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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 2020)
SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2020 | 7A “Since 1983” Visit our Website: www.swansonspm.com Get Results...List With Ed. Ed Kopilec Principal Broker 541 991-8630 4836 Laguna Ave – Luxury lake living on nearly 5 acres. This 4,000 sqft, 4 bdrm, 5 bath home has lake views with private dock. Remodeled in 2003 with hard- wood fl oors, gourmet kitchen, high ceilings, and large master suite. Oversized 3 bay RV barn with shop and offi ce. $1,399,000. #2850-18330278 1749 Highway 101 • 541-997-1200 Our Sales & Service Departments are now open by appointment. Thank you for your understanding as we slowly start to provide services. We will keep you updated as we progress through opening the rest of the departments. For the safety of our community we are following measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19. By Chantelle Meyer Siuslaw News 4590 HIGHWAY 101, FLORENCE LOCATED AT THE COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH Call 541-997-5057 to Volunteer helpinghandsfl orence.org ✔ Things we are in desperate need of: Tents- 2+ man size Sleeping Bags- warm to below 30 degrees Tarps- 10x12 Toothpaste Warm Socks Foot Care Products Canned Food Items Toilet Paper HELPING HANDS COALITION MISSION AND VISION STATEMENT Our mission is to assist the homeless, destitute and needy in our community. We don’t replicate what other organizations are doing in our area; instead we operate a drop-in day center and referral system. Th e center off ers, those in need, a safe place where they fi nd out about services available in the community and get advice on how to apply for assistance locally, statewide and nationwide. Helping Hands Coalition provides direct and practical help as well as hot meals on days other groups are not providing food; vouchers for laundry, bus tickets, prescriptions, utilities, warm clothing, tents, sleeping bags, and other camping equipment, etc., articles of hygiene, and items for pets; a place for them to collect phone messages and receive their mail; as well as a place to just catch their breath and fi gure out what and where to go next without judgement of any kind. Th e center treats all visitors with respect, dignity and compassion, AND WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION OR JUDGEMENT OF ANY KIND. es on Monday, We d n e s d a y and Friday. We start at noon and go un- til they’re gone.” Helping Hands volun- teers take full precautions by wearing masks and gloves. “Everyone who comes our direction are pretty healthy,” Lofy said. “A lot of clients have masks … and are taking precautions.” To access lunch and oth- er resources, people can come to the north side of the church, where they find a table and the Helping Hands volunteers. “We are doing sandwich- es right now, like ham and turkey and cheese. We have some type of chip, since we like to put five items into our bags. Then, we have them on a table, so when people come to our door, they get to pick and choose what they want for lunch,” Lofy said. Helping Hands has part- nered with Lane County Food Share in Eugene to be able to get food brought in, including baked goods and fun desserts. “Sometimes we might just have cookies, or one day we had an overabun- dance of Pop Tarts. It kind of makes it fun, since it’s not the same thing every time,” Lofy said. Volunteers with Helping Hands also still bake cook- ies and desserts. In more normal times, the meals are hot and served inside. “The people who use our resources, they like to talk amongst themselves. They’re like a family,” Lofy said. “Our facility gets to be just one big dining room. We have couches and chairs for people to come in and sit and relax. They get to hang out for a little while.” Hot lunches have in- PR HELPING HANDS COALITION elping Hands Coalition is celebrating its first year in its new location, 4590 Highway 101 in the Florence Community Bap- tist Church. Helping Hands is an all-volunteer communi- ty organization dedicat- ed to providing services, hot lunches and a daytime center for those in need and others with emergency needs. According to Helping Hands leader Teresa Lofy, “Our clients don’t have any- where else to go. Helping Hands offers them, nor- mally, a hot lunch three days a week. It’s just some- thing that every community needs. Even though we’re on the coast, we are not exempt from the homeless issue.” About 75 percent of the clients Helping Hands serves are unhoused, with another 25 percent under- housed, who live in cars, trailers or other unstable conditions. “We’re able to give them this opportunity to have a hot lunch and get out of the weather and provide them the ability to get some clothes and communica- tion,” Lofy said. The organization also provides laundry and show- er vouchers and connects people to other resources in town. It also supplies a Post Office Box so clients can receive mail and better communicate. In March, the coalition transitioned from hot meals inside the church to sack lunches in order to follow social distancing require- ments under COVID-19. Numbers have spiked, with the number of people ac- cessing resources growing from 10-20 up to 35 people. Clients are mainly adults, but there are some families who utilize its resources. Of the adults, many of them are 40 and above. “For the most part, we’re doing OK,” Lofy said. “We’re handing out sack lunch- ESS P R RESS Assisting those in need in our Community. Free Hot Meals Mon-Wed-Fri 12 PM – 1 PM. H R G O OG (541) 997-3475 • 2150 Hwy. 101, Florence www.johnstonmotorcompany.com Helping Hands provides lunch, safe space PR 541-997-4027 1-800-622-8993 ESS ANTS • COCKROACHES • FLEAS • RODENTS BIRDS • BEDBUGS • STORED PRODUCTS PESTS BEES/WASPS • GOPHERS Division also released a comprehensive 22-page document covering a wide range of medical and lab- oratory criteria for medi- cal professionals to follow regarding testing and con- tact tracing plans, guidance for providers on testing and interim investigative guidelines. In addition, it also includes information on: • Supplies that the State of Oregon has received from the federal government, Department of Health and Human Services or from other sources that will be given to Oregon counties. • Testing supplies that will be delivered to coun- ties. • How OHA will priori- tize counties with the low- est testing rates and highest case