BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2022 A3
LOCAL
Ambulance
Renovations
Continued from A1
Continued from A1
The situation involves
ground ambulance transports.
Air transport coverage through
LifeFlight is not affected.
“We’re just transitioning that
dollar amount of the funds we
received so that the new com-
pany can carry those contracts
through their expiration,” City
Manager Jonathan Cannon
said Tuesday.
Councilors approved the res-
olution 6-0. Councilor Dean
Guyer was absent.
Opposing Measure 114
Councilors voted 5-0 to ap-
prove a letter to citizens, signed
by Mayor Kerry McQuisten,
urging voters to oppose Mea-
sure 114, a statewide issue on
the Nov. 8 ballot.
Councilor Kenyon Dam-
schen abstained from the vote,
saying he did not have enough
information on Measure 114.
Measure 114 would impose
new requirements for people
who want to buy a gun, and
prohibit the sale of gun mag-
azines holding more than 10
rounds.
“This measure is a defacto
gun sales ban in the state of Or-
egon,” the letter states. “Earlier
this year, we resolved as a body
to protect your Second Amend-
ment Rights, and we continue
to do so. This measure tells us
we have to get permission from
the government to exercise our
constitutional rights, which
opposes the very structure our
founding fathers built our Re-
public upon.”
Other business
Councilors on Tuesday also:
• Awarded a bid for “cured-
in-place-pipe” — a method of
extending the life of existing
sewer and stormwater pipes —
for $150,000 to Planned and
Engineered Construction Inc.
• Declared Oct. 10 as World
Mental Health Awareness
Day. Andi Walsh of New Direc-
tions Northwest thanked
the council for recognizing
the issue of mental health
in the community.
Infected
Continued from A1
Although about 80% of peo-
ple infected with West Nile vi-
rus have no symptoms or very
minor effects, according to the
Oregon Health Authority, the
virus can cause major and last-
ing neurological problems. In
rare cases it can be fatal.
The incubation period for
the virus is typically three to 14
days.
People infected with the virus
can’t transmit it to others.
In 2021 there was one human
case of West Nile virus in Baker
County.
There were no human cases
in the county in 2020, two cases
in 2019, none from 2015-18,
and four cases in 2014.
West Nile virus has been
found in mosquitoes trapped
this summer in Baker County.
The Baker Valley Vector
Control District, the proper-
ty-tax funded district that con-
trols mosquitoes on a 200,000-
acre district including most of
Baker, Bowen and Keating val-
leys, collects mosquitoes from
traps and sends them to a lab at
Oregon State University in Cor-
vallis for testing.
A total of 21 “pools” of mos-
quitoes — a pool typically in-
cludes 10 to 50 mosquitoes —
have tested positive for the virus
this year.
Most of those were trapped
in the Keating area, but two
infected pools were collected
about 2 miles south of North
Powder, and one pool was
trapped about 2 miles south of
Baker City.
Richland is outside the vector
control district.
Matt Hutchinson, the dis-
trict’s manager, said on Wednes-
day, Oct. 12 that mosquito
numbers have dropped sub-
stantially, although populations
are above average for mid Octo-
ber due to the persistent warm
temperatures.
He said district workers
ceased the mosquito trapping
program — which is done for
purposes of testing, not limiting
numbers — a couple weeks ago
due to declining populations.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
This wagon jack came across on the Oregon Trail — an important tool for when the pioneers had to fix a
wheel.
Dementia
During her conversa-
tions with other swimmers,
the issue of dementia came
up, and Mastel-Smith said
she was encouraged that
there was interest locally
in helping people with de-
mentia and their families,
friends and caregivers.
That led her to set up an
“action team” of local resi-
dents to meet with service
groups such as the Baker
Rotary Club and Baker Li-
ons Club, as well as local
pastors, to discuss the de-
mentia friendly community
concept.
