SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2020 | 5A
HEALTH from page 1A
“If you’re not tech savvy, like
me perhaps, and need a little help,
we have people that will walk you
through,” said Heather MacAr-
thur.
Once online, patients will be
asked a series of pre-screening
questions, just as they would do
through a regular office visit.
“And once they’re ready, they
get a notice about 30 minutes
before the appointment,” MacAr-
thur said.
Before the provider meets with
the patient, they pull up all rel-
evant health information, from
medical charts to scans. They
then start the session, taking
special care in how they present
themselves to patients.
“We make sure we’re looking at
the patients directly, bringing the
charts close to the camera,” said
Posegate, who has been utilizing
the service for the two weeks. “I
try to be intentional. I always say,
‘Let me look something up,’ if I’m
looking away from the camera.
That’s so they know I’m not surf-
ing the web. We have video-side
manner now.”
The sessions can be used for a
whole host of visits, including fol-
low up exams and checkups.
“They can check their blood
pressure at home for me, or rash-
es even,” Posegate said. “You have
that visual component, so you can
see a lot. You can see if someone is
having a hard time breathing. You
can look down their throat. You
can be a little flexible.”
To help prevent the spread of
COVID-19, telehealth helps by
allowing patients to stay at home
while still being able to get needed
medical help. In the long term, the
technology has the opportunity to
fix long standing issues with the
isolated Siuslaw region.
“It’s going to be huge, being
able to interface with specialists
in Eugene,” Posegate said. “That
could really help people who are
driving to Eugene or have trans-
portation issues.”
Whether or not Peace Harbor
will see a widespread adoption
of the technology is still left to be
seen.
“I think we have an older pop-
ulation that likes being in our of-
fice,” Posegate said. “They’re hard
of hearing, or sometimes it’s diffi-
cult to use a video.”
And telehealth would not re-
place hospital visits entirely, with
patients still needing to come in
for blood work and yearly phys-
icals.
“But I think once people start
doing it, they’ll get comfortable,”
Posegate said. “They can be in
their pajamas and talking about
their lab. It will probably change
the way we do healthcare, and
I think really, for that benefit, I
think it’s a good thing.”
Telehealth was only one part of
the hospital’s response to a possi-
ble outbreak of COVID-19 in the
region.
Because of Peace Harbor Med-
ical Center’s association with the
PeaceHealth network in Alaska,
Washington and Oregon, the
western Lane County hospital
was able to get an inside view of
the novel coronavirus COVID-19
early on in the pandemic.
PeaceHealth Peace Harbor
Chief Administrative Officer
Jason Hawkins said, “We were
able to see things in Washington
at other PeaceHealth facilities a
month or so in advance. It really
afforded us the opportunity to get
out ahead. We were learning a lot
from those facilities.”
Such insight included how
shortages of supplies in Wash-
ington were affecting hospitals
and what was needed to properly
quarantine COVID-19 patients
along with general patients.
“And if we needed a protocol
with all the data requirements
that were happening, being part
of that network allowed those
things to be done by the system
for us,” Hawkins said.
PeaceHealth set up an incident
command structure that is still
being used today.
“I think another big advantage
of being a system is, we had a
system-wide incident command,
and then each network had an in-
cident command,” Hawkins said.
“And each hospital within the net-
work had an incident command.”
Peace Harbor’s command cen-
ter is set up in a conference room
next to the cafeteria. The walls
are filled with charts and maps,
planning out a possible rise in
COVID-19 cases.
“Every day, we’re meeting here
and working five, six hours a day,
working on different projects,
different meetings. We had a cor-
respondence board, we have sit-
uational stats that we’re working
through,” Hawkins said.
The command structure has
finance and administration chiefs
looking at the variety of forms
that needed to be filled out for
PHOTOS BY
JARED ANDERSON/
SIUSLAW NEWS
(Left) Nurse Practitioner Heather Posegate demonstrates Peace Harbor’s new telehealth system while (right) a medical
center staff member welcomes patients to the hospital with a temperature check.
FEMA funding. They broke the could share PPE when we had we saw there was other work that cy department and the clinics. I
hospital into different sections, pinch points.”
needed to be done,” Hawkins said. think Florence has been relatively
creating surge plans for the emer-
A triage center has been placed “So caregivers and managers said, spared, as has Lane County and
gency department, walk-in clinic, outdoors, allowing for suspect- ‘Hey, we’ve got some extra help, Oregon.”
primary care and palliative care. ed COVID-19 patients to safely what do you need?’”
Does this mean that Ore-
Hawkins also pointed to a large check in without infecting other
In the last month, lists of avail- gonians essentially avoided
picture of the city, which has dif- patients.
able employees, from caregivers COVID-19?
ferent areas sectioned off.
