SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2016
Sen. Roblan’s septic loan
bill signed by Gov. Brown
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown signed into law yes-
terday a bill sponsored by
Sen. Arnie Roblan (D-Coos
Bay) that will help low-
income Oregonians fix fail-
ing septic systems.
Senate Bill 1563 benefits
the environment and helps
low-income families, often in
rural Oregon.
The bill, which the
Legislature passed in the
2016 Session, requires the
Oregon
Department
of
Environmental Quality to
award grants for develop-
ment and administration of
low-interest loan programs
for repairing, upgrading or
evaluating residential or
small business on-site septic
systems.
“This is an incredibly
important bill for the rural
communities in my district
and for the entire state.
There is significant need
in coastal communities,
where failing septic systems
are contaminating the envi-
ronment and threatening pub-
lic health,” Roblan said.
“Many of my colleagues
across the state can share
similar stories and similar
challenges.
“Working class folks who
have failing septic systems
will benefit from accessing
an affordable financing pro-
gram to help them replace
this critical infrastructure.”
The bill appropriates
$250,000 to DEQ to admin-
ister the program and award
grants throughout the 2015-
17 biennium.
Grant recipients must
meet certain criteria and are
subject to DEQ oversight.
Septic systems are the
most common method of
sewage treatment for homes
and businesses that are not
connected to an area-wide
sewage system.
More than 30 percent of
Oregonians rely on septic
systems to treat wastewater
from their homes and busi-
nesses.
Properly functioning sep-
tic systems treat sewage
to minimize groundwater
and surface water pollu-
tion.
Septic systems which fail
or malfunction can pollute
Oregon’s land and water-
ways with raw sewage and
create public health haz-
ards.
“In many cases, home-
owners tell me they don’t
have a good financial option
to replace their systems,”
Roblan said. “Without a
financing program like I’ve
proposed in this bill, a
new system can be a signif-
icant burden. And a failing
septic system can be equally
devastating to a fixed- or
low-income homeowner,
as to an average-income
family struggling to make
ends meet.”
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2150 Hwy. 101 • Florence
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3 B
Us TOO Flor ence
Behind the headlines
B Y B OB H ORNEY
CANCER SURVIVOR
U S TOO CHAPTER LEADER
T
he efforts to kill PSA
screening for prostate can-
cer don’t jive with statistics
from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention/National
Center for Health Statistics
(CDC/NCHS). Nor do they reflect
the personal experiences of more
than 180 men, diagnosed with
prostate cancer, who have attend-
ed Us TOO Florence meetings.
Men who agree with Oregon
Urology Institute, “It is better to
know than to not know.”
Consider the following:
It didn’t take long for the U.S.
Preventive Services Task Force
(USPSTF) to reconsider its 2012
recommendation against routine
PTA
PSA-based screening for prostate
cancer.
This is something it brought
upon itself by charging headlong
into its recommendation despite
numerous public comments point-
ing out problems with the data
being used. Many of these com-
ments were by experts in urology
who diagnose and treat prostate
cancer on a daily basis.
In spite of pointing out over
and over that the prostate, lung,
colorectal and ovarian (PLCO)
trial was not a screening-versus-
no-screening trial, the USPSTF
totally disregarded those com-
ments and proceeded to its final
recommendation.
So, here we are about four
years later. The USPSTF request-
ed public comments last fall as it
started reconsidering that recom-
mendation. Its decision probably
won’t be forthcoming until some-
time in 2018. This is a startling
turn around for a decision that the
USPSTF stood behind so
adamantly, even in the face of
questions and criticism from urol-
ogy groups, individual urologists,
support groups, patients, their
families and others.
Then there was the 2015 effort
by the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS), which
had contracted with Mathematica
Policy Research (Mathematica) to
develop a clinical quality measure
entitled
“Non-Recommended
PSA-Based Screening.”
The intent of the measure was
to reduce the use of medical serv-
ices that had been found to result
in more harms than benefits
(straight from the USPSTF rec-
ommendation). The intent was to
discourage the use of PSA-based
screening in the general popula-
tion of men even to the point of
financially penalizing physicians
who ordered those tests. Fewer
PSA tests would equal higher per-
formance!
Unbelievable.
After reviewing the public
comments, CMS has stopped
development of the measure and
pledged to work with the
American Urological Association,
as well as additional members of
the community such as providers
and patients.
By taking the time to engage
stakeholders it can then determine
the path forward. It seeks to devel-
op quality measures that facilitate
effective, safe, efficient, patient-
centered, equitable and timely
care.
