OFF PAGE ONE
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
East Oregonian
A9
Warming:
Continued from Page A1
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Children and their parents sit in a post vaccination observation area Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021,
during a youth COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center in Mission.
Vaccines:
“Some things aren’t the
same,” she said.
That’s why she was
thrilled that her 8-year-
old daughter decided on
the morning of the clinic
that she wanted to get the
vaccine. She didn’t want
Samarah to experience what
she had.
“It’s reassuring,” she said.
“I feel more secure with her
going to school … I’m just
so proud of her.”
“IF WE WANT
TO GET
THROUGH THIS,
EVERYONE HAS
TO DO THEIR
PART.”
One family’s choice
— Aaron Worden, dad
Since the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration autho-
rized the vaccine’s emer-
gency use among children
on Oct. 29, Luka badgered
her parents about when she
could go get her shot.
She wanted to go back
to school, away from her
inconsistent Wi-Fi and lost
Zoom calls. She wanted to
The family followed
health care workers down
a hallway. Streamers with
puppies on them hung from
the ceiling, and balloon mats
dotted the fl oors.
Luka sat down in front
of registered nurse Adam
White. She rolled up the
sleeve of her Mickey Mouse
T-shirt. She told White she
wasn’t nervous. “She’s a
pro,” Worden said.
Lu k a’s d a d , Aa ron
Worden, filmed with his
smartphone. As White took
Luka’s arm and adminis-
tered the dose, she hardly
fl inched. He put a Scooby
Doo bandage on her arm,
and she high-fived her
mother.
“It’s nice to touch a shoul-
der and say now, you will
be more likely to survive,”
White said after the family
had left.
Luka walked to the wait-
ing room, where the Disney
fi lm “Moana” played from
multiple large screens. She
drank from a juice box
called and said she felt good.
Her parents said it would
be a few days before they
exhaled relief.
“At least we’re trying,”
Worden said. “If we want to
get through this, everyone
has to do their part.”
And while ODOT’s work
with surface roads makes it a
natural fi t to distribute federal
funds for road work, Morgan
said he didn’t know how funds
would be distributed for other
key infrastructure pieces, such
as underground utilities.
“There’s no ODOT equiv-
alent for drinking water,” he
said.
Morgan said Hermiston
has a number of infrastruc-
ture projects it could fund
with additional federal money,
including the Gettman Road/
Railway Alternative Trans-
portation Enhancement, or
GRATE project, which aims
to connect Highway 395 and
Highway 207 by replacing a
bridge, building a new road,
widening existing road and
enhancing a railroad crossing.
The total cost of the project is
roughly $8.6 million, but it’s
broken out into four phases so
the city doesn’t need to work
on it all at once.
In a newsletter to public
officials, Umatilla County
Com missioner George
Murdock also sounded a note
of caution.
W h ile ment ion i ng
Umatilla County’s public
works director was optimis-
tic the infrastructure bill
could help locally with bridges
and surface transportation,
Murdock was concerned
some of the bill’s allocations
were too large for a county the
size of Umatilla and smaller
communities might have trou-
ble matching grant programs
created through the bill.
And with the bill covering
other types of infrastructure,
including public transpor-
tation, broadband internet
and wildfire management,
Murdock said the county
would need to wait to see how
the bill would apply locally.
“In short, we have learned
it will be good for Umatilla
County,” Murdock wrote,
“but comparing over half
a billion dollars in new
investments with what we
are likely to see in Oregon
and Umatilla County is very
likely an illusion.”
Continued from Page A1
Bill:
Continued from Page A1
Oregon Department of Trans-
portation as to how it will
divvy up its $1.2 billion, but
if it’s similar to the state gas
tax, half would stay with the
department, 30% would be
split among the counties and
the fi nal 20% would be shared
between cities.
Mark Morgan, the assis-
tant city manager of Hermis-
ton, said he was frustrated that
attention quickly turned to
Portland-area projects, includ-
ing the Interstate 5 widening
in the Rose Quarter and a
new Columbia River crossing
shortly after Congress passed
the infrastructure bill.
Morgan said cities such
as Hermiston and Pendleton
are in a “federal grant donut
hole” — too big to qualify for
infrastructure loans under the
U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture but too small to compete
with large cities applying for
high-dollar grants.
PFAS:
Continued from Page A1
Park in La Grande.
Results from the fi rst few
collection sites should be
fi nished and analyzed by the
end of November. Of the 150
sites across the state, only 20
have been sampled so far,
according to Esteve.
“Samples from the first
20 public water systems have
been collected. We made a
list of the 150 we are going to
sample eventually, over time,
but we started with 20 — and
frankly we started with those
because they were kind of
near our lab, which is in Hill-
sboro,” Esteve said. “So we
can get out there quickly and
get some results a little bit
more quickly. Travel is still a
little bit on the iff y side, given
the delta variant.”
