BUBB’s new Health, Education, and Wellness Center
Innovative Center to increase health access, reduce cost
After years of planning and
listening to thé concerns of OPEU-
represented state employees, the
Bargaining Unit Benefits Board has
pioneered another health care inno
vation that will increase accessibil
ity and reduce cost.
In September of this year,
BUBB will open its new Health,
Education, and Wellness Center,
a clinic owned and operated, not
for the insurance company, the
hospital, or the doctor, but for
the consumer — the OPEU/
BUBB member.
“This results in a new orien
tation to medical care,” said OPEU
Benefits
Director
Chuck
Mendenhall. “Our members have
expressed frustration and anxiety
about access, information, diagno
sis, outcomes, and personal atten
tion. This will change in the new
clinic. Employees and their families
will come first.”
Free, qualified, medical
consultive services are just a
phone call away.
Perhaps, your doctor has rec
ommended you change your diet and
increase your exercise. You can
phone the BUBB Health, Educa-
tion, and Wellness Center on an 800-
number from anywhere in the state
and the information you need —
perhaps on a videotape — will be
mailed to your home.
If a family
member has been di
agnosed with a termi
nal disease, you may
need more information
about the disease, ideas
about how to support
and care for her at
home, and counseling
to help you deal with
your own fears and
worries. The BUBB
Health, Education, and
Wellness Center has anticipated your
needs and will be set up to meet them
in cooperation with your family
member’s doctor — whether you
are in Portland, Salem, Pendleton,
Coos Bay, Medford, Ontario, or any
where else OPEU-represented state
employees live and work.
• BASIC MEDICAL SER
VICES - The Center staff will pro
vide such basic medical services as
treatment of sore throats, respira
tory infections, colds, coughs, and
flu, vaginal infections and other
women’s health problems, rashes,
urinary tract infections, headaches,
depression, and ill-defined condi
tions such as dizziness and pain.
In addition, BUBB mem
bers and dependent family members
can receive stitching of minor lac
erations, evaluation of strains and
sprains, evaluation and treatment of
other wounds and bums.
At the receptionist’s desk,
BUBB members can receive the
results of a test of their health,
sign up for a. wellness class, or
ask to visit one of the Center’s
nurse practitioners.
The BUBB member will
meet with the Center’s nurse practi
tioners in one of six exam rooms in
the center for basic medical services.
• PREVENTIVE CARE -
The Center will emphasize preven
tive care by offering annual pap and
pelvic examinations, adult physical
examinations, school and sport
physical examinations, blood pres
sure monitoring, cholesterol moni
toring, flu shots, adult immuniza
tions, and exercise-related issues,.
Other services will include
evaluation of suspicious skin
lesions, removal of small warts
and moles, and evaluation and
treatment of boils and cysts.
Ultimately, the Cen
ter will provide better access
and service while helping to
hold down insurance premium
increases by promoting pre
ventive care. Its success
could result in other simi
lar clinics being opened.
“The BUBB Health,
Education, and Wellness Cen
ter will belong to the employ
ees it serves»” Mendenhall
said. “The Center will con
tribute to health care access,
quality, long-term cost con
The BUBB Health, Education, and Wellness Center opens in September in this
building at 775 Court Street NE, Salem, just off the Capitol Mall.
Page 2
trol, and member satisfaction for
state employees.”
The 3,657-square-foot
BUBB Health, Education, and
Wellness Center is located at775Court
Street NE in Salem. But, the services
of the Center will be available to state
employees statewide covered by the
Bargaining Unit Benefits Board.
• RESOURCE CENTER
Members entering the building will
find an array of health care informa
tion available to them at the Health
Resource Center library. The library
will have books, pamphlets, and audio
and video tapes on keeping healthy our
hearts, eyes, backs and every other part
of the body, reducing stress, increas
ing fitness, changing our diet and im
proving our nutrition, on women’s
health and children’s health. BUBB
members will be able to take acomput-
erized health risk analysis in the
Center’s library.
On another occasion, per
haps at noon, perhaps in the
evening, the BUBB member Will
return to the Center for health and
wellness classes or sessions on deal
ing with back pain in one of the
Center’s two conference rooms.
More information regard
ing the Center will be in worksite
posters, flyers, and The BUBB
News. If you would like more
information about the Center,
don’t hesitate to call the OPEU
Benefits Department at 503/399-
8542 or BUBB at 503/^73-1174.