i
Spílyay T y ro o o ,
Springs, O re g o n
Page 5
June 1, 2011
TeleCo Corner
Telemedicine Comes to Warm Springs
by M arsha Spellman
Marketing <& Regulatory
Director, WSTC
Two years ago, my dad died
o f co n gestive h eart failure.
From the time he had his first
bout of heart failure until the
tim e he p assed away, every
morning my dad would wake up
and stand on a scale, put on a
finger monitor and a blood pres
sure cuff. This doesn’t seem un
usual, but this was not any old
scale. It was a new tele-health
device wired into the telephone
jack of his home.
A few minutes after he stood
on that scale and put on the
other medical items, all the in
form ation that these devices
gathered would be transmitted
to a rem ote m ed ical cen ter
where local nurses would read
the results.
If anything concerned the
nurses, they would call him to
ask about his health. Checking
weight, blood pressure and oxy
genation levels are critical for
keeping a heart patient healthy.
If he gained a few pounds
this might indicate he was retain
ing fluid, which might mean his
heart was not functioning cor-
recdy or his kidneys were start
ing to fail.
If they thought he needed
m edical care, a nurse w ould
come to the house to check up
on him. With this system, he
didn’t have to wait to receive
care until he was so ill that he
was in critical condition and
needed to be hospitalized.
Why am I telling you this?
Isn’t this an article about tele
communications?
My dad was fortunate to live
in a community that had broad
band telecommunications and
be an early adopter of what is
called “T ele-h ealth ” care or
sometimes “Tele-medicine.”
The reason that I am tell
ing you, is that this new world
of medical care will be able to
be available in Warm Springs,
once the new phone company
builds out its new broadband
network.
Because these, and other,
new medical devices need a lot
o f bandwidth to transmit the
data through the phone wires, it
is not possible without a broad
band network and broadband
connections to a home or medi
cal facility.
Tele-health care is the new
step in modern medicine. It
enables medical consultations to
be conducted between patients
and health professionals across
different locations.
Telemedicine will enable the
patients in Warm Springs to
“see” doctors in Portland or
Bend without having to drive
Warm Springs m il
be part of the
medical technical
revolution.
hours for an appointment.
Medical staff can share test
results without having to wait
days for specialists to look at an
x-ray or MRI in a hospital hours
away. You can even have your
doctor in Warm Springs look
into your ear with what may look
like a standard ear probe, but
have a doctor in Pordand read
the results.
All of this will be possible with
the use of new broadband tech
nology will be offered through
out the reservation by the new
Warm Springs Telecommunica
tions Company.
In addition, Warm Springs
applied, and has been accepted,
to be part of a new network to
serve h o sp itals and clin ics
throughout Oregon.
Five years ago, the Oregon
H ealth N etw ork (OHN) re
ceived $20 million from the Fed
eral Communications Commis
sion to build a new broadband
network to connect rural health
clinics with some of the state’s
large hospitals, including Oregon
H ealth Scien ces U n iv ersity
(OHSU) in Pordand and Bend
Medical Center.
OHN is committed to mak
ing quality care available to ev
ery patient regardless of their
location. Being a participant in
this groundbreaking develop
ment will provide multiple ben
efits to clinics statewide, includ
ing here at Warm Springs.
Like the rest of the telecom
changes com ing to Portland,
none of this will happen over
night.
It might be years before we
see these programs in use with
all the new tech n o lo gy and
m edical devices necessary to
make it happen.
Warm Springs will be part of
the medical technical revolution.
Be patient. But remember, you
will be a better served patient
once these new telecommunica
tion services are in place. It is
part of the reason that the tribes
have been working for many
years to make these changes
possible, by improving the tele
communications on the reserva
tion.
The Warm Springs Telecommu
nications Company (WSTC) is a
tribally chartered enterprise whose
mission is to bring advanced broad
band services to the Warm Springs
tribes, including voice, data and
video. The start-up company ex
pects to begin delivering services in
the fa ll o f 2011.
Extra revenue puts safety net on ‘life support’
SALEM (AP) - Finally, ev
erything seems to be coming to
gether for Tamara Yallup.
