Welcome
PRESENTS
Amir Jalilian, MD | Family Medicine
KEYNOTE
SPEAKER
er
ents Cent
Florence Ev
26th
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Friday, Se
et & Gr
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WEDNESDAY
WWW.THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM
Me
6:00 p.m.
ion
Presentat
7:00 p.m.
llow OF FLORENCE • DUNES CITY • WESTLAKE • MAPLETON • SWISSHOME • DEADWOOD • YACHATS AND ALL POINTS BETWEEN
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SERVING THE Sig
COMMUNITIES
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$5.00
E A R • I Tic S ke S ts U
E in N O or . 7 6
SEPTEMBER 24 • 2014
75
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ane
$7.00 at the
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go to Floren Relay For Life
Proceeds
Florence
Society and
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Tim
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25th ANNIVERSARY: PEACEHEALTH PEACE HARBOR MEDICAL CENTER
$5M EXPANSION PLANNED
TO START NEXT YEAR
DC reopens
septic ordinance
discussions
DUNES CITY — The Dunes City Planning
Commission is asking residents to comment on whether
changes should be made to the current ordinance (No.
203) governing septic system maintenance.
The commission will hear comments during its regu-
lar meeting beginning at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25,
at Dunes City Hall, 82877 Spruce St. in Westlake. This
is the meeting to attend to get opinions on the record.
The commission had appointed a Citizens Advisory
Committee last summer to assess the ordinance by col-
lecting community input and to make recommendations
about changes to consider. After five weeks, the CAC
suspended its operations, saying the city was not pro-
viding correct information for them to work with. The
group was officially disbanded by the commission ear-
lier this month, the chairman, George Burke, explaining
that the CAC needed only the ordinance, which was
provided to the members.
The council directed Burke to collect public com-
ments before or at the next planning commission meet-
ing, which is today. The Siuslaw News received the
press release on Monday, inviting the public to respond.
The deadline for commenting is today, Sept. 24.
Ordinance No. 203, which was adopted in 2010, can
be viewed online by visiting the Dunes City website at
www.dunescity.com/ordinances. Printed copies may be
obtained from City Hall Monday through Thursday
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Citizens are also invited to submit comments in writ-
ing. Written comments must be received at Dunes City
Hall by 4 p.m.
Comments can be delivered to City Hall at the
address above. Citizens may also submit comments via
email to planning@dunescityor.com noting Ordinance
No. 203 in the subject line.
The comments will help inform whether Dunes City
Council should consider changing the way in which it
regulates septic systems, and if so, the kinds of changes
that should be proposed.
Additional public comment will be accepted if spe-
cific changes are formally considered by the Planning
Commission or City Council.
PHOTOS BY THERESA BAER/SIUSLAW NEWS
The medical center’s open house and anniversary celebration included opportunities to meet new doctors and attend
health education seminars, have a treat from BJ’s, listen to historic interviews broadcast by Coast Radio, meet volunteers,
and enjoy activities for children, such as face painting and the teddy bear clinic.
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
uring its 25th anniversary
open house Saturday,
PeaceHealth
Peace
Harbor
Medical
Center
announced plans for a $5 million
expansion of its emergency
department (ED) beginning in
early 2015.
The ED expansion is part of a
$10 million upgrade that includ-
ed a new $5.2 million central
utility plant and generator.
The expansion will double the
size of the current ED to more
than 7,500 square feet, and
includes six private treatment
rooms, two trauma rooms, a cen-
tralized nurse station and a
secure treatment room for poten-
tially violent patients.
A tele-management system for
people with stroke or cardiac
arrest will also be part of the new
ED.
The medical center’s director
of
development,
Michele
Douglass, explained, “We can
actually be electronically hooked
up with PeaceHealth Sacred
Heart Medical Center at
RiverBend in Eugene. The emer-
gency room doctors here will be
talking directly with the surgeon
in RiverBend while they are
prepping for surgery. It takes 45
minutes to one hour off the sur-
gery prep time once the patient
arrives at RiverBend.”
The expansion had been a part
of the hospital’s master plan
project since 2005. Then, in
January 2012, hurricane-force
D
Book festival
features 70-plus
authors, many local
PeaceHealth Medical Group welcomes
Dr. Amir Jalilian to our experienced team
of family medicine physicians.
À°>>ÃL>À`ViÀÌwi`>Þ
Medicine and is accepting patients at
ÕÀÀiViV>Ì]ÎäÌ
-ÌÀiiÌ°
To make an appointment with Dr. Jalilian]
cal x{£äӣȣΠ.