Testing then and now
This is not the fi rst time
Oregon has tested its water
systems for the presence of
the chemicals. Between 2013
and 2015, a study from the
Oregon Health Authority
tested all major public drink-
ing water systems in Oregon
cities with more than 10,000
residents and did not detect
harmful amounts of the PFAS
chemicals included in the
testing. So far, Oregonians
do not seem to be exposed to
these chemicals in harmful
see family she hadn’t seen in
months — and the Portland
Trail Blazers. She wanted
to travel again and follow
through on her plans to live
with her friends in a Califor-
nia mansion.
Paying for the test
PFAS TESTING
SITES
For a complete list of
PFAS testing sites in Ore-
gon, visit bit.ly/3ngVJKk.
amounts through their water,
according to the OHA.
According to the OHA,
some plants, such as grasses,
can absorb contamination
when they are fertilized with
PFAS-contaminated material
from wastewater treatment
plants. This has resulted in
cows producing contami-
nated milk in some dairy
farms in the U.S. There also
is evidence that when surface
water is contaminated,
certain PFAS compounds can
accumulate in fi sh.
In the 2013-15 study, 65
sites were tested for six PFAS
chemicals. The Oregon
DEQ and the Oregon Health
Authority now are testing 150
sites for up to 25 PFAS chemi-
cals. The partnership between
the DEQ and OHA seeks to
crack down on PFAS contam-
ination that could end up in
drinking water, a primary
concern to both agencies.
“The most likely path-
way into the human body
is through drinking water,
and that’s why we’re doing
this proactively — taking a
look and seeing what’s in the
water,” Esteve said.
A grant through the
fe d e r a l E n v i r o n m e n -
tal Protection Agency is
paying for the analysis,
and the DEQ’s laboratory
will analyze the drinking
water samples for 25 PFAS
compounds, at no cost to
local cities.
If tested, most people in
the U.S. would be found to
have PFAS in their blood,
according to the Oregon
Health Authority. However,
testing for PFAS exposure
is expensive, and not likely
to be covered by insurance.
According to OH A,
long-ter m exposure to
PFAS chemicals can aff ect
g row t h, lea r n i ng a nd
behavior of infants and
children, interfere with the
body’s hormones, increase
cholesterol levels, affect
the immune system and
increase the risk of cancer.
The DEQ has not yet
set a date for the comple-
tion of the testing in the
150 Oregon locations.
Results from testing can
take upward of a month
between collection and a
fi nished analysis, accord-
ing to Esteve.
“This is the pilot. These
fi rst 20 we want to see how
that goes,” Esteve said.
“And then based on how that
worked and what results we
get, that will inform the
timetable going forward.”
The station has 33 volun-
teers, but it needs more than
100, Messenger said. Having
more than 100 volunteers
will give the board a suffi -
cient pool of help.
The Hermiston Warm-
ing Station started in 2011,
Messenger said, and its
start was in local churches.
Each week, during those
early days, a diff erent local
church would act as the
town’s warming station, he
said. Then, as now, people
without a permanent place
to reside would come to
the station for shelter, food
and opportunities to clean
themselves. The station has
operated at the Highway 395
location since 2017.
A common problem
Other programs like
the Hermiston Warming
Station are facing shortages
of volunteers, according to
Paula Hall, CEO of Commu-
nity Action Program of East
Central Oregon.
Her organization oper-
ates the Promise Inn, a
former motel converted
into a transitional hous-
ing facility. Unlike a
warming station, which
is seasonal and open only
when temperatures drop,
the Promise Inn, 205 S.E.
Dorion Ave., Pendleton, is
open throughout the year.
The facility, which
opened April 1, does not
rely on volunteers, Hall
said. Thanks to grant fund-
ing, the Promise Inn has
paid staff , which includes
a case manager, a street
outreach worker and an
onsite worker.
“Everyone who relies
on volunteers, whether it is
food banking or homeless
services, are really strug-
gling,” she said. “Primar-
ily the volunteer pool are
those who have retired and
have more time to give to
their community. Those
are usually people who are
older and more susceptible
to COVID-19. And there
goes your workforce.”
She said CA PECO
“could not build a year-
round shelter system on a
volunteer base.”
The Pendleton Warm-
ing Station faces the same
problem as its Hermiston
counterpart. Dwight John-
son, executive director of
Neighbor 2 Neighbor, the
nonprofit that operates
the station, said it will not
open this year. Instead, the
Pendleton Warming Station
will off er motel vouchers
to people in need as the
weather grows colder
Johnson cited COVID-
19 concerns and volunteer
shortage for not opening the
congregate shelter.
He said many of his
volunteers are older people
who are not volunteer-
ing now because of the
pandemic. Right now, he
has 100 volunteers, 20-25
active. Pre-pandemic, he
had 40-45 active volunteers,
which still made operation
“challenging.”
A volunteer’s
perspective
Messenger said, when he
started volunteering, he was
Antonio Sierra/East Oregonian
Bob Beltran checks into the Promise Inn, Pendleton, on its
fi rst night of operation on April 1, 2021. A grant funds the
operations at the transitional housing facility, including
paying for staff . Local volunteer organizations that pro-
vide warming stations are struggling this November to fi nd
enough volunteers to open on time.
looking for a way to help his
community.
