Oregon daily emerald., April 03, 1973, Page 7, Image 7

Health Center
offers women
contraceptives
i i
What specific services does the University Health
Center offer to women?
Dr. Avard Long, director of the Student Health Center,
outlined his answer to that question in an interview last
week.
“First of all,” he said, “beyond the pregnancy test
itself, we offer no pre-natal care.” Long said this is
because it is in the woman’s best interest to receive that
care from the same doctor who w;ll be performing the
delivery. “The cost of the services would be the same in
either case,” he added.
The Health Center does not employ gynecology
specialists, Dr Long said, but services such as pelvic
examinations and pap tests are performed by general
practitioners. If any special problems arise, they are
referred to one of three consultants, specialists in the
Eugene area. “I estimate that one-third of our time here
at the center is spent on women’s services, including
birth control,” he said.
Issuing contraceptives comprises a large part of the
time spent on women’s services at the center. “Con
traceptives are available to anyone who requests them,”
Long said, “unless there is some medical reason that
they should not be used.”
The center offers both the pill and other contraceptive
devices, Long said, and the cost is taken from the $25
general deposit. “There is quite a demand for our ser
vices in this area,” he said.
The “morning-after pill,” according to Dr. Long, is
available at the Health Center, but there is little demand
for it. “We get 15, maybe 20, requests per term,” he said.
Long mentioned that DES, a controversial morning
after pill recently cleared by the Food and Drug Ad
ministration, is now being used. “However, we did not
use it here before its clearance by the FDA,” he added.
Although the Health Center itself does not perform
abortions, it does offer abortion referral services. Ac
cording to Dr. Long, abortion requests are referred to
one of three areas, depending on the individual needs of
the woman. “We refer women locally for obvious
reasons,” he said, “it’s handy. But sometimes we’ll
refer a patient to the medical school, because it’s
cheaper, or to Washington state, since the law there is
less restrictive. But first we spend a lot of time
discussing the woman’s decision with her—making
certain it’s what she really wants.”
No one is quite sure where the Oregon abortion law
stands, but even if it becomes as liberal as that of
Washington, Dr. Long does not foresee the performance
of abortions at the Health Center. “The reason in that
case would be largely financial,” he said. “SinceSacred
Heart Hospital is so close, it wouldn’t make sense for us
to offer abortions. We work closely with Sacred Heart—
there’s no need for us to duplicate their services.”
The staff at the center presently consists of 10 general
practitioners, all of whom are men. “We had (me woman
physician with us for 30 years,” Dr. Long said. “Eight
now we’re very interested in employing a female
gynecologist. We’re looking hard, but so far we’ve had
no luck. Female gynecologists are difficult to find.”
Phofo by James Link
Dr. Avard Long, director of the Student Health Center.
Woman police officer asked:
‘Are you really a policeman?’
By JOSH MARQUIS
Of the Emerald
Margot Piquette is a Eugene police of
ficer. She is one of four women who are sworn
officers on the Eugene Police Department
(EPD). She and two other women graduated
from the pblice academy in early January
and are assigned to the patrol division. The
fourth woman officer is a detective assigned
to the juvenile division.
In conjunction with the Affirmative
Action hiring policy adopted by the City of
Eugene, the police department accepted
three female recruits into its police academy
class which started in October 1872. Police
Chief Dale Allen was specific in saying that
the female officers would get the same
training and be expected to perform the same
duties as their male counterparts.
Piquette worked for EPD for five years
before becoming a police officer; three and a
half years as a records clerk and a year and a
half as a community service officer (CSO).
CSO’s assist police officers on calls not
requiring a sworn officer; i.e. barking dogs,
stolen bicycles. Officer Piquette feels that
both her experience as a record clerk and
later on the street dealing with the public as a
CSO provided valuable experience for the
position she now holds.
Piquette is presently assigned to the day
shift, which works from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. After
her "coaching” period, which iasted about a
mouth during which a senior officer ac
companied her in the patrol car, she was "cut
loose” to work on her own. All recruits are on
a nine-month probationary period after
finishing the academy. Since the officers are
identified by badge number, the dispatcher
assigns calls to whoever is closer.
