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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2017
Cemetery: ‘It was in the worst shape I have ever seen’
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“I just think it’s shameful,”
Baldwin said about Ocean
View.
He recently saw peo-
ple pulling grass around their
loved one’s graves. “They
paid for that service,” he said.
He says dandelions have taken
over much of the grounds and
mowing is spotty. In some
areas, long grasses grow
between grave markers.
Limited funds
“The City Council is
already working to try to
address park funding issues,”
Astoria City Manager Brett
Estes said Wednesday when
told of Warrenton’s concerns.
The Astoria Parks and Rec-
reation Department has been
front and center this past bud-
get cycle and discussions are
ongoing about how to fund the
department into the future. At
their next meeting, city coun-
cilors and city staff plan to dis-
cuss several potential funding
options including the imple-
mentation of a water meter fee
and an increase to the hotel
tax.
Estes said recruiting sea-
sonal part-time maintenance
workers has also been diffi-
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
Long grass and dandelions flourish at Ocean View Cemetery in Warrenton, say Warren-
ton City Commissioners. They asked staff to contact Astoria and open up a discussion
about how to address poor conditions at the cemetery.
cult. The limited money avail-
able means mowers for the
Parks Department are actually
paid less than mowers with the
Public Works Department.
In addition to caring for
over 300 acres of park land, 11
miles of trail, multiple facil-
ities including the Astoria
Aquatic Center and organizing
a variety of recreational pro-
grams, the department is also
in charge of preparing full and
cremation burials, disinter-
ment services, selling graves,
locating graves, caring for the
grounds and ornamental plant-
ings and enforcing rules and
regulations at Ocean View.
Complaints
Complaints about the cem-
etery’s condition have dogged
Astoria in recent years.
“It was in the worst shape
I have ever seen,” wrote one
newspaper reader after Memo-
rial Day this year.
In 2015, people, includ-
ing plot owners, said Astoria’s
staff and budget cuts during
the recession left the ceme-
tery in poor condition. That
year, the Astoria City Coun-
cil implemented the first fee
increase to burial and crema-
tion fees in 19 years, hoping
to offset the city’s annual sub-
sidy, and also approved more
than $70,000 for weed erad-
ication and reseeding at the
cemetery. The City Council
did not release the $70,000,
however, because of concerns
over whether parks staff could
maintain the cemetery after the
initial work was done.
The cemetery lost its last
full-time worker in 2013.
Currently, a small crew
is responsible for maintain-
ing the department’s 69 sites.
Last week, Astoria approved
a contract with a landscap-
ing company for work on
parks frequented by summer
tourists, paying for this labor
with money dedicated to tour-
ism-based activities.
Astoria funds maintenance
projects at the cemetery using
the interest from an irreducible
fund to provide perpetual care.
What the interest doesn’t cover
is supplemented by Astoria
taxpayers, though everyone in
Clatsop County is able to use
the cemetery, Estes said.
Astoria city officials have
floated the idea of forming a
cemetery district, which would
mean all of Clatsop County’s
taxpaying residents would end
up paying for Ocean View, a
concept Warrenton rejects.
“That would be akin
to dumping it on every-
body,” Mayor Balensifer said
Tuesday.
“I think it’s worth noting
that we don’t have a parks
department, yet our parks, for
the most part, are maintained,”
he said.
‘Challenging’
The cemetery was estab-
lished in 1897 and includes
more than 16,000 plots across
its 100 acres.
In a parks master plan final-
ized in 2016, Astoria park staff
note a variety of maintenance
needs.
“Operating a 100-acre his-
toric cemetery located in War-
renton has proven challenging
over the past five years,” states
the master plan.
Perpetual care of gravesites
is guaranteed as part of the
cemetery deed purchase.
“Some community mem-
bers believe maintaining the
cemetery should be a high
priority,” the plan continues,
referencing community sur-
veys, “while others agree but
believe operations of the facil-
ity should not be a core service
of the Parks and Recreation
Department.”
