News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
A9
Voters could see up to four initiatives on ballot
By Paris Achen
Capital Bureau
Of the 45 initiatives pro-
posed for the Nov. 6 general
election, only four remain in
play.
Two of those are the subject
of two separate signature-gath-
ering fraud investigations by
the Oregon Department of Jus-
tice.
The following proposals
still have a chance of going
before voters, after the Ore-
gon Secretary of State’s Office
completes signature verifica-
tions. The deadline for verifi-
cations is Aug. 6.
• End publicly funded abor-
tions: “Stop Taxpayer Funding
for Abortion Act” (Initiative
Petition 1) prohibits the use of
public funds to pay for most
abortions, unless medically
necessary or required by fed-
eral law.
As a constitutional change,
the measure needs at least
Pamplin Media Group
Multnomah County Clerk’s Office employees process
ballots. Grocery taxes, publicly funded abortion, tax
enactment restrictions and ending the state’s sanctuary
law are all in the queue for the November ballot.
117,578 valid signatures to se-
cure a place on the ballot.
Petitioners
turned
in
139,286 signatures by the July
6 deadline, and the Secretary
of State’s Office was still in
the process of verifying their
validity as of Friday, July 13.
The state spent about $1.9
million in 2017-18 for abor-
tions paid for by the Oregon
Health Plan, the state’s version
of Medicaid, according to the
Oregon Health Authority.
Last year, the state passed
House Bill 3391 to require
health insurers to provide
abortions and other reproduc-
tive health services without
charge. The law also allows
the Oregon Health Plan, to
provide free abortions for un-
documented immigrants.
IP 1 allows public funds to
be spent on abortions in cir-
cumstances when federal law
requires it, such as in cases of
rape or incest, or when a wom-
an is diagnosed with an ectopic
pregnancy. The proposal also
would allow a woman with a
health condition that would
place her in danger of death to
obtain an abortion.
Brooks resident Marilyn
Shannon, one of the initia-
tive’s chief sponsors, said she
expects the measure to make it
on the ballot.
• End the sanctuary state:
Stop Oregon Sanctuaries Ini-
tiative Petition 22 would re-
peal the state’s 31-year-old
sanctuary law.
The law prohibits the use of
state and local resources to en-
force federal immigration law
when a person’s only crime is
being in the country illegally.
Petitioners for the propos-
al have submitted 110,445
signatures. Only 88,184 of
those need to be verified to
the measure to be included on
the ballot.
DOJ is investigating com-
plaints that voters were mis-
led into the signing the peti-
tion. About 39 people filed the
complaints, said Debra Royal,
chief of staff for Secretary of
State Dennis Richardson.
• Three-fifths vote for rais-
ing revenue:
“A Tax is a Tax Amend-
ment” Initiative 31 also is
under investigation for alle-
gations that signatures were
obtained fraudulently.
Despite that, the Secretary
of State’s Office has qualified
the measure for the ballot.
The measure would amend
the Oregon Constitution to re-
quire a three-fifths vote of the
House and Senate for raising
revenue, including assessing
fees and ending tax credits.
A woman named Connea
Derber filed a complaint with
the Secretary of State’s Office
and the Oregon Bureau of
Labor and Industries alleging
that a representative of Bal-
lot Access LLC had fraudu-
lently signed signature sheets
and proposed improper per
signature-compensation, Wil-
lamette Week first reported.
Ballot Access denied wrong-
doing.
• Tax-free food: “Yes!
Keep Our Groceries Tax-
Free!” Initiative Petition 37,
has also qualified for the bal-
lot.
The constitutional amend-
ment would prohibit local and
state taxes on all foods for con-
sumption, except for alcohol,
tobacco and marijuana. Per-
sonal hygiene products were
excluded from the measure.
Emergency medical flights save lives
AirLink
Blue Mountain Eagle
AirLink began operations
in 1985 as Air Life of Ore-
gon with a Bell Long Ranger
helicopter. In partnership with
St. Charles Medical Center in
Bend, the company grew over
time into a regional air ambu-
lance service, serving central,
eastern and southern Oregon.
AirLink has flown more
than 24,000 missions since its
inception. The service was ac-
quired by the Med-Trans Corp.
about four years ago.
On board medical person-
nel include a nurse with at least
five years of experience at a
high-volume Level 1 trauma
center along with a respiratory
therapist.
“That way we provide a
true ICU in the sky,” AirLink
manager Kristin Lingman told
the Eagle.
Medical staff and pilots
are staffed at AirLink’s base
24/7 so flights can be made at
a moment’s notice. Lingman
estimated AirLink flies to John
Day about five or six times a
week.
When a medical emergen-
cy occurs to residents in Grant
County — whether it’s a heart
attack or stroke, or the result
of an accident at work, on
the highway or at play in the
woods — prompt critical care
attention can mean the differ-
ence between life and death.
