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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, MARcH 10, 2022
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
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GUEST COLUMN
Bill could prevent violence in emergency rooms
mong the many ripple effects
of the pandemic, in the last two
years health care workers have
reported a disturbingly prolific increase in
assaults while they are providing care.
According to surveys by the American
College of Emergency Physicians and the
Emergency Nurses Association, almost
half of emergency physicians and 70% of
emergency nurses reported being physi-
cally assaulted on the job. This phenome-
non is not simply some-
thing that is showing up
in esoteric statistical data,
but it is playing out every
day in Oregon’s hospitals.
Several weeks ago,
I was toward the end of
one of a string of 5 p.m.
ALEX
to 1a.m. emergency
SKOG
department shifts that had
prevented me from see-
ing my two young children for four days
straight. A COVID test on an older patient
I was taking care of came back positive.
The patient had a low oxygen level neces-
sitating admission to the hospital.
As I started to discuss the unfortu-
nate result with the patient and family,
the patient’s son stood up from his chair
and walked up to me screaming that he
wouldn’t let me admit his father to the
hospital so that I could put his father on
a ventilator and kill him. I explained that
my only goal was to do everything pos-
sible to make his father get better and
that a ventilator was only a last resort. He
pushed his jacket back to reveal a gun hol-
ster strapped to his hip and said, “If any-
thing happens to my father, I will kill you
and your family. It will be World War III.”
Fortunately, I was able to get out of
the room and call security and subse-
quently police. Police officers escorted the
patient’s son out to his car in the parking
lot where he undoubtedly left the firearm
that he carried in the holster he was wear-
ing. I was left in the emergency depart-
A
Oregon Health & Science University Hospital
The emergency department at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital.
HB 4142’S GREATEST IMPAcT WILL BE ITS
EFFEcT ON THE NuMEROuS PATIENTS I SEE
dAILy WHO HAVE REd FLAGS ON THEIR cHART
FOR PREVIOuS HISTORy OF ASSAuLTING
HEALTH cARE WORKERS.
ment unarmed and virtually defenseless.
Acts like this don’t just effect the
health care provider personally but send
shockwaves that reverberate long after the
incident’s immediate aftermath.
For the remainder of my shift, I caught
myself regularly looking at the security
camera video screen, hoping not to see the
ED doors sliding open to reveal this per-
son returning. I listened for any commo-
tion in the waiting room, instead of focus-
ing on a nurse asking me to confirm the
correct medication for another patient.
While trying to see the remaining patients
who had overwhelmed us during the lat-
est COVID surge, I found my mind reg-
ularly drifting to my two sons whom I
hadn’t seen in four days. This person had
my name and, therefore, would be able to
find my address where my children were
sleeping.
Unfortunately, this type of experience
is far from unique and numerous Ore-
gon hospital workers have stories where
threats have progressed to actual assault.
An emergency department technician was
tackled, causing ligaments in his knee to
tear, requiring surgery. A pregnant nurse
was kicked in the abdomen and went into
premature labor. A provider was strangled
with the stethoscope that hung around her
neck.
The effect of these assaults goes far
beyond the immediate physical and emo-
tional trauma they cause by fueling the
never-before-seen exodus of health care
workers and leaving the most vulnerable
Oregonians sicker and further marginal-
ized with substandard care.
Oregon had an opportunity to make
a major stride toward addressing this by
passing House Bill 4142. In doing so,
Oregon would join 34 other states with
similar laws, which make it a felony to
assault a hospital employee while specif-
ically shielding vulnerable Oregonians in
mental health crises from being charged.
Currently, it is only a misdemeanor to
assault a hospital employee. Victims of
assault have been told by police that it is
not worth the paperwork to charge the
assailant. It is past time for this to change.
HB 4142’s greatest impact will be its
effect on the numerous patients I see daily
who have red flags on their chart for pre-
vious history of assaulting health care
workers. Currently, these repeat offend-
ers know that there are virtually no legal
repercussions from past assaults and,
therefore, are completely uninhibited and
emboldened to do it again. Having actual
consequences will change this calculation.
