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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2017
Couple: Wilkins’ trial is scheduled to begin in November
Continued from Page 1A
“It’s just meaning, ‘Well,
you may have a case, but it’s
not strong enough to withhold
bail,’” Marquis said.
Marquis declined to dis-
cuss specific details of cases,
but he did say the decision to
hold a pretrial release hear-
ing can be strategically benefi-
cial to both the prosecution and
defendants.
Without the hearing, a judge
presiding over a murder case
would be required either to not
allow bail or set it at $50,000
at a minimum. Defendants in
Oregon can be released after
paying as little as 10 percent of
the security amount. The bail
the judge may set at the hear-
ing, then, could either benefit
the defendant or backfire and
make it harder to leave prison.
Benefits for the defendant,
meanwhile, extend beyond
a possible pretrial release.
Because the state harbors the
burden of proof and must pres-
ent evidence of the defendant’s
guilt throughout the case, it
alone will provide evidence at
the hearing this Friday.
The defense, as a result,
may be able to see some of
the state’s evidence as it pre-
pares for trial. Though he has
not seen all the evidence in
the case, Alexander Hamalian
— a Portland lawyer who rep-
resents Copell — suspects the
judge will set bail in the case.
“Based on the evidence
that has been provided to the
defense in this case, her partici-
pation would not lead the judge
to believe she was a participant
in the murder.” Hamalian said.
David Rich, Wilkins’ law-
yer, could not be reached for
comment.
Wilkins’ estimated two-
week trial is scheduled to begin
in November. While a date has
not been set, Copell’s trial will
likely take place in December,
according to court documents.
While confident about Fri-
day’s hearing, Hamalian said
it is too soon to speculate as to
the trial’s outcome.
“It’s way too early to think
about the ends,” he said.
“We’re still working on the
means at this point.”
Warrenton: Kujala said
main competition for
funding is Reedsport
Continued from Page 1A
Photos by Luke Whittaker/EO Media Group
“The key is bringing organizations together in a collaborative way to start to break down barriers that have existed and
potentially driven up the cost at a lesser quality,” Columbia Memorial Hospital CEO Erik Thorsen, left, said.
Awards: Recruiting providers a ‘challenge’
Continued from Page 1A
“We see about 28,000
emergency room and urgent
care visits a year, that’s about
80 people a day,” he said.
Sawa said, “I think that’s
a sign of the need for more
primary care physicians in
our community.” Decreas-
ing reimbursement and rising
healthcare and pharmaceutical
costs are plaguing Providence
Seaside Hospital.
“It’s a challenging reim-
bursement environment right
now,” he said. While the coast
is a desirable destination to
visit, enticing and retaining
employees at a rural hospi-
tal is another hurdle for both
hospitals.
“We continue to have chal-
lenges with recruiting provid-
ers to our coast,” Sawa said.
“We’re hopeful. It’s a
great place to live and be.”
Despite the staff shortages,
Sawa doesn’t anticipate any
changes, but positions in pri-
mary care have been particu-
larly needed.
“We’ll continue to plug at it
and make sure we’ll continue
access to care for our commu-
nities,” he said.
Potential changes
Attempts to repeal the
Affordable Care Act by the
Trump administration have
raised concerns about poten-
tial changes to healthcare
coverage.
“We’re concerned — con-
cerned with not really know-
ing what the future design is
going to be, but we’re sure
watching it very closely, ”
Sawa said.
“I’m confident we’ll be
Luke Whittaker/EO Media Group
In April, Providence Seaside Hospital will unveil a new
tomosynthesis machine, which will greatly improve their
ability to detect breast cancer. “It’s the only one on the
coast,” CEO Kendall Sawa said.
able to manage any decision
that’s made.” Changes in Med-
icaid are also possible, partic-
ularly with coordinated care
programs.
Thorsen added, “I’m hop-
ing that the current rhetoric
at the federal level does not
affect our state’s ability to con-
tinue the CCO model.
“It is a potential that’s out
there, but hopefully it won’t.”
Collaboration and
consolidation
A major issue for area hos-
pitals has been an influx of
mental health patients ending
up in emergency rooms.
“In early 2016, we really
started to talk about the behav-
ior health crises that exists in
our community and we part-
nered together to start a coa-
lition,” Thorsen said. In 2016,
a collaboration of local health
care providers purchased a
house in Warrenton and con-
verted it into a crisis respite
center.
“They might be waiting for
a mental health bed to open
up in Portland, and they end
up waiting in the emergency
room,” Thorsen said.
“It’s the wrong place —
and the most costly place for a
person to wait.”
Providence Seaside and
CMH have consolidated and
reshuffled resources to better
streamline their services.
