The SpokeSman • TueSday, auguST 30, 2022 A7
REDMOND SPOKESMAN
Write to us: news@redmondspokesman.com
OUR VIEW
How to get
vaccinated for
monkeypox
in Deschutes
County
N
ew York City’s monkeypox outbreak seems to finally
be dying down, but there’s one thing we’ve learned in
the past couple years of living through a pandemic: It’s
good to be prepared.
Monkeypox is a type of smallpox virus that is primarily spread
through skin-to-skin contact. The illness can also be transmitted
via contact with fabric that has touched monkeypox sores. Com-
mon symptoms include a rash, fever and sore throat.
Although it is not usually deadly, the virus can last from two
to four weeks and be generally unpleasant, ac-
cording to Deschutes County Health Services.
It can take up to three weeks for monkeypox
symptoms to appear after exposure.
Although there are no confirmed or sus-
pected cases in Deschutes County, the region’s
health services are offering first dose vaccine
shots for people in eligible groups. I got mine
Baudhuin
Aug. 17.
Deschutes County offers the first dose of the
FDA-approved JYNNEOS vaccine to those 18 or older who have
a known or likely monkeypox exposure, have traveled to areas
where monkeypox cases are more likely to be found or have had
skin-to-skin contact with men who have sex with men.
Still, Deschutes County Health Services acknowledges, mon-
keypox is not limited to one specific community. Although a
majority of cases in this country have been among queer men,
“there is nothing specific about men who have sex with men
that puts someone at higher risk for getting hMPXV,” Deschutes
County wrote on its monkeypox page. “This happens to be the
first socially-connected group that has been affected with this
particular outbreak.”
Oregon currently has more than 100 confirmed and presump-
tive cases, mostly among adult men. It’s worth noting that test-
ing and vaccination efforts have been primarily targeted toward
queer men, so it is possible that a larger percentage of queer men
who have been exposed to the virus are getting diagnosed than
the rest of the United States population.
Due to limited supply, the county is currently only offering the
first JYNNEOS dose. You can receive the second dose four weeks
after you get your first, and hopefully more supply will be avail-
able by then. The health official who administered my vaccine
told me that exact efficacy numbers are not available at this time,
because monkeypox isn’t widespread enough to be able to scien-
tifically analyze it.
Fortunately, if you fall into a high risk category, it’s pretty easy
to get vaccinated. It’s also relatively anonymous. Although I’m
now in the state of Oregon’s vaccination records, I could’ve got-
ten my shot without anyone around me knowing.
I called Deschutes County Health Services at 541-322-7155 to
set up an appointment one day in advance.
The woman picked up, asked me a couple health questions
— including related to sexual history, as she was required to do
— and helped me find a time. She understood the importance of
privacy, she said, so she gave me her cell and told me to text her
when I entered the lobby of the health services building instead
of going to the front counter.
The shot itself was pretty easy, too.
On the day of my appointment, I showed up to the Deschutes
County Health Services building near St. Charles in Bend. I
checked in with the person I’d called the day before and she came
out to the lobby to find me.
She led me through the waiting room and into the first patient
room on the left. We went over some basic information about
the vaccine and she gave me the opportunity to ask questions.
We talked a little bit about side effects. Unlike COVID-19 vac-
cines, JYNNEOS doesn’t normally wipe people out the day after.
The most common side effects are soreness in your arm and red-
ness, according to a New York City Health FAQ. Other side ef-
fects include fatigue, headaches and muscle pain.
My arm was sore to the touch for about a week after I got my
shot, and the area around the injection site was pink for a couple
days.
At the time of my appointment, about 15 people had come
in to get their vaccine in Deschutes County, though the pro-
vider who gave me mine said she anticipated that those numbers
would increase when there is a first local case. Hopefully the re-
gion will have more of a vaccine supply by then, she said.
After that, she gave me a form to fill out with some basic in-
formation about myself. The vaccine is free, so I was not asked to
provide insurance information.
