July 21, 2022
V E R N O N I A’ S
Volume 16 Issue 14
free
Reflecting the spirit of our community
“It’s All About Culture”
A conversation with new Vernonia
School District Superintendent
Jim Helmen
By Scott Laird
New Vernonia Superintendent Jim
Helmen has only been on the job for a few
weeks, after taking over from the retired
Aaron Miller on July 1, but he’s already
reaching out to the community and his staff
in an effort to identify ways the District can
improve in how they deliver education to
the community’s students.
Helmen takes over a District that sur-
vived a flood 15 years ago, built an entire
new campus, struggled with crippling debt,
and survived COVID and a switch to dis-
tance learning, and has now come out the
other side with financial stability and now a
new face in the top seat.
Helmen reached out to Vernonia’s Voice
in the middle of July to sit down and talk
about ways for the District to communicate
with the community. We’re happy to report
that Helmen plans to continue providing the
Voice with a regular column, “Schools Up-
date” (see page 11), for most of our issues
and use it to inform our readers about topics
of interest or concern.
Helmen has a relaxed, friendly, and
welcoming demeanor, but you can also tell
he’s not only serious about education but
also about getting to know Vernonia and
ensuring the School District remains an in-
tegral part of the community.
“My initial focus is identifying those
areas in our District that have shown to be
effective in supporting student educational
and social-emotional growth and continue
to build on that success. Conversely, we
also need to identify those areas within our
educational system that are not supporting
student learning and quickly, as a team,
7
Little League
Goes to State
10
Free Meals For Kids
11
School Summer
Learning Activities
develop systems and professional devel-
opment to adjust this. Every decision we
make must stem directly from a focus on
student learning,” said Helmen during our
interview. “In my first full week on the job,
I have asked many questions on the educa-
tional and community history. Everyone I
have spoken to has been gracious and open
about sharing their experiences and ideas.
There is a ton of pride here.”
I asked Helmen his thoughts on a few
specific issues; the following are his re-
sponses.
Vernonia’s Voice: Let’s start
with teacher and staff shortages,
because that seems to be an is-
sue. How do we get more people
to come to Vernonia and work
for the District?
Jim Helmen: “The first thing
we must understand is that
school district culture can and
will affect a district’s ability to
educate students. One of the first
questions I asked Vernonia staff,
through a survey, before the year
was out was about what they felt about the
culture in the District. I believe a strong
school culture goes a long way toward staff
stability and drawing in qualified and qual-
ity staff into our District. What is difficult
about managing culture is there are some
external factors affecting teacher shortages
due to COVID or because we have college
students who are not going into education
due to teacher pay and stresses related to an
underfunded educational system in Oregon.
Those are things we really can’t control.
But we can control what we have and do
here, and take a strong look at our culture
and the way we do things.
One question I have wondered is when
we are out looking for quality teachers, how
do we brand and sell our District as the
place to be? We have an amazing building,
a strong community presence; what else?
Having a strong, supporting culture
from the administrators, staff members, and
community members is critical to bring-
ing teachers and families to Vernonia. Just
making sure that when prospective teachers
look at Vernonia School District – the idea
that you are coming to a solid educational
system and that you are going to be sup-
ported, having access to effective ongoing
professional development to be avail-
able, and growth opportunities. I think
that’s how we bring teachers in.
We also need to ensure that as ad-
ministrators, teachers, and community
members, we buy into that ourselves.
We’re sending the message that we have
one of the top school districts around.
We’re on an upward trajectory. If you
want to be part of something great, Ver-
nonia is the place to be.”
VV: At the June School Board Meeting
an audience member raised concerns
about building safety. What are your
thoughts on school safety?
JH: “Safety is our highest priority.
