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2A | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022 | APPEAL TRIBUNE Wildfire survivors report ongoing breathing issues Address: P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309 Phone: 503-399-6773 Fax: 503-399-6706 Santiam Canyon cities study finds other health problems and struggles to find housing Web site: www.SilvertonAppeal.com Staff News Director Don Currie 503-399-6655 dcurrie@statesmanjournal.com Advertising Westsmb@gannett.com Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK Survivors of the 2020 Labor Day wildfires in Santiam Canyon cities re- ported breathing problems, health problems and struggles to find housing still impacted them a year after the fires, according to an Oregon State University community health study. Of the more than 100 residents of cit- ies including Detroit, Gates, Lyons, Mill City and Idanha who participated in the survey from October to November, 55% reported having some or a lot of difficul- ty breathing, compared with 27% who reported they had breathing problems before the fires. Respondents to the survey reported they were still changing air filters in their houses every two weeks and that both they and their animals continue to experience health issues due to con- tamination from the fires. Oregon State professor Marc Braver- man, one of the authors of the study, said the burning of buildings, machin- ery and other materials typically re- leases potentially toxic chemicals in the air. “In addition, the fire’s destruction of trees and removal of forest cover, and its effects on soil in the region, can create atypically high levels of dust that might still be at elevated levels in the air, de- pending on wind patterns, which might still be affecting residents,” Braverman said. The assessment looked at the ongo- ing physical and mental health of survi- vors in the Santiam Canyon, including environmental health, housing and ac- cess to healthy food. The study, which was funded through a grant from Marion County, also found that 13% of those who lost homes in the wildfires had returned to the area. And as of Nov. 15, 42% of them (301 of 694) had been issued building permits and 53% had been issued septic per- Email: sanews@salem.gannett.com Deadlines News: 4 p.m. Thursday Letters: 4 p.m. Thursday Obituaries: 11 a.m. Friday Display Advertising: 4 p.m. Wednesday Legals: 3 p.m. Wednesday Classifieds: 4 p.m. Friday News Tips The Appeal Tribune encourages suggestions for local stories. Email the newsroom, submit letters to the editor and send announcements to sanews@salem.gannett.com or call 503-399-6773. Classifieds: call 503-399-6789 Retail: call 503-399-6602 Legal: call 503-399-6789 Missed Delivery? Call: 800-452-2511 Hours: until 7 p.m. Wednesdays; until 3 p.m. other weekdays To Subscribe Call: 800-452-2511 $21 per year for home delivery $22 per year for motor delivery $30.10 per year mail delivery in Oregon $38.13 per year mail delivery outside Oregon Main Statesman Journal publication Suggested monthly rates: Monday-Sunday: $22, $20 with EZ Pay Monday-Saturday: $17.50, $16 with EZ Pay Wednesday-Sunday: $18, $16 with EZ Pay Monday-Friday: $17.50, $16 with EZ Pay Sunday and Wednesday: $14, $12 with EZ Pay Sunday only: $14, $12 with EZ Pay To report delivery problems or subscribe, call 800-452-2511 To Place an Ad Published every Wednesday by the Statesman Journal, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309. Brandon and Rechelle Kirk lost their Santiam Canyon home during the Beachie Creek Fire. SPECIAL TO THE USPS 469-860, Postmaster: Send address changes to Appeal Tribune, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID: Salem, OR and additional offices. Send letters to the editor and news releases to sanews@salem.gannett.com. STATESMAN JOURNAL mits. Struggles to find housing The inability of wildfire survivors to find housing has caused problems like trauma, depression, chronic stress and anxiety. It also has brought on other problems for survivors by impacting physical health through their diet, in- ability to exercise, reduced access to medical care and increased exposure to the weather. “There’s a ton of residents who are still experiencing these problems and are displaced,” Braverman said. “The housing problems is kind of at the root of a lot of the various health problems, especially mental health, stress and anxiety.” The study found many displaced people are living in places like Portland and Salem, but still consider them- selves Santiam Canyon residents. One of the recommendations, ac- cording to the study, is for governments to make it easier for residents to rebuild their homes, such as streamlining the process for getting permits. “As far as