Providence: ‘We
are a safety net for
many patients’
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In 2016, Providence Sea-
side Hospital saw more than
1,000 inpatient admissions,
with 146,000 outpatient visits,
including more than 10,000 in
the emergency department.
“In 2017, we are running
ahead of those figures, and
definitely expect to exceed
those 2016 totals,” Provi-
dence Health & Services
Communications Director
Gary Walker said Tuesday.
Higher costs, lower
reimbursements
Lower government health
care reimbursements are driv-
ing higher costs throughout
the system, Underriner said.
Since the start of health
care reform in 2011, Prov-
idence cut $340 million in
costs in Oregon, he said. But
new state taxes on hospitals
and health insurance, along
with uncertainty at the fed-
eral level “means we need to
continue to focus on meet-
ing the needs of the commu-
nity in light of the revenue
we receive,” Underriner said.
“We are busier than ever,
serving thousands more
patients, but there continues
to be a fundamental shift in
reimbursements to cover the
costs. It’s unlikely that reim-
bursements will improve any-
time soon.”
Providence’s 50 hospi-
tals handled more than 1 mil-
lion Medicaid patient vis-
its in 2016. The Renton,
Washington-based company
was forced to subsidize the
unfunded portion of Medic-
aid at a cost exceeding $1 bil-
lion, said Providence spokes-
woman Colleen Wadden.
The current year is bring-
ing more of the same, she
said.
This is all a dramatic con-
trast to 2014 and 2015, when
many large hospitals enjoyed
windfall profits, in large part
because Medicaid eligibil-
ity was loosened and mil-
lions of Americans joined
the program. Oregon alone
added more than 400,000
to the Medicaid rolls, and
many flocked to hospitals for
long-delayed treatment.
“This trend is continu-
ing into 2017,” Underriner
said. “We are a safety net
for many patients, especially
those with Medicaid, and we
are deeply committed to con-
tinuing to serve this vulnera-
ble population.”
Safety net
The state Legislature
passed the $550 million Ore-
gon Health Authority bud-
get and a hospital and pro-
vider tax package that allows
the state to continue covering
health care for low-income
families.
In Clatsop and Tillamook
counties, 30 percent of the
population receives health
care coverage through Med-
icaid or insurance on the Ore-
gon Marketplace, according
to state Rep. Deborah Boone.
In Oregon, more than 50 per-
cent of births occurred on
Medicaid. Across the coun-
try nearly half of all children
get health care through the
program.
Fifty-five percent of Prov-
idence Seaside Hospital
patients are covered under
Medicare, Walker said. Twen-
ty-five percent have Medic-
aid and another 20 percent are
commercially insured, self-
pay or have other forms of
coverage.
Underriner said he is “pro-
foundly disappointed” by the
U.S. Senate’s Better Care
Reconciliation Act. “Its pro-
posed Medicaid cuts are
deeper and more devastat-
ing than the House’s Amer-
ican Health Care Act,” he
said. “It will increase the bur-
den on low-income Ameri-
cans, dramatically roll back
Medicaid, reduce the num-
ber of insured, and end cover-
age for some critical services
like mental health. This is not
acceptable.”
Politics in play
Providence Health & Ser-
vices in Oregon is in a “good
position,” wrote Underriner,
but he said he expects to con-
sider operational improve-
ments and changes in the way
people access health care.
Services like Elder at
Home — which provides care
for frail elderly in their homes
— and lower-cost express
care services are bring-
ing down costs. Telehealth
services connect rural and
smaller hospitals to access
specialist consultations within
the community.
“We are focusing first on
process and cost efficiencies,
and will do everything we
can to avoid affecting jobs,”
Underriner said.
Employees were advised
to await a planned financial
update in the next month. At
that time, Providence Health
& Services will look at the
region’s finances for the first
six months of the year.
