SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2016
7 A
Some wounds never heal, especially if you aren’t wearing a cup
agement, support and, in an
Ned
isolated incident, a lucky ath-
Hickson letic cup from someone
named “Derek.”
Admittedly, I was curious
as to what qualified this par-
ticular cup as “lucky.” His
response should be a lesson to
us all regarding the dangers
of continuous baseball usage.
“I used to get hit — there
— almost every game,”
Derek explained his note.
“Sometimes two or three
times. But my [censored]
never got hurt.”
Though he didn’t mention
it, I suspect Derek also has a
“lucky” batting helmet.
Regardless, many of you
have expressed an interest in
knowing how the season is
going, whether I’ve had a hit
yet, if jock itch has been an
issue and how much time I’m
For a few fleeting
moments, I considered re-
joining our local community
softball team. Then I remem-
bered what happened the last
time I played a few years ago,
and the trauma it caused.
Mostly for my teammates.
[Insert gauzy dream
sequence here and cue the
harp music]…
As I mentioned, I recently
joined a community softball
team after not participating in
anything athletic since —
conservative estimate — the
golden era of dodgeball in the
early ’70s. In response, I have
received letters and emails
from readers offering encour-
spending in right field. I think
Patsy Sullivan from DeSoto,
Texas, summed it up best
when she asked:
Have you quit yet?
As I told Patsy, I’m not a
quitter. In fact, I expressed
this to my teammates during a
recent huddle, when we found
ourselves down by two runs
heading into our last at bat,
which inspired me to throw
my hand out and chant, “I
WON’T QUIT YOU!”
After an uncomfortable
moment in which all 13 of
my teammates guzzled sodas
simultaneously, we decided to
stick with “RUNS!” as our
chant. Afterward, we also
decided I would be required
to submit all chants on paper
before any team huddles.
Craig Pearson of Lake
Powell, Ariz., wanted to
know how we’re doing in the
league standings. Currently,
we are 3-3 after losing to our
local radio station’s team.
I should mention that it is
undefeated, thanks to a hard-
hitting line-up, ironclad
defense and a team of players
committed to avoiding any
mistakes that could send them
back to Cuba.
To our credit, we did man-
age to keep things close, at
least until their timely clutch
hitting sparked a 12-run rally
late in the bottom of the first
inning.
Until then, it was pretty
much anybody’s game.
Nancy Smythe of Atlanta,
Ga., asked how I’d rate my
personal performance so far
this season. I can answer that
question in two words that,
coincidentally, just happen to
be my official softball nick-
name:
“Rally Killer.”
That’s right. When our
team is tired of running bases
during a two-out rally, I’m
the man they turn to. In our
last game, the outfielders
actually left on a soda run
when I came to bat.
I’m happy to say I made
them regret that decision by
connecting on a line drive
that knocked over their bever-
age cooler.
To answer a question from
Pete Schuster of Cleveland,
Tenn.: We’re not the best
team; we’re not the worst
team. However, I’m pretty
sure we’re the only team with
a certified horticulturalist in
the line-up.
This is very helpful
because, in addition to being
a good ballplayer, this indi-
vidual also knows that
chopped beach grass, distrib-
uted evenly within a bever-
age, can cause a person’s
throat to swell shut for as
long as three to four inn...
I mean approximately an
hour.
Hey, he only mentioned
this so we could recognize the
symptoms; just in case one or
more of our opponents sud-
denly drop to the infield
clutching their throats; possi-
bly even during the play-offs.
Until then, I’ll keep stand-
ing in right field with my
glove held high. Who knows?
Something might even land
in it.
Ned is a syndicated columnist
with News Media Corporation.
Write to him at nedhickson
@icloud.com.
Yachats to host annual holistic, crafts fair Call to artists for ‘Artistic Visions’
YACHATS — The 20th
annual
Pathways
to
Transformation
Holistic
Health, Psychic and Crafts Fair
is set for Saturday, Aug. 6,
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and
Sunday, Aug. 7, from 9 a.m. to
5 p.m., inside Yachats
Commons, 441 N. Highway
101 at Fourth Street.
The $3 weekend pass dona-
tion includes the 22 seminars
Frank’s 101 Barbershop
“My spiritual healing is working!”
Starting August 1st
I will be open Mon, Tues,
(closed Wed), h ur and Fri.
Mornings will be for
walk-ins and At ernoons for appts.
Please, no new clients at this time.
and demonstrations. This is a
family-friendly event and there
is free parking.
The Yachats Commons will
be filled with nearly 75
exhibitors from the Pacific
Northwest and beyond.
A bring-some, take-some
Free Book Exchange featuring
books on health, wellness and
metaphysical topics is also fea-
tured. Food will also be offered
in the on-site cafe.
For more information, visit
www.chucklingcherubs.com or
call 541-547-4664.
Friends of the Florence
Events Center (FEC) is offer-
ing artists the opportunity to
participate in the second annu-
al Artistic Visions awards
show.
Artists’ work will be shown
in Galleries One and Five at
the FEC during October and
November, with awards pre-
sented at a special reception
Oct. 15, from 3 to 5 p.m.
Three judges from outside
the Florence area, each
respected in their field of
expertise, have been asked to
select award winners. There
will be cash awards for first,
second, and third place in each
of three categories: 2-D, pho-
tography and 3-D.
There will also be a
“People’s Choice” award.
Each artist can submit up to
three pieces of artwork, and
due to space restraints, art will
be accepted on a first-come,
first-served basis.
A non-refundable fee of $20
per work must be sent with the
entry form. High school artist
fees will be $10 per work.
All artwork must be for sale,
and content must be appropri-
ate for the FEC. The artist will
receive 75 percent of the price,
and 25 percent will be retained
by the Friends of FEC.