“I saw it on Facebook,
where they needed volun-
teers, and I had time, so
I tried it out and actually
really enjoyed it,” he said.
His favorite thing about
his work is listening to the
stories of the station’s guests.
Through their stories, the
guests have given him new
perspective on life, he said.
Where some people may see
them as dangerous, Messen-
ger expressed he has come
to learn otherwise. He said
he has gained empathy
and understanding, as he
has discovered that people
are more or less the same,
homeless or otherwise.
He said it is common
for volunteers to visit with
guests, as also they distrib-
ute toiletries, food and other
resources. Volunteers may
also launder clothes.
A guest’s experience
Messenger explained the
Hermiston Warming Station
opens to guests at 7:30 p.m.
Guests have to ring the
doorbell, and a volunteer
lets them in. From there,
guests fi ll out paperwork, if
it is their fi rst visit, and they
listen to a reading of the
house rules, he said.
They pick their bedding,
set up their bed and store
their possessions in a tote,
he said. Guests then may
use the bathroom and laun-
dry machines to clean, and
they can get something to
eat from the kitchen, he
said.
There is room in the
station for sleeping — one
men’s room, one women’s
room and a third room for
a family or overfl ow. The
men’s room can fi t eight men
and the women’s room can
fi t four, Messenger said and
the intake area has space for
further overfl ow, if needed.
The maximum occupancy is
24, but it would be uncom-
fortable for more than 18
guests to spend the night,
Messenger said.
Messenger said the
station on a typical night
serves 11 guests. He said
he remembers one time in
which the station was too
crowded for a guest. Two
years ago, he said, one
person had to be turned
away.
False perceptions play
a role
The Hermiston Warming
Station is experiencing not
only a shortage of volun-
teers but of funds. Grants
and donations cover the
station’s expenses. Dona-
tions, though, are low, he
said, but he said he was not
sure the reason.
He does have reasons for
the drop in the number of
volunteers, he said. He said
he thinks COVID-19 is one
cause.
Not that it has ever been
easy to attract volunteers,
he said. He admitted it is not
very glamorous work, and
it might seem dangerous to
outsiders.
“People have false
perceptions of it,” he said.
Policies, such as having
multiple volunteers pres-
ent during open hours,
help keep volunteers safe,
according to Messenger.
Also, there are cameras set
up throughout the house.
“No harm has ever come
to anyone who has volun-
teered here,” Messenger
said. The worst thing he said
he could recall were argu-
ments, he added.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston said “there
have been no signif i-
cant issues” at the station,
though his department does
receive calls and responds
“from time to time.”
In 2020, police were
called 10 times to the
warming station, according
to a report from Edmiston,
which cited reasons, such
as vandalism, trespassing
and welfare checks, for the
calls.
In an email to EO Media
Group, the chief offered
something for people to
consider. He stated that,
based on the increase in
aggression he has seen
toward police, he “would
imagine the war ming
station staff is also inter-
acting with some of these
same people and though
our offi cers receive exten-
sive training in hand-to-
hand combat and how to
avoid contaminated scenes,
things happen.”
Messenger also said
people might also be
worried about COVID-
19 infection, but he added
he was not aware of any
outbreaks at the station. He
said there was one “scare,”
a recent guest who said he
was COVID-19 positive but
was not.
He said the station is
strict about masks. Volun-
teers and guests must use
masks when not sleeping
or eating, he said. Also, the
station makes frequent use
of sanitizer and cleaning
products, he said, and an
outside cleaning service has
been brought in to sanitize.
GOLD SPONSORS
Community Bank
SILVER SPONSORS
Alive and Well PPP
CHI St. Anthony Hospital
Corteva Agriscience
Desire For Healing Inc
Hill Meat Company
Northeast Oregon Water Association
OSU Extension Service- Umatilla County
RE/MAX Cornerstone
Rick’s Car Wash
Tum-A-Lum Lumber
Western Radiator
BRONZE SPONSORS
A & G Property Management & Maintenance
Blue Mountain Community College
Coldwell Banker Whitney & Associates, Inc,
Davita Blue Mountain Kidney Center
DuPont Pioneer HiBred Research Center
Jeremy J Larson DMD LLC
Kelly Lumber Supply Inc
Kiks Golf Center
Kirby Nagelhout Construction Co.
Kopacz Nursery & Florist
Landmark Tax Services
McEntire Dental
Mid Columbia Bus Co
NW Metal Fabricators Inc
Rob Merriman Plumbing & Heating Inc
The RBH Group LLC
The Saddle Restaurant and Lounge
Willowbrook Terrace
OTHER SPONSORS
Barhyte Specialty Foods
Umatilla Electric Cooperative
CMG Financial
Duchek Construction
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer
Hermiston Public Library
Hodgen Distributing
Pendleton KOA
Starvation Ridge Farming, LLC
Sun Terrace Hermiston
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