Wednesday, November 4, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Ore. hospitals
could reach
capacity by
mid-December
By Sara Cline
Associated Press/Report for America
SALEM (AP) 4 Last week
Oregon health officials deliv-
ered a concerning message: If
the state remains on the path
it is now with increasing daily
COVID-19 cases, hospitals in
Oregon could reach capacity
by mid-December.
Out of Oregon9s 721 listed
intensive-care-unit beds, 24
percent were available, based
on data on from the Oregon
Health Authority9s (OHA)
website Thursday. Out of the
non-ICU adult hospital beds
in the state, 14 percent were
available.
As of Thursday afternoon
there were 156 confirmed
COVID-19 patients in hospi-
tals. However there have been
days in months past, such as
July and August, where the
number has surpassed 165.
In the month of October,
Oregon has surpassed its
record of daily cases multiple
times. On Friday officials
reported a new daily record 4
600 COVID-19 cases.
So if cases continue to rise
and the number of patients in
Oregon hospitals begin to spill
over what happens?
<Hospitals have a spectrum
of tools they can utilize to
manage bed capacity such as in
the face of a surge of COVID
patients,= said Tim Heider, a
spokesperson for the OHA.
This could include postpon-
ing elective procedures, using
hospitals beds or wings that
are currently unused, or add-
ing staffing capacity to their
inpatient units. In addition,
Oregon hospitals have worked
on a regionalized approach.
<Through this regional
approach, hospitals across a
region can assess capacity and
respond to a surge together
by distributing patients need-
ing inpatient or emergency-
department level of care based
on capacity and capability,<
Heider said. <In face of a
surge, hospitals can call on
help from hospitals in neigh-
boring communities to ensure
patients get needed care,
instead of working in isolation
as individual facilities.=
This response could
include hospitals out of state.
Heider said that even prior
to COVID-19 hospitals have
routinely transferred patients
across state lines <to get
patients to the appropriate
level of care or specialty care.=
For six weeks, Oregon9s
COVID-19 cases were in a
downward trend until mid-
September. Since then, offi-
cials warned that numbers
were again increasing at an
alarming rate.
PROXY FALLS: Hike
is outside snow gate
on Highway 242
Continued from page 13
of the lava rocks make it clear
that you9re on the west side of
the mountains.
Lower Proxy Falls is the
more photogenic of the two,
but the upper falls has an
interesting and unusual fea-
ture. Each waterfall has its
own separate stream cas-
cading from a cliff sheared
off by glaciers thousands of
years ago. The access trail to
the lower falls is quite steep
and very rough in places,
occasionally requiring some
hand-over-hand climbing over
rocks and roots.
Upper Proxy Falls drops
into a scenic pool, from which
there is no visible outlet; so
that stream just vanishes. As
is the case in much of the
McKenzie region, the lava
flows have created porous
substrata that redirect surface
water to springs that reap-
pear several miles away. The
access trail to the upper falls
is much easier to traverse than
the lower, but the falls here
are less impressive.
The exit trail on the back
side of the loop is flatter
and less obstructed than the
scramble through the lava
field on the way in, but you
would miss the best of the
cathedral-like dense forest if
you opted to take that route
both ways.
There are two snow gates at
the west end of the McKenzie
Highway; and, at only a little
over 3,000 feet elevation, this
trailhead is outside the upper
snow gate. This means that,
even though the highway
over the pass will close with
the first significant snowfall,
this lower area on the west
side will often remain open
well into December and can
be accessed via Santiam Pass.
Later in the season, however,
be sure to check local road
conditions, as closure dates of
the lower snow gate may vary
significantly.
To complete our driv-
ing loop, we returned over
a sunny and snow-free
McKenzie Pass. I can9t
help but be a little saddened
each time I see the damage
wrought by the Milli Fire on
one of Central Oregon9s most
beautiful areas.
As a matter of interest, the
Linton Lake Trailhead is also
(just barely) outside the lower
snow gate, thereby extending
the hiking season for that
pleasant 3.8-mile round-trip
hike. Linton Lake was formed
in the same glacial valley
as Proxy Falls and, like the
upper falls, has no visible out-
let. If you have the time and
inclination, it9s a simple mat-
ter to do both the Linton Lake
and Proxy Falls hikes on the
same trip.
To reach Proxy Falls, sim-
ply head west on Highway
242 past Sisters High School
over McKenzie Pass. The
Proxy Falls Trailhead is about
14 miles beyond the summit.
If McKenzie Pass is closed,
take Highway 126 over
Santiam Pass toward Eugene,
and turn left (east) onto the
western end of Highway 242
after Belknap Springs. The
Proxy Falls Trail is about 9
miles east between mileposts
64 and 65.
Attention Readers:
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17
Bill & Marjorie
Williamson
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Thanksgiving!
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