Image provided by: Oregon Historical Society; Portland, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 2013)
July 24, 2013 Spilygy Tymoo, Wgrro Springs, Oregon Pgge 8 Top points fo r W S. K 9 officer VC^arm Spring Police K9 O fficer K elly and h er partn er Sergeant Jaso n Schjoll recently competed in the 2013 Central O r egon Law E nforcem ent K9 Trials. The trials were held at Bend Senior High School. The K9’s and their han dlers w ere fro m th e D e sc h u te s and Mendocino county sher if f s ’ o ffices; an d th e Bend, Redmond, Spring- field and Warm Springs police departments. The competition dem onstrated the speed, agil ity, tracking, canine han dler protection and obe dience attributes o f the K9 officers. A ll o f th e o ffic e rs co m p le te d th e ir task s w ith ex traordinary ex p e rtis e ; h o w ev er, th e c lea r cro w d fa v o rite , and high point w inner o f th e c o m p e titio n , w as W arm Springs’ very own O ffic e r Kelly, earnin g the official tournam ent title o f Top Dog. Kelly w on some im pressive bling for her part ner, Sgt. Schjoll. Kelly and Sgt. Schjoll d e m o n s tra te d to th e Carol Sahme of the Recreation Department prepares a water slide for young people. The slide was a great way to cool off on these 98-degree afternoons. Clinic: transition August 15 Courtesy o f WSPD. K9 Officer Kelly and Sgt. Schjoll. crowd the same efficiency and p ro fessio n alism th a t make them highly effective m em b ers o f th e W arm Springs PD. Sgt. Schj oil’s hard work and dedication to the train- ing o f his K9 partner is evident and a huge asset to the tribal community’s safety, said Stan Suenaga, general m an ager o f trib a l P u b lic Safety. Oregon medical community gears up for expansion (AP) - With 400,000 un insured Oregonians expected to get health insurance in the coming years, the state and m ed ical co m m u n ity are scrarnbling to make sure there are doctors, nurses and other health care providers avail able to treat them. Many o f O regon’s rural and m inority com m unities already are short Of the rec om m ended d o cto r-p atien t ratios — a problem that will only get w orse w hen m ost A m ericans are required to have health coverage begin ning Jan. 1. With an eye on the com ing tide o f newly insured resi dents, state lawmakers this year approved scholarships and loan repayment programs designed to encourage medi cal school graduates to prac tice in underserved areas in stead o f the flashier urban centers. State officials also hope Oregon’s effort to im prove coordination and pre v en tiv e care w ill m ake it easier for the existing provid ers to handle more patients. But there will still be grow ing pains. “It’s going to be difficult to go from where we are to where we w ant to be over night,” said Bruce Goldberg, d ire c to r o f th e O re g o n H ealth Authority, the state' agency that administers Med icaid. Some patients will probably have trouble getting speedy access to see a doctor, he said, but the state has taken steps to minimize the disruption. “We’ll be ready,” he said. “I don't think we’ll be as ready as we w ant to be, but it’s a pretty great opportunity to change all these life circum stances for everybody and make them healthy.” A bout 1 in 6 Oregonians, 550,000 people, are u n in sured, according to state data from February. State officials project that 120,000 people will become eligible for Medicaid on Jan. 1 u n d er P resid en t B arack O bam a’s health care over haul. A nother 160,000 are expected to buy health insur ance through Cover Oregon, a health insurance m arket place where individuals and small businesses can com pare plans and access federal subsidies if they’re eligible. By 2016, th e state projects the number o f un insured will drop to 170,000. A ll th o se new ly in su re d people will enter a health care system th a t’s already struggling to keep pace with dem and for prim ary care, particularly in rural areas. Oregon on the whole may have enough physicians to meet current demand, “but we have a terrible distribu tion problem ,’’ said M ark Richardson, dean o f the O r egon H ealth and Science University’s medical school. D octors are heavily concen trated in the Interstate 5 cor ridor, he said, and some ar eas that are considered ad equate now may experience a shortfall when people cur rently without insurance start going to the doctor. “We need more primary care practitioners in Oregon, but we need them to be in the right