the county is concerned, that health assessment confirmed what we knew, that we needed housing,” Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron said. “It’s just confirmed that we’ve got work to do and we’re continu- ing to do that.” The recommendations made in the study include addressing the shortage of mental health providers in the area, increasing the attention paid to food in- security, supporting survivors’ efforts to rebuild, establishing a health registry, evaluating dust mitigation needs and sampling ash and dust for toxic chem- icals. Water quality also was a major con- cern. Detroit’s water filtration was de- stroyed in the fires, and it took seven months for a temporary one to be put in place and water to begin flowing to the city again. The city also has had to re- place contaminated lines. Some residents reported distrust in the quality of water, in part due to com- pounds like methyl tert-butyl ether found in the water. The levels found are considered safe in Oregon. “There was a fair amount of distrust,” Braverman said. “People just didn’t be- lieve the reports or whatever agencies are doing the measuring. This isn’t true of everybody, but many people just didn’t trust what they were hearing in terms of like what’s safe.” Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@statesmanjournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler Salem entrepreneurial coach hopes to inspire women of color 2020, and decided to settle in Salem be- cause she was “drawn to the vibrancy of the business community” and the prox- imity to family. She was raised in Cor- vallis after she and her family immigrat- ed from China when she was 3, and is an alumni of Oregon State University. “I feel this is a great place to move and serve that mission of, ‘How do we serve world class business leadership and en- trepreneurship to Salem?’ instead of just those larger cities like Portland,” Yin said. “Over the next 5 - 10 years, there’s going to be a lot of progress and new businesses being built here, and I want to be a part of it.” Em Chan Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK This is part of a weekly series intro- ducing readers to individuals who are passionate about our Mid-Valley com- munity. From the cubicle of a corporate mar- keting firm to an entrepreneur opening up a co-working space, Ellen Yin is a multi-faceted businesswoman working to inspire and help fellow women, espe- cially women of color. Yin is the founder and podcast host of Cubicle to CEO her entrepreneurial coaching services and podcast for female entrepreneurs. She started in July 2019 and in early February, she’s launching a new co-working space by the same name, which is located in the heart of downtown Salem, as a “phys- ical extension” of the female entrepre- neurial community she’s built online. A self-described “accidental entre- preneur,” Yin’s ascent (and success) in the business world wasn’t initially her goal. Her journey in navigating the land- scape and experiences as a woman in business, especially as an Asian wom- an, is one of the pillars of why she is so passionate about helping other women find their own success in the industry. Trust fall Yin’s entry into business began with a fallout: quitting her corporate job without a backup plan. At 23, working in a corporate marketing cubicle, Yin didn’t feel the role was right and left just before Christmas of 2017. The next month, she was approached by a colleague to help out with their business’ Instagram marketing. With the $300 she received from this first freelance job, she realized she could start her own business with the skills she had and “decided right then and there to stop applying to jobs.” From there, she went about acquiring clients large and small, from mom and pops to Fortune 500 companies. She found as she continued to grow, she wasn’t able to service the smaller busi- nesses as she had at her start due to time constraints and increased rates. Instead, in July 2019, she decided to pivot into creating a podcast plus online courses and programs to help more folks, specifically budding entrepre- neurs. The program? Cubicle to CEO. By publishing a podcast and selling courses online, she has been able to pro- vide coaching to folks and organizations of all scales and wherever they were in the world - a transition that was fortu- nately made just before the pandemic, Yin said. Room for growth Ellen Yin, owner of Cubicle To CEO Clubhouse, a co-working space geared toward women in Salem. BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL “The name for the podcast and our brand really was inspired by a reflection of my own journey, from working in a corporate cubicle and working to be my own CEO,” Yin said. “For myself, one