Opinion
A4
Saturday, January 8, 2022
OUR VIEW
Oregon should
address nursing
shortage
O
regon has one of the lowest rates of hos-
pital beds per capita in the country.
The number of staff ed hospital beds per
1,000 population is about 1.7.
That can actually be good. When there aren’t
too many people in the hospital, the health system
isn’t supporting unnecessary beds and staff .
The pandemic isn’t one of those times. The
bigger issue, though, has been staffi ng. Oregon
and the nation were already facing a nursing
shortage before the pandemic. The burnout and
stress caused by the pandemic made it worse. The
vacancy rate for nursing positions was about 10%
in 2020. Hundreds of nursing positions are open
across the state.
Hospitals have been relying on traveling
nurses to pick up some of the slack. They can
make thousands of dollars more than staff nurses,
which only encourages more nurses to become
traveling nurses and follow the money.
What could Oregon do?
Capacity to train nurses is one problem.
Oregon Health & Science University got nearly
1,900 applications for its nursing program and
accepted 420 students. The University of Portland
had 2,000 applications for 260 spots. It’s not just
a simple matter of accepting more students. There
also needs to be faculty and places for clinical
placement. Shouldn’t the Legislature at least dis-
cuss if the state needs to direct more resources at
this problem?
In the short-term, more needs to be done to
help existing nurses. More pay and benefi ts may
not be the right answer or the only one. Many
nurses feel overworked and overstressed. Doc-
tors, dentists and physician assistants can get free
counseling through the Oregon Wellness Pro-
gram, a nonprofi t. Nurses don’t get access to that,
though their employers may make other alter-
natives available. The Oregon Board of Nursing
is scheduled to discuss funding access to it for
nurses later this month.
The state could also make adjustments to its
emergency licensure requirements, as reported by
The Lund Report. It limited out-of-state nurses to
practicing for up to 30 days in critical care units.
That could be broadened, though it may be a
touchy subject during labor disputes. In any case,
relying on nurses to come from out of state isn’t a
permanent solution.
You can do something, too. If you are not
vaccinated, please get vaccinated and get any
boosters. It can reduce the chances you will get
COVID and the severity when you do.
EDITORIALS
Unsigned editorials are the
opinion of The Observer editorial
board. Other columns, letters and
cartoons on this page express the
opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of The Observer.
LETTERS
• The Observer welcomes letters
to the editor. We edit letters for
brevity, grammar, taste and legal
reasons. We will not publish con-
sumer complaints against busi-
nesses, personal attacks against
private individuals or comments
that can incite violence. We also
discourage thank-you letters.
• Letters should be no longer than
350 words and must be signed and
carry the author’s name, address
and phone number (for verifi -
cation only). We will not publish
anonymous letters.
• Letter writers are limited to one
letter every two weeks.
• Longer community comment
columns, such as Other Views,
must be no more than 700 words.
Writers must provide a recent
headshot and a one-sentence
biography. Like letters to the
editor, columns must refrain from
complaints against businesses or
personal attacks against private
individuals. Submissions must
carry the author’s name, address
and phone number.
• Submission does not guarantee
publication, which is at the discre-
tion of the editor.
SEND LETTERS TO:
letters@lagrandeobserver.com
or via mail to Editor, 911 Jeff erson
Ave., La Grande, OR 97850
Is the Reverend Billy a charlatan?
ANNE
MORRISON
THINKING OUT LOUD
F
or a long time, I’ve wondered
whether it’s even possible to
live a life that is both main-
stream and moral, if you defi ne
moral as a life that doesn’t harm
other people or the planet we live on.
It seems doubtful.
We purchase and use products
daily, ignoring the fact that cre-
ating, using and disposing of those
products harms both the earth and
others. Our unrestrained use of
fossil fuels has warmed our earth to
the degree that we are causing mass
extinctions and generating wars and
famines, yet as nations and as indi-
viduals, we have made minimal
reductions in their use.
We continue our casual use and
disposal of plastic products, despite
knowing that they fi ll our landfi lls,
collect in enormous oceanic swirls,
and disintegrate into particles now
distributed across the entire globe.
We continue to buy products from
China, even though we know about
China’s slave labor camps and geno-
cidic policies.
As a society and as individ-
uals, we seem unable to distinguish
between what we want, what we
need, or to take responsibility for
the far-reaching eff ects of our daily
actions.