“Here’s the bottom line,”
Underriner said. “Health
care funding will continue
to evolve at both the fed-
eral and state level. As a
leader in providing services,
Providence has the respon-
sibility to create the best
organizational model that
allows us to serve our com-
munity’s changing needs in
the most cost-effective way
possible.”
Jeff Manning of The Ore-
gonian contributed to this
report.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Students at the RiversZen Studio participate in a yoga class for veterans and family members in Astoria on Tuesday.
Class: ‘Military is so hard on their bodies’
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“It feels great,” said Brian
List, 70, of Astoria. List is a
Vietnam War veteran who
served in the Marine Corps
from 1966 to 1968. He typi-
cally attends classes at the stu-
dio two to three times a week
as part of his constant effort to
remedy his own case of PTSD.
“People from the military
are geared to keep going and
going,” he said. “This is more
calming.”
Connections
Christopher, 34, said his
neck and back pain has eased
since working with Kimberly,
33. She brought up the idea of
hosting the class soon after the
couple moved to Astoria.
“The military is so hard
on their bodies,” Kimberly
said. “There is a lot of strength
training.”
They also hope to fill what
they’ve noticed as a lack of
local physical therapy options
for military personnel.
“We have a huge military
community here, so it’s also a
way for military people to con-
nect with each other,” Kim-
berly said.
At the end of the class, par-
ticipants receive a packet with
some brief information about
Ki-Hara, as well as some
directions for stretches they
can complete at home.
“I’m hoping we can give
them the tools for self care,”
Kimberly said. “It’s all about
support.”
The couple hopes to make
the class a regular event at the
studio, possibly even once a
week depending on interest
level, when the studio moves
to a riverfront building on 14th
Street in August. At the next
class, those with military iden-
tification are welcome along
with first responders.
Christopher has become
familiar enough with the
stretches that he even led the
class for the first few minutes
Tuesday. But he did err slightly
at one point after asking the
class to sit upright with their
legs crossed. “Now, spin,” he
said, meaning instead to ask
the class to move their upper
bodies in a circular motion.
“He’s still used to boot
camp,” Kimberly kidded.
“I’m trying to be more gen-
tle,” Christopher said. “I’m
still getting used to it.”
Immunity: 12 parks closed in Oregon after ruling
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There were also concerns
that this lack of immunity
would lead to higher insurance
costs for cities.
The League of Oregon
Cities and others pushed to
change the statute so it would
once again recognize rec-
reational immunity for city
workers. “The words on the
bill were pretty simple, but the
impact around the state was
profound,” Winkels said.
Alex Pajunas/The Daily Astorian
Astoria parks
In Astoria, the uncertainty
before the new law was passed
did not halt any park activities
or close down any sites.
City Attorney Blair Hen-
ningsgaard was not convinced
the ruling put the city at a
higher legal risk.
“We make every effort to
operate our parks safely,” he
The Astoria Riverwalk and a set of railroad tracks snake
eastward toward the Mill Pond housing development.
told The Daily Astorian last
year. “I don’t think that it cre-
ates a greater degree of liabil-
ity in either the city or employ-
ees than existed beforehand.”
Other cities, however, shut
down parks, worried about
what it would mean if their
staff and volunteers were not
covered. In total, 12 parks
around the state closed after
the Oregon Supreme Court
ruling.
Redmond only last week-
end reopened a popular climb-
ing bridge, which had been
closed after the court ruling,
according to Winkels.
Though Astoria parks
didn’t close, the city was con-
cerned about getting the bill
through the Legislature, said
City Manager Brett Estes. City
officials wanted to make sure
there was coverage for city
staff.
Though a simple bill in the-
ory, it was hard to get through
the system, Winkels said.
“The votes were there on
the floor, but getting it through
the procedural process was a
challenge,” he said.
Some legislators in the
House had reservations about
moving the bill forward and
there were conversations about
possible amendments. The bill
was up for its final reading
multiple days, but kept getting
carried over.
“We’re gratified the votes
were there,” Winkels said.