place,” Richardson said. M ultnom ah County has 19 p e rc e n t o f th e sta te ’s population but 35 percent o f its doctors and nurse practi tioners, 32 percent o f nurses, 38 percent o f’psychologists and 41 percent o f licensed social workers, according to a report this year by the O f fice fo r O re g o n H e a lth Policy and Research. Counties along the north ern border and south-central Oregon had the highest phy- sician-to-population ratios. In som e cases they were five times larger than the state wide ratio. E v e n as re tirin g b aby b o o m ers and th e com ing wave o f newly insured pa tients increase demand for health care, the num ber o f providers is falling. Between 2010 and 2012, the number o f primary care physicians practicing in O r egon dropped by 320, nearly 8 percent, and the number o f physician assistants dropped 2 percent, according to the state report. There were 189 m o re p rim ary care n u rse practitioners, a 20 percent increase, b ut not enough to keep pace w ith the loss o f physicians and physician as sistants. The num ber o f dentists also declined 9 percent, and three northeastern counties had no dentists — G iliam , M orrow and Sherman. Even so, state officials in sist Oregon is better prepared for the challenge than m ost states. A 2011 report by the A sso c ia tio n o f A m erican M edical Colleges says O r egon had 93 prim ary care physicians per 100,000 resi dents, 10th best in the nation. Oregon has a strong net w ork o f low-income clinics known as federally qualified health centers and has been investing in incentives to con vince medical professionals to p ra c tic e in ru ra l areas, G oldberg said. Also, Oregon has experi ence with rapidly expanding the health care population, having absorbed thousands o f new patients when it cre ated the Oregon Health Plan and loosened eligibility re q u ire m e n ts in 1994. Goldberg, who was a family physician then, said the medi cal community is better pre pared this time around. The Legislature this year voted to expand funding for several scholarship and loan re p a y m e n t p ro g ra m s fo r h ealth care providers w ho practice in underserved areas — an effort to diminish the gap between the lifestyle o f a rural primary care doctor and a classmate who pursues a lucrative specialty in Port land. O re g o n ’s e ff o rt to change the way the state pays for Medicaid will also help, officials said. (Continued from* page 1) It has been a long-stand ing goal o f the Confederated T rib es o f W arm S prings Tribal Council that the Warm S p rin g s co m m u n ity is a h ealth y com m unity. T h e Health and Wellness Center fully supports the tribes’ goal, Prevost said. The best way to achieve the goal, she said, is by focus ing on the care provided at the clinic; and more im por tantly, to work in partnership with each patient to improve their health. A benefit o f the change will be more available sched uling o f appointments at the clinic, as physician schedules are opened up more due to n ot staffing at the hospital. The hours o f operation at the clinic will be reviewed to ensure the greatest access. The Warm Springs clinic staff will continue to w ork closely with the St. Charles M adras H ospital staff and Madras medical community to en su re th a t all W arm Springs com m unity patient needs are met. “We will be working with hospital staff to coordinate hospital admis sion, discharge, and follow up needs,” Prevost said. The clinic leadership initi ated this transition in response to repeated requests by the clinic Governing Board, she said. Dave McMechan/Spilyay The Warm Springs Health and Wellness Centêr Was dedicated in 1993. P re v o s t and th e clinic medical director, Dr. Rachel Locker, consulted w ith the Tribal Council and the Warm Springs Joint Health Commis sion regarding the decision to transition from hospital care. “A nd we have discussed this with the Health and Wel fare C o m m ittee as w ell,” Prevost said. Mike Marcotte, director o f the tribes’ Man aged Care Program, has also been part o f this transition planning. Questions may be directed to Carol Prevost, C E O or Sharon Eatchia, Patient Advocate at the W arm Springs Clinic, 5 4 1 - 5 5 3 -1 1 9 6 . PIONEER ROCK & MONUMENT Specializing in Native American Design 201 Crafton Rd PO Box 348 Goldendale, WA 98620 509-773-4702 LET US SAVE YO U TIM E & M ONEY DESIGN & ORDER OVER THE INTERNET www.pioneerrock.com www.betterheadstones.com Find MAP To Our Shop Under 'CONTACTS' J
