opinion/community news
2015
An Opinion: Raising Minimum Wage
By Quentin Skanes
Let’s give New York a standing
ovation. They just raised their minimum
wage to $15 per hour for fast food work-
ers which will slowly take effect over
the next few years. Now those people
can have a better standard of living due
to more money being made. But right
there is the downfall. Because a com-
pany now has to give their workers the
mandated $15 per hour, their prices will
also reflect that victory.
Seattle, Los Angeles, and now
New York State have raised their mini-
mum wage to $15 an hour so that the
workers can have an actual living wage.
Seattle was the forerunner and as such,
has begun to see all of the problems
that arise with a higher minimum wage.
They have seen prices in the city and
the surrounding area rise substantially
to keep making the same profit margins
that the companies were getting before.
Cost of living like rent and food have
skyrocketed. While some companies
embrace paying more for their workers,
many companies are actually planning
to move their sites elsewhere so they
don’t have to pay those extra costs. So
there are jobs actually leaving the area
which means that there will be a cut-
throat competition to get jobs in the city.
Other states like South Caro-
lina, Colorado and New Jersey are also
contemplating whether they should go
further with wage increases. In the case
of Amazon, the public had barely caught
wind of it before Amazon executives
pulled the plug on a new warehouse in
South Carolina. The warehouse was go-
ing to spur over 1,200 jobs and it was
canceled because they didn’t want to
pay more for something they can get
elsewhere for cheaper.
So was it really a win? For
some, yes. But now everyone else has to
bear those costs without their jobs get-
ting a higher minimum wage. In New
York, it’s only for fast food workers;
everyone else gets the state mandated
$8.25 per hour for minimum wage.
There’s always that one side of the argu-
ment that people choose to ignore. That
fact for them is that if you raise the cost
of a product, the company will raise its
prices equally to match their previous
profit margins.
Everyone who has campaigned
to get $15 an hour has done exactly what
they believed in. However, everyone
else must now accept the consequences
even if they were part of the opposition.
The struggle to raise minimum wage
and increase the standard of living is
very hard and it is nowhere near perfect.
But in the end, someone stood
up for what they believed was right;
their voice mattered. And that motiva-
tion should be applied to everything we
do. Instead of just talking about some-
thing, we as a society need to take a
stand and do something about what we
think is wrong.
Kim Lovato as Family PA for primary
care and as faculty for Physician
Assistant students on the rural health care
tract, along with two Medical Assistants,
Laura Meyer and Melissa Zavales.
Melissa Walsh, Family PA,
whom you might know better from the
Spencer Health and Wellness Center
at the Vernonia Schools, is also at the
Vernonia Health Center on Wednesdays
through the summer to increase
appointment availability.
If you are a current patient,
remember that your co-pay billing and
other information comes from The Public
Health Foundation of Columbia County:
TPHFCC—not from the Vernonia
Health Center. There seems to be some
confusion as there are repeat patients
not responding to their bills. TPHFCC is
willing to work with patients through a
financial assistance program and can set
up a payment plan if that is a concern.
Also, every appointment that
you make but don’t show up for costs
the clinic money that isn’t recovered,
and someone that could have been
squeezed in won’t be seen. If you can’t
make that appointment, make a quick
call and cancel. It’s your clinic, and your
courtesy helps everyone involved.
Contributors
Britt Bensen Steele
Jeana Gump
Quentin Skanes
Michal Smith
Grant Williams
Photography
Scott Laird
Want to advertise?
Have an article?
Contact: scott@vernoniasvoice.com
Quentin Skanes is a student at Vernonia
High School; he will be senior this year.
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That’s the now, but what’s
in the future? The Vernonia Health
Center Board is working to bring in
a Physical Therapy group. They are
working closely with a group that is
very interested in making this happen,
and have hopes that this might start this
year. In order to best plan for this, they
need information from the community.
Please take five minutes to complete the
survey at https://www.surveymonkey.
com/r/MNY8SQR.
As always, funding is short for
a rural practice of any sort. That’s why
so much of the construction costs for
the new building were supplied by large
grant donations from Meyer Memorial
Trust, The Ford Family Foundation,
the Collins Foundation, the Samuel
S. Johnson Foundation, the Oregon
Community Foundation, and Providence
Health Systems. Funding also came
from the FEMA buyout and donations
from the community.
In truth, the services currently
offered are through non-profits and they
are operating on a shoestring. Consider
that as your children age out of needing
a pediatrician or your current primary
care provider retires or moves away, it
might be time to return to locally based
Vernonia’s Voice, LLC
PO Box 55
Vernonia, OR 97064
503-367-0098
www.VernoniasVoice.com
health care. As the patient load begins to
increase bringing in a stronger revenue
stream, more services and flexible hours
could be offered in the future. With
more open slots maintained for walk-
ins, the clinic can help more people with
immediate needs.
A next step goal is to bring in
x-ray services. Wouldn’t it be great to
be able to see if you’ve got a break or
a sprain without a drive to Hillsboro or
Beaverton, and then be treated on the
spot, if possible? If you’d like to see this
happen, supporting the Vernonia Health
Center as a patient or a donation to the
Vernonia Health Center Board would
be of great help showing community
support as they start the grant search for
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continued on page 13
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Randel & The Business
3
Publisher and Managing Editor
Scott Laird
503-367-0098
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
Your Vernonia Health Center ~
Now and Into the Future
Your Vernonia Health Center
has been operating in its new facility,
the Carolyn Keasey Memorial Building,
since the first week of October 2014.
What does this mean for you?
Owned and operated by the Vernonia
Health Center Board, a local 501(c)
(3) since 1978, this means continued
fulfillment of its mission to provide
quality healthcare regardless of a
patient’s ability to pay.
With the goal of housing multiple
services under one roof, Columbia
County Mental Health (CCMH) has its
Vernonia centered practice in the clinic.
CCMH is a non-profit organization
whose mission is to provide excellent
services to families in need of mental
health, addiction and developmental
disabilities
services
throughout
Columbia County. Phil Bettin, Marlissa
Dix, and Carli Jo Nicholson are the
CCMH providers in the Vernonia Health
Center. New patients will need to be seen
first in St. Helens. Call 503-397-5211 to
set up initial intake or for any questions.
Currently the Health Center
offers primary care under the auspices
of The Public Health Foundation of
Columbia County. In partnership with
Pacific University they’ve brought in
august6
• Specialty hamburgers
• 8 Draft beers & mixed drinks
• 5 Craft beers on tap
Jamboree Weekend
Fri & Sat, Aug 7 & 8
Dixie Wrecked
Sat, Sept. 5th
Melody Butchers
• Pool tables & satelite TV
• Free Pool • Free WiFi • Specialty Pizzas
iheck our Facebook page for daily specials and upcoming events
756 Bridge Street, Vernonia
503-429-5841
• Free Wi-fi
• Beer & Kegs to go
Sun - Thurs 11 AM - Midnight •
733 Bridge St, Vernonia
“BIKER FRIENDLY”
Fri - Sat 11 AM - 2:30 AM
• 503-429-9999
