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CLINIC
FUNDRAISER IN THE WORKS
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amount of debt,” said Nic Pow-
ers, CEO of Winding Waters.
Chantay Jett, executive
director at Wallowa Valley
Center for Wellness, said her
organization may join Winding
Waters in seeking financing as
one entity.
“Two balance sheets are bet-
ter than one,” she said.
The project has also
received the go-ahead from city
of Enterprise planning and zon-
ing officials, according to Jett.
“Everything is about where
we expected to be this far into
the process,” she said.
On the drawing board is a
15,000 square-foot facility that
would house medical services,
mental health services, a teach-
ing kitchen, child and family
resource center and a dentist.
The clinic will be built so
that an additional 2,000 square-
feet can be added easily.
A groundbreaking was held
this past summer at the 3.2-acre
clinic site adjacent to the Wind-
ing Waters parking lot. It is
Approximate
site of new
facility
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ENTERPRISE
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Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
now being allowed to percolate
to solve some of the high water
table issues.
In addition to gaging poten-
tial final support, Wilson was
also charged with bringing back
concerns regarding the project
that might have surfaced in his
community conversations.
Wilson said overall, the cen-
ter for wellness receives high
marks, but he noted a troubling
number of people said they
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Although few details have been determined, Wallowa Val-
ley Center for Wellness is planning a major fundraising event
Feb. 3 at the Wallowa Lake Lodge. The event would include a
dinner and auction, as well as a raffle for a deer tag.
The center’s executive director Chantay Jett said the plan
was to auction off six to eight dinner or brunch events, simi-
lar to previous fundraisers that have featured “lunch with Gayle
Swart.”
Swart is a long-time county resident known for hospitality
and a willingness to donate her time and talent.
“Everyone remembers those events fondly,” Jett said.
The event would be the kickoff to an annual fundraiser, such
as the Wallowa Valley Health Care Foundation and other orga-
nizations hold.
The center’s steering committee would help organize the
events and in some cases host.
Committee members include Gay Behnke Angie Lundy,
Bob Crawford, Nic Powers, Diane Daggett, Janet Graham, Carl
Lincoln, Bridget Brown, Marla Dotson, Mike Wilson and Jett.
were unaware of the center’s
role in the community. Another
area of concern is the stigma
attached to seeking mental
health services in the county.
Wilson said he had residents
tell him they sought treatment
outside of the county to avoid
having their car sit in front of
the clinic located adjacent to
the Wallowa County Circuit
Court building.
Jett said work has already
begun on raising the center’s
profile in the community. A
branding and marketing com-
pany has been retained to iden-
tify goals for educating the
community and creating a new
logo.
The clinic employs 70 indi-
viduals in five locations with
14 separate programs and a
$2.9 million outlay total for
salaries and benefits annually.
Total money spent in Wallowa
County is $3.4 million, which
is 70.19 percent of the orga-
nization’s total expenses for
2016-2017.
December 6, 2017
Wallowa County Chieftain
“We believe in shopping
local and have an account any-
where you can have an account
in the county,” Jett said. “We
have a tremendous story to tell,
we just have to get out there and
tell it.”
Among the strategies is a
monthly guest column in the
Chieftain in which Jett will
detail each of the programs the
center offers. See Page 4 of this
edition.
Changing negative per-
ceptions about seeking men-
tal health services is a consid-
erably bigger challenge, Jett
noted.
The new integrated clinic
will help because no one will
know with certainty why a par-
ticular vehicle is in the park-
ing lot. Winding Waters and the
center have already been work-
ing to integrate medical care
with mental health care under a
federal grant.
Both Jett and Powers said it
has been going well.
If a patient seeking medical
care expresses a concern about
an addiction, for example, a
center for wellness counselor
can be brought in seamlessly.
“It’s a matter of address-
ing the whole body and not
separating the head from the
body,” Jett said.
Additional challenges will
be documenting the need for
the clinic and quantifying
its economic impact on the
community.
Jett said her staff has been
barely managing being in five
locations and said the cramped
quarters have impacted morale
in the operation. She said every
effort would be made to oper-
ate as lean a clinic as possi-
ble, including office sharing
and utilization of pod-based
work stations. Supporters have
also spent some time strategiz-
ing responses to possible oppo-
sition to the plan to build the
clinic.
Wilson said he didn’t detect
organized opposition in his
interviews, but said it’s some-
thing that can come up in any
capital campaign.
Both Jett and Powers said
that as issues have arisen over
the years in their operations,
every effort has been made
to listen to all sides and avoid
being defensive and said that
was how they would proceed
with the clinic project.
Taxpayers would not be
required to vote to approve any
of the funding sought for the
clinic.
State funding request for clinic will wait until 2019
By Paul Wahl
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Wallowa County Chieftain
Timing can be as important
as substance when requesting
direct grant funds from state
coffers.
Progenitors of a new inte-
grated health services clinic
are discovering that reality.
Wallowa Valley Center
for Wellness and Winding
Waters are planning to build
a combined clinic in Enter-
prise and are hoping for as
much as $2 million in direct
state aid. They had hoped to
approach the legislature with
the request in 2018; however,
it is more likely it will be sub-
mitted in 2019 for a variety of
reasons.
Those include Measure
101, concern over the state
having improperly paid or
allocated around $186.4 mil-
lion in Medicaid funds and
lingering uncertainty regard-
ing additional funding for this
past summer’s wildfires.
Each of these could soak
up any money that might be
on the table to help fund the
clinic, supporters of the plan
were told recently.
In addition, 2018 is a
short session for the legisla-
ture. With limited exceptions,
the constitutional changes
enacted through Measure
71 limit the length of legis-
lative sessions beginning in
even-numbered years to 35
calendar days. The 2018 ses-
sion begins Feb. 5.
State Rep. Greg Barreto
and State Sen. Bill Hansell,
who represent Wallowa
County in Salem, recently
suggested the delay in hopes
of more favorable financial
conditions.
Barreto and Hansell remain
ardent supporters of the proj-
ect, according to Mike Wilson
of Westby Associates of Van-
couver, Wash., financial con-
sultant for the clinic who met
with both legislators recently.
Both are also recommend-
ing the clinic up its request
from $1.5 million to $2
million.
Both have said they appre-
ciate the fact the funding
request is balanced with a
strong local commitment,
rather than a hand-out.
Measure 101 will be on the
ballot Jan. 23. It is designed
to repeal five sections of leg-
islation enacted to increase
taxes on health care insur-
ers and others to fund gaps
in Medicaid. If the referen-
dum is successful, it would
cause an immediate $210
million funding gap for the
state, which means projects
like the integrated clinic in
Wallowa County might be
snubbed.
Another $186 million gap
may need to be filled in 2018
as a result of possible over-
payments by the state to coor-
dinated care organizations in
the state.
Most recipients of Medic-
aid in Oregon are enrolled in
what’s called a coordinated
care organization, or CCO.
It is essentially a regional
network of care providers
who see Medicaid patients.
The state pays the CCO
on a per-patient basis each
month.
See FUNDS, Page A18
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