The BulleTin • SaTurday, auguST 21, 2021 B5
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Listen hard to what
St. Charles is saying
I
f a person gets in a car accident or has a heart attack in
Central Oregon, they may not get the kind of care they
usually would. That is what scares Dr. Jeff Absalon of St.
Charles Health Systems the most.
St. Charles is overwhelmed by
COVID patients.
“I can’t overstate this,” Absa-
lon said Thursday during a news
conference with Gov. Kate Brown.
“What we are going through right
now is unimaginable. …We are
overwhelmed.”
As of Thursday morning, St.
Charles had 62 COVID-19 patients,
the most it had at any time during
the pandemic, said Absalon, the chief
physician executive for St. Charles.
And the surge driven by the more
contagious delta variant is not over.
We should all really take a mo-
ment to reflect on what Absalon
said.
His words should be a warning
and a guide.
The hospital has roughly 200
open positions for nurses. And that
is as demand for care has risen and
the level of care required is more
acute.
“Just a few days ago I had the
honor of stepping into our inten-
sive care unit in Bend,” Absalon
said. “Unfortunately it was just a
few minutes after we lost a young
COVID-19 patient. … Our nurses
had tears in their eyes. And yet they
had to get right back to work to care
for patients that needed their ser-
vices. And that’s what they did. And
that’s what they do.”
“We have also had family mem-
bers that have had to say goodbye
to patients through a glass door or
through an iPad.”
“We have also had patients come
into our hospitals who don’t believe
in COVID-19. … They are diag-
nosed with the disease, but don’t be-
lieve in it.”
“There are those who didn’t
believe in COVID-19 or didn’t
believe in vaccinations until
they were in our care gasping.
… And became believers
and encouraged their family
members to get vaccinated and
to take measures to prevent
the spread of this disease.
That’s what’s happening in our
hospitals and health system.”
— Dr. Jeff Absalon of
St. Charles Health Systems
“And then there are those who
didn’t believe in COVID-19 or didn’t
believe in vaccinations until they
were in our care gasping. … And be-
came believers and encouraged their
family members to get vaccinated
and to take measures to prevent the
spread of this disease.”
“That’s what’s happening in our
hospitals and health system.”
There is a clear path out of this.
Get vaccinated, if you are not. It
will help protect you and those you
love. It will give the virus less chance
to mutate further into new more
contagious and virulent variants.
Be extra careful with masking and
social distancing.
And when you are out and about
exercising, working or working
around the house, remember, if you
get injured, St. Charles may not be
able to give you the kind of care it
would normally.
Historical editorial:
Where lies the shame?
e
Editor’s note: The following historical editorial
originally appeared in what was then called
The Bend Bulletin on Sept. 21, 1906.
T
he Prineville Review in speak-
ing of the “shame of Oregon”
due to the land fraud expo-
sures says: “The public would never
have known it was injured by any
of the defendants except Puter had
it not been for Hitchcock and the
Oregonian.”
“The public would never have
known!”
Does the Review mean to imply
that the shame of a rascally deed
consists only in being caught in the
act? Is it honorable to steal as long
as you are not found out and as long
as the public does not know that it
is being robbed? Wherein lies the
real shame and dishonor of unlaw-
ful deeds — in the deed itself or in
being caught and exposed? Which
would react ultimately to a state’s
shame and dishonor: To have a
horde of thieves holding her high of-
fices and corrupting her citizenship,
or to have the office-holding thieves
and their accomplices exposed and
punished.
The silly ranting by some of
Oregon’s papers against the govern-
ment’s land fraud prosecutions is
disgusting and in itself a cause for
shame. It must be evident to anyone
who followed the evidence in the
most recent trials in Portland that
the defendants were guilty, guilty of
an elaborately laid conspiracy to rob
the government — in other words to
steal. Just ordinary, every day, “low-
down” stealing. It would be more to
honor Oregon’s honor for her citi-
zens to unite in condemning such
rank rascality, rather that to defend
the accused and the attack the gov-
ernment’s policy of prosecution.
Editorials reflect the views of The Bulletin’s editorial board, Publisher Heidi Wright, Editor
Gerry O’Brien and Editorial Page Editor Richard Coe. They are written by Richard Coe.
My Nickel’s Worth
Plan for Bend’s environment
Bend is no longer a small lumber/
farming/ranching town. City Council
needs to take the responsibility they
were elected to do and plan for Bend’s
future for the next 30 years. The lack
of forward planning by previous
councils is evident, so please don’t re-
peat the shortfall.
Large proposed projects are on
the immediate horizon. City plan-
ners need to evaluate these projects
for potential environmental impacts
such as air quality; greenhouse gas;
surface water runoff quality; land use
compatibility with area development;
construction and operational noise;
construction and operational traffic,
including peak hour intersection level
of service, traffic safety, and roadway
capacity; 30-year water supply; waste-
water treatment capacity; police and
fire response times; school capacity;
recycling; cumulative impacts, etc.
These environmental issues should
be addressed by the developers prior
to any city approvals so the city coun-
cil and Bend residents know the proj-
ect impacts before being approved. If
there are impacts, measures to reduce
impacts to an acceptable level to the
city and the residents should be con-
ditions of approval.
These upfront studies are vital to
provide full disclosure of project im-
pacts for everyone. Yes, the city needs
additional housing to address the af-
fordability issue. However, the city
does not need to sacrifice quality de-
velopment for additional housing.
If a developer truly has the best
interest of Bend at heart, providing
important studies to determine the
potential significant impacts of their
project should be in their best inter-
est too. Bend is a growing community
and no longer a small lumber/farm-
ing/ranching town.
