A10
OREGON
East Oregonian
Saturday, November 6, 2021
Staffi ng at hospitals a concern for many, survey shows
By SUZANNE ROIG
Oregon Capital Bureau
PORTLAND — Area
hospitals struggling to have
enough staff or supplies
to treat all patients as the
pandemic continues is a chief
concern among Oregonians
surveyed recently by the
Oregon Values and Beliefs
Center.
A full 60% of those
surveyed from Oct. 8-18
were “very concerned” that
hospitals would not have
enough staff to treat and
oversee patients. Fewer than
5% were not concerned at
all, according to the online
survey of Oregon residents
18 and older.
More than a third, 34%,
said that they “somewhat
agreed” that COVID-19
patients should not be given
priority over patients with
other medical conditions,
according to the survey.
And 30% said they “strongly
agreed” with that statement.
“The responses indicate
that people are not experi-
encing impacts from short-
ages,” said Amaury Vogel,
Oregon Values and Beliefs
Center associate executive
director. “Those 75 and older
were far and away the most
likely to say that CVOID-19
patients shouldn’t be seen
over those with life-threat-
ening illnesses.”
Ruth Martina Muller,
a Bend resident, is among
those who believe the thou-
sands of patients waiting for
surgery because there isn’t a
bed at a hospital have been
inconvenienced the most
during COVID-19 surges.
MORE
INFORMATION
The Oregon Values and
Beliefs Center, a nonpar-
tisan charitable organiza-
tion, has partnered with
Pamplin Media Group
and EO Media Group to
report how Oregonians
think and feel about
various subjects.
The Oregon Values and
Beliefs Center is commit-
ted to the highest level of
public opinion research.
To obtain that, the
nonprofi t is building the
largest online research
panel of Oregonians in
history to ensure that all
voices are represented
in discussions of public
policy in a valid and sta-
tistically reliable way.
Selected panelists earn
points for their partic-
ipation, which can be
redeemed for cash or
donated to a charity.
To learn more, visit
oregonvbc.org.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Judith Lindsey pulls on a second set of gloves while preparing to enter the room of a COVID-19 patient Aug. 19, 2021, at CHI
St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton.
St. Charles Health System,
a regional hospital for eight
Oregon counties, has said
more than 2,000 nonemer-
gency surgeries requiring an
overnight stay had to be post-
poned because of a shortage
of beds and staff .
“I have had several of my
friends, one who was in excru-
ciating agony, have to wait for
surgery,” Muller said. “He
couldn’t get in for back surgery
for four months because the
COVID-19 patients were
tying up the beds.”
Tim Nihoul, a former
Redmond resident, who
was in Corvallis, said he
has heard of many people
who had been denied treat-
ment because the hospital
was full. Also concerning
to Nihoul was how many
people he had heard of with
underlying health condi-
tions who didn’t want to
seek treatment because of
the coronavirus.
The survey also asked if
the impact of COVID-19 on
health care workers will have
a negative long-term eff ect on
the pool of health care work-
ers. Only 13% disagreed
with the statement but 79%
agreed, according to the
survey.
In questions that looked
at the eff ect of COVID-19,
from having enough supplies
to beds, most respondents
were “very” or “somewhat
concerned.” Three fourths
of the survey respondents
were “somewhat” or “very
concerned” that the hospitals
serving their area didn’t have
enough medical supplies and
86% were “concerned” about
not having enough staff .
“It’s not that there’s not
enough beds,” Nihoul said.
“It’s the staff that’s a prob-
lem. It’s a result of vaccine
mandates that have just
kicked in. I’m not an anti-
vaxer, but I think it should be
my choice whether I have a
jab or not.
“It shouldn’t be dictated
by bureaucrats or elected
offi cials who may not follow
legitimate science.”
The center’s survey was
sent to 1,403 Oregon resi-
dents. The survey’s margin
of error is between 1.6% to
2.6%. The Oregon Values
and Beliefs Center is an inde-
pendent, nonpartisan organi-
zation.
The largest demographic
sample was among the 30-44
year olds and was nearly
split evenly between males
and females. The bulk of the
respondents self-identifi ed
as white, earning less than
$25,000 a year.
U.S. senators propose national monument Harney County
status for area near Oregon’s Painted Hills votes for possible
move to Idaho
By BRADLEY W.
PARKS
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — Oregon’s U.S.
senators have proposed a new
national monument at Sutton
Mountain near Central
Oregon’s Painted Hills.
Sutton Mountain stands
in the backdrop of the iconic
view overlooking the autum-
nal hues of the Painted Hills.
The hills themselves already
are featured as one of three
distinct units of the John Day
Fossil Beds National Monu-
ment.
O regon Democr at ic
Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron
Wyden on Wednesday, Nov.
