NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
A3
A DRIVE-BY BIRTHDAY
A caravan of well
wishes for Grant
Union senior
Taylor Allen
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County’s soon-to-be
graduates are facing stun-
ning losses as once-in-a-life-
time events such as gradua-
tions, proms and spring sports
have been upended by the
coronavirus.
Taylor Allen, a senior, who
turned 18 April 12, will miss
out on rites of passage and end-
of-year celebrations, including
her final year of softball, prom
and a party for her 18th birth-
day. Her mother, Marissa Wil-
liams, however, was deter-
mined not to let a global
pandemic keep her from cel-
ebrating her daughter’s 18th
birthday with family, friends
and the community.
Enter the coronavirus
caravan.
Easter Sunday, Williams,
husband Zach Williams, son
Jhett, daughter Drewsey and
Allen pulled into the Seventh
Street Complex. Minutes later,
Allen’s eyes widened. Her face
lit up in surprise as a line of
26 cars, trucks, and jeeps with
banners and homemade signs
turned into the complex to cel-
ebrate Allen’s 18th birthday.
Friends, family, coaches,
teachers and well-wishers
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Taylor Allen at the Seventh Street Complex April 12 as 26 cars
and trucks drive through the parking lot to wish the senior a
happy 18th birthday.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Chris Cronin, left, drops off a birthday gift for Taylor Allen at the Seventh Street Complex April 12.
Allen’s mother Marissa Williams texted family and friends to loop through the parking lot to wish
Allen a happy birthday.
looped around the complex
parking lot multiple times
blaring car horns. Friends
made homemade signs that
read “Happy Birthday Tate, I
love you” and dropped off gift
bags, cards and cake. Another
friend, Billy Holliday, dropped
off a homemade decorated jar
filled with the hand-written
memories of Allen’s closest
friends with the inscription “to
always make you smile.”
Williams said she texted
family and friends of Allen’s
the night before to wish her
happy birthday by looping
through the parking lot and
that Alllen was completely
surprised.
“Taylor didn’t have any
idea we were doing this, and
as the cars started coming
down the road, she was teary-
eyed. It was moving to see so
many people there to support
her,” Williams said.
Williams said the stay-at-
home order and school clo-
sure has been hard for Allen as
a senior.
“She didn’t realize the last
time she walked out of GU
many Thursdays ago, that it
would be her last,” Williams
said.
Williams said her family
held out hope that after the
first few weeks that the efforts
to contain the virus would
have been sufficient enough
for life to get back to some
normalcy.
Williams said, while she
was not surprised by the
orders from Gov. Brown to
move classes online and close
the schools, she was still hold-
ing out hope for Allen.
“We weren’t surprised with
the announcement, but we
were trying to be optimistic
for Taylor,” she said.
Allen, who signed with
Mt. Hood Community Col-
lege to play softball in the
fall, is hopeful she will get the
chance to compete in a couple
of softball tournaments with
Grant Union to have some sort
of a senior year with her high
school team.
“I think it’s important
to realize that there’s a big-
ger problem occurring in the
world, and if missing those
(senior year milestones)
means saving lives, then it’s
worth it,” Allen said in an
email.
Williams said, as a family,
they are strict about the stay-
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Taylor Allen, right, and her sister Drewsey sit on the tailgate of
a truck at Seventh Street Complex April 12 after a caravan of
friends, family, coaches and teammates circled the parking lot to
wish her a happy 18th birthday.
at-home orders and, at times,
the isolation can be difficult
for the three kids, but she and
her husband keep the kids
active, so they are not going
absolutely “bonkers” at home.
“It has been a big adjust-
ment for all of us. We miss
seeing our family and friends
and being at Seventh Street
playing ball or going to soft-
ball games on the weekends,
but we have spent a lot of
quality time with our kids,”
Williams said. “It is a small
blessing I get with my senior
daughter, a little extra time
before she leaves for college.”
County health officials concerned about the drop in routine care visits
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Routine care visits have
plummeted at Blue Mountain
Hospital and Grant County
Health Department amid the
coronavirus pandemic.
Grant County Health
Administrator Kimberly Lind-
say said patient visits have
dropped by 24% in recent
weeks. Blue Mountain Hospi-
tal District CEO Derek Daley
said patients have declined in
volume between 40% to 60%
in a month, which mirrors the
rest of the state.
Dr. Raffaella Betza, chief
of staff at BMHD, said the
drop in patient volume is
mostly due to Gov. Kate
Brown’s March 17 order to
postpone elective surgeries
and non-urgent procedures
until June 15 to free up capac-
ity and conserve personal pro-
tective equipment for treating
coronavirus patients.
Betza said, while the hospi-
tal continues to push out elec-
tive surgeries and procedures,
they have encouraged patients
to call their health care pro-
vider instead of going into the
hospital or
urgent care
settings.
B o t h
BMH
and
the
health
department
have encour-
Derek Daly
aged patients
to shift to telemedicine,
which both facilities adopted
long before the COVID-19
pandemic.
With the passage of the
Coronavirus
Preparedness
and Response Supplemental
Appropriations Act in Con-
gress last month, Medicare
now allows patients to engage
in telehealth visits from
any setting, whereas before
appointments were required
to be done from a medical
facility.
Last month the state fol-
lowed suit as well when the
Oregon Health Authority,
which oversees Medicaid,
loosened telehealth regulations
in response to COVID-19.
OHA ordered insurers, includ-
ing coordinated care organiza-
tions that administer Medicaid,
to support telehealth options on
all platforms, which includes
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Dr. Raffaella Betza, chief of staff for Blue Mountain Hospital District.
video, audio, email and text,
and reimburse the insurance
claims.
Lindsay said that older
patients still prefer face-to-face
visits.
Betza said she still encour-
ages patients, even those who
are opposed to telehealth vis-
its, to call their health care pro-
vider to discuss their options.
Lindsay said they are con-
cerned about the health of the
community and want people to
know that they are still open.
While emergency care,
vital surgeries and family
planning are exempt from the
state order, Brown’s directive
meant that most rural hospitals
would be without their primary
sources of income until at least
June 15.
Meanwhile, with one posi-
tive COVID-19 case in Grant
County, the health department
and the hospital have sat rela-
tively empty, and revenue has
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Kimberly Lindsay, Community
Counseling Solutions CEO, up-
dates the County Court March 11.
begun to dry up.
Hospitals statewide are
hemorrhaging cash due to
declining demand for care,
even as the virus continues to
spread.
Mark Owens, the state rep-
resentative representing Grant
County, said he signed on with
a bipartisan coalition of legis-
lators in support of funding for
rural hospitals.
“Allowing rural hospitals
to be forced to close during
a pandemic would be a trav-
esty,” Owens said. “These
hospitals have limited revenue
coming in due to the ban on
non-emergency surgeries and
procedures, and many have
not seen the influx of COVID-
19 patients they were told to
prepare for.”
Lindsay said the health
department secured a loan
through the Small Busi-
ness Administration’s Pay-
check Protection Program.
The program provides for-
givable loans if the funds are
used to keep employees on the
payroll.
Daly said an eligibility
determination has not been
made for rural hospitals.
“The SBA’s PPP would be
helpful,” Daly said.
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