One voice calling for an end to
our mindless consumption is the
Reverend Billy Talen, an anti-con-
sumerism activist who gives ser-
mons about the coming “Shopo-
calypse,” supported by his “Stop
Shopping Gospel Choir.” He
preaches that our obsession with
“obtaining” amplifi es the gap
between the wealthy and the poor;
that our lust for consumer prod-
ucts creates suff ering and misery
by exploiting laborers worldwide,
primarily the poor and people of
color; that our greed devastates our
capacity for wonder at the miracle of
our own planet and taints the values
we teach our children.
At fi rst take, the Reverend Billy
seems to mock and parody main-
stream Christianity.
But does he really?
As a child, I was steeped in Bible
stories that still shape my under-
standing of right and wrong. For me,
the lessons that Reverend Billy ref-
erences are as timeless and mean-
ingful today as they were thousands
of years ago. We struggle with the
same temptations, which could also
be understood as sins: greed for
material possessions, the desire to
impress our neighbors, the lust for
power. Today, however, the dan-
gers are magnifi ed. Our weaknesses
threaten the very existence of the
world God has created.
Refl ecting my own early lessons,
the Reverend Billy preaches a gospel
of love for our fellow human beings
— especially outsiders and outcasts,
the hungry and the poor. He talks of
our present-day fl oods and uncon-
trollable forest fi res in terms of bib-
lical fi re and brimstone. Addressing
today’s insatiable corporate greed, he
notes that the one time Jesus became
angry was when he threw cheating,
profi t-minded money-changers out
of the temple. He equates the corpo-
rate destruction of small local busi-
nesses to the fi ght between David
and Goliath, and suggests that our
refusal to distinguish between what
we want and what we need is a test
of biblical proportions of our ability
to resist the temptations set before us
— a struggle with the devil himself
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
STAFF
SUBSCRIBEAND SAVE
NEWSSTAND PRICE: $1.50
You can save up to 55% off the single-copy
price with home delivery.
Call 800-781-3214 to subscribe.
Subscription rates:
Monthly Autopay ...............................$10.75
13 weeks.................................................$37.00
26 weeks.................................................$71.00
52 weeks ..............................................$135.00
that each of us must struggle with
individually. He asks: “What would
Jesus buy?”
The Reverend Billy has made
me realize how many of my values
are based on those early Bible sto-
ries, and how much I view today’s
world through those early les-
sons. I’ve always wondered that
God has entrusted us with such an
amazing, wondrous planet, but one
that so many of us feel entitled to
exploit and abuse as we wish. I also
wonder whether today’s environ-
mental issues, created in signifi cant
part by global warming caused by
our lust for power and possessions,
replicate the biblical wars, famines
and pestilence infl icted as punish-
ment for disobeying God’s laws. I
wonder whether present-day forest
fi res, sudden fl ash fl oods or unprec-
edented tornadoes triggered by our
abuse of this planet foretell the bib-
lical prophesies of fi re and fl oods or
signal the wrath of an increasingly
angry God.
The Reverend Billy refuses to see
his message as hopeless or entirely
negative. He states, “In the process
of saying no to consumerism, there
is a yes. We’ve decided to identify
that ‘yes’ as life on earth.” He insists
that there is still time to turn away
from our sinful ways and to salvage
our God-given Earth by a transfor-
mational change in the way we live
our lives and in our relationships
with each other, and with the Earth.
Is the Reverend Billy a char-
latan? Or is he a prophet, recalling
long-forgotten religious truths for a
culture that idolizes false gods and
worships a golden calf?
———
Anne Morrison is a La Grande
resident and retired attorney who
has lived in Union County since
2000.
Anindependent newspaper foundedin1896
www.lagrandeobserver.com
Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, Oregon 97801
Published Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
(except postal holidays) by EO Media Group,
911 Jefferson Ave., La Grande, OR 97850
(USPS 299-260)
The Observer retains ownership and copyright
protection of all staff-prepared news copy, advertising
copy, photos and news or ad illustrations. They may
not be reproduced without explicit prior approval.
COPYRIGHT © 2022
Phone:
541-963-3161
Regional publisher. ...................... Karrine Brogoitti
Home delivery advisor ............... Amanda Fredrick
Interim editor ....................................Andrew Cutler
Advertising representative ..................... Kelli Craft
News clerk ........................................Lisa Lester Kelly
Advertising representative .................... Amy Horn
Reporter....................................................Dick Mason
National accounts coordinator ...... Devi Mathson
Reporter............................................Davis Carbaugh
Graphic design .................................. Dorothy Kautz
Multimedia journalist.........................Alex Wittwer
Page design .......................................... Martha Allen
Toll free (Oregon):
1-800-781-3214
Email:
news@lagrandeobserver.com
POSTMASTER
Send address changes to:
The Observer,
911 Jefferson Ave.,
La Grande, OR 97850
A division of