»INSIDE
147TH YEAR, NO. 90
WEEKEND EDITION // SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 2020
$1.50
SEASIDE
Columbia Memorial
builds fi nancial strength
for expansion
Man pleads
guilty to
child sex
abuse
Pickering sentenced
to 20 years in prison
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Columbia Memorial Hospital is saving for a new facility in Astoria expected to cost more than $100 million.
A new hospital on the horizon
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
ver the past fi ve years, Colum-
bia Memorial Hospital’s oper-
ating margin has nearly dou-
bled from 5.7% to 11%, the highest
among rural or nonprofi t medical
facilities in Oregon .
The high rate of profi t became a
rallying cry for nurses seeking better
pay in a new contract last fall and part
of why the Portland Business Journal
recently named Columbia Memorial
the fi nancially healthiest hospital in
the region.
But Columbia Memorial’s lead-
ers argue the relatively plush fi nan-
cials are a necessity for an indepen-
dent hospital trying to take care of the
community and its employees. The
hospital is also funding an expansion
of services that will see two new clin-
ics open on the North Coast this year,
with a brand new hospital in Asto-
ria for more than $100 million on the
horizon.
Having stable fi nancials helps
offer competitive wages and recruit
more nurses and doctors, said Zach
Schmitt, the hospital’s chief fi nan-
cial offi cer. Over the past fi ve years,
Columbia Memorial has grown by
nearly 150 employees to more than
700, with salary and benefi t costs
growing by 40%. In that same time
period, inpatient discharges have
grown by 40%, outpatient discharges
by nearly 30% and net patient reve-
nue by 70%.
“The growth was deliberate,” said
Erik Thorsen, Columbia Memori-
al’s CEO . “This was a strategic plan
that our board adopted really about
10 years ago. The board wanted to
provide more services locally than
we were providing at the time. And
all of our work over the past decade
has really been centered around that
theme and that mission of we want
to provide services locally. We want
O
Columbia Memorial Hospital
performance, 2014 vs. 2018
Item
Operating margin
2014
5.6%
2018
10.9%
Difference
5.3 pct. points
Operating expenses ($ millions)
$74.7
$117.9
Up 57.8%
Net patient revenue ($ millions)
$76.1
$129.7
Up 70.3%
Salaries and benefits ($ millions)
$42
$59.1
Up 40.9%
Charity care ($ millions)
$1.4
$2.3
Up 56.2%
Occupancy rate
47%
61.5%
14.5 pct. points
Inpatient days
4,289
5,611
Up 30.8%
Inpatient discharges
1,436
2,010
Up 40%
Average length of stay
3 days
2.8 days
Down 6.7%
Outpatient visits
167,548
212,483
Up 26.8%
Emergency room visits
13,046
13,765
Up 5.5%
Source: Apprise Health Insights
EO Media Group graphic
to take care of our community in our
community.”
The transition from small-town
community hospital to regional
medical center started more than a
decade ago, when Columbia Memo-
rial opened the Health and Well-
ness Pavil ion near its main campus.
It soon added MRI and PET — pos-
itron emission tomography — scans.
Outpatient chemotherapy, cut in 2003
when the hospital was hemorrhaging
money, was added back in 2008.
In 2010, the hospital partnered
with Oregon Health & Science Uni-
versity on a chemotherapy clinic in
the newly constructed Park Medical
Building. The hospital has since part-
nered with OHSU on ophthalmology ,
cardiology and telemedicine. The sur-
gery department is entirely staffed by
OHSU doctors. The hospital’s board
recently added a full voting member
from OHSU.
OHSU retains a small ownership
stake in the Knight Cancer Collab-
orative, a partnership between the
two institutions that recently added
radiology and strengthened chemo-
therapy services on the North Coast.
Cancer treatment is one of the
more lucrative services of a hospital,
and the demand on the North Coast
has outstripped Columbia Memori-
al’s initial projections. The opening
of the Knight Cancer Collaborative
resulted in a spike of the hospital’s
operating revenues from $114 mil-
lion in 2017 to nearly $140 million
in 2018.
A Seaside man was sentenced to 20
years in prison Friday for encouraging
child sex abuse.
Joshua Allen Pickering, 36, pleaded
guilty to eight counts of encouraging
child sex abuse in the sec-
ond degree. He was orig-
inally charged with 18
counts for possession of
child pornography.
Pickering has a long
criminal history in Clat-
sop County, including
numerous arrests and Joshua Allen
Pickering
charges related to sex
abuse and assault.
District Attorney Ron Brown argued
that Pickering is anti-social and has not
been open to treatment. He called three
witnesses to the stand in court to testify
to Pickering’s behavior, including his
mother.
Jail staff described Pickering as chal-
lenging to work with and volatile and
threatening when he doesn’t get what he
wants.
See Guilty, Page A6
Parks and rec
scholarships
scaled back
Annual costs to the
city had ballooned
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
Astoria is preparing to roll out
a revamped parks scholarship pro-
gram depleted by heavy demand and
ineffi ciencies.
The Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment and Community F oundation, city
and local businesses have partnered for
the p ast several years on fundraisers to
support scholarships for lower-income
residents to access health and wellness
programs. Chief among them is Run on
the River, a race cosponsored by Buoy
Beer Co. that last year netted around
$26,000.
Scholarships went to anyone fi nan-
cially eligible who applied. But over
the p ast several years, the annual cost of
the scholarships ballooned from $6,000
to $46,000, said Gad Perez, the founda-
tion’s secretary. The program was fur-
ther overwhelmed during the federal
government shutdown a year ago, when
many U.S. Coast Guard families utilized
the free passes, although nobody regrets
helping them out, she said.
See Hospital, Page A6
See Scholarships, Page A6
County will get new homeless count
Annual event links
people to services
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
Clatsop County will soon get an
updated count on homelessness.
Clatsop Community Action will
host the 10th annual Project Home-
less Connect on Tuesday at the Sea-
side Civic and Convention Center.
Over 40 other non profi t, gov-
ernmental and faith-based agencies
throughout the North Coast will
also offer services.
“I think it’s a way of instilling
hope in people who are experienc-
ing homelessness who are already
feeling very, very hopeless with
the situation that they’re in,” said
Susan Prettyman, Clatsop Commu-
nity Action’s housing manager.
“They come in and they’re not
judged by any agency that’s in
there. They know those people are
there to help them. ”
Volunteers will help people
identify their needs through an
intake form.
The intake will also ask people
where they slept the night before,
and if they mark that they slept in
a car, street or camper, volunteers
will ask them to complete a point-
in-time survey.
The survey occurs nation wide
every two years during the last 10
days of January as part of a joint
effort to count people experiencing
homelessness.
Other agencies, including the
state Department of Human Ser-
vices, school districts, Helping
Hands and The Harbor also partici-
pate in the count.
Joshua Bessex/The Astorian
See Homeless, Page A6
Boxes of clothing sit on a table for people to take during a Project Homeless
Connect event.