OFF PAGE ONE
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
East Oregonian
Jilli:
STEM:
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
Over at the pizza place,
her co-workers stated their
profound affection for the
woman. Manager Dave
Beaty said Smalley is a great
asset to his team.
“The mood around here
is diff erent when she is not
here,” he said. When she is
present, the atmosphere is
bright. When she is gone,
less so.
In addition, he said, she is
a hard worker. In contrast to
some other employees, she
approaches each task with
single-minded focus.
“She’s a highly-valued
employee, because she loves
repetitive work, so she’s
perfect,” her mother said.
A fellow employee,
Kimberly Parker attested to
Jilli Smalley’s drive.
“She is a bulldog in the
dishwashing pit,” Parker
said of Jilli Smalley. She
added that Jilli Smalley will
spray people with water on
occasion when they get in her
way.
Michele Kietzke, job
coach with the brokerage,
said that it is not all fun
and games. There are times
when Jilli Smalley will lose
muscle control, succumbing
to her seizure disorder. This
trouble can last 20 minutes.
While temporary, Kietzke
said, it does necessitate the
presence of a trained profes-
sional.
Kristi Smalley said her
daughter is “pretty indepen-
dent with her work skills,”
but also needs assistance if
something comes up that she
doesn’t understand or if there
are communication issues.
On occasion, the communi-
cation issues are due to the
Disney references she makes.
“Some of her communi-
cation is taking lines from
Disney movies and trying to
apply them to situations,” her
mother said. “So, if you don’t
speak Disney, it doesn’t make
any sense.”
Kietzke is present, too,
to help translate for her. She
has been shadowing Jilli
Smalley for 13 years. During
that time, according to the
job coach, they have become
tight friends. They are
together in social settings,
as well as work. They cook
and craft together, too. And
of course, they watch Disney
cartoons.
Asked about the Pizza Hut
menu, Jilli Smalley said she
does not eat pizza. Instead,
she said, she likes eating
the breadsticks. Along with
French fries and hot dogs,
they are among her favorite
foods, she said.
HIV:
Continued from Page A1
EOCIL provides HIV
prevention and case manage-
ment services in Baker,
Gilliam, Grant, Harney,
Umatilla, Union, Wallowa,
Wasco and Wheeler coun-
ties. Among those coun-
ties, 222 people are living
with HIV, according to the
EOCIL press release.
As well as raising aware-
ness with the intent of
improving the number of
tests administered in rural
Eastern Oregon, Toombs
said reducing stigma asso-
ciated with the virus is
paramount, and advances
in medicine and technology
have made living with the
virus easier.
“It’s night and day from
30 years ago,” he said.
“We’re coming up on the
anniversary of the passing of
Ryan White (Comprehensive
AIDS Resources Emergency
Act), and so it makes us look
back at where we were 30
years ago, and where we are
now. Science is just amaz-
ing, and (with) the medical
care that people are getting
now — we’re living longer
and healthier lives.”
Those medical advances
include PrEP, a prophy-
lactic drug that reduces
HIV transmission rates by
99%, according to medi-
cal studies. Therapy drugs
HIV-positive individuals
use also can completely
eliminate the transmission
of HIV if the virus is unde-
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Jilly Smalley poses March 30, 2022, with tiny fi gurines that she fashioned herself.
A day in the life
of Jilli Smalley
Even aside from her dish-
washing job, Jilli Smalley
leads a busy life. She said
she wakes up at 5:20 a.m.
and eats breakfast, packs her
lunch and readies for the day.
She goes to Trendsitions Inc.,
an organization that teaches
job skills to people with
disabilities.
Shredding documents,
she said, is among her favor-
ite activities there.
After Trendsitions, she
will run errands. Then, she
will meet with friends for
games before going to work.
On good days, she said, she
will be able to attend Zumba
classes.
“I love Zumba,” Jilli
Smalley said, adding it’s fun
because it lets her “shake the
body.” Other favorite activ-
ities include swimming,
bowling and walking. If she
has time, she will do crafts,
including bead making.