Indoors, the hospital has a to physicians, were posted on the
“We’re not sure,” Hawkins said.
“If we had a community surge, closed-off section of rooms spe- walls of the war room, allowing “We need to watch and learn as
they are going to have providers in cifically for suspected COVID certain sections of the hospital we wade back into this. The first
the city of Florence and serve the patients. As of right now, there are to match people to needed ar- step is how do we take care of
community in certain hotspots,” only two rooms, “but they could eas. Physical therapists were now more of our patients, how do we
he explained.
move this wall out and have it be taking temperatures at the front start to live in a new normal. I
There are constant discus- four rooms down here,” Foster said. door. Caregivers were serving think we’ll learn from each step.
sions on PPE (personal protec-
Ventilators were increased food in the cafeteria.
We learn, we pause, and then we
tive equipment), testing swabs, from four to nine, and “we even
PeaceHealth also created extra take the next step.”
putting together confirmed kicked up our food inventory, if sick time for employees, 80 hours
Instead of preparing for a
COVID-19 units, along with the by chance food inventories be- if they were to fall ill to COVID. surge, the hospital is now pre-
suspected COVID-19 unit.
came a problem,” Hawkins said.
Pay is protected through April, paring to mitigate flare ups that
“And then we would look out
Patient flow is strictly regulated. and partnerships with organiza- could occur. As to if/when those
how we would operationalize
Robin Allen, director of clinical tions like the Siuslaw School Dis- flare ups will occur, and how se-
them, in terms of staffing, posi- services, said, “If they had respira- trict allowed employees to have vere they could be, it’s anybody’s
tion, supplies, PPE, pharmaceu- tory symptoms, they wouldn’t be childcare, further maintaining the guess. The only certainty is that
ticals. Just go down through the crossing paths with patients that workforce.
COVID-19 will be with the world
whole list,” Hawkins said.
were coming in that were not re-
“Nobody was furloughed, no- for some time to come.
Hawkins and the Peace Harbor spiratory patients. We made sure body was laid off,” Allen said.
“How do we live amongst the
staff frequently visit with local that we had a plan to make sure “They might have not been busy virus without a vaccine?” Haw-
governmental agencies, as well as that those patients weren’t cross- with their normal job, but they kins asked. “What’s the impact
create partnerships with various ing paths.”
were doing other things. Peace- going to be in the way we’re living
other agencies to bring in volun-
Strict policies are in place for Health has made sure that we our life? I think those are things
teers and needed supplies.
healthcare workers, with daily have not lost any income due to we’re all going to have to measure
In addition, the hospital’s con- temperature checks and require- the COVID crisis.”
and understand. I think we all
ference room has been turned into ments to wear masks. Anyone
While the hospital metic- need to realize that our actions
a sewing unit so workers could walking into the facility is also ulously planned for a surge of can affect other people.”
make masks, while PeaceHealth subject to a temperature check.
COVID-19 patients in the ini-
The one thing that Hawkins is
created its own interconnected
Plus, if PeaceHealth hospitals tial phase of the pandemic, the sure of is that the staff of Peace
network to keep supplies going. in Eugene were to overflow, Peace Siuslaw region, and Oregon as a Harbor is prepared.
“If we were short on a particu- Harbor created plans to take on whole, has largely been spared at
“We’ve done a lot of hard work
lar item, maybe certain size gowns more patients.
this point.
here,” he said. “The staff, they
or masks, maybe RiverBend had
“If RiverBend was unable to
“I don’t think we saw a huge know it’s a calling. They’re very
an excess they could allocate to take anymore, we had a plan that rush of people with COVID resilient.”
us,” Hawkins said, referencing would turn our (post-anesthesia symptoms,” Foster said. “We saw
In the next edition of the Siu-
PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Med- care unit) into a nine bed COVID people with shortness of breath, slaw News, Foster and Hawkins
ical Center at RiverBend, located unit,” Allen said.
cough and fever. Before, we will discuss the overall science of
in Springfield. “There were things
Peace Harbor also created a la- would have thought it was pneu- COVID-19, what is known, what
we shared with them. It was really bor resource war room to ensure monia or the flu. Now we just isn’t known, and the controver-
good to be part of a network that the labor pool was utilized.
added COVID onto that list. But sies and questions surrounding
“When areas got slower, in- it wasn’t a huge number more that opening up society in the age of a
stead of asking people to go home, came in, at least to the emergen- pandemic.
Th is year is going to be diff erent, but we can still keep
the tradition of celebrating with our
FROM
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FIBER from page 1A
over 94 households, who said
downturn of the state could put they did not have access to the
the financial futures of all state internet.”
schools in jeopardy.
However, there was some con-
fusion on what “access to the in-
Online participation
ternet” actually meant.