Then we got to the shot; a little prick in my non-dominant
arm, followed by 15 minutes of waiting to ensure that I wouldn’t
suffer from serious side effects. And I was free to go.
█
GUEST COLUMN
Support for city staff, safe parking
BY CLIFFORD EVELYN
O
n Tuesday, Aug. 23, Redmond
city council addressed concerns
in regard to safe
parking near the Per-
shall Neighborhood.
Citizens made com-
ments in favor of safe
parking, as well as
against it. Both sides
made excellent points
in regard to the benefits
Evelyn
and the concerns of the
program.
For the record, Safe Parking has been in
place and operating efficiently at Mounta-
inview Fellowship Church and Pastor Rick
Russell and the staff has done an excellent
job at managing it. Because of their atten-
tiveness, this program has been successful.
I am disheartened by the fact that some
found this meeting to be an opportu-
nity to degrade the efforts of a pastor, city
manager, city staff, the behavioral health
case manager and the council who have
worked so diligently to address an issue
that has affected cities across the United
States. Instead, they took the opportunity
to exacerbate the issue instead of look-
ing at finding a resolution. We did receive
some proposed properties recommended
for safe parking by citizens and this may
prove to be helpful in the future.
I want to be clear in saying that as a
Redmond city councilor I have complete
confidence in our city manager, Keith Wit-
cosky, his management team, and my col-
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going to do what’s in the best interest of
the city of Redmond. Keeping Redmond
safe for everyone is and always will be a
top priority. Getting a handle on home-
lessness is also a priority. Our job is to find
solutions and in doing so we will be trans-
parent and demonstrate a level of charac-
ter and integrity in this process.
There was a communication breakdown
at some point, but I’m sure it was not in-
tentional. Everyone wants the homeless
issue addressed, but only a few are doing
anything to ensure that it is.
I know that it’s campaign time, but us-
ing this as a platform is not how we resolve
real issues such as this. We are talking
about human lives.
Safe parking is a short-term solution
and eventually that area will be a park. I
also have complete confidence that our
police department will be ready to re-
spond if the need arises. In summary, our
city manager, deputy city manager and city
attorney and their team are very compe-
tent and understand the obstacles.
To win and be effective, I want our cit-
izens to know what we are really dealing
with, so we have to dig beyond the dis-
torted perceptions and deal with the re-
ality.
We must first get past the distorted per-
ceptions about the reason for homeless-
ness and then we can get serious about
addressing it with a positive plan in place.
Safe parking is the beginning of that pos-
itive plan.
█
Clifford Evelyn is a Redmond city councilor.
GUEST COLUMN
Senior citizens deserve break on property taxes
BY GREGORY HAVENS
S
omething needs to be
done for our senior cit-
izens on their property
taxes.
They need to be grand-
fathered in, like California
did several years ago. We
have widows and widowers
out there who have lost their
mates — essentially they have
lost half their income.
They should not have to take
out a reverse mortgage or count
on their kids to keep them in
their homes. Most of them have
worked all their lives and never
taken one unemployment check
or any kind of welfare or gov-
ernment handout. They never
abused the system.
I went to a meeting a while
back and listened to a prop-
erty appraiser talk on taxes.
It’s pretty sad to sit there and
see some older people with
tears running down their
faces, not knowing what to do.
Some have spouses in nursing
homes. They are lost. It’s not
fair that they are being forced
out of their home after all
their years of hard work.
We’ve had people come into
this state with more money
than brains, and run prop-
erty taxes up and way out of
reason.
You can say that older folks
should sell, but where would
they go and not have to pay
through the nose to keep a
roof over their head?
Most of these people are
proud people. They don’t have
their hand out for a free ride,
like so many people do in this
day and age. Something must
be done.
Speaking for myself: I am
90 years old, a widower. And
it’s getting rougher each year
to make ends meet.