This bill passed the state House 53 to
7 and died in the Senate during the last
week of the short session. We urge legis-
lators to not wait until 2023 to address the
problem of violence in hospitals and the
trauma of health care worker assault, but
to take decisive action during the interim
to develop solutions.
dr. Alex Skog is an emergency phy-
sician and president-elect of the Oregon
chapter of the American college of Emer-
gency Physicians.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Somewhat annoying
find it interesting, and somewhat
annoying, that the government of the
U.S. will send American soldiers to fight,
and possibly die, in countries with unsta-
ble puppet dictators that only want to
steal their nation’s wealth and retire to
owning a Holiday Inn in Southern Cali-
fornia, but that same government will not
even supply weapons or economic aid (in
the form of sanctioning the aggressors)
to a strong and able people who will fight
for their freedom.
Ukraine and its people are fighting
tooth and nail to preserve a democratic
government and way of life, yet the pow-
ers that be sit on their hands, verbalizing
platitudes about freedom for all. It seems
that this cause is far more worthy than
past conflicts where we have fought, and
died, to no avail.
This is just my opinion; I could be
wrong.
DAVID GRAVES
Astoria
I
Beware
earhart voters beware! This is what
city government doesn’t want you to
know: Measure 4-213, if passed, will add
an additional $1.213 per assessed $1,000
of your home’s assessed market value.
They leave out the following: Gear-
hart has two outstanding bonds for their
water treatment plant, one being retired
in March 2025, the other in September
2031.
Measure 4-213, if passed, will be
added to these two outstanding bonds,
making the rate you pay on your assessed
market value $2.28 in year one per
assessed $1,000 until March 2025, at
which time the assessed rate will be
$2.19. The rate will then drop to $1.56
until September 2031, when the second
water bond is retired.
Using the 2021-2022 assessed mar-
ket value on a $450,000 home, an owner
would have an additional property tax
burden of $545.85 for the fire and police
station, with an annual total of $1,028
when including the two water bonds.
When the first water bond reaches
maturity in 2025, the second water bond
and the fire/police bond would remain,
making your burden $702 per year com-
bined, or $1.56 per assessed $1,000.
Only after the second water bond is
retired will the fire/police bond of $1.213
per assessed $1,000 remain. Measure
4-213 is scheduled to go for 20 years.
Remember, this is only if your
assessed market value doesn’t change. If
the assessed market value goes up, your
tax burden will also increase.
We need a new fire station, but at what
G
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isn’t adequate space for training. The
building is literally crumbling.
It’s time we show up for Gearhart fire-
fighters as they have been showing up
for us. We have the opportunity to come
together and vote “yes” on Measure 4-213
for a new fire/police station in Gearhart.
BEBE MICHEL
Gearhart
Local outlet
hether there’s a log export facility or
not, the trees still fall and still sail,
because foreign buyers pay the highest
prices. Without a local outlet, the big los-
ers are the Port of Astoria, the county and
the industry. Longshoreman lose, but are a
very small component.
When approximately 82% of all Ore-
gon forest land is dedicated exclusively for
domestic use, it’s hard to blame exports for
their decline.
If the Port, city and county want to pro-
ceed with a tourist-centric economy, the
Port will remain broke and underperform,
and the city’s housing crisis will only get
worse
Last time I looked, there wasn’t anyone
connected to the forest industries living on
the streets.
CHRIS CONNAWAY
Astoria
W
expense to taxpayers? Let’s be realistic
about what we can actually afford! Vote
“no.”
JANE GABLE
Gearhart
Showing up
ost of us don’t give much thought
to how quickly a good day can turn
into a bad day. If our house catches on fire,
or someone in our family has a medical
emergency, we rely on our first respond-
ers to help us on one of the worst days of
our lives.
When the call comes, Gearhart volun-
teer firefighters drop whatever they are
M
doing, show up quickly and professionally
help us in our time of need. Firefighters
miss birthday parties, dance recitals, soc-
cer games and family dinners to help us.
Firefighters volunteer to serve, and train
every week so that they can help us.
Our volunteer firefighters are members
of our Gearhart community— they are our
friends and neighbors. They deserve our
thanks and respect. And they deserve a fire
station that is appropriate for their needs.
How can we be satisfied with the small,
inadequate, 64-year-old badly aging fire
station that is currently used for the Gear-
hart fire department?
There are no decontamination areas or
showers to allow firefighters to remove the
toxins and soot from fighting fires. There