And then this: The American
Cancer Society (ACS) decided in
1996 to establish a goal of reduc-
ing deaths from cancer by 50 per-
cent over a 25-year period, from
1990-2015. The 50 percent was
determined by looking at each
cancer and figuring that if they
applied all that was known then
(1996), cancer mortality could be
reduced by 40 percent, with
another 10 percent reduction
being achieved through new dis-
coveries in treatment.
The results, obtained from the
CDC/NCHS, were just released
and the reduced cancer mortality
for the 25-year period was only 26
percent. However, there was one
shining star among the data:
Prostate cancer mortality was
reduced by nearly 50 percent..
Yes, prostate cancer was the
only cancer to meet or exceed the
50-percent goal and, not surpris-
ingly, for 22 of those years, early
detection of prostate cancer with
PSA screening was considered life
saving.
For many of us, it truly was.
For many men to come, it will
be… if they have access to it.
From the above ACS report:
“The 50 percent reduction goal
was more fully met for the cancer
sites for which there was enact-
ment of effective approaches for
prevention, early detection, and/or
treatment.”
Those are clearly supportive
factors in prostate cancer’s 53 per-
cent reduced mortality from 1990-
2015 and it took all three working
together.
AWARDS SCHOLARSHIPS TO SENIORS
The Florence Community
PTA announced its 2016
Senior Scholarship recipients.
Scholarships were present-
ed to the students at the annu-
al Siuslaw High School
Scholarship Award Night held
May 26.
First consideration for PTA
scholarships is given to stu-
dents who intend to pursue
careers working with children
or teaching.
If enough applicants don’t
meet this first requirement,
other conditions considered
include academic potential,
leadership, character and
financial need.
This year, the PTA was able
to award four $500 scholar-
ships to local graduating sen-
iors. Funds for PTA scholar-
ships are obtained primarily
through Box Tops for
Education
collections
throughout the school year;
PTA earns 10 cents for each
Box Top redeemed.
The following students
COURTESY PHOTO
PTA Scholarship Committee member Alice Burns, student scholarship winners
Holly Hicks, Taylor Richards-Sykora, Mikaela Siegel and Nikita Williams and
PTA President Diane McCalmont
were awarded 2016 scholar-
ships: Mikaela Siegel, who
plans to attend the University
of Idaho; Holly Hicks, attend-
ing George Fox University;
Nikita Williams, who will
attend
Western
Oregon
University;
and
Taylor
Richards-Sykora, planning to
attend the University of
Oregon.
To find out more about
Florence Community PTA,
visit www.florencepta.org, or
on Facebook by typing
Florence Community PTA.
To join, download a form
from the website.
‘Based on a True Story’ comes to FEC
Tuesday 5/31
Conrad Anderson
Brenda McDaniel
Florence
Westlake
Safeway
Grocery Outlet
Wednesday 6/1
Jimmy Dean
Alex Bochum
Camano Isl, WA
Florence
True Value
Grocery Outlet
Thursday 6/2
Lynda Collier
Terri Taniguchi
Florence
Florence
Safeway
Safeway
Friday 6/3
Marge Eichenberger
Kerstin Johnson
Florence
Florence
UR Worth It
Grocery Outlet
Saturday 6/4
Richard McPhedran
Bear McDaniel
Florence
Westlake
Firehouse Restaurant
Grocery Outlet
Sunday 6/5
Betty Blake
Keith Kersey
Florence
Florence
Books N Bears
Safeway/Florence
Monday 6/6
Pattie Panther
Ronelle Kuert
Florence
Florence
Safeway/Florence
Potter’s Tire Factory
“Based on a True Story”
(“BOATS”) is the Last Resort
Players’ upcoming show set
for Friday and Saturday, June
17 and 18, at the Florence
Events Center, 715 Quince
St.
First presented two seasons
ago,
“BOATS”
proved
extremely popular with audi-
ences, who enjoyed listening
to true stories (or slightly
embellished) that were also
poignant,
laugh-out-loud-
funny, provocative and in
some cases life-changing.
The storytellers are your
local friends, relatives, teach-
ers, city councilors, pastors
and restaurant servers.
It’s a lineup not to be
missed.
Between stories, Debra
Young, musician and vocal
teacher at Siuslaw High
School and Middle School,
will provide brief piano inter-
ludes as transitions.
Young, in the Florence
community for two years, is
already an established per-
former with the players, hav-
ing played in the onstage
band for “Chicago: the
Musical” last season.
At the “BOATS” perform-
ance, picture taking is
encouraged, not prohibited.
Informality and good sto-
ries are the theme of the
evening.
This flat-floor production
has table seating with food
and drinks available for pur-
chase.
The program begins at 7
p.m. on both nights.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $15 at the FEC
box office or online at
www.eventcenter.org.
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