“CMH made the difficult
decision to close their home
health and allow Providence
to assume their patient load,”
Thorsen said. “The decision
was made to make the best use
of our resources.”
Columbia
Memorial’s
Lower Columbia Hospice,
meanwhile, provides hospice
care for the entire county.
“We worked and collab-
orated to make sure we have
strong programs by each of
our organizations and we’ve
seen a lot of success,” he said.
The two hospitals have also
combined resources by con-
ducting joint community needs
assessments rather than doing
them individually, which had
been costly and duplicative.
Since 2012, hospitals and
behavioral health organiza-
tions across Tillamook, Clat-
sop and Columbia County hos-
pitals have been convening to
share ideas on how to improve
care in the community.
“The first thing was get-
ting us all in a room and get-
ting to talk about how we can
improve care,” Thorsen said.
“The key point is bringing
the organizations together in
a collaborative way to start to
break down barriers that have
existed and potentially driven
up the cost at a lesser quality.”
Improved imaging
New technology will allow
doctors to diagnose breast
cancer more successfully in
Seaside.
“We recently purchased a
tomosynthesis, which is a new
way to do breast mammogra-
phy,” Sawa said.
“It prevents the chance of
false negatives, so less chance
of error.” The new advanced
imaging technology will be
unveiled the first week of
April and is “the only one on
the coast” according to Sawa.
The next closest is in Portland.
Meanwhile, the new, two-
story,
18,000-square-foot
state-of-the-art cancer treat-
ment center in Astoria is pro-
jected to open next fall.
“We currently run medical
oncology on our campus, but
this will bring radiation and
allow us to expand our pro-
gram,” with Oregon Health &
Science University, Thorsen
said.
“We do have a really good
opportunity this time around,
because most of the funding
in the last biennium, which
was $5 million, went all to
Multnomah County,” Kujala
said.
Kujala said Multnomah
County officials are using
the funding to perform core
samples and other geotech-
nical testing along Marine
Drive and the dike protecting
industrial areas and Portland
International Airport from
the Columbia River.
Warrenton needs to per-
form similar work as it seeks
federal certification of about
10 miles of levees, Kujala
said, taking core samples
every 1,000 feet to study
the composition and mois-
ture intrusion, at a cost
of about $1 million over-
all. He said Warrenton has
requested $200,000 through
the North Coast Regional
Solutions Team to help pay
for the study. While there are
no guarantees of funding, he
said, Warrenton has a shov-
el-ready project.
Mark Ellsworth, coordi-
nator of the local solutions
team, said there is a need
for such funding through-
out northwest Oregon,
which is mostly behind shore
protection.
“I don’t know of anyone
further along than Warrenton
in the legwork,” Ellsworth
said, adding Warrenton is
likely at the front of the line
for funding if the legislation
passes.
Kujala said Warrenton’s
main competition for fund-
ing is Reedsport, which is
trying to improve the levees
that surround most of the
city. State Sen. Arnie Roblan,
D-Coos Bay, and state Rep.
Caddy McKeown, D-Coos
Bay, have sponsored Sen-
ate Bill 283, which asks the
state for nearly $4.2 million
to repair the levees.
Senate Bill 5530 was last
assigned to the Subcommit-
tee On Capital Construction
in January, and has no sched-
uled hearings.
County: Contract
approved for household
hazardous-waste facility
Continued from Page 1A
but they decided to approve
the feasibility study that the
Department of Education has
already funded.
“If that data provides
something that is more pal-
atable to our policies regard-
ing preschool, then that data
is valuable,” Commission
Chairman Scott Lee said.
• Unanimously approved
an agreement with Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare to
manage a crisis respite cen-
ter in Warrenton.
The crisis respite center is
designed to prevent out-of-
control behavior from those
with metal illnesses before
they encounter law enforce-
ment or go to hospitals.
Clatsop County, along
with Providence Seaside
Hospital, Columbia Memo-
rial Hospital and Greater
Oregon Behavioral Health
Inc., funds the CBH-man-
aged center. The county will
pay $100,000 in 2017 for its
part of the agreement.
The
center
opened
last July. Commissioners
approved a memorandum
of understanding in Febru-
ary saying the county would
reimburse some or all of the
startup costs for the facility.
• Approved a design-
build contract for a house-
hold hazardous-waste facil-
ity on Williamsport Road in
Astoria.
Helligso
Construction
will partner with design com-
pany Lower Company Engi-
neering to build a roughly
$600,000,
2,500-square-
foot facility next to the Asto-
ria Transfer Station. Resi-
dents and qualifying small
businesses will have multi-
ple opportunities each year
to drop off hazardous waste,
such as pesticides and paint.
The county hopes con-
struction will be completed
by the end of the year, Moore
said.
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