An injured Kelso couple are out of intensive care at Southwest
Washington Medical Center in Vancouver, where they have been
hospitalized since a one-vehicle accident Jan. 22 on Interstate
5.

Bernie Altman, 86, and his wife, Marcia, 90, were listed in
satisfactory condition Friday.

“It’s looking good,” said their daughter Rosalie Olds of Renton,
Wash. Once her parents are released from the hospital, doctors
recommended they stay in a skilled nursing facility for physical
therapy, she said.

She said doctors discovered her father has an irregular
heartbeat that causes faintness. She said doctors think the
previously undiagnosed medical condition caused the accident, which
the Washington State Patrol had initially attributed to driver
fatigue. Her father received a pacemaker Wednesday, she said.

The crash occurred as Bernie Altman was driving north on I-5
near 39th Street, Vancouver. His 1995 Nissan Maxima drifted onto
the right shoulder, according to the WSP. Altman then made a hard
left turn and lost control of the Maxima, which crashed into the
jersey barrier, coming to rest on top of the barrier.

Bernie and Marcia Altman are retired schoolteachers. Bernie
Altman then spent more than 20 years writing and editing senior
publications, first for Lower Columbia Community Action Council and
then for The Daily News.

In September, Bernie Altman received the Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Cowlitz County Guidance Association for his work on
behalf of the mentally ill. In the 1980s the Altmans cofounded the
Cowlitz Alliance for the Mentally Ill, now known as the National
Alliance on Mental Illness-Cowlitz.