— Phil Martin, Bend
A perfect storm
We are besieged each day with om-
inous warnings about climate change.
It has become almost a cult religion
and those who dissent are ostracized.
Recently western governors attributed
wild fires to climate change. This con-
clusion cannot be accepted without
careful consideration of actions by
state and federal governments that
may be the main driver.
We know that there were massive
fires consuming 4.4 million acres of
California forest and shrub lands an-
nually. And they occurred when the
Earth was cooler than today. If this his-
torical footnote is accurate, then what
other factor is at work? Until the early
’90s, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau
of Land Management, and state for-
estry departments allowed harvesting
and concomitant replanting of our for-
ests. As part of the timber operations,
roads were built to permit access to the
harvest sites. These roads created fire
breaks and ground access to facilitate
arrest of conflagrations. Massive fires
were thus constrained and contained.
What happened? Environmental-
ists discovered the spotted owl and
hooted that logging must stop. In
Oregon harvesting was cut by three
quarters. Fire breaks disappeared. The
forest became overcrowded with both
overstory and understory trees and
brush. Bark beetles flourished. A per-
fect fire storm was in the offing.
Necessary but partial solution is to
increase prescribed burns; enhance
harvesting; and restore fire breaks. A
return to 1980 management of our
forests ought to reduce the magnitude
of fire risk to our communities. And
there is a bit of irony: environmental-
ists who demanded that harvests be
curtailed to leave the forest pristine are
reaping what they sowed — destruc-
tion of that sought to be preserved.
— Thomas Triplett, Bend
Don’t dry up our water
I am writing to express serious con-
cern about the developments that are
being considered and are already in
the approval stages in Bend and the
surrounding area. I have been read-
ing about how concerned everyone is
about the water situation in Central
Oregon. Rightly so. You read about
farmers suing to get more water.
Rightly so. Then you read about new
developments — Stevenson and 27th
come to mind. Where is the water
going to come from to support a few
thousand more people?
I lived in San Luis Obispo, Cal-
ifornia, and there was concern ex-
pressed because the water table was
being drained. Building slowed.
They found a new source from the
Lake Nacimiento water project. And
like magic, development exploded.
New shopping centers. New homes.
Now California, like Oregon, is in a
drought, again, and water concerns
expressed. But I see no sign of con-
struction slowing or even stopping.
I try to do a few things to help. I
turn off my irrigation when it’s rain-
ing. I make sure my sprinklers aren’t
watering the paved street. I eliminated
12 sprinkler heads by going to more
efficient and less flooding ones. I take
shorter showers. We can all do some-
thing to help. If we keep kicking the
can down the road, this will truly be
a desert.
— John Brower, Bend
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Connecting park and rec staffing challenges and services
BY DON HORTON
T
oday, the Bend Park & Recre-
ation District has 50 staff po-
sitions open. These positions
are front-line positions that
are critical to the services we
provide our community. In
the midst of a pandemic and
preparing for a busy fall sea-
son, our team is heads-down
trying everything possible to
find good people to fill these
Horton
positions.
I’ve worked in parks and
recreation for 35 years and I’ve never
experienced anything quite like this
current staffing challenge. It’s not
unique to parks and recreation — all
industries are facing critical shortages
of employees.
Restaurants, retailers, schools,
construction, sales and government
organizations like the Bend Park &
Recreation District are facing unprec-
edented crossroads in attracting and
retaining employees.
We’re putting our best foot forward
to attract team members who
want to be part of a great or-
ganization doing important
work for the community.
Several of our long-time em-
ployees and leaders started
their careers as lifeguards,
trail builders and camp coun-
selors that grew into careers
in the park and recreation
industry that is increasingly a destina-
tion rather than a stepping stone.
We have increased pay rates, con-
verted 20 part-time positions into
full-time positions and offered great
benefits for individuals and family
dependents. We provide paid time
off, medical, dental and vision health
insurance plan options, a recreation
GUEST COLUMN
facility pass and discounts on many
recreation programs for employees
that also extend to family members.
Employees at Bend Park & Recreation
District take great pride in providing
parks, trails and recreation services to
the community. We believe in Play for
Life and we are willing to train others
who share our passion for serving the
community.
We’ve had some success with on-
the-spot hiring events and have two
more scheduled in the coming weeks.
These hiring events have been a great
way for candidates and hiring super-
visors to connect to fit candidates
into the right position. We’re adver-
tising, incentivizing employees to
refer friends and family and posting
signs in facilities, parks and vehicles to
We’ve weathered labor shortages
in the past by stretching our
resources a little thinner, but those
options have been exhausted.
reach out to potential employees.
We’ve weathered labor shortages in
the past by stretching our resources a
little thinner and finding ways to do
the work with less staff, but those op-
tions have been exhausted. This time,
we must fill the needed positions or
service levels will be reduced.
Without more lifeguards, the pool
hours will decrease. Without youth
recreation leaders, we can’t provide
crucial child care to the working fam-
ilies relying on it when school begins.
Without custodians, some restrooms
may be closed and trash may be col-
lected less frequently.
I need your help to prevent this
from happening by helping us get the
word out that your park and recre-
ation district is at a critical juncture
and needs staff in order to continue
offering programs at the levels we’ve
historically come to expect.
My hope is that the tenacity of our
recruitment efforts will bear fruit for
the park district and for all other em-
ployers who are also challenged in the
current job market.
We’re all counting on it.
If you or someone you know is con-
sidering a job, please encourage them
to explore openings and join an orga-
nization that lines up with values of
our community.
More information about
our openings can be found at
bendparksandrec.org/jobs.
e
Don Horton is executive director of the Bend
Park & Recreation District.