Grzeskowiak began the dis-
“Some kids log on at work, and
cussion during the school board’s we didn’t have any contact with
teleconference by giving details them the first rounds of calls. So
on how distance learning was they have access,” Grzeskowiak
working for the district. For the said. “After the follow up contact,
past two weeks, the school has that list went down to 79 students
been holding online classes after and 69 households.”
the state closed in-person classes
The district has already begun
for the rest of the school year.
offering to subsidize the internet
The majority of the elemen- for these households on a short-
tary school, between 70 and 75 term basis, using funding from
percent, were participating in the CARES act to ensure students
the digital platform, though one had access to internet in their
grade stood at 60 percent.
homes.
“There’s a larger number of
But in the long term, Grzesko-
elementary kids whose parents wiak said, “We do have those
have elected to go with the paper kids that have financial hardships
equivalent for the district’s learn- we’re going to need to look at if
ing packet,” Grzeskowiak report- we’re going to talk about distance
ed. “We’ve had them returned learning, or even regular learn-
and are sorting them out, but we ing, and having equitable access
don’t have a hard count on that.” for all kids.”
Middle school was seeing
higher participation with digital,
The proposal
with grades logging on in the
The discussion then turned
mid-80 percentile. Around 12 to Wright, who spoke about the
percent of students were using company and the proposal.
paper options.
“The last couple of years, we
High school has seen the larg- kicked off the fiber to the home
est online participation rates, project,” said Wright, describing
with 95 percent of students how Hyak had already begun
checking in at least twice a week. laying fiber optics and providing
Five percent of students (18 in to- internet for the Pacific View Busi-
tal) requested paper options.
ness Park on Kingwood Street.
However, there have been a Hyak has also begun to buy prop-
few students who have not been erty in the city to act as hubs,
in contact with the school since bringing fiber optics to homes.
the shutdown began.
“We’re just finishing Park
“We need to know if they’re Village now and running down
in town or out of town,” Grz- Kingwood Street, down toward
eskowiak said. “Are they in town Dairy Queen,” Wright said.
but occupied with family com- “We’re obviously a local company.
mitments? I know some of our (Co-owner) Neil Ecker went to
kids are watching siblings, some high school here, my wife went to
that had part time jobs are now high school here. I’ve been pretty
the primary breadwinner for the involved in the community for a
household. They’re lacking some while.”
sort of access or are missing con-
Hyak and the school district
tact calls.”
studied the landscape of where
District staff has begun knock- fiber existed, and where students
ing on doors to track down the in need were.
status of these few remaining
“Where our main fiber area
students.
exists today, it’s pretty central to
“This brings us into the next the city,” Wright said. “We looked
part of our contact in distance at ways of easily trying to get to
learning, which is internet ac- other high-density areas of the
cess,” Grzeskowiak said. “Staff city that had a … high percentage
has called all the families at least of students. For instance, we’re
twice, and some of them four probably not going to try and
times. After our initial survey of do service in Fawn Ridge, where
the district, we had 119 students, there might only be a handful of
students.”
But Hyak and the district
were able to locate four areas
they identified as “critical areas”
immediately around the school
district.
“It’s all within a mile of neigh-
borhoods that have high density
of students. That might be on the
lower income scale or have a little
bit less of an ability to afford in-
ternet,” Wright said.
One area would run most of
the length of Oak Street, from
the elementary school up to the
Siuslaw Dunes apartments by Les
Schwab.
“There’s quite a few kids up
there,” Wright said.
The next section encompasses
Siano Loop, Skookum Drive, and
a few other streets just north of
the business park.
“Right up here, you have about
190 homes, with 31 of those
homes containing students,”
Wright said.
Apartment complexes such as
Siuslaw Dunes and Oak Terrace
would be connected, as well as
a large area around Nopal and
13th, “which includes some of
the other subsidized housing,”
Wright said.
However, there are areas that
cannot get fiber.
“They’re way out in Ada or up
in Tiernan, and they just don’t
have access to it,” Wright said.
Installation of any non-satellite
internet to individual homes runs
into the thousands, but grant
funding is limited.
“There is funding for outlying
areas that are extremely challeng-
ing to get to,” Wright said. “They
just kicked off the Rural Oppor-
tunity Fund, which is going to
start coming together in October
of this year. That is something
we are going to be working with
another nonprofit to see if there’s
other opportunities for that in
places way out in the North Fork,
way out on the East side of Silt-
coos, and some other pretty chal-
lenging places. Unfortunately,
things like this don’t have a lot of
grant opportunities.”
According to Grzeskowiak,
“Rural broadband stalled in the
state legislature two years ago and
hasn’t picked up again. How that
gets managed, I don’t know yet.
There isn’t even a special session
for the legislature schedule.”
See CONNECT page 8A