of my big goals is really to expand our liste- nership for our podcast mainly because it is our primary way of providing free business resources. So we bring on a lot of big-time guests and share valuable advice, and I want to see that resource be in more hands.” Currently, her online community has grown to be more than 50,000 women online, with over 10,000 folks who have enrolled and taken courses from Cubicle to CEO and over 100,000 downloads of her podcast in over 150 countries. “Anytime I’m presented with some- one who has a similar point of connec- tion, it feels like home and you get that instant sense of comradery,” Yin said. “You see the things you haven’t lived out, see someone else achieving what you haven’t done for yourself and it in- spires the thought of, ‘Oh I could do that for myself.’” Representation matters today For Yin, coaching and supporting other women and minorities is part of helping others see exactly what they can do with their potential. “It’s hard (for other folks) to envision a future for themselves or other people without seeing proof of the possibility, so that’s the inspiration for building a physical extension,” Yin said. “Because I want to expose people to more female entrepreneurs, more Asian entrepre- neurs, so they can see up in leadership locally and pursue other paths that norms beyond their culture.” For the podcast especially, Yin want- ed to use her platform to highlight wom- en and women of color because in tradi- tional media it’s historically been repre- sented by white men. Her podcast guests are primarily suc- cessful business women sharing their stories and advice, folks who have been featured include Kim Kaupe, founder of Bright Ideas Only (formerly known as Zinepak), Ashley-Lauren Elrod, founder of Visionary Woman Productions, and Dzung Lewis, content creator and au- thor of The Honeysuckle Cookbook, among many others. “I think, especially in business, where women tend to have a harder time to get a seat at the table at the top - even in corporate - being able to see and hear from more folks who are women - that content is important and that’s why we really strive to highlight those voices,” Yin said. Buckling down locally Creating this space for the Willam- ette Valley, especially after having worked in larger cities around the coun- try, was something Yin had on her mind since founding Cubicle to CEO. Business resources and collaborative spaces for business women, especially for women of color, primarily are pre- sent in bigger markets like New York. “I felt there was a missing place for folks like myself,” Yin said about the Mid-Valley. “I wanted to create a space that female entrepreneurs could collab- orate, share referrals and resources, en- courage mentorship and host events, because I feel having equitable access to networks and those connections in business are key - especially for small town entrepreneurs.” Yin has been a Salem resident since Like how she initially started Cubicle to CEO, finding and launching the space that is now her co-working office - she simply stumbled on it. “This past fall I was just looking at open commercial spaces for lease - for fun! - and I didn’t have a timeline or in- tention on (the co-working space) at the time,” Yin said. “But I came across the perfect space; small, but it had a very cozy and inviting vibe, and it was the perfect entry point to test out in Salem so I jumped on it.” She called the landlord the next morning, started a new LLC for the ven- ture and signed the lease within a week, going “full force” on the project. The space, just under 1,000 square feet, is located just outside downtown. Despite being deceptively small, there are a variety of workspace types inside. From traditional two-person tables and plushy tables to a homelike environ- ment and bar stools against windows, Yin designed and redid the place on a “shoestring budget” without taking out a single loan. The space is two floors and includes an array of amenities including a “beauty bar” of touch-up products, mini library, snack bar/full kitchen, and more. She officially launches her co-work- ing space on Feb. 4, and plans to host events in the future. Cubicle to CEO‘s space occupancy is 12 folks, and for info about working inside, check out its website. For more of Yin, her podcast is available on all streaming platforms, and you can follow her and Cubicle to CEO on Instagram. Have an idea for someone we should profile for this series? Email Statesman Journal senior news editor Alia Beard Rau at arau@gannett.com. Em Chan covers food and dining at the Statesman Journal. You can reach her at echan@statesmanjournal.com, follow her on Twitter @catchuptoemily or see what she’s eating on Instagram @sikfanmei.ah.
