WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL
Growing Latino population
means new outreach efforts
By JADE MCDOWELL
Staff Writer
Oregon’s Latino popu-
lation continues to grow,
spurring communities to
improve their outreach.
A report by the Oregon
Community
Foundation
titled “Latinos in Oregon”
estimates 12 percent of the
state’s population is now
Latino, compared to 8 per-
cent in 2000.
In some Eastern Oregon
communities, the growth
has been even more rapid.
Umatilla School Dis-
trict superintendent Heidi
Sipe said 65 percent of her
students are Latino and 70
percent have a mixed eth-
nic background. In 2001,
42 percent of the district’s
students were Latino.
“What families need at
42 percent Hispanic is far
different than what they
need at 70 percent Hispan-
ic,” Sipe said. “We’re al-
ways adjusting.”
She said the district
publishes all of its com-
munications in English
and Spanish, and provides
translators at parent nights
and other events.
Being Latino is about
more than speaking Span-
ish, however. The report
notes that, according to
data from the U.S. Census
Bureau, about half of Ore-
gon’s Latino population is
bilingual and speaks En-
glish “well or very well.”
Another 31 percent speak
only or mostly English at
home, leaving 19 percent
who speak only Spanish at
home.
Sipe said Umatilla is
working on programs that
acknowledge that some-
times just providing a
translator isn’t enough.
When Umatilla families go
on college visits through
the Gear-Up program, for
example, Sipe said a trans-
lator is provided but the
visits still seem “primarily
geared toward Caucasian
families.”
As a result, the district
is working with Washing-
ton State University on a
college visit specifically for
Hispanic families.
The district is also work-
ing on recruiting more Lati-
no teachers as role models
for their students. And in
high school classes such as
civics, students talk about
equity and ways to remove
STAFF PHOTO BY JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
SMART volunteer Joshua Nokes reads with a Head Start
student at Hermiston’s Victory Square on Thursday.
FILE PHOTO
Martha Ortega, Claudia Ortega, 10, Guadalupe Talavera and Daphne Castro, 17, make
homemade granola to be used in a parfait recipe in December 2016 during a Cooking Matters
for Families cooking class in Umatilla.
FILE PHOTO
Jedwin Torres and Anthony Torres, both of Hermiston, eat
shaved ice at the 2014 Cinco de Mayo festival in downtown
Hermiston.
barriers to equality in their
community.
The Latinos in Oregon
report states that about 41
percent of Oregon’s Lati-
no population does not
have a high school diplo-
ma, and another 24 per-
cent have a high school
diploma but no college
experience. As such,
many of Oregon’s Lati-
no residents are drawn to
jobs in agriculture.
Obdulia Munoz, who
works for the Migrant Ed-
ucation Program in Eastern
Oregon, said the federal
program’s services are of-
fered to any student who
moves frequently because
they or their parents work
in an agriculture-related
job. Some of the students
served are white, but many
are Latino. She said the
program works to help en-
courage parental involve-
ment in the child’s edu-
cation and encourage the
child to stay in school.
“We see a lot who don’t
finish because they need to
help their families so they
start working. And once
they start working they
usually don’t come back to
school,” Munoz said.
In 2012 the city of Herm-
iston decided to address the
needs of its growing pop-
ulation by creating a His-
panic Advisory Committee
that provides information
to Latino residents and also
represents those residents’
concerns to the city.
Clara Beas Fitzgerald
started on the committee
and is now a Hermiston
city councilor. She also
works in Boardman for the
Morrow County School
District, and said she is
proud of both communities
for their efforts to be more
inclusive to their Latino
residents.
Nick Bejarano, commu-
nications director for Good
Shepherd Health Care Sys-
tem, said the hospital has
seen an increase in Latino
patients over the years. In
response, the hospital and
clinics offer a combination
of translation services for
patients over the phone, in
person or via video confer-
ence on a laptop or tablet.
They also offer education-
al classes on topics like nu-
trition in Spanish.
“Many of our employ-
ees do speak Spanish too,”
he said.
The Latinos in Oregon
report shows 29 percent
of Latinos in Oregon are
uninsured, compared to 13
percent of white residents.
Bejarano said Good Shep-
herd provides information
in English and Spanish on
payment plans with lower
rates based on need.
“We make our services
available to everyone,” he
said. “If we realize there
is a barrier, such as a lan-
guage barrier, we do every-
thing we can to help over-
come that.”