numbers without test- ing available in their coun- ties, or counties that have other barriers to testing in a timely manner. OHA estimates that 15,000 COVID-19 tests are needed statewide per week at this time. This in- cludes the number of tests needed for testing peo- ple in Oregon communi- ties or cases (12,250 tests per week). The state also needs tests (2,500 tests per week) in clinical and group care settings and to follow COVID-19 outbreaks and study the movement of the disease. The Oregon Health Au- thority has posted its most recent rules, regulations and guidelines for many aspects of the COVID-19 crisis, including testing cri- teria, details of the volun- tary testing program and instructions for providers at www.oregon.gov/oha/. R G O SOME OF THE PESTS THAT WE TREAT: meeting she attended last week at which medical centers and OHSU agreed to a unified approach for managing testing across Oregon. This will allow for allocation of resources, such as masks, gowns and face shields, to be utilized where they are most need- ed. In addition to laying out her metrics for re-opening the state, Brown also urged Oregonians to understand that the nature of re-open- ing will be gradual and likely slower than some may want. “I want to be clear that we will not be able to open Oregon quickly, or in one fell swoop. This process will happen more slowly than any of us would like,” she said. “However, in cer- tain parts of the state, we see almost zero cases and few hospitalizations. It is my hope that some coun- ties or regions could have the ability to begin the pro- cess of reopening as soon as May 15.” On May 1, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) changed its clinical testing guidelines for medical pro- viders so more people with symptoms can be tested. Now, testing will priori- tize impacted populations and all frontline workers. This includes those liv- ing or working in care or group living facilities; un- derserved and marginal- ized populations, including racial and ethnic minority groups; essential frontline workers, including those providing healthcare ser- vices and those serving the public, such as grocery store workers. The OHA Public Health PR SUSTAINED PEST MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR HOME AND BUSINESS reducing the number of needed tests by limiting which individuals will be allowed to take a test. According to Brown, the plan was crafted under the guidance of the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and in close consulta- tion with Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). The goal is to identify which counties may have so few cases of COVID that there is a low likelihood of social infec- tion, allowing for easing of restrictions. “This will include build- ing testing partnerships with smaller hospitals in rural parts of the state. When this partnership is fully implemented, I be- lieve we will have sufficient capacity to meet these first two testing objectives,” Brown stated. “But, in or- der to reopen and hopeful- ly stay open, we must have randomized, widespread testing across the entire state.” The governor also ex- pressed her goal that testing be available for any Orego- nian showing symptoms of the coronavirus or who is concerned they have been infected. If an individual is displaying known signs of the virus, Brown said they should be able to be tested, particularly individuals in vulnerable group-living sit- uations where COVID-19 is suspected, such as nurs- ing homes, prisons and farmworker housing. However, that objective isn’t currently possible due to limitations on chemistry and materials needed to process collected samples in quantities large enough to test greater numbers of people. The plan expands Ore- gon’s testing criteria, allow- ing anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 to be tested within 48 to 72 hours. It also sets the goal of being able to perform 30 tests a week per every 10,000 Or- egonians. Brown’s plan indicates a desire for state health offi- cials to facilitate ongoing, widespread randomized testing to identify where the disease may be hiding and to monitor the disease within at-risk populations, such as communities of color and tribes. “To that end, I am pleased to announce a major new partnership with OHSU to conduct this widespread testing throughout Ore- gon,” Brown said. “This program is a game chang- er. It will give us a more accurate understanding of the true rate of infection in Oregon and to have ongo- ing precision monitoring of any new outbreaks.” The program, called “Be the Key,” will trace the ac- tivities of 100,000 volun- teers who have tested pos- itive for COVID-19. “Our goal is to train at least 600 people, includ- ing community health workers, to build out this statewide team of profes- sionals,” Brown explained. “This team will know how to listen and will be bilin- gual and bicultural so they can understand the people they are talking to — peo- ple who may be worried or scared that they’ve been ex- posed to COVID-19.” In the presentation, Brown also discussed a RESS INSPECT – CORRECT – PROTECT PLAN from page 1A OG SWANSON’S PEST MANAGEMENT cluded lasagna, ham- burgers, spareribs, chicken. A typical meal might look like spaghetti, salad and French bread and dessert. “Our clients like burritos and tacos with refried beans and rice, that sort of stuff. We try to do a balanced meal all the time,” Lofy said. Three separate teams pro- vide the meals each week. “We have about 15 volun- teers that are coming in, and about three that are cooks,” Lofy said. “They plan what will be served that day, and cook on the same day each week. We have a Monday, Wednesday and Friday crew and they work with the same people on each shift. The daily groups work well together.” Like many other non- profits and service organi- zations in town, Helping Hands is run entirely by unpaid volunteers. Three to four volunteers work each shift. “Our volunteers are peo- ple who also saw this need in our community and wanted to come help,” Lofy said. Ideally, more volunteers could be utilized on an on- call basis. “We are always looking for volunteers, board mem- bers and people that are passionate about what we’re doing and that want to help us,” Lofy said. “We are open for ideas on how to grow.” Helping Hands Coali- tion can be contacted at 541-997-5057 and www. helpinghandsflorence.org. People can send mail to P.O. Box 1296, Florence, OR 97439.