Entry forms and guidelines
can be obtained from the FEC
office, 715 Quince St., during
regular business hours. They
are also available on the FEC
website www.eventcenter.org.
Artwork must be hand-
delivered to the FEC on
Tuesday, Sept. 27, between 9
a.m. and noon.
Power
“Once the power came back
on, it was fine,” Henry said.
Even Florence Events
Center was affected, said man-
ager Kevin Rhodes.
“On Saturday night we had a
large party going on with a
band. Fortunately, through a
Homeland Security Grant, we
have an emergency generator
that allowed that show to go on
uninterrupted,” he said.
The events center’s generator
has enough power to help most
shows go on, but the large theater
often requires more lighting than
the generator can support.
City Manager Erin Reynolds
said it is rare for Florence to
have a power outage, so it was
interesting that July had two.
An animal caused a brief out-
age on July 16.
“It was ironic since that one
happened on Power of
Florence day,” Henry said.
Central Lincoln has a Twitter
page that responds to outages,
twitter.com/CLPUD, as well as
a hotline for customers to call,
1-866-484-3783. People can
also go to clpud.org for more
information.
PeaceHealth Medical Group,
said, “This is a team effort at
PeaceHealth. We have nurse
practitioners, physician’s assis-
tants and RN care coordinators.
We have primary care short-
ages all over the West. Whether
it is PeaceHealth or other
organizations, you want to take
a thoughtful approach, so the
team is important.”
Penrose agreed with the
team approach to health care,
citing the growing national
shortage of physicians.
“We will not be putting out
enough primary care providers
to cover the national need,” he
said. “Nationally, we are short
thousands of physicians. The
future, as we move forward, is
to have nurse practitioners and
physician’s assistants integrat-
ed to make sure we are meeting
all the needs of the patient. If
we can capture a nurse practi-
tioner, that is as valuable to us
as a physician at this point.”
Peace Harbor has signed five
new replacement doctors.
Three will start by the end of
the year, and the other two will
arrive in mid 2017 and some-
time in 2018, respectively.
“I would like to see it earlier,
but we will probably turn the
corner next spring,” Penrose
said.
Until that time, Peace
Harbor plans to serve its
patients who are without a pri-
mary care provider through a
combined approach of team
medicine, referrals to other pri-
mary care physicians for seri-
ous situations and utilizing the
walk-in clinic.
“The walk-in clinic has been
helpful,” Shearer said. “They
see about 60 patients a day. If
we have a patient that has a
need right now, we are going to
have to go to one of the other
primary physicians and say,
‘Can you take another
patient?’”
Penrose sees the doctor
shortage in Florence as being
reflective of what is happening
across rural America, but he is
confident that the aggressive
recruitment
strategy
of
PeaceHealth will prove effec-
tive in attracting new doctors to
the area.
“PeaceHealth is fully com-
mitted to keeping the commu-
nity fully staffed. Where they
can feel some comfort is to
know that this has been an
ongoing process for the last
nine months. For someone that
hasn’t had access, they can take
comfort in knowing we have
been proactive about it. We are
fixing it and there are people on
the way,” he said.
Rick Yecny, chief adminis-
trative officer at Peace Harbor,
concluded, “We need to focus
on the providers that are here as
well. There can be some coor-
dination with the community to
help retain them.”
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Florence Food Share is your local community food
pantry. We serve emergency food boxes to all those
who qualify fi nancially. Our hours are 9:30a.m.-
1p.m., Monday through Friday. We reopen in the af-
ternoons on Monday and Wednesday from 4-6p.m.
We are also now open the fi rst and third Saturday
of each month, from 10a.m. – 1p.m. Please call us
with any ques ons and/or for more informa on.
2190 Spruce Street
541-997-9110
www.l orencefoodshare.org
info@l orencefoodshare.org
Florence Food Share es su lacena de comida co-
munitaria. Servimos cajas de comida de emergen-
cia a todos esos que califi quen fi nancieramente.
Nuestras horas son de 9:30a.m. – 1p.m., de lunes
a viernes. Re-abrimos por la tarde del lunes y del
miércoles de 4-6p.m. También, ahora abrimos el
primer y tercer sábado de cada mes, de 10a.m. –
1p.m. Por favor llámenos con cualquier duda y/o
para conseguir más información.
from 1A
Florence Mayor Joe Henry
said, “I felt so bad for people
trying to play music and trying
to keep their shops and restau-
rants open.”
He said that people waited
on the street while they waited
for power to return.
Hospital
from 1A
According to Shearer, salary
has not been an issue for the
recent departures.
“Some people say, ‘Oh, you
aren’t paying them enough.’
Pay is not an issue. I can think
of at least three providers that
are taking a $20,000 to $40,000
cut in salary by going to other
places,” he said.
Peace Harbor actually
retains physicians for a longer
period than the national aver-
age at other hospitals, Shearer
said.
“Physicians (in general) do
move around a lot more than
they used to in the past,” he
said.
Richard Bennett, vice presi-
dent of operations for
240
HOURS
Is your family prepared?
If an emergency happens in your community,
it may take emergency workers some time to reach you.
You should be prepared to take care of yourself and
your family for a minimum of 240 hours.
Get your emergency fi rst aid kit started with these essentials:
❑ First aid manual
❑ Aspirin or pain relievers
❑ Laxatives, diarrhea medicine
❑ Rubbing alcohol, petroleum jelly
❑ Soap, salt, baking soda
❑ Sanitary napkins, matches
❑ Triangular bandages
❑ Elastic bandages, pressure dressings
❑ Cotton balls, disposable diapers
❑ Scissors, needles, tweezers
❑ Popsicle sticks, splints, heavy string
❑ Thermometer, paper tape
❑ Syrup of Ipecac
❑ Personal prescription medications
This message brought to you by the West Lane
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