Team members include
Ann Marie Roberts, a care
partner; Mari Krohn and
Joe Hayes of Community
Connection; Mark Bog-
art, a retired teacher and
school administrator; Lu-
Ann Cook, a nurse practi-
tioner at St. Luke’s Eastern
Oregon Medical Associates
in Baker City; Linda Hud-
son; Kimberli Anderson;
Jean Simpson, a former
care partner; Baker County
Sheriff Travis Ash; and
Gabe Maldonado, the sher-
iff’s office’s community ser-
vice deputy.
Mastel-Smith said she has
“learned a lot” during meet-
ings with local residents and
groups, including the prev-
alence of common miscon-
ceptions about dementia.
For instance, she said the
notion that dementia is an
inevitable part of aging —
that people are sometimes
confused solely because
they are elderly — isn’t al-
ways true.
Some health conditions
can cause dementia-like
symptoms, she said, ones
which can be treated with
medications and are thus
reversible.
This is quite different
from Alzheimer’s disease,
the most common form
of dementia and one for
which there is no cure.
Mastel-Smith said she’s
also learned from law en-
forcement about cases of
people with dementia being
victims of financial abuse.
The dementia friendly
community concept is well-
suited for Baker County
because the “risk factors in
this county are higher than
average,” she said.
Baker County’s popu-
lation is older, on average,
than for Oregon or the na-
tion as a whole.
As of the 2020 Census,
26.9% of Baker County’s
16,800 residents were 65 or
Where did it all go?
To prepare for construction,
artifacts were documented and
moved to the maintenance
building, located at the base of
the hill near the entrance.
A labyrinth of rooms con-
tains items in an orderly fash-
Future of the center
ion — one is dedicated to
storing the costumes for inter-
Reis said the renovation
preters, who often
presents an oppor-
“We have a road tunity to update
dress in period
clothing to present
center’s infor-
map of putting the
special programs.
mational panels
Sherman said
everything back.” and evaluate the
the BLM faced a
exhibit items —
— Bobby Reis,
decision — either
some of which
curator of
move items to
have been on dis-
collections and
storage in Boise, or
play for 30 years.
exhibitions, Oregon
retrofit the main-
“We’re hoping
Trail Interpretive
tenance shop with
to swap out for
Center
a new shelving sys-
some new arti-
tem.
facts,” he said.
The latter option kept arti-
Also, the closure has en-
facts close, she said, and will
abled NHOTIC to create
provide repository space for
a bigger presence in Baker
the future.
City by leasing space in the
Each horizontal shelf can
Baker Heritage Museum to
support 3,000 pounds, and the build an Oregon Trail Expe-
individual shelves are on tracks rience.
and can be easily rolled back
The museum, 2480 Grove
and forth with a wheel-type
St., is open seven days a
handle.
week. It closes for the season
A section of heavy-duty
at the end of October.
shelving can hold 15,000
Sherman said moving into
pounds.
town has sparked conversa-
“For the mining collection,”
tions on how the center can
Sherman said.
be more involved locally, such
Museum artifacts must be
as providing more interpre-
stored in stable temperature
tive programs.
and humidity. Larger items are
“We’ve been making con-
supported, often with specially nections with our partners in
built structures, to maintain
town,” she said.
The dementia friendly community concept
Continued from A1
The movement started in September 2015 after
the White House Conference on Aging, according
to Dementia Friendly America (DFA) website, dfam-
erica.org.
The concept is based on Minnesota’s statewide
initiative, ACT on Alzheimer’s. DFA launched in 2015
with pilot communities in Denver, Prince George’s
County, Maryland, Santa Clara County, California,
Tempe, Arizona, and the state of West Virginia.
From the DFA website:
A dementia friendly community is a village,
town, city or county that is informed, safe and re-
spectful of individuals with the disease, their fami-
lies and caregivers and provides supportive options
that foster quality of life. Joining DFA means a com-
older, compared with 18.6% of
Oregonians.
Based on that statistic, Baker
is the ninth-oldest among Ore-
gon’s 36 counties.
Wheeler County, which is
also Oregon’s least populous
county with about 1,500 resi-
dents, has highest percentage
of people 65 or older, at 36.7%.