O nce a drug ad d ict and
drifter, the 33-year-old single
mother of three has now held
an apartment since Thanksgiv
ing and will soon begin taking
classes to become a medical as
sistant.
This summer, her 13-year-
old son w ill m ove from his
father’s place in Warm Springs
and her whole family will be re
united for the first time in more
than a decade.
Y allup cred its som e o f
Oregon’s social safety net pro
grams with helping her get her
life back on track.
Som e o f those program s,
until this month slated for dev
astating cuts, are looking to have
a slightly more promising future
in the next tw o-year budget
thanks to an uptick in antici
pated revenue.
“Since I’ve been through this
program I’ve had a stable liv
ing,” Yallup said. “My m ind’s
straight and I can think clearly.
M y kids are doing good, I’m
doing good.”
State services helped her get
a GED diploma and pay her
expenses while she learns job
skills and prepares for her ca
reer.
Rosier projections for tax
collections, released in the quar
terly revenue forecast May 12,
mean lawmakers probably won't
have to cut nearly as deeply as
they once feared from services
for seniors, people with disabili
ties and low-income families like
Yallup’s. But advocates warn that
some critical programs are still
on the chopping block.
“We’re going to be able to put
most programs back on life sup
port, but they’re going to be very
fragile even w ith these add-
backs,” said Rep. Tina Kotek, a
Portland D em ocrat who co
chairs the budget subcommittee
that oversees spending on hu
man services. “We’re going to be
at the bare minimum.”
In February, faced with a dire
budget outlook and the loss of
millions in federal stimulus dol
lars, Gov. John Kitzhaber pro
posed low erin g the lifetim e
maximum for welfare checks
from five years to ju st 18
months— a move that would
have given Oregon the nation’s
shortest lifetime maximum and
potentially kicked thousands out
o f the program before they
could become self-sufficient.
Program advocates said the
cuts would have destroyed the
very last threat holding up strug
gling families, sending parents to
the streets and children into fos
ter care
Early in the legislative session
budget writers identified the pro
posed 18-month cap as a key
problem to address, and the idea
spawned intense opposition
from interest groups, religious
leaders and was formally con
dem ned by the M ultnom ah
County Board of Commission
ers.
Tem porary A ssistance for
Needy Families, or TANF, is
part of the remodeled welfare
system approved in 1996 by the
R ep u b lican C o ngress and
D em o cratic P resid en t B ill
C lin ton . T he o verh aul w as
known as “welfare to work” and
designed to give temporary cash
assistance, career training and
job placement services to fami
lies with children until parents
could earn a sufficient income
to support the family.
“This is a program designed
for poor children,” said Jessica
Chanay, deputy director of Part
ners for a Hunger-Free Oregon.
“Whatever decisions get made
with TANF are going to have a
disproportionate impact on poor
children.”
T he ad d itio n al reven ue
means the lifetime max won’t be
shortened, but other job-train-
ing services that Yallup and
thousands of others rely on on
will almost certainly be curtailed,
lawmakers said.
Programs still facing signifi
cant cuts or outright elimination
include:
— The Parents as Scholars
program, which helps 1 percent
of parents on TANF get a col
lege education that can lead to
higher-wage jobs and pull the
family out of poverty;
— Post-TANF, which pro
vides small monthly checks to
help families transition from
TANF into the workforce;
— The JOBS for Oregon’s
Future program, an employment
and training program that serves
people both inside and outside
of the TANF program;
“W hen yo u ’re com peting
against a lot of mainstream ap
plicants in an employer’s mar
ket, it can be challenging,” said
Tracee Wells, an employment
specialist and business services
liaison with Portland Commu
nity College, which contracts
with the state to provide job
training and placement services
for TANF clients.
The need for temporary cash
assistance has ballooned since
the G reat R ecession forced
employers to jettison jobs and
sent unemployment rates soar
ing, as high as 11.6 percent in
June 2009. In October, more
than 29,000 families were in the
program, 60 percent more than
a year earlier, according to a leg
islative memo.
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Calif., illustrate the problems
green energy faces as it grows
and tries to merge into a power
system that is not ready to fully
exploit it.