After work and activities,
she returns home and gets
ready for bed. Bedtime is
8:20 p.m., she said.
Kristi Smalley said she
and her husband accompany
their daughter on many of
these activities, as the young
woman would not be able to
do these things on her own.
Also, she gets help from
the Eastern Oregon Service
Support Brokerage, which
has been helping people like
Jilli Smalley for 20 years.
At the age of 18, Jilli
Smalley was able to enter the
brokerage. Three years later,
after she graduated from high
school, the EOSSB stepped
up its assistance to her, help-
ing her lead an adult life,
Kristi Smalley said.
Kristi Smalley is on a
board that oversees the
EOSSB. As such, she
helps watch over the deci-
sions of that organization,
which is a personal matter
to her because her daughter
receives assistance from it.
Four EOSSB personal
service workers supervise
Jilli Smalley on activities,
including her regular walks
and her employment.
EOSSB helps people
live regular lives
Laura Noppenberger,
executive director, and Kristi
Avery, Umatilla County lead
personal agent, said EOSSB
exists to help people with
intellectual disabilities who
are 18 and over. They receive
assistance in their own homes
and communities.
“We advocate for services
and resources for those
people we serve,” Avery
said. “We help people live
better, more positive lives.
It’s interesting, and there’s
something new every day.
And the people we help are
great.”
Noppenberger said she
has worked for the EOSSB
since it began, two decades
ago. Among the many things
she had done for others,
Noppenberger said helping a
person obtain a ramp for her
home was one of the most
satisfying.
Avery said she has helped
many people during the
20 years she has been with
the organization, including
helping one Milton-Freewa-
ter resident move out of her
parent’s home and into her
own place.
People, they said, can
receive a wide range of
assistance. A helper may,
for example, go to a person’s
home to set up medication,
aid in laundry, create meal
plans or go to the store.
EOSSB helpers also may
assist with employment,
as with Jilli Smalley, they
stated.
“A lot of the people that
we serve have jobs in the
community, so they might
need support with getting to
work, staying on task, being
dressed appropriately for the
job, getting ready to go and
being successful,” Noppen-
berger said.
“We help them work if
they want to work,” Avery
said. “They learn how to
handle money, work on being
healthier and navigate health
matters. And if they want to
travel, see things or do activ-
ities, we help with all of that.”
Each person, Noppen-
berger and Avery said, is
tailored to meet specific
needs, as each person’s needs
will be diff erent.
“Essentially, we’re navi-
gators, cheerleaders, helping
to connect people with the
resources in their community
to be successful,” Noppen-
berger said.
Noppenberger said that
the EOSSB is one of 14
brokerages in Oregon, paid
for with state tax dollars and
federal funds. It serves 471
people in the counties of
Hood River, Wasco, Sherman
Gilliam, Wheeler, Morrow,
Umatilla, Grant, Harney,
Union, Baker, Wallowa and
Malheur.
The organization has
30 staff members, who are
mostly based in their homes,
near the people they serve.
The EOSSB’s one offi ce is in
Hood River.
As EOSSB employees live
near the people they serve,
they said, they are better able
to assess their needs and help
them.
The Smalleys said they
are grateful for this help.
Next, Sampson pointed
out a mural displaying
“men’s First Foods,” includ-
ing salmon, deer and elk.
“The Creator assigned
fi sh and big game to men,
while women are respon-
sible for gathering plant
foods,” she explained.
Today, of course, women
can hunt and men can pick
berries.
On one wall of an arts,
crafts and technology room,
Sampson has posted photos
of some key traditional plant
foods.
“Eventually, I hope to
have QR codes for each
species,” she said, “with
their Indian names, infor-
mation on habitat and when
to harvest them.”
In the photo of camas,
Sampson indicated a single
white specimen among the
blue-fl owered plants.
“Last year, we cooked
the camas in the traditional
way, in pits,” she said. “Now
some have come up with
white fl owers. In another
patch, there are 15. It’s a sign
that the Creator approves of
renewing our traditions.”
