NORTH COAST
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015
3A
Online academy is open to out-of-district students
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Nearly three years ago,
the Astoria School District
unveiled the online Oregon
Choice Academy to capture
home-schooled
students,
amid lowering enrollment and
budget cuts.
There are now 14 students
using the academy, said Su-
perintendent Craig Hoppes,
a few of whom don’t live in
Clatsop County. The district,
he added, has to go public and
state how many slots are in
the program.
As of now, out-of-dis-
trict students in the Oregon
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get a release from their own
resident district. But by law,
beginning March 1 through
April 1 of each year, students
do not have to have permis-
sion from their resident dis-
trict to attend a school district
outside their resident district,
as long as the district that
they plan to attend has desig-
nated the number of slots that
will be available.
He recommended 25 slots
for out-of-district Oregon
Choice Academy students,
and was granted the amount
Wednesday unanimously by
the Astoria School Board.
When the district initial-
ly reached out to families of
home-schooled students in
2012, said Hoppes, it initial-
ly gained 10 to 15 students,
along with the $5,800 in state
funding per student.
“This spring, I’ll make an-
other outreach,” said Hoppes.
Oregon Connections Acad-
emy, the largest public online
charter school, has about 60
students in Clatsop County
out of its 3,700 statewide. But
Astoria schools offer features
it can’t, such as access to the
district’s resources and in-
class support, and a teacher
who will meet them in-per-
son, in the library for assis-
tance, Hoppes said.
Hoppes said many families
home-school for religious rea-
sons, and after giving it a try,
some send their kids to public
school.
“Parents have to spend
six to eight hours a day with
kids,” said Hoppes, adding
that one of the most popular
aspects of Astoria’s program
is the use of curriculum from
Calvert, one of the nation’s
largest providers of online
schooling for school districts.
For more information on
the Oregon Choice Academy,
visit http://oregonchoicek-8.
org/
Coordinated Care
Organization
awards funds
PORTLAND — Colum-
bia Pacific Coordinated
Care Organization (CCO)
recently awarded more than
$85,000 to eight community
wellness programs through-
out Columbia, Clatsop and
Tillamook counties.
Local recipients includ-
ed:
• North Coast Prevention
Works, awarded $15,000 to
fund a campaign to prevent
underage drinking in Clat-
sop County.
• Sunset Empire Park &
Recreation District, award-
ed more than $5,000 for a
project in partnership with
Providence Seaside Hospi-
tal to provide wellness ser-
vices, including fitness ac-
cess, fitness tracking, health
coaching and mental health
services to improve the
overall health and well-be-
ing for 45 Oregon Health
Plan members.
• Lower Columbia Time
Bank, awarded $1,500 to
focus on its wellness efforts
in partnership with Clatsop
County Department of Pub-
lic Health, expanding and
tracking support for mem-
bers’ wellness activities, en-
couraging members to work
together on health-related
issues and increasing mem-
bership through classes and
collaborations with other
community groups.
The Columbia Pacif-
ic CCO board of directors
created the Community
Wellness Investment Fund
to encourage innovation,
collaboration and health
care transformation in the
communities it serves. The
funds are designated to sup-
port local efforts that are
sustainable and aligned with
the local community’s pri-
orities for addressing health
inequities and gaps in ser-
vices or care.
Other organizations re-
ceiving funding include:
• SAFE (Support Advo-
cacy Freedom Empower-
Submitted photo
Life Flight Network will base a twin engine Augusta 109 helicopter either at the Astoria Regional Airport or at
Columbia Memorial Hospital.
Life Flight going coastal
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
AURORA — Life
Flight Network, the larg-
est nonprofit air medical
transport service in the
U.S., will open a 24/7 base
in Astoria by May 15 to
improve access to air med-
ical resources along the
Oregon and Washington
coasts.
It will station a twin-en-
gine Agusta 109 helicopter
locally, along with three
flight paramedics, three
flight nurses, four pilots
and two mechanics.
“We’re still debating
whether we’re going to the
hospital or the airport,”
said Regional Director Ja-
cob Dalstra of Life Flight
Network, which will ini-
tially lease an executive
hangar from the Port of
Astoria at the Astoria Re-
gional Airport. The Port
Commission on Tuesday
unanimously approved a
lease.
Dalstra said Life Flight
has served the area for
decades, but that having
a base in Astoria could
save 20 to 25 minutes in
travel time between the
North Coast and either
Longview, Wash., or the
Portland metro area.
