Local News
Parks
Second Annual King Dream Run
So far, working with students from David
Douglas school district, the committee has
found five sites with potential. Currently
they are looking closely at two: a site on
Southeast 127th, just south of Burnside
Street; and a site on Southeast Division
Street at 123nd Avenue.
The first site, around 24000 square feet, is
owned by Portland Water Bureau. The
bureau hasn’t made any decisions about
future plans for the site, which stands next
to a water bureau building. The site also is
bordered by an apartment building full of
families with young children. The commit-
tee dreams of turning it into a small park
with play areas, trails, a gathering space and
drinking fountain.
“We’ve done some canvassing at the
apartment complex and the residents
expressed a lot of interest in that land being
turned into a place they can take their kids,”
says Cohen.
The second site, 51,000 square feet back-
ing up to Southeast Division Street, is
owned by two brothers and valued at around
$1.2 million. The brothers, who pay hefty
property taxes, want to sell or lease the land.
But they’re also open to hearing a commu-
nity-based proposal from the committee.
Neighbors say local teens need hangout
space. Also on neighbors wish list are: a
community center with a commercial
kitchen, meeting rooms, an urban garden
and a youth sports area.
“I work with a lot of developers searching
for property, and this has commercial zon-
ing on the Division Street frontage,” notes
committee volunteer and land use planner
Seth Otto. “You can’t ignore the profit
potential here. Maybe there’s a hybrid
development here that would bring profits
and satisfy community members.”
The committee has tons of expertise, with
volunteers such as Otto, Dan Miller of the
National Parks Service; Rebecca Wells,
from Oregon DEQ; and Abigail Cermak,
from Portland Bureau of Environmental
Services. Environmental designer Jordan
Secter has even drafted proposals for the
sites.
PHOTO COURTESY FLOSSIN MEDIA
continued from page 1
The 2nd annual MLK Dream Run is Sunday, Aug. 4, offering a 5-kilometer walk and run, a 10K run and the 15k Geoff
Hollister Tribute competitive race crossing through Humboldt, King, Piedmont, Woodlawn, Boise, Eliot, Vernon, Grant
Park, Sabin, Woodlawn and Irvington neighborhoods. The event benefits the NNEBA Fellows Program providing
internship and jobs skills training for youths; and the NE Community Health Clinic, which gives free and low-cost
health care to needy families. The race uses a USA Track & Field sanctioned & certified course, and is expected to
attract thousands of local amateur runners and dozens of international elite racers. The event begins at 6 a.m. and
post-race festivities begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude by 11a.m. More info at www.mlkdreamrun.org
But to make any of these dreams a reality,
means overcoming a long list of challenges.
Neighbors and property owners must agree
on a plan for each site. The plans have to
meet city, state and federal regulations. And
the group has to figure out a sustainable
funding and management plan for each site.
“It’s a challenge to turn people’s visions
into reality,” Cohen says. It’s a challenge to
find the resources that can make that hap-
pen, and the resources to preserve the vision
–so the community can get what it wants
and needs.”
Groundwork Portland overcame similar
challenges in developing the Emerson
Street Garden in Northeast Portland. With
support from neighborhood volunteers, the
environmental justice group turned a lead-
contaminated eyesore into a thriving com-
munity garden that will nourish generations
to come. And its Green Team youth intern-
ship program offers opportunities for youth
to learn as they earn, helping them stay in
school and on track.
“It’s not just gardening,” says Cohen,
about the garden. “It’s a community gather-
ing place and a safe, multicultural space for
elders to share their wisdom with younger
generations.”
Mark Richardson, dean of the Oregon
Health and Science University’s medical
school. Doctors are heavily concentrated in
the Interstate 5 corridor, he said, and some
areas that are considered adequate now may
experience a shortfall when people current-
ly without insurance start going to the doc-
tor.
“We need more primary care practitioners
in Oregon, but we need them to be in the
right place,’’ Richardson said.
increase demand for health care, the number
of providers is falling.
Between 2010 and 2012, the number of
primary care physicians practicing in Ore-
gon dropped by 320, nearly 8 percent, and
the number of physician assistants dropped
2 percent, according to the state report.
There were 189 more primary care nurse
practitioners, a 20 percent increase, but not
enough to keep pace with the loss of physi-
cians and physician assistants.
Also, Oregon has experience with rapidly
expanding the health care population, hav-
ing absorbed thousands of new patients
when it created the Oregon Health Plan and
loosened eligibility requirements in 1994.
Goldberg, who was a family physician then,
said the medical community is better pre-
pared this time around.
The Legislature this year voted to expand
funding for several scholarship and loan
repayment programs for health care
providers who practice in underserved areas
_ an effort to diminish the gap between the
lifestyle of a rural primary care doctor and a
classmate who pursues a lucrative specialty
in Portland.
Oregon’s effort to change the way the
state pays for Medicaid will also help, offi-
cials said. It’s supposed to allow more flex-
ibility for primary care providers so they
don’t have to schedule an office visit just to
get paid.
“Not every patient needs to see a physi-
cian, or even a nurse practitioner or PA,
every time they go to their health office,’’
said state Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward,
D-Portland, an OHSU family physician
who’s pushed for expanding incentives for
primary care providers in underserved
areas.
Chronic conditions can often be managed
with phone calls and emails, she said.
“Not every visit,’’ she said, ``needs to
happen in person.’’
Health
continued from page 1
we are to where we want to be overnight,’’
said Bruce Goldberg, director of the Oregon
Health Authority, the state agency that
administers Medicaid.
Some patients will probably have trouble
getting speedy access to see a doctor, he
said, but the state has taken steps to mini-
mize the disruption.
“We’ll be ready,’’ he said. ``I don’t think
we’ll be as ready as we want to be, but it’s
a pretty great opportunity to change all
these life circumstances for everybody and
make them healthy.’’
About 1 in 6 Oregonians, 550,000 people,
are uninsured, according to state data from
February.
State officials project that 120,000 people
will become eligible for Medicaid on Jan. 1
under President Barack Obama’s health
care overhaul. Another 160,000 are expect-
ed to buy health insurance through Cover
Oregon, a health insurance marketplace
where individuals and small businesses can
compare plans and access federal subsidies
if they’re eligible.
By 2016, the state projects the number of
uninsured will drop to 170,000. All those
newly insured people will enter a health
care system that’s already struggling to keep
pace with demand for primary care, particu-
larly in rural areas.
Oregon on the whole may have enough
physicians to meet current demand, “but we
have a terrible distribution problem,’’ said
About 1 in 6 Oregonians, 550,000 people, are
uninsured, according to state data from
February
Multnomah County has 19 percent of the
state’s population but 35 percent of its doc-
tors and nurse practitioners, 32 percent of
nurses, 38 percent of psychologists and 41
percent of licensed social workers, accord-
ing to a report this year by the Office for
Oregon Health Policy and Research.
Counties along the northern border and
south-central Oregon had the highest physi-
cian-to-population ratios. In some cases
they were five times larger than the
statewide ratio.
Even as retiring baby boomers and the
coming wave of newly insured patients
The number of dentists also declined 9
percent, and three northeastern counties had
no dentists _ Giliam, Morrow and Sherman.
Even so, state officials insist Oregon is
better prepared for the challenge than most
states. A 2011 report by the Association of
American Medical Colleges says Oregon
had 93 primary care physicians per 100,000
residents, 10th best in the nation.
Oregon has a strong network of low-
income clinics known as federally qualified
health centers and has been investing in
incentives to convince medical profession-
als to practice in rural areas, Goldberg said.
July 24, 2013 The Portland Skanner Page 3