Among the more than 70 authors participating in the
Florence Festival of Books, 17 live in this area. Stop by
the Florence Events Center, Saturday, Sept. 27, between
10 a.m. and 4 p.m., to meet a local author who just
might happen to be a neighbor.
Bob Jackson, artist and author who writes a column
for Siuslaw News, will have his three books, “I Was No
Hero,” about his time in the military and especially on
the U.S.S. Indianapolis; “Hells Hole and Battle Beach:
The Westlake Story,” about growing up in Westlake;
and “For Love of a Car,” about the world-famous
Harrah Car Collection and filled with his drawings.
James Heintz wrote “Apple Box Boy: Slices of Life,”
about growing up in the years after World War II in
Washington’s Yakima Valley, and “How Did You Find
Me?” about his mother’s struggles with Alzheimer’s
disease and how it affected the whole family.
Judy Fleagle, co-chairwoman of the festival, has a new
book, “Around Florence,” to go with her two well-
received bridge books, “Crossings: McCullough’s Coastal
Bridges” and “Crossings Guide to Oregon’s Coastal
Spans.”
Festival sponsors include the Siuslaw News,
Siuslaw Bank, Florence Regional Arts Alliance, On
Your Feet with a Splash, Sea Lion Caves, Pacific
Publishing, Port Hole Publications, Coastal Writers,
Siuslaw Public Library, Ladies of Elks, Harriet and
Dick Smith, Ron Hogeland and Nancy Archer, and
Shelley and Lynn Taylor.
Don’t miss this annual gathering of publishers and
writers. For more information, contact the Florence
Events Center by calling 541-997-1994 or visit
www.eventcenter.org.
Your
INSIDE
W E D N E S D AY
Classifieds
B7
Library Tidings A5
Opinion
A4
Police
A2
Scoreboard
Sports
Tides
Weather
B4
B
B1
A2
winds caused Peace Harbor to
lose electricity, and for the first
time it had to rely solely on
backup generator power. It was
not sufficient.
“While we were on emergency
power, a man was brought in
with a broken neck,” Douglass
said. “We had to shift backup
generator power from surgery to
imaging to be able to give him a
CAT scan. That told us we need-
ed to address the lack of ade-
quate backup emergency power.”
The current ED was built in
1989, the same time the hospital
was built. It was designed to treat
2,500 patients per year. In 2013,
the ED treated 8,800 people.
“Our CEO Rick Yecny came
up with a business plan to put the
two projects together as one,”
Douglass said, “because we
couldn’t do the emergency
department expansion without
the increased power supply.”
The proposal Yecny made to
the PeaceHealth board of direc-
tors was to divide the total $10
million project. He proposed
PeaceHealth cover the $5.2 mil-
lion cost of the central utility
plant, which was at the end of its
useful life; then Peace Harbor
would raise the $5 million neces-
sary to build the new ED.
The central utility plant proj-
ect was completed in April 2014,
and according to Yecny, the new
power system included a genera-
tor that can service the entire
hospital. When fired up, the gen-
erator ran at about 35 percent of
capacity.
“The entire system is good for
another 25 years,” Yecny said.
The ED expansion will be
done in phases so the emergency
facilities can be used during con-
struction.
Over the past two years, more
than $4 million of the $5 million
project has been secured, with
most of the money coming from
local donors, according to Kay
King, chairwoman of the ED
expansion Save a Life campaign.
“We have doubled the previ-
ous record for private money
See
HOSPITAL 10A
Team seeks ‘1 more million’
The PULSE team is heading up the campaign to raise
money to expand the PeaceHealth emergency depart-
ment. The team includes, back row, Woody Woodbury,
Annette Foglio, Steve Galbraith, Dr. Willie Foster and
Ken Henderson; front row, Kay King, Michele
Douglass and Melissa Phillips. Sheldon Meyer, not pic-
tured, is also a member of the team. (courtesy photo)
PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Medical Center celebrated its
25th anniversary with the community on Saturday. Hospital
tours, teddy bear clinics and ambulance tours afforded the
opportunity for visitors to get a personal look at the Florence
area hospital.
With the tours and delicious BJ’s ice cream cones came the
announcement of the $5 million Emergency Department
See
PULSE 10A
Weather
T ODAY
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Partly
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Sports—B
F AVORITE F RONT P AGES 2014 • 9