Flu eases off, not gone yet
One child died of
flu-related illness
in Umatilla County
By KATHY ANEY
Staff Writer
Flu hit Oregon hard and
fast this year, but the virus
appears to have peaked.
Hermiston boy Jasper
Duree McKenzie, 4, died at
the end of December after
respiratory failure and a flu-
like infection, said Umatil-
la County Public Health
director Jim Setzer. He said
the virus is now waning in
the area, but still could do
additional damage.
“We’re on the downside,
but it’s still happening,”
Setzer said.
He said the county still
has plenty of vaccine left
for those who wish to lower
their risk.
Pam Schulz, infection
control prevention nurse
at Good Shepherd Medical
Center, said she hasn’t no-
ticed a huge change yet.
“We seem to be kind of
hanging in there,” Schulz
said. “We’re maybe down a
nubbin.”
Flu Bites, Oregon’s pub-
lic health flu tracker, shows
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a gentle downturn state-
wide. For the week ending
Jan. 28, emergency depart-
ment visits for influenza-re-
lated illness is 3.1 percent,
down from 4.1 two weeks
earlier. The number of out-
breaks of three or more
people dropped from 24 to
15 in the past two weeks.
So far this season, 8,511
people have tested positive
in Oregon for influenza.
The vast majority of the
specimens (88.6 percent)
were determined to be in-
fluenza A, though some
influenza B was found as
well. About 1,200 indi-
viduals were hospitalized
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Staff Writer
It only takes one book
to get hooked: That’s
what SMART coaches
are hoping to teach kids
about reading at an early
age.
Joshua Nokes, a vol-
unteer in Becky San-
chez’ Head Start class of
three- to five-year-olds
at Hermiston’s Victory
Square center, sits down
with a student and starts
reading her a book about
colors. She listens as he
reads, enjoying his ex-
pressive rendition of the
story.
SMART, which stands
for “Start Making a
Reader Today,” is a state-
wide program that orga-
nizes volunteers to come
into classrooms and
read one-on-one with
students. The goal is to
encourage kids to enjoy
reading and strengthen
their literacy skills at an
early age. Throughout
the state, students be-
tween pre-kindergarten
and third grade partici-
pate in SMART.
Locally, SMART is
run through the Head
Start programs. There are
three locations — two
in Hermiston and one in
Pendleton.
Julie Sanders, direc-
tor of the Umatilla-Mor-
row Head Start program
in Hermiston, said the
program is essential to
encouraging literacy at
an early age — which is
often a predictor of ac-
ademic achievement in
later years.
“A good foundation
in literacy is essential
to success everywhere
else,” she said.
Sanchez, who has
taught with Umatil-
la-Morrow Head Start
for nine years, said she
notices the difference in
her young readers from
the time they start read-
253 W. Hermiston Ave.
Hermiston
ing with volunteers to the
end of the year.
“A lot of people worry
that they don’t read well,”
Sanchez said of people
hesitant to volunteer. She
insisted it’s more import-
ant to demonstrate a love
of reading.
“They just need to see
that literacy is very im-
portant in their life,” she
said.
Currently, Sanchez has
about four volunteers that
come to the class weekly
and spend about 15 min-
utes reading one-on-one
with each student. Twice
a month, children also get
to choose a free book to
take home with them.
“When we give the
kids books, we put their
name on a sticker on the
book, and tell them, ‘No-
body can read it without
asking you because it’s
your book,’” said Jorge
Colon, a coordinator for
the SMART program at
Victory Square. “A lot of
kids don’t have books, so
it’s special to them.”
Colon said he’d love
to see the program extend
to elementary schools in
Hermiston.
The statewide SMART
program recently re-
ceived the Walt Morey
Young Readers Liter-
acy Legacy, an award
presented to a person or
group that has contribut-
ed to literacy efforts for
Oregon kids.
The program is in need
of volunteers, Sanchez
said, and would benefit
from both English and
Spanish-speakers.
“It’s really easy to get
cleared, but it’s difficult
to get people to be here,”
Colon said, looking
around at the four regular
volunteers reading with
students. “This is our re-
ally dedicated group.”
Colon said anyone can
sign up to volunteer for
the SMART program at
getsSMARToregon.org.
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(Flu Bites tracks hospi-
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contrast, 443 people were
hospitalized with flu the
previous year.
Nationwide, the Centers
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Hermiston
volunteers help
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