Area residents are accus-
tomed to geographical isola-
tion, surrounded by mountain
passes that can be impacted
by winter weather. But while
braving a three-hour drive to
Bend or La Grande might be
acceptable for shopping, it’s
not practical for medical emer-
gencies.
Air ambulances can not
only transport patients quickly
from the scene of an accident
to a trauma center, they also
come equipped with all the
medical supplies and equip-
ment needed to act as a mobile
intensive care unit for infants
and elderly.
Common equipment for
air ambulances can include
medications, ventilators, elec-
trocardiogram and monitoring
units, cardiopulmonary resus-
citation equipment and special
stretchers. While the noise and
cramped space make treatment
difficult, air ambulances are
equipped for advanced life
support.
Grant County is served by
two air ambulance services:
AirLink Critical Care Trans-
port and Life Flight Network.
Both utilize fixed-wing air-
planes and helicopters to trans-
port medical patients to hospi-
tals outside Grant County.
Life Flight
Life Flight, the nation’s
largest not-for-profit air ambu-
lance service, serves Oregon,
Washington, Idaho and west-
ern Montana. Starting in 1978
as Emanuel Life Flight, one of
the first hospital-based air am-
bulance services on the West
Coast and the fourth in the
U.S., the company transported
121 patients in its first year us-
ing an Allouette-3 helicopter.
The nonprofit is owned by
a consortium of Oregon Health
& Science University, Lega-
cy Emanuel Medical Center,
Contributed photo/Jill Rosell
AirLink personnel move equipment in front of a
Eurocopter EC-135 air ambulance.
Saint Alphonsus Regional
Medical Center and Provi-
dence Health & Services.
“Air ambulances provide
rural locations critical care
they would not normally re-
ceive,” Life Flight regional
director Michael Weimer told
the Eagle.
Weimer estimated Life
Flight aircraft fly to Grant
County about once a week,
with fixed-wing aircraft land-
ing at Grant County Regional
Airport and helicopters land-
ing at Blue Mountain Hospi-
tal or even on highways at the
scene of an accident.
Memberships
Typical health insurance
plans may not cover all air
ambulance service cost, which
can be expensive, so air ambu-
lance companies offer mem-
berships to help residents in
rural areas plan for those costs.
AirLink is part of the
AirMedCare Network, and
members transported by any of
the network providers will not
receive a bill for the flight and
68072
any supplies used. Member-
ship for AirLink costs $85 per
year and includes all household
members.
AirLink leaves it up to the
household to define its mem-
bership, Lingman said. The
company also follows a phi-
losophy of “compassionate
billing,” Lingman said, under-
standing that patients on their
flights often face serious fi-
nancial problems in addition to
medical issues.
AirLink membership is
valid across 28 states and more
than 300 base locations. There
is no limit to the number of
flights a member can have in a
year, but flights must be con-
sidered medically necessary. If
a patient is transported to Bend
and later needs to continue on
to Portland, AirLink member-
ship will cover both flights.
AirLink also offers a
ground-based
ambulance
membership called FireMed
for $50 per year that is hon-
ored by the Blue Mountain
Hospital Ambulance service in
John Day.
For more information about
AirLink, visit online at www.
airlinkcct.org or call 541-241-
4772.
Membership in the Life
Flight Network costs $65 per
year, but through Sept. 3, Life
Flight will offer $40 annual
memberships for new mem-
bers in recognition of its 40th
anniversary.
Membership covers spous-
es or domestic partners, depen-
dents claimed on an income
tax return, including elderly or
disabled family members liv-
ing in the same household.
Members will not incur
out-of-pocket expenses for
medically necessary emergent
flights with network providers
or reciprocal partners. That in-
cludes flights that continue on
to a higher level trauma center.
For more information about
Life Flight, visit online at
www.lifeflight.org or call 800-
982-9299.
AirLink and Life Flight
do not have reciprocity agree-
ments. If a person had a mem-
bership in one service but it
wasn’t available during an
emergency, the person would
have to rely on the other ser-
vice without the benefits of
membership.
HOME SCHOOL PARENTS
Home school students are required by law to be tested by a qualified neutral person following
grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. [OAR581-021-0026 (5) (a) (A)] However, students who participate
in interscholastic activities are required by OSAA rules to be tested every year and
must score in the 23 rd percentile to be eligible to participate in interscholastic activities.
Grant ESD will offer assessment testing for home school students finishing grades 3, 5, 8, and
10. Cost is $20.00 per student. Payment is due at the time of testing. Register your student for
assessment testing by calling Grant ESD, 541-575-1349, on or before July 24, 2018.
Testing Dates:
July 25, 2018 – 8:30am to 2:00pm
July 26, 2018 – 8:30am to 2:00pm
If you have any questions you may contact:
Robert Waltenburg or Jo Sproul
Grant County ESD
541-575-1349
66208
By Richard Hanners