In the same room,
circuitry in hardened cases
with handles sat on tables.
“These can be carried
out into the fi eld,” Sampson
noted. “They’re program-
mable. We’ll start with
writing programs to turn
on a light bulb, then go from
there.”
She showed photos of a
food plant that has just gone
to seed.
“Early April is way
too soon,” Sa mpson
commented. “Normally it
would just be blossoming.
We need to study the eff ects
of drought on First Foods.
Maybe our years-long
drought will end soon. It
could be a natural cycle, but
if it results from long-last-
ing climate change, then our
preservation project will be
even more important. Our
kids are learning how to
monitor CO2 with sensors
provided by Amazon.”
Sampson explained
supply chain problems and
the chip shortage set back
their schedule. But she
showed off a single, hard-to-
get component in a straw-
berry-colored box, which
AWS had provided.
Miniature drones sat
along a window.
“Who knows where
this will end?” Sampson
said. “Our student tribal
members exposed to science
and imbued with our tradi-
tions may make great
contributions to improving
the environment, to benefi t
everyone.”
Traditions and
technology
MORE INFORMATION
For more information about HIV testing, prevention and
treatment in Oregon, visit endhivoregon.org.
tectable by tests, through a
process called Undetected =
Untransmittable.
“We shouldn’t have to
fear having an HIV test or
getting treatment,” Toombs
said, “or having access to
prevention tools that are
available to us.”
The tribes had relation-
ships with Amazon before
the Think Big Space grant.
AWS helped put the
tribes’ Sahaptin language
Issak Garcia, HIV preven-
tion specialist with Eastern
Oregon Center for Inde-
pendent Living, Ontario,
stocks shelves with home
test kits for HIV.
MORROW COUNTY
SUICIDE AWARENESS WALK
dictionary online. While
not their own name for
the language, dialects of
Sahaptin were spoken from
the now-drowned Celilo
Falls, the lower Deschutes
and John Day Rivers by the
Tenino bands, through the
Umatilla and Walla Walla
tribes to the Yakama.
Sampson recalled Teara
Farrow Ferman and other
women tribal members
brainstormed about how to
preserve the language.
“We thought big and
came up with a proposal,”
she said. “We got a direc-
tive from the board. AWS
gave us a $50,000 grant for
one year, with the possibil-
ity of renewal. We have a
three-year project in mind.
They’ve been great. We
also have help from Whit-
man College physics prof
Kurt Hoffman and other
supporters.”
Alexa, Amazon’s virtual
assistant technology, now
can teach Sahaptin words.
“Whatever helps kids
lear n their ancest ral
language is great,” Sampson
said. “It’s fun and educa-
tional. We’re deeply grate-
ful to Amazon.”
And coming out of
pandemic restrictions, she
continued, makes the new
technology and programs
even more exciting.
“Now we can talk to
indigenous peoples all
over the world,” she said.
“Our kids can Zoom with
India. Our program could
serve as a model for using
science and technology to
help preserve traditional
cultures.”
Server farms throughout
the world implement AWS
technology. Amazon’s cloud
computing division oper-
ates seven data complexes
in Eastern Oregon — four in
Umatilla County and three
in neighboring Morrow
County. The data centers
need lot of water for cool-
ing.
“AWS assured us that
97% of the water they use
will be fi ltered and returned
for irrigation,” Sampson
said. “We went into this
with eyes wide open. We
know that Amazon relies
on cheap hydropower for
its servers. We don’t like
the dams, because of their
eff ect on salmon. But we
also know that our Eastern
Oregon neighbors like elec-
tricity, irrigation and ship-
ping grain to Portland. Even
small nuclear reactors and
every present energy source
has problems.”
But all this technology,
Sampson stressed, cannot
replace the real-world expe-
rience of gathering First
Foods with women elders.
“They lear ned our
language naturally at home
and were taught our tradi-
tions by their elders, with-
out need for school and
technology,” Sampson said.
“Still, our team is honored
to contribute to preserving
and passing on our language
and culture, with the aid of
science and technology.”
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