At the end of the day, I think we have
many priorities, but if you look at
today’s educational climate, school
safety, specifically school shootings, is
at the top of the list. As we review our
school safety plans, the one that sticks
out the most is Uvalde, Texas. With
all the reports being circulated by the
press, they are pointing out that safety
protocols may not have been followed
and are inconsistent to their planning;
yes, hindsight is 20/20, but that still does
not bring students back. We are closely
looking at our safety protocols specific
continued on page 11
Community-Based Nurses
Meet Underserved Patients
Where They’re At
OHSU and Adventist Health
Tillamook team up to make the
case for insurance coverage of
novel nursing services
By Franny White
Senior Media Relations Specialist OHSU
Oregon Health & Science Uni-
versity and Adventist Health Tillamook
are working together to bring health care
nity members would sometimes see their
blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic
conditions worsen until they needed more
advanced care at a hospital.
To help these patients keep their
health in check, a nurse from the Vernonia
clinic began visiting patients wherever they
were at – in their homes, or on the street
if they didn’t have a home. The nurse asks
patients how they’re doing, checks their vi-
Linn Nowland, RN, a community-based nurse at Adventist Health Tillamook’s Vernonia
clinic, stands before an informational table at a recent community event. OHSU is
partnering with Adventist Health to make the case for Medicaid and other health insurance
payors to cover the services that community-based nurses provide for underserved residents.
Photo courtesy of Adventist Health Tillamook
services directly to underserved residents
of Northwest Oregon’s Tillamook and Co-
lumbia counties – and may help other U.S.
communities do the same.
The collaboration aims to make
the community-based nursing services
program, which Adventist Health offers
through its Tillamook and Vernonia pri-
mary care clinics, financially sustainable
by making the case for Medicaid and other
health insurance payors to cover the care
the program delivers. Adventist Health cur-
rently funds the program on its own.
The effort is supported by a $1.3
million, three-year grant from the Ameri-
can Nurses Foundation. It’s among 10 proj-
ects nationwide that are collectively be-
ing awarded more than $14 million through
the Reimagining Nursing Initiative, which
supports bold, nurse-led ideas to help nurs-
es meet the health care needs of the future.
“Our vision of care isn’t boxed in
by the walls of a medical facility,” said the
project’s lead, Seiko Izumi, Ph.D., R.N., an
associate professor in the OHSU School of
Nursing. “Instead of replicating the current
delivery model where people come to clin-
ics to receive care, we see nurses go out into
the community where people live to deliver
the care they need, and their services are
covered by insurance. We’re envisioning a
new world – for nurses and their communi-
ties – that embodies truly person-centered,
accessible care.”
Adventist Health’s community-
based nursing service program began in
2017, when the health system started op-
erating a primary care clinic in Vernonia
and realized a variety of barriers prevented
many local residents from coming to the
clinic. Some patients lacked reliable trans-
portation to physically get to a clinic, while
others distrusted health care systems due to
historical discrimination or mental health
issues, such as paranoia. The same commu-
tal signs, draws blood samples, and more.
Afterward, the nurse returns to the clinic
to speak with a physician who writes pre-
scriptions, orders tests, and oversees the
patient’s care based on information the
nurse has gathered. The program’s nurses
serve as intermediaries who coordinate the
patients’ preventative care.
“Some of our patients have barri-
ers that prevent them from accessing health
care at our clinics,” said Adventist Health
Tillamook Physician and Clinic Servic-
es Executive Gina Seufert, B.S.N., R.N.
“Community-based nursing is all about
breaking down those barriers and meeting
patients on their own turf.”
Today, Adventist Health also pro-
vides some community-based nursing ser-
vices through nine of its primary care clin-
ics. Adventist Health recognizes how the
program helps serve local communities,
and currently covers much of the program’s
costs on its own. But Seufert said a more
permanent financial model could help en-
sure the program’s longevity – and maybe
even its expansion.
OHSU has two similar communi-
ty-based programs called Care Transitions
Innovation, or C-TraIn, and New Direc-
tions. The OHSU programs pair nurses or
social workers with eligible patients who
frequently come to the OHSU emergency
department, or are hospitalized at OHSU
with complex chronic conditions and also
experience houselessness, food insecurity,
or other barriers to care. To help partici-
pating patients better manage their health,
OHSU staff connect patients with primary
care and other services. Both programs
are currently supported by internal OHSU
funding and reimbursement from one Port-
land-area Coordinated Care Organization,
or CCO, although other CCOs are soon
expected to reimburse the program’s care
continued on page 7