Piquette wears the same basic uniform as
her fellow officers. Allen says that the
department has found them to be the most
efficient for the job. Piquette agrees, “I don’t
think I’d like to get in a fight wearing a skirt.”
Within the police department there are vir
tually no distinctions between male and
female officers. They are all expected to meet
the same criteria.
The only reaction to the woman officers is
in the street by the general public, and this is
even less than most people might think.
Piquette feels that “people see the uniform,
not the person.” Piquette and the other
women have already gotten into physical
confrontations with persons who were told
they were going to jail. “I haven’t had
anybody who I arrested remark on the fact
I’m a woman yet,” says Piquette.
Another of the female officers was in
volved in a fight one night on South
Willamette. As she put one of the participants
under arrest he hurled a great deal of abuse
at the police in general but seemed oblivious
to the fact she was a woman.
Some of the male police officers are still a
little leery of the idea of a woman as a cop.
Some remark that they wouldn’t like to have a
female officer backing them up on a
dangerous call, but they admit that to date
there have been no major problems with the
presence of a female police officer.
The public isn’t quite used to seeing
women in uniform. When Piquette went into a
cafe for coffee, the waitress asked, “Are you
really a policeman, I mean police officer?”
Similarity some of the people who are sub
jects of a traffic stop are occasionally
skeptical about being cited by a woman. But
on the whole Piquette says that few people
really seem to notice.
Piquette sees some situations in which a
female officer m/iy prove a special asset. “In
some family disputes the woman just will not
talk to another man,” Piquette observed,
“and in cases like that a female officer will be
able to relieve the tension.” Piquette com
mented that this won’t always be the case.
“I'll admit that when two women officers get
sent to a family fight call the man might start
feeling paranoid,” said Piquette with a smile.
Smith reports effects
of $3 million deficit
By TERRY SOTTA
and
EILEEN KEY
Of the Emerald
The Willamette National Forest Advisory Council heard a report
by forest director Zane Smith on land use appropriations and the
current timber crisis during its Friday meeting.
Smith announced that a cut in the fiscal 1974 federal budget for the
Willamette National Forests will bring the year’s funds to ap
proximately $3 million short of the sum required to execute all the
“performance goals” proposed for that period. “Performance goals”
are projects to which funds completion dates are assigned. According
to Smith, federal funds are appropriated to the various areas in forest
management with stipulated floor and ceiling figures that allow some
latitude to foresters and advisors in allocating it. Thus the cut, Smith
says, necessitates adjustments in project priorities for the coming
year.
Smith cited three “top priority areas” in which there can be “no
compromise” in funding; timber production, civil rights equal op
portunity employment and comprehensive land use planning. Areas
such as road and trail maintenance, publication of public maps and
brochures and intensive management of the forest which include
genetic alteration and other technological tree care will be affected by
the budget cut. “Those are appropriated areas we are not receiving
money for,” said Smith.
Of the current timber crisis, Smith said, “We can expect to be
asked to accelerate our regular fiscal program, to present 70 per cent
early, to get a little more wood on the market. We expect to offer more
thinning and salvage timber in the next six months.”
Such a program, Smith pointed out, will show that “intensive
forestry can be carried out without adversely affecting the en
vironment,” and will receive some of the pressure created by the
lower budget by providing employment for professionals who would
otherwise lose their positions as a result of the cut.
Smith also announced a new federal regulation requiring national
forest advisory councils to publish announcements of their intended
meetings for the public. Smith sees the regulation as a move that will
“improve our public participation.”
Smith called the Council “relatively less significant when com
pared to availability of other advice and counsel to forest supervisors
for management,” but said it “still has diversity and availability of
individuals” enough to retain importance in its functioning The
Council is comprised of 12 elected members who report directly to the
Forest Supervisor of the Willamette National Forest on land-use
allocations and fund appropriations on national forest projects.
The process of allocating land usage was outlined to the com
mittee by planner Larry Worstell. “Forest use is carefully assessed as
to the best possible land usage,” Worstell stressed. In determining the
future of a unit of land, social and ecological factors are taken into
consideration, he explained. He cited the possibility of separate zoning
for snowmobiles and corss-county skiers. As of now, “there is no
provision for off-road vehicles, such as snowmobiles.” Any zoning
would be done on a temporary trial baas, he said.