channel. Receiving these larger vessels has fostered continued growth in import and export cargo and economic impact and job creation for the Houston region and Texas.

Last year Houston was ranked the #1 U.S. port in total tonnage, and import containers from East Asia have grown 63%, and export containers have increased 96% since 2016. “Unquestionably, the expansion of the Panama Canal has had a significant role in the growth of cargo volume and the number of larger ships and vessels calling our port,” Executive Director Roger Guenther remarked.

“That’s why we must continue to make strides with the expansion of the Houston Ship Channel – Project 11 to ensure that we can accommodate the larger ships and vessels, which means more jobs and greater economic impact to our region.”

Port Houston welcomed the President with a Memorandum of Understanding recognizing the importance of the relationship between the Panama Canal Authority and the Houston Ship Channel.

The President also received a briefing that highlighted Houston Ship Channel business and the efforts of Port Houston, advocating Project 11, the Houston Ship Channel expansion program, which supports the widening and deepening of the 52-mile-long federal waterway and its continued maintenance.

Source: porthouston.com

A Houston man implicated in three shootings and two deaths, including shooting a homeless man from his apartment balcony and a woman riding her bike, was sentenced to life in prison without parole this week, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Wednesday.

“Making a homemade silencer and buying a scope to shoot a rifle from a balcony, like in this case, is not an act of impulse,” Ogg said. “There was planning and premeditation, and the fact that Mr. Stocker returned to the scene, months later, for a cold and calculated murder of the man who would have testified against him, is appalling.”

Jamin Kidron Stocker, 37, lived in a condominium with a second-floor balcony in the 1300 block of Rosewood that overlooked the parking lot at the intersection of Caroline and Wheeler.

On Aug. 21, 2017, a homeless man named Brent Tapp, 67, told police that Stocker shot him in the leg from his balcony. At that time, Stocker fled from his home and went on the run. Police searched his home and confiscated several stolen guns.

Police found a .22 caliber rifle with a scope and a homemade silencer and a stockpile of a specific brand and type of .45 caliber bullets, but they did not find a .45 caliber gun. A warrant for Stocker was issued on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Two months later, Brent Tapp was gunned down in the same parking lot where he had been shot before. Police found bullet casings at the scene that matched the .45 caliber bullets found in Stocker’s home.

Stocker, who was still on the run, was arrested three months later and eventually charged with capital murder. He was charged with shooting Tapp in retaliation for reporting him to the police for the first shooting and for obstruction to prevent Tapp from testifying against him.

At a trial that wrapped up Tuesday, jurors heard that Stocker blamed Tapp for reporting him to police for the first shooting, which meant Stocker felt he had to flee from authorities and he lost his job and home. The jury also saw that Stocker’s phone had messages admitting to the initial shooting and ballistics from the murder scene matched the .45 caliber pistol that Stocker was caught with when he was arrested.

During the extensive investigation, police learned that the .22 caliber rifle, which Stocker bought in 2015, was the same gun used a fatal shooting on March 16, 2016, more than a year before the Tapp was first shot. Charlotte Walker was killed as she was riding her bike down the street in the 2700 block of Sampson. Stocker remains charged with murder in that case.

Assistant District Attorney Lauren Bard, who prosecuted the case in a week-long trial with ADA Jamie Burro, said the jurors made the right decision.

“The victim may have been homeless, but everyone deserves justice,” she said. “He was executed for reporting he was the victim of a crime.”

The case was investigated by the Houston Police Department and prosecuted by the Major Offenders Division of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.