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127TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 62
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
P EACE H ARBOR NURSES APPROVE 3- YEAR CONTRACT WITH P EACE H EALTH
Oregon Nurses Association, PeaceHealth corporate managers sign finalized contract Aug. 3
B Y N ED H ICKSON
Siuslaw News
I
t was nearly a year in the making,
but this past Thursday nurses at
PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Medical
Center voted 93 percent in favor of
approving a new three-year contract
with the hospital.
The decision came after nine
months of negotiations between 75
local nurses, represented by the
Oregon Nurses Association (ONA),
and representatives of PeaceHealth.
Nurses had been working without
a contract since January 2017.
“Nurses and community members
worked together to make sure we
reached a fair agreement with the
hospital that allows us to recruit and
retain the health care providers we
need to care for our friends, family
and neighbors,” said surgical servic-
es nurse and ONA member Sandy
Fleetwood, RN. “Thanks to our com-
munity’s support, we won a fair deal
that will help us attract topflight
nurses and improve the quality of
care we provide for our patients.”
Nurses had been working with
PeaceHealth’s corporate managers
since November 2016 in an attempt
to reach a contract agreement that
increases wages and improves nurs-
ing recruitment and retention.
In May, following unsuccessful
contract mediation sessions with
PeaceHealth corporate administra-
tors, nurses held an informational
picket on the corners of Highways
101 and 126 to inform the public of
the key issues raised by nurses.
Among them were ending staff
call requirements, addressing below-
market wages, improving staff safe-
ty and increasing recruitment and
retention.
“The Florence community has
actively supported nurses throughout
contract
negotiations,”
said
Fleetwood, who noted that more
than 100 community members met
with local nurses at the Florence
Senior Center to discuss the key
issues the ONA was negotiating.
The three-year contract nurses
approved on Thursday goes a long
way toward addressing those issues,
including increased security meas-
ures to help protect nurses working
off-site, rules designed to dissuade
excessive call shifts and overtime
use, and cost-of-living adjustments
to help attract and keep more quali-
fied nurses in Florence.
In addition, a new Labor Manage-
ment Committee will be established
to help preemptively address future
See
NURSES 6A
ECONOMY
S P LI S H
Survey seeks to
find the future
of Florence
New Housing Opportunities
and Economics group forms,
looks to residents for vision
PHOTOS BY CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS
iuslaw Public Library wrapped
up its “Build a Better World”
Summer Reading Program
this week in Florence and
Mapleton. Area youth splashed on a
bouncing water slide, spun hula hoops,
created massive bubbles, got their faces
painted, ate a hot dog lunch and chose
from a variety of books donated by the
Friends of the Siuslaw Public Library.
S
Cultivating a memory
Sunni Days helps veteran’s widow, restores garden
JARED ANDERSON/SIUSLAW NEWS
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
Siuslaw News
T
INSIDE
he yard work was therapy. The
immaculately kept flowers outside
the home of Carol and Lance Blalock
was a way for Lance to keep his dexter-
ity up, diminished over the years from
Parkinson’s disease.
“For Parkinson’s patients, you need
to keep moving. Once you stop that, it’s
over,” Carol said.
So Lance would kneel in the yard,
hands gripped around the dandelions,
his muscles remembering a sense of
purpose.
This, according to Carol, was when
he was truly at peace.
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Community . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
B5
A3
A4
A2
Side Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . B4
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
This Week on the Coast . . . . A7
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2
Carol Blalock holds a picture of
her late husband, Lance, in her
newly manicured yard by Sunni
Days Yard Care.
And then, on March 9, he passed
away.
Carol was devastated; they had been
together for 37 years and it was too
painful for her to do much of anything.
The yard fell into disrepair.
Plus, as she admitted, she’s terrible at
gardening.
“I just can’t tell what a weed is,” she
admitted. “If it has a flower on it, I’m
calling it a flower.”
See
THIS WEEK ’ S
Full Forecast, A3
GARDEN 6A
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
66 55
68 55
72 55
69 54
WEATHER
What is the general business climate of
Florence like?
The quality of life?
How about the available workforce?
What types of housing opportunities
should the city focus its resources on?
What is an affordable purchase price for
a home in Florence?
These are just some of the many survey
questions that the Housing Opportunities
and Economics
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
Project (HEOP) is
Siuslaw News
asking Florence
area questions.
Commissioned by the City of Florence,
HEOP is looking at the link between hous-
ing and the economy, an extraordinarily
complex relationship that deals with issues
of home pricing, housing types, industry
revitalization and bringing outside busi-
nesses to the community.
It’s a tall order, and the group needs the
help of Florence area residents.
“We’d like to make sure we’re hitting the
nail on the head with what the community
needs,” said Florence Economic
Development Coordinator Kelli Weese.
The project is running a four-page survey
for Florence-area residents to help find the
direction of where the commission will go.
It is open through Sept. 15.
“We’re typing to figure out what are our
major issues with housing and with jobs,
but we also want to hear from the commu-
nity because nobody knows better than
those who live here,” Weese said.
Survey questions run the gamut from
how much a rental dwelling should cost per
month to what the city’s strengths and
weaknesses are as a whole.
The answers to these questions will help
inform city officials in the rules and regula-
tions they create in the coming years.
But getting people to think about these
issues can be difficult.
The Siuslaw News conducted an
impromptu survey with residents of the city
on some of the questions.
For some people, the city needs a brand
before it begins building.
“Somehow, the Florence experience has
to unite (the different) people who live
here,” said Florence resident Stephanie
Ames. “When I was a young woman,
Florence was a logging and fishing town.
Now, we’re a tourist town and we have to
embrace it, manage it and be it.”
For others, the issues seemed too com-
plex to answer.
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2 S ECTIONS ❘ 16 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2017
See
SURVEY 6A