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 .
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