4 NOVEMBER 1,2005
Grand Ronde Health and Wellness Center SPECIAL INSERT
Wellness and Prevention
There are two sections for
Wellness and Prevention at the
Tribe. One, housed in the clinic,
provides home visits including
lunch delivery for Elders who are
shut-ins, and meals everyday at
the Community Center
for Elders, according
to Wellness Secretary
Egypt Leno. This section
also acts as food coordi
nator for all catering for
Tribal events.
Wellness also provides
smoking, drugs and safe
sex prevention programs
for Tribal members.
Elder Advocate and
Tribal member Pearl
Mekemson does walking and ex
ercising with Elders, and organizes
a walking group. Tribal member
Tracy Biery also participates with
incentives developed through an
exercise program at Nike.
"We promote health for the whole
tribe," said Leno.
The section also provides medi
cal transports for Tribal members
who can't get rides to medical ap
pointments. Another section of the Tribe's
Wellness program is based in the
Records
Medical records serve as a basis
for planning the care and treat
ment of patients," said Lillian
Engel, Lead Health Information
Technician in the Records section.
They also serve as a le
gal document to describe
the care patients receive.
Medical records are a pri
mary way that different
health care providers
communicate with each
other, and finally, they
also are useful as "a tool
to assess and improve
the care we render."
Patients have many
rights regarding their medical
records.
They have the right to inspect
and obtain a copy of their records;
a right to request a restriction
on its use or disclosure; they can
request that health record can be
sent to other providers; and also a
right to get a listing of when the
section discloses their information
when not otherwise authorized. As
an example, the county health de-
Business
Office
The Business Office is run
by Tresa Mercier. Tresa has
worked at the clinic since it
was established almost 21
years ago.
The Business Office han
dles patient registration,
medical records, and super
vises the receptionists. The
Business Office also handles
payment of health care, as
well as billing health insur
ance companies.
Egypt Leno
Lillian Engel
Social Services Department, and
organizes community preven
tion activities including events
like Native Youth Wellness Day,
round dances, youth basketball
tournaments and workshops
for both kids and their
parents.
"We also did Families
Together this year,"
said Tribal Youth
Prevention Coordinator
and Tribal member
Lisa Leno, "a 12-week
parenting class. That
was phenomenal. It
includes the entire
family." The goal of
the program is to teach
communication, understanding,
respect for parents and kids. "It
also really made a support system
between youth and parents," said
Leno. "So parents gained a sup
port system."
Earlier in the year the section
sponsored the 2nd Annual Youth
Conference in Portland.
"I think that we're seeing
awareness," said Leno. "I think
it's had a positive influence on
community. We're a drug- and
alcohol-free alternative."
partment keeps track of certain
communicable diseases, and the
records department lets them
know when patients have them.
For its part, the Records section
is responsible to main
tain privacy of health
information, to accom
modate any reasonable
requests for access; and
to provide required in
formation to insurance
companies.
Patients can access
the information in
person; or with a form
that they can get by
fax or mail; They can contact the
department to discuss these mat
ters at 503-879-4585. The time
it takes to process requests, said
Engel, "depends on how much
information they need and how
busy the desk is, but we suggest
they allow at least two weeks.
"It's very very busy all day
long," she said. "Every area in
the clinic needs attention from
Records."
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Tresa Mercier
Physical Medicine
The Tribe provides
three different kinds
of physical medicine,
according to Sandi
Viren, Certified Medical
Assistant in this section
of the Clinic.
Acupuncture ser
vices are available on
Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays.
Acupuncturist Dale
Freeman does traditional acu
puncture along with Chinese
herb therapies and tuina (a deep
tissue massage). "Chinese medi
cine," said Viren, "is not like our
traditional western medicine."
The Pharmacy
The Tribe's full-service phar
macy not only provides prescribed
medications that Tribal members,
employees and community mem
bers need, but for Tribal members,
the Pharmacy also offers mail de
livery of prescriptions, according to
Director Julie Davis.
"We do bubble packing for people
that have trouble keeping track of
their meds, to help them keep track
of all the pills," she said. They per
form the service on request and "for
most of our elders now."
In fact, for Tribal members in
the Grand Ronde, Sheridan and
Willamina area, the Pharmacy
will even deliver medications.
Except for Elders, she said, "we
can't guarantee every night," said
Davis. "We try to plan our deliver
ies so we have three or four to the
same area.
The Pharmacy is considering
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Dale Freeman
Freeman is booked out
a month and a half in
advance.
Podiatrist Hamid
Arabshahi (Dr. A for
short), sees patients on
Tuesdays, and principally
works on the feet of diabe
tes patients.
Chiropractor Kenneth
Kelley is available on
Thursdays. With a "very
steady following of patients," accord
ing to Viren, "a lot of what he treats is
patients that have sprains or strains
of the upper or lower back." He also
performs ultra sound and an electro
stimulator for muscle pains.
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Julie Davis
purchasing "a robotic dispensing
machine," said Davis.
And Davis reminds patients that
"we will not provide prescriptions
to anyone but the patient without
an ok in writing."
Behavioral Health - Dr. Joseph
Stone, Behavioral Health Manager
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Dr. Joseph Stone
The Medical Lab
"We're pretty much a full service
lab," said Director Michael Phipps.
The lab performs 1,100-
1,200 tests a month in
house, while 65-70 get
sent out. With three
employees currently and
a fourth anticipated, the
Tribal lab plans to take
on all drug testing for
both casino and Tribe.
Currently, the lab is do
ing 30-40 percent of the
tests and the rest are
contracted.
"We're more than willing to an
swer questions about how a test
I 4 -
Michael Phipps
Dr. Joseph Stone runs the
Behavioral section of the clinic.
He has been running the de
partment for about five years.
The Behavioral Health is the
therapy section of the clinic and
deals with addiction as well as
other forms of counseling. He is
a licensed psychologist as well
as a Level III Addiction and
Drug Councilor, and that's just
in Oregon. He also carries cre
dentials in other states and is
also an internationally certified
alcohol and drug councilor.
is done or what it's done for," said
Phipps, although all tests are confidential.
"We're trying to always
improve the process for
the customer to make
things easier for the pa
tient," said Phipps.
This year's best improve
ment: "we had a computer
make phone calls ahead of
appointments as remind
ers. We had a drastic
improvement in patients
remembering their ap
pointments," he said.