The other counties with a
higher percentage than Baker
are, in order: Curry, 35.5%;
Grant, 31.4%; Lincoln, 31%;
Wallowa, 29.6%; Gilliam,
munity is engaging in a process to become more
dementia friendly.
To help communities work towards becoming
dementia friendly, DFA offers technical assistance,
including a community toolkit, sector specific guid-
ance and best practices synthesized from across the
world.
The DFA website includes a list of criteria for de-
mentia friendly communities, including the need to
have people with dementia and their caregivers in-
volved in the project.
Other useful information about dementia is avail-
able at:
• Alzheimer’s Association https://www.alz.org/
• Alzheimer’s International https://www.alzint.org/
28.9%; Tillamook and Coos,
both 27.4%.
The first step in establishing
a dementia friendly commu-
nity involves some of the tasks
the action team has already set
for itself, Mastel-Smith said
— raising awareness about de-
mentia and assessing the local
needs.
A future goal is to address
those needs.
That can include a variety of
steps, Mastel-Smith said.
One crucial challenge is
the original shape.
“The new shelving increased
our storage space by 60%,” Reis
said.
Staff didn’t remove every-
thing from the center — larger
pieces, such as the taxidermy
animals, have been protected
with boxes and special wrap-
ping to stay in place during
construction.
making sure the caregivers for
people with dementia — most
often relatives, and frequently
a spouse or an adult child —
have the support they need,
Mastel-Smith said. Serving as
a caregiver can be demanding,
and burnout is common.
The presence of a compe-
tent caregiver can help people
with dementia remain in their
homes.
“Caregivers are crucial,”
Mastel-Smith said.
She pointed out that some
people diagnosed with de-
mentia can live alone without
needing a caregiver, potentially
for many years or even a cou-
ple decades.
“There is a wide range of sit-
uations,” she said.
Other aspects of the demen-
tia friendly community con-
cept aren’t quite so obvious.
For instance, Mastel-Smith
said the program includes
working with retail businesses,
such as pharmacies and gro-
cery stories, to help employees
recognize the effects of demen-
tia so they can help customers
who have symptoms.
Even a small difference in an
employee’s approach — being
sympathetic and helpful rather
than annoyed or confronta-
tional, for example — can have
a significant effect on how the
customer with dementia re-
sponds and is affected, Mas-
tel-Smith said.
The Baker County effort is
in its early stages, she empha-
sized. It’s not clear, for instance,
whether the local group will
create a separate nonprofit, or
be associated with an existing
organization such as Com-
munity Connection of Baker
County.
Sharon L. Karman
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Sharon Lee Karman, 82, of
Baker City passed away on Sept.
28, 2022 at her residence. No
public memorial service is planned
at this time.
Sharon was born on July 27,
1940 in Riverton, Wyoming, to
Richard and Pauline (Sinner)
Pearson. She attended high school
in Riverton, graduating in 1958
then attending Montana Business College. She worked
at Susquehanna Mining Company in Wyoming in her
early years and more recently at Baker Vision Clinic,
where she worked for 20 years, from 1994 to 2014.
On Dec. 7, 1958 Sharon married Jim Karman in Fort
Collins, Colorado. They remained happily married
for 64 years. During their life together, they had one
daughter, Sheryl. Sharon was very happy to have been
able to work with her daughter for the 20 years that
she did.
Over the years, Sharon loved scrapbooking, cross
stitching, knitting and organizing. She was also a
member of the Baker City Church of the Nazarene and
an Honorary Soroptimist Member.
Survivors include her husband Jim Karman;
daughter Sheryl Blankenship and her husband, Dan;
and grandsons, Dr. Derek Blankenship and his wife
Macey along with their two kids, Hudson and Hayes,
and Dillon Blankenship with his wife Alyssa.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Richard
and Pauline Pearson.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Baker
County Soroptimists or the American Alzheimer’s
Association through Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer
Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave., Baker City, OR 97814.
To light a candle in memory of Sharon or to
offer online condolences to her family, please visit
www.grayswestco.com.
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