3, announced legislation to
protect an even larger area
surrounding the Painted
Hills as part of a new Sutton
Mountain National Monu-
ment.
“Wit h t h is leg isla-
tion, we’ll make sure the
public will be able to expe-
rience some of Oregon’s
most incredible landmarks
for generations to come,
while also creating jobs and
economic opportunities in
the county right now,” Merk-
ley said in a press release.
The 66,000-acre monu-
ment would include Sutton
Mountain itself along with
several popular recreation
sites like Pats Cabin, Sand
Mountain and Priest Hole.
The area has long been
a target for conservation.
Thousands of acres are
already protected as Wilder-
ness Study Areas, which are
places identifi ed by the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management
as having wilderness charac-
teristics eligible for further
protection.
The Bend-based Oregon
Natural Desert Associa-
tion has long supported
additional safeguards for
Sutton Mountain. The
region provides habitat for
a wide array of plant and
animal life, including herds
By DOUGLAS PERRY
The Oregonian
Sonya Lang/Contributed Photo, File
Oregon Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, an-
nounced legislation to protect an even larger area surrounding the Painted Hills as part of a
new Sutton Mountain National Monument.
“MANY FOLKS DON’T KNOW
WHAT IT’S NAMED OR WHAT
IT’S ALL ABOUT,BUT IT’S A
PRETTY UNIQUE FEATURE
OUT THERE AND IT’S A
PRETTY WONDERFUL PLACE
TO EXPLORE.”
— Ryan Houston, Oregon Natural Desert Association
executive director
of pronghorn, elk and mule
deer.
“Many folks don’t know
what it’s named or what it’s
all about,” said ONDA exec-
utive director Ryan Hous-
ton, “but it’s a pretty unique
feature out there and it’s a
pretty wonderful place to
explore.”
Past attempts to create a
federal wilderness at Sutton
Mountain in 2015 and 2019
have died in Congress. This
latest eff ort takes a diff erent
approach by proposing it as a
national monument.
A monument designation
at Sutton Mountain would
block future mining claims
within the monument bound-
ary. It also would require a
management plan to reduce
fi re risk and promote recre-
ational access, among other
priorities. Ranchers would be
able to continue grazing live-
stock within the monument.
According to Merkley’s
press release, the proposal
has the support of several
conservation groups as well
as the city of Mitchell, which
has seen economic benefi ts
from Painted Hills tourism
and visiting cyclists.
Oregon has four national
monuments: the John Day
Fossil Beds, Oregon Caves,
Newberry National Volca-
nic Monument and the
Cascade-Siskiyou National
Monument.
BURNS — Harney
County voters on Tuesday,
Nov. 2, showed their love
for Idaho.
Ballot measure 13-18,
which requires local offi -
cials to hold meetings about
moving the small rural
Oregon county into Idaho,
passed with more than 63%
of the vote. The unoffi cial
results: 1,567 for and 917
against.
Harney became the
eighth of Oregon’s 36 coun-
ties to vote for considering
adjusting Oregon’s border
to put much of rural East-
ern and Southern Oregon
in Idaho.
“Rural Oregon is declar-
ing as loudly as it can that
it does not consent to being
misgoverned by Oregon’s
leadership and chooses to
be governed as part of a
state that understands rural
Oregon’s values and way
of making a living,” said
Mike McCarter, who heads
Move Oregon’s Border for
a Greater Idaho, which is
behind the initiatives.
Despite such strong
rhetoric, McCarter has
said his movement is an
effort to make everyone
— urban liberals who’d
remain in Oregon and rural
conservatives who’d leave
— happier, calling Move
Oregon’s Border a “peace-
ful revolution.”
“It’s a lifestyle/values
judgment between urban
and r ural more than
anything else,” he told The
Oregonian.
These ballot initiatives
are nonbinding; the point
of them, McCarter says,
is to force Idaho’s and
Oregon’s legislatures to
take up the issue, which is
highly unlikely. If Idaho
and Oregon were to negoti-
ate a border adjustment, the
U.S. Congress would have
to sign off on it.
The other counties that
have voted for a Move
Oregon’s Border-backed
initiative in the last two
years: Baker, Grant, Jeff er-
son, Lake, Malheur, Sher-
man and Union. Two small
counties have voted against
the border-moving idea.
Douglas and Klamath
counties likely will be next
to vote; McCarter said his
group has enough signa-
tures to put the border-ad-
justment question before
their voters next May.
November 5-6-7, 2021
26th Annual Christmas
JOIN US IN HONORING
OUR VETERANS
VFW Let’er Buck Post #922
Veteran’s Day Program at
Pendleton Pioneer Chapel, Folsom-Bishop’s
Veteran’s Memorial Garden
November 11th, 2021 at 11:00 AM
131 SE Byers Ave.,
Pendleton, OR
276-1221
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