Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
Community
update
On Monday of this week, the
Indian Health Service reported 12
new cases of Covid-19, from 70
tests conducted on Friday.
There were 29 people with re-
ported active covid on the reserva-
tion, and 55 close contacts receiv-
ing daily monitoring.
· As of Monday, IHS had con-
ducted 15,910 covid tests. Of the
total, 1,063 have come back posi-
tive.
· An additional 151 positive tests
of tribal members have come from
outside facilities, for a total of 1,214
cases of Covid-19 among the tribal
community since the pandemic be-
gan. Anyone who wants a Covid-
19 test can go to the front gate at
the clinic and get tested.
Vaccinations
If you haven’t already been vac-
cinated, please get the vaccine: Vac-
cines are saving lives and they are
keeping people out of the hospital.
Vaccinations are the primary way
to bring the covid pandemic under
control.
· Warm Springs IHS has given
3,009 primary doses of the covid
vaccine. IHS has given another
2,544 secondary doses. People who
qualify are now receiving their third,
or booster dose.
· Nineteen young people of the
community, between the ages of 5-
11, have received the covid vaccine.
Vaccinations for young people
are based on recommendations by
the Advisory Committee on Immu-
nization Practices, the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention,
and the Western States Scientific
Safety Review Workgroup.
You can call to schedule a vacci-
nation anytime at the Warm Springs
Health and Wellness Center at 541-
553-2131.
Precautions
Community members are asked
to please use all covid precautions,
as approved by Tribal Council upon
recommendation of the Response
Team:
Wear a face mask and maintain-
ing distance from anyone you do
not live with. Understandably, this
is especially challenging to use those
protocols when interacting with fam-
ily and friends.
If you have covid symptoms, or
if you have tested positive:
Stay home and avoid others.
Don’t go to the grocery store, the
casino, the longhouse or work.
Do not go to sporting events or
school activities, birthday parties or
meetings. Stay away from celebra-
tions, funerals and any public areas.
Hospitalizations
St. Charles Health Systems hos-
pitals are at 86.7 percent occupancy.
The St. Charles intensive care
unit is at 75 percent occupancy.
There are 48 St. Charles patients
with covid 19, and nine people are
in the ICU with covid.
(Covid case demographics for the
tribal community are on page 3 of
this publication.)
November 17, 2021 - Vol. 46, No. 23
November – Anaku Ipach’aanxa Yaamash
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
New infrastructure law to help with water system
The $1.2 trillion federal in-
frastructure law, approved this
week, includes funding for
tribal water systems.
The law includes $1 billion
specifically for Oregon. And of
that amount, $250 million is
targeted for drinking water im-
provements for tribal commu-
nities of the state.
The Oregon federal legisla-
tive delegation sponsored this
aspect of the legislation, in large
part because of the situation on
the Warm Springs Reservation,
though other tribal communities
are in similar circumstances.
Last summer especially, as
Covid-19 was still a new and less
understood illnesss, the tribes
faced a prolonged water crisis.
There was a boil-water require-
ment for several months, and some
instances of no water at all for a
number of residents. This past sum-
mer saw another boil-water situation,
though not as prolonged.
Some of the infrastructure
funding will be used for near-term
projects. Larger needs, such as a
new treatment plant to replace the
current on, will take some years to
complete. Still, with funding in
place there is the real chance that
some solution is at hand.
Passage of the bill now allows
Utilities and Council to plan for an
overhaul that may eventually cost
tens of millions of dollars.
Another aspect of the infra-
structure law is $65 billion that will
go toward connecting rural parts of
the country to broadband internet:
$100 million is for Oregon’s rural
communities, like the reservation.
This too has became a priority since
covid began, as schools have devel-
oped more online learning options.
District bond will add new Academy classrooms
The Warm Springs Academy
will have new classrooms fol-
lowing the recent passage of a
school district 509-J bond mea-
sure.
Of the total $24 million in
the bond, $4 million goes to
projects at the Academy. Along
with the six new early learning
classrooms, the bond will also
fund a new key-access, safety
control system at the Academy.
At the various schools of
the district, the bond will ad-
dress health, safety and secu-
rity matters.
At the Bridges High School,
$935,000 goes to four new
classrooms, g ym floor im-
provements and new flooring
on the lower level.
Madras High School work
will include a new roof and in-
sulation; upgrades to the Career
Students at the Warm Springs Academy, during Spirit Week.
and Technical Education area; heat-
ing, cooling and ventilation improve-
ments; a new soccer concession and
restroom area, and facility and field
lights.
This is the first school district
bond measure since 2012. That
bond paid for half of the con-
Photos courtesy Lucinda Heath/W.S. Academy
str uction of the War m
Springs Academy, as the tribes
funded the other half.
See ACADEMY on 2
Extra help with EMS at W.S. Fire and Safety
A s some of you may
have noticed, there are some
new faces in town. Warm
Springs Fire and Safety has
been experiencing an all time
low in staffing.
We reached out to
FEMA—the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency—
for help, and were able to get a
group of contracted emer-
gency medical technicians,
EMTs, and paramedics from
Favorite Healthcare Staffing.
They are a wonderful group
of people who are well trained
and professional and are here
to do whatever we need. This
help is, however, temporary.
We have them until Novem-
ber 22 with a possibility of an
extension. An extension for
some of the Favorite staff
could be into January.
We are working to get some
permanent people hired, but it
is tough right now.
And keep in mind, only a
few of the temporary people
have any fire training. So we
need to be extra careful and
strict on preventing fires. It’s
getting cold now and I know
all those wood stoves, space
heaters and furnaces are firing
up.
Please make sure your
chimneys are cleaned and that
D.McMechan/Spilyay
The Favorite Healthcare staff at the Warm Springs Fire and Safety Agency.
were keeping things away from
those heat sources.
We have done our best to try
to orientate the new Favorite
Healthcare staff, but keep in mind
only one of the 12 has ever been
to Oregon. We have people from
Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and
Georgia to name a few.
I am asking that the commu-
nity welcome these medics and be
patient with them while they are
learning our culture and our res-
ervation.
There are several factors that
created this dilemma, one being an
overall shortage in healthcare
workers.
Covid also put a halt to several
programs around the nation, mak-
ing it difficult for students to com-
plete their training.
Hospitals were put on
lockdown, making it impossible
for students to get the clinical
time that’s required. Also, over-
all numbers for these programs
were reduced in both 2020 and
2021.
On the other hand, covid cre-
ated many other jobs, because
other ambulance and health care
companies were getting busier.
These other jobs were paying out-
rageous wages, and some offered
signing bonuses that we could not
compete with.
Karla Tias, Warm Springs Fire
and Safety.