Also, I think it is wonderful
that widows of veterans get a
small break on their property
taxes. But why doesn’t a vet-
eran who is a widower — he
has to be 40% disabled to get
the same. It doesn’t seem right
to me.
█
Gregory Havens is a Redmond
resident and veteran of the U.S.
Navy.
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
Leo Baudhuin is a summer intern for the Redmond Spokesman and a senior
at the University of Oregon.
WRITE TO US
leagues on city council.
I also want to say that we, the city coun-
cil, was briefed on safe parking on var-
ious occasions, and last fall the city in-
vested $50,000 in ARPA (federal) funds
toward this. In addition, state legislation
(HB 2006) allows cities to take action in
an effort to address homelessness issues
and this aligns with reasoning for the safe
parking program. The breakdown in com-
munication issue will be addressed at the
upcoming meeting Sept. 6.
I want to remind everyone that the city
of Redmond had a prime opportunity to
address homelessness with help from the
ARPA funds. After the council listened
to several very detailed presentations ex-
plaining how the plans would help the
homeless, the council — in a 4-2 vote —
rejected using ARPA funds for that pur-
pose.
The presentation was made twice. Safe
parking was then presented as an alterna-
tive to at least do something to begin ad-
dressing this issue.
Rick Russell spearheaded this effort and
keep in mind he is a citizen — he does not
work for the city. He is a community pas-
tor who cares very deeply about our city
and the homeless in our city. He used his
church to initiate a safe parking program
and to help make a difference in our city.
Instead of showing gratitude for his ef-
forts, there are those who have chosen to
ridicule and criticize him for his efforts in-
stead of applauding his efforts.
Redmond City Council and its staff are
Redmond
Mayor George Endicott: george.endicott@
redmondoregon.gov, 541-948-3219
Deschutes County
County Commission Chair Patti Adair: patti.adair@
deschutes.org, 541-388-6567
County Commission Vice Chair Tony DeBone: Tony.
deBone@deschutes.org, 541-388-6568
County Commissioner Phil Chang: phil.Chang@
deschutes.org, 541-388-6569
Your Legislators
Rep. Jack Zika (District 53): 503-986-1453; 900
Court St. ne, h-387, Salem, oR 97301, Rep.JackZika@
oregonlegislature.gov
Sen. Tim Knopp (District 27): 503-986-1727; 900
Court St. ne, S-425, Salem, oR 97301, Sen.Timknopp@
oregonlegislature.gov
State
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 State Capitol, Salem,
oR 97310; 503-378-3111; www.governor.oregon.gov.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read: oregon.
treasurer@ost.state.or.us; 350 Winter St. ne, Suite 100,
Salem oR 97301-3896; 503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum:
Justice Building, Salem, oR 97301-4096; 503-378-4400.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative documents and
information are available online at www.leg.state.or.us.
Federal
President Joe Biden: The White house, 1600
pennsylvania ave., Washington, d.C. 20500; 202-456-
1111; to send comments, go to www.whitehouse.gov.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: d.C. office: 313 hart Senate
office Building, u.S. Senate, Washington, d.C., 20510;
202-224-3753; fax 202-228-3997. portland office: one
World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St. Suite 1250,
portland, oR 97204; 503-326-3386; fax 503-326-2900.
Baker City office, 1705 main St., Suite 504, 541-278-
1129; merkley.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: d.C. office: 221 dirksen Senate
office Building, Washington, d.C., 20510; 202-224-
5244; fax 202-228-2717. La grande office: 105 Fir St.,
no. 210, La grande, oR 97850; 541-962-7691; fax, 541-
963-0885; wyden.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz (2nd District): d.C. office: 1239
Longworth house office Building, Washington, d.C.,
20515, 202-225-6730; fax 202-225-5774. medford
office: 14 n. Central avenue Suite 112, medford, oR
97850; phone: 541-776-4646; fax: 541-779-0204;
ontario office: 2430 S.W. Fourth ave., no. 2, ontario, oR
97914; phone: 541-709-2040. bentz.house.gov.