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Monday, March 24
*8:02 p.m. Medical assist:
6000 block Upper Deer Creek
Road.
*9:41 p.m. Grass fire:
17000 block Redwood Hwy.
Tuesday, March 25
*4:33 p.m. Medical assist:
100 block S. Redwood Hwy.
Wednesday, March 26
*1:12 p.m. Medical assist:
17000 block Redwood Hwy.
Thursday, March 27
*9:43 a.m. Medical assist:
2000 block Deer Creek Road.
Friday, March 28
*2:24 p.m. Medical assist:
100 block White Oak Drive.
*8:46 p.m. Medical assist:
300 block S. Redwood Hwy.
Saturday, March 29
*5:28 p.m. Medical assist:
100 block Iron Way.
*8:09 p.m. Open burn:
Redwood Hwy. / Krauss Lane.
*9:19 p.m. Medical assist:
500 block Schumacher Street.
*9:19 p.m. Medical
standby: 600 block Caves
Hwy.
Monday, March 31
*2:20 p.m. Open burn:
100 block Elwood Way.
DHS increases
hours & staff
To accommodate the re-
cent surge in calls to the Gov-
ernor’s Advocacy Office, the
Oregon Dept. of Human Ser-
vices (DHS) is adding more
staff and phone lines and ex-
panding its hours.
“Compared with the same
period of time last year, we
have seen more than a 500
percent increase in the volume
of calls received by this of-
fice,” said Gin Denison, the
DHS governor’s advocate and
children’s ombudsman. “The
volume is up, the stories are
worse, and the solutions are
not as easy.”
The Legislature this
month approved five addi-
tional staff positions and two
additional phone lines.
The office will stay open
until 7 p.m. Phone messages
may be left after the office
closes. E-mail inquires may
also
be
sent
to
dhs.info@state.or.us.
Besides the increase in
phone calls, the office is re-
ceiving more than double the
amount of e-mail messages as
last year.
In the first six weeks of
the year, office staff managed
21 percent of the total number
of cases (4,099) they worked
in all of 2002. If this volume
continues, they will staff
7,460 cases by the end of
2003 for an overall increase of
182 percent.
Denison said the majority
of the calls coming in are re-
garding health issues, includ-
ing loss of prescription drug
benefits.
Despite the high volume
of callers, Denison said she is
concerned that certain popula-
tions - seniors and people with
mental illness, for example -
are not contacting the office.
“I would encourage fam-
ily members to take the initia-
tive and make the call for their
loved ones,” she said. “We
have a collective, ethical re-
sponsibility to look out for
each other, starting with our
own families.”
The Governor’s Advocacy
Office serves citizens experi-
encing a problem with, or
seeking information about
programs or services provided
by DHS.
These concerns include
child and elder abuse and ne-
glect, access to health and
dental programs, homeless-
ness, personal or family crisis,
drug and alcohol treatment,
mental health programs and
services for people with devel-
opmental disabilities.
For more information
phone (800) 442-5238.
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, April 2, 2003