NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
A3
County employees adjust
to working from home
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Hospital has set up a tent to triage incoming patients to reduce the spread of
COVID-19.
Hospital erects
emergency
room triage tent
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Blue Mountain Hospi-
tal District has created a sep-
arate Emergency Department
entrance for patients with
respiratory symptoms.
All patients will go to the
triage tent outside the emer-
gency room from 7 a.m. to
5 p.m. Those with respi-
ratory symptoms will be
taken through a respiratory
entrance to negative-pressure
rooms where health care pro-
viders can provide a triage
assessment, said Lori Lane,
district health information
manager.
Lane said those with-
out respiratory symptoms
will be taken
through the
regular emer-
gency room
entrance.
Lane said
from 5 p.m.
to
7 a.m.
Lori Lane
patients will
be directed to the normal
emergency room entrance
where a health care worker
will perform a triage assess-
ment for respiratory symp-
toms and direct those patients
to the appropriate area for
care.
“I have been impressed
by all the hard work and long
hours the staff has been put-
ting in to be prepared,” Lane
said.
Lane said the hospital has
signage out to direct patients
to the tent.
Severely ill COVID-19
patients need help with their
breathing, which is done by
inserting a tube through the
mouth and then into the air-
way so that a patient can
be placed on a ventilator,
according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Preven-
tion. The procedure requires
airborne isolation using a
negative-pressure room, an
isolation technique used to
prevent cross-contamination.
Lane reminded patients
with respiratory symptoms to
call before arriving to reduce
the chances of spreading the
virus.
As Grant County Court
plans to reassess whether
to extend the closures of its
offices in its next session,
county offices have been
resilient in maintaining their
functionality.
“This is an ugly situation,
and they are making it work,”
said Grant County ESD
Superintendent Robert Wal-
tenberg, whose office pro-
vides information technology
support to the county offices.
With the stay-home order
forcing nearly every depart-
ment, from the clerk’s office
to the road department, to
work from home, the employ-
ees have had to improvise.
Waltenberg said the ESD
office set up the Planning
Department, County Clerk,
district attorney, Justice
Court, CASA, victim’s assis-
tance, the fairgrounds, Road
Department and Human
Resources.
He said, so far, there have
not been any challenges or
technical difficulties with
employees working from
home.
Wright said she has no
count on who is working
remotely. The court left it
to the department heads to
decide how they were going
to handle it, she said.
Wright said an email
went out from the Emer-
gency Operations Center
to county employees from
other departments who were
furloughed, but she does not
know if any of those employ-
ees took the opportunity.
Grant County Fairgrounds
Manager Mindy Winegar
said she has offered to help
at the EOC, but nobody from
the center has called.
County Court Judge
Scott Myers — who at
County Court March 25
told EOC Incident Com-
mander Dave Dobler to use
county employees unable
to work from home to fill
open positions at the EOC
— said he does not know if
the EOC hired any of those
employees.
Myers said there is only
between two and three
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Mindy Winegar addresses county court in February. Winegar
said that she reached out to the EOC to help out, but has yet
to hear back.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
A FedEx package hangs
on the County Clerk’s of-
fice door at the courthouse
Thursday.
employees at the courthouse
at one time.
“Anyone with the capabil-
ity is working from home,”
said Myers
Wright said Grant Count
employees who are unable
to work from home will
receive paid leave. She said
the county will treat it like a
“snow day.”
“From an economic stand-
point, it does not make sense
to not pay them,” Wright said.
“Our local economy does not
need to take a hit.”
Wright said some employ-
ees from outlying areas do not
have internet access, and they
have been coming into their
respective offices when it has
been necessary as the court-
house has remained open.
“Everyone has stepped
up to the challenge,” Wright
said. “They are being asked to
do something we have never
done before.”
The closure, which has
been in effect since March
23, is slated to last through at
least April 10.
Wright said the exter-
nal departments, such as
the sheriff’s office and the
county road department,
have policies and proce-
dures in place concerning
maintaining proper social
distancing.
The Eagle was unable to
reach Sheriff Glenn Palmer
or Undersheriff Zach Mob-
ley for comment.
For some departments,
not much has really changed.
Mike Springer, county
surveyor, said normally most
of his correspondence occurs
by email and phone anyway,
so he has not seen much of
change to his department.
Additionally,
some
departments see benefits.
“There are less distrac-
tions, and I can get more
done,” said Myers.
Grant County Court can-
celed its meeting scheduled
for April 8. Prairie City City
Council also canceled its
April 8 meeting.
Grant County Food Bank experiences sharp rise in demand
Attendees must
observe 6-foot
separation
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
Unemployment, more peo-
ple at home and COVID-
19 have caused a steep rise
in the amount of people who
picked up food from the Grant
County Food Bank in March.
On March 25, 171 fami-
lies went to the Grant County
Food Bank, 66 more families
than February and 21 more
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
than originally planned.
Tom Sutton, a member of Tom Sutton talks about the modified shopping carts at the Grant
the food bank board of direc- County Food Bank, which makes getting boxes into cars easier.
tors, added that the number of
people served in March was sidewalk was broken up into which is why he wants people
6-foot blocks, and I went out to understand the importance
435 people.
“In February, we served there, and there was one per- of the 6-foot separation.
105 families, and I say we son at each mark.”
“If you and I are having a
serve about 110 families on
Sutton is now planning to conversation 6 feet apart, then
average. We planned for 150 serve 200 families in April.
it’s possible to apply this dis-
families, but we went to 171,”
With the rise in clients at tance to the line, and that’s
Sutton said. “When they the food bank, a big prior- what we would like,” Sutton
started lining up out here, the ity for Sutton is their safety, said.
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Another change is that cli-
ents do not have the option to
come inside the food bank.
Volunteers ask each person for
their name, address and pref-
erences for items in their box.
This is an important step for
Sutton since the budget for
buying food for the food bank
has not changed.
When customers notify the
food bank of what they don’t
as many people,” Sutton said.
A highlight for Sutton in this
experience has been the help
provided from volunteers and
members of the community.
“We partnered with the Vet-
erans Administration and the
People Mover, and I’d like to
thank them for their help. They
delivered food to the shut-ins
and the senior citizens that we
don’t want up here because
of COVID-19,” Sutton said.
“I’d rather take the food to
them myself than put them in
danger.”
Sutton said there are other
food banks in Grant County
also hard at work in Monu-
ment, Prairie City and at the
United Methodist Church.
The Grant County Food
Bank will distribute food from
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday,
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need or want, it prevents wast-
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another family. Once a volun-
teer makes a box, the box will
be handed to the client outside.
Sutton said a board meet-
ing in the beginning of April
could change the process for
getting orders and making
boxes. Changes can be found
on the Grant County Food
Bank Facebook page if they
are made.
One of the challenges Sut-
ton plans to discuss during
the board meeting is how
to serve the community in a
timely manner with the rise of
demand.
“A challenge is that we
can’t serve 200 people in the
time frame that we have. We’d
generally get through 105-115
families from 11:30 a.m. to
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