AUGUST 1,2008
Smoke Signals 5
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal member Shane Thomas, 11, lines up his shot as he practices
at the 3D Archery Shoot held at the powwow grounds on
Saturday, July 26.
"Hi-- .
Elder Foster Program
"A Place To Call Home"
.fit-.
The Tribe's Elder Foster Care lodges are committed to offering quality care to
our Elders and help them remain as independent as possible, while providing the
personalized assistance they need. At our lodges, a wide range of services is avail
able in a comfortable setting where privacy is respected and maximum indepen
dence is supported. For information, contact the Elder Foster Program director, at
503-879-1 694.
C-HoBDOEriiimg) Due roes
Photo by Dean Rhodes
Tribal member Veronica Gaston hugs McMinnville Police Officer
Michael LaRue after presenting him with a Confederated Tribes
of Grand Ronde blanket on July 22 at the new McMinnville Police
Department during a City Council meeting. Tribal Council member
Kathleen Tom looks on while McMinnville Police Sgt. Scott Fessler
stands draped in his Tribal blanket. Gaston wanted to honor the two
officers, who saved Krista Weigel, 38, from a house fire on July 2.
Gaston lives four doors away from Weigel in McMinnville. The two
officers were the first responders to the house fire and Fessler used
a sledgehammer to knock in the back door, allowing the officers to
rescue Weigel from the kitchen, which was engulfed in flames. "It
was a profound moment in both of our careers," LaRue said before
the City Council meeting. Tom said the Tribe wanted to present the
officers with blankets because "It's not every day that you meet
heroes." Weigel is being treated for her burns at Legacy Emanuel
Hospital in Portland. Larry Warren Barnard, 38, who lived with
Weigel, is accused of arson and assault in the incident and is lodged
at the Yamhill County Jail. "We are both honored and humbled
by this recognition," LaRue said. "I told Officer LaRue that he will
always be my hero," Gaston said, who added that the officers told
her that they will always cherish the Tribal blankets.
Unmarked grave sites in Grand Ronde
We need your help If anyone knows the location of an unmarked grave or knows
the name of someone who was buried at the Grand Ronde Cemetery and their grave has
not been marked, please contact Mike Larscn, Facilities Manager, at 503-879-2407.
Providers seeling up fto 25 pattiieirDtts daoDy
CLINIC continued
from front page
long as several hours out in
the lobby.
Now, providers are seeing as
many as 25 patients daily and
they are on a 20-minute schedule
per patient, thereby reducing
wait times for other patients.
"We're more cognizant of the
flow," Johnston says. "There is
a fine line between seeing lots of
people and providing good care.
We set a clear expectation of
seeing 15 to 25 patients a day.
Industry standard is 15-minute
appointments."
To help providers reach
that expectation, the clinic
has reworked paperwork re
quirements and other comple
mentary obligations placed on
health care providers to maxi
mize their time. In addition,
the clinic does a better job of
triaging deciding who gets
to see health care providers
first based on the seriousness
of their symptoms.
1 lowevor, most Tribal patients
can get an appointment within
two days of calling; sometimes on
the same day depending on the
schedule.
Perhaps most importantly, John
ston says, the clinic recruited new
health care providers who were com
mitted to staying in Grand Ronde for
a long term, reducing turnover that
also affected patronage of the clinic.
"I've heard from past clinic pa
tients that they no longer access
care at the clinic because they were
tired of new providers coming and
going, and that they needed more
stability," Johnston says.
To guarantee that new providers
were committed to a long-term as
signment at the Tribal Health &
Wellness Center, a five-tiered inter
view process was created that includ
ed interviews with Tribal Council,
Johnston and center employees.
"It made it more difficult for
insincere applicants to work their
way through," Johnston says.
Susan Wright, a family nurse
practitioner who moved to Wil
lamina from Clarksville, Tenn., to
work in Grand Ronde in October
2007, says the interview process
was "much more rigorous" than any
she had been through previously.
"That was a good thing because
it helped me get a better sense of
things," Wright, 59, says.
Wright says she obtained a sense
that Tribal clinic employees not
only cared about the people they
treated, but also about the people
they work with.
"And the physical plant is won
derful," Wright says. "You have
medical, dental, optometry and be
havioral health all under one roof."
Marjie Mascarinas, a family
nurse practitioner who has worked
for the Peace Corps in Togo and
Turkmenistan, returned to the
Tribal clinic after working there
from 2000 to 2002 while earning
her master's degree from Oregon
Health Sciences University.
She says the clinic's workload
creates a steady environment for a
health care provider.
"It's really steady, sometimes
slightly slow, and then pretty cha
otic," Mascarinas, 40, says. "You
never know what might come in. It
can be simple, and then the whole
place is upside-down."
Wright agreed about the new
workload requirements.
"The workload is about what I'm
accustomed to," Wright says.
And both say they have no
plans on leaving anytime in the
near future.
Wright, for instance, wanted
to move to Oregon and found
property in Willamina where
her husband and she live with
two dogs and three horses.
"I have no intent on going
anywhere," she says.
And although Mascarinas says
she might one day return to an
overseas assignment, at the mo
ment she has no plans to leave
the Tribal clinic.
Johnston snys he started sens
ing a turnaround at the Tribal
clinic in November and Decem
ber of last year.
"We have a dedicated, loyal
and honest group of employ
ees," Johnston says.
And he pauses to recall a
horror story of being told that
a Tribal Elder had been sitting
in the clinic lobby for two hours,
waiting to see his health care
provider.
"You don't hear those things
from patients anymore," he says,
shuddering at the thought. D