The conflict was generated
by the highest spring runoff
since 1997 in the Columbia Ba
sin, where Bonneville markets
power from 31 federally owned
hydroelectric dams, providing
about a third of the power for
the Northwest.
Blumenauer complained that
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•
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Bonneville hasn't done enough
yet with $2 billion in federal
stim ulus funding to expand
transmission Unes, and has not
adopted solutions identified in
a 2007 report for the Northwest
Power and Conservation Coun
cil on ways to store wind energy
at times it is not needed.
He estimated the shut-offs
are costing wind power genera
tors millions of dollars at a time
when they need help attracting
investment to keep growing.
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Yvonne Iverson/Spilyay
Native Thunder riders present a donation to Boys &
Girls Club of Warm Springs director June Smith.
We would like to send a
huge “Thank You” to every
one that participated and
supported the First Annual
N ative T hunder Show &
Shine that was hosted by
Kah-Neeta High Desert Re
sort & Casino and Northwest
Cycles on Saturday, May 14.
The event faced ch al
lenges including a 70 percent
forecast for rain and com
petition from various other
events in the Central Oregon
area.
We did have a good turn
out in spite of that, and par
ticipants included represen
tatives from Central Oregon
Abate in Bend, local partici
pants and individuals all the
way from Yakima, Wash.
The route for the Poker
Run took riders on a tour of
the no rth end o f W arm
Springs to Simnasho where
the first stop was at Three
Warriors Market. It then ran
through W apinitia over to
Maupin for the second stop.
It routed up the river and
canyon to Highway 97; back
down through Madras to the
Desert Inn in Metolius for
the third stop where Jan set
up an awesome picnic for
the riders. And it wrapped
up by taking a tour of Lake
Simtustus and Pelton Dam
on the way back to Kah-
Nee-Ta.
01
til
CK
The riders who partici i.ß
pated in the Poker Run ex
pressed a genuine enjoyment )d
of the ride and scenery and 4 tí
are looking forward to next
year’s event.
This first year event net ;
ted $393 for the Boys & Girls ! 8
Club of Warm Springs. Win
ners of the Poker Run and
fi
50/50 raffle w alked away ) )
with nice prizes, and several >jv
participants received door
prizes that were donated by
il
local businesses and individu
als.
irti
We send special thank-
?, fi
you to the following individu
als and businesses that do
iì
nated time, hard work, items
ßq
for door prizes and money:
T
H o w ard and A ngie
R am bow ;
Jo h n
and
u o
Stephanie Parker; Preston
P arker; K ip M o rris; B ill
di
S tan ton ; M argie K alam a;
ir a
Dennis and RaNeva Dowty;
3 g
Julie from Central Oregon
ori
A bate; NAPA Auto Parts
(Madras); Oregon Embroi
dery; the D esert Inn in
Metolius; a North End Do
od
nor who wishes to remain
anonymous; and let’s not for
get Kah-Nee-Ta and the ra
mi
dio stations that provided us
with advertising over the past
month!
Sam D ouglas, N orth
west Cycles, 93 S.E. Trace
o
Street, Madras, OR 97741.
irti
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Wedding Announcem ent
It is with jo y that we
Catherine Bernadette Hamray
and Winter Night Selam in
vite you to share in the celebra
tion o f love as we exchange our
marriage vows on Saturday, the
eleventh o f June, 2011, at 10
o ’clock in the morning at the
Toppenish Creek Tonghouse in
White Swan Tonghouse grounds,
White Swan, Washington. Re rt
ception immediately following. o:>
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AFFORDABLE TIRES
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id
N ew - n - U sed
«
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18
3 0 4 M a d is o n S t ., S u it e 102
M a d r a s , OR. 97741
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I saac
H ector
541 - 693-3742
CI
541 - 693-3386
CASCADE R‘DGE
Wind industry demands grid overload solution
(AP) - The wind energy in
dustry demanded last week that
the Bonneville Power Adminis
tration fix problems that have
forced the shut-off of North
west wind generators while hy
droelectric dams fill the grid with
power produced from a heavy
spring runoff.
The complaints voiced by the
American Wind Energy Associa
tion and U.S. Rep. E arl
Blumenauer, D-Ore., at a wind
energy conference in Anaheim,
N ative Thunder
366
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