And the helicopter
Life Flight is basing in
the
Astoria-Warrenton
area is instrument-rat-
ed, meaning it can fly in
low visibility solely by
reference of instruments.
Presenting Tuesday at the
Port Commission, Dalstra
said Life Flight has GPS
approaches to hospitals
in Ocean Beach Hospital
in Ilwaco, Wash.; Colum-
bia Memorial Hospital in
Astoria; Providence Sea-
side Hospital and the Til-
lamook Regional Medical
Center approved by the
Federal Aviation Admin-
istration.
The helicopter, said
Dalstra, will serve the
coast from South Bend,
Wash., south to Tillamook.
It won’t have a hoist, but
Dalstra added that it can
land in a flat 100-by-100-
foot area.
A consortium of Or-
egon Health & Science
University, Legacy Eman-
uel Medical Center, Saint
Alphonsus Regional Med-
ical Center in Boise, Ida-
ho, and Providence Health
& Services – Oregon own
and operate Life Flight
Network, which covers
Oregon, Washington, Ida-
ho and western Montana.
“Life Flight and Co-
lumbia Memorial Hospi-
tal have a long history of
working together to serve
the needs of our local
communities,” said CEO
Erik Thorsen from CMH.
“We are excited to see this
important
enhancement
in our collaboration with
Life Flight. Access to a lo-
cal helicopter will dramat-
ically shorten a patient’s
transfer time if they need a
higher level of care.”
His comments of sup-
port were echoed by hos-
pital leaders across the in-
tended coverage area. The
next closest air ambulance
is REACH Air Medical
Services, which has a he-
licopter stationed in North
Bend and mostly serves
southern Oregon, Califor-
nia and Texas.
“Providence
Seaside
Hospital depends on Life
Flight services for our
patients suffering from
cardiac events and other
life-threatening trauma,”
says Bonnie Thompson,
chief operating officer and
chief nursing executive for
Providence Seaside Hospi-
tal. “Having a Life Flight
base here on the North
Coast will be a tremen-
dous help whenever we
need to transport a patient
immediately.”
Petitioners gather signatures for local Port control
Signature gatherers will
be at the following locations
to collect signatures for the
Committee for Democrat-
ic Change at the Port of Asto-
ria’s ballot initiative to keep
Port control local:
• 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today
and Friday: Seaside Library,
1131 Broadway.
• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Satur-
day and Sunday: Three Cups
Coffee, 279 W. Marine Drive,
Astoria; Blue Scorcher, 1493
Duane St., Astoria; Seaside
Coffee House, 5 N. Holladay
Drive, Seaside.
• During regular business
hours: Adagio, 1174 Com-
mercial St., Astoria.
This ballot initiative is to
improve the election of Port
of Astoria commissioners so
GO ONLINE
www.dailyastorian.com
U s R i n g i n t h e
p
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e
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that each commissioner is
directly accountable to their
voters, organizers said.
ment) of Columbia Coun-
ty, awarded $15,000 for a
project to reduce dating and
sexual violence and victim-
ization among teens.
• The Northwest Region-
al Education Service Dis-
trict (NWRESD), awarded
$15,000 to fund a coordi-
nator of Early Childhood
Health and Education clin-
ics in Clatsop and Colum-
bia counties. This is the
second year for the clinic
in Clatsop County and the
first year for Columbia
County.
• Tillamook County
Health Department Fami-
ly Health Centers, awarded
almost $15,000 for an inte-
grated program designed to
decrease tobacco use among
pregnant women.
• Columbia County Men-
tal Health, awarded more
than $10,000 to expand the
work started last year by
NWRESD to provide sui-
cide prevention and train-
ing for school staff, youth,
adults, community partners
and parents in Clatsop and
Columbia counties.
• Food Roots, awarded
$7,500 to support the Grow
Healthy program designed
to oversee low-income gar-
dening trainings and build
a sustainable network of
Tillamook County gardens,
resources and opportuni-
ties.
Established in Septem-
ber 2012, Columbia Pacific
CCO coordinates health ser-
vices for more than 25,000
Oregon Health Plan mem-
bers in Columbia, Clatsop
and Tillamook counties,
along with the coastal por-
tion Douglas county around
Reedsport. For more infor-
mation, visit www.colpa-
chealth.org
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For information, go to
www.keepportcontrollocal.
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