A10
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 7, 2021
OTEC urges members to
prepare in event of public
safety power shutoff
Community Health Beat
What's new at BMHD?
Masks Still Required in
Healthcare Facilities
We're hiring!
site
Visit our web
of
for a full list
s.
opportunitie
Oregon may be open, but hospitals and
healthcare facilities are required to follow
state regulations. Until further notice we
will continue to screen patients and visitors
at the door, and masks are still required.
Thank you for your cooperation!
OB Department
Remodel Complete
Upcoming walks:
The Obstetric Department
has undergone a makeover
in the last year, with the
latest updates completed in
June. Both rooms have
new flooring, paint, new
sofas, cabinets, and
updated decor; making for
a much more cozy stay for
families welcoming new
additions here at BMHD!
Saturday July 17th 8:00am
Seventh Street Complex
Saturday August 21st 8:00am
Seventh Street Complex
Saturday September 18th 8:00am
Seventh Street Complex
Monthly ECHO Testing
Echocardiograms are now being
offered monthly in the BMH
Respiratory Therapy Department.
ECHOs are ultrasounds of the
heart used to determine how it is
functioning.
Appointments Available for Patients
Needing to Re-Establish at SWCC
James Cook, FNP- C is seeing previously
established patients in the clinic as he is
building his patient panel. James will
continue to serve Same-Day
Appointment patients as well.
Blue Mountain Eagle
As Eastern Oregon prepares
for a potentially dangerous wild-
fi re season, Oregon Trail Elec-
tric Cooperative is preparing its
member-owners for the threat
of wildfi res and the potential of
power outages during times of
extreme weather.
In the interest of public
safety, OTEC may need to shut
off or de-energize its transmis-
sion and distribution lines to
minimize potential wildfi re
ignition to protect members and
the communities OTEC serves,
according to an OTEC press
release. This is called a public
safety power shutoff .
It is a topic that has gotten
a great deal of attention as the
western United States has seen
devastating wildfi re seasons
in recent years. Some utilities
in the west and Pacifi c North-
west have implemented them,
including during the Labor Day
fi res in Oregon in 2020, when
extreme windstorms insti-
gated catastrophic wildfi res that
burned more than 1.5 million
acres, taking human life and
destroying thousands of homes.
There are several factors
that may potentially necessi-
tate a PSPS. OTEC vigilantly
monitors local fi re danger and
extreme weather with the help
of community partners, such
as the U.S. Forest Service and
the Oregon Department of For-
estry. A combination of factors
would infl uence the decision to
take action and turn off power:
Red Flag Warnings from the
National Weather Service, sus-
tained high winds, fi re threat to
OTEC’s electric infrastructure,
on-the-ground observations and
public safety risk.
What OTEC Members
Can Expect
If there is the potential for a
PSPS, here is what to expect:
Early Warning Notifi ca-
tion: OTEC will attempt to
notify members in advance of
a potential PSPS event via auto-
mated calls, press releases to
local media, social media and
OTEC’s website. OTEC will
attempt to notify aff ected mem-
bers again before shutting off
power and throughout the event
until power is restored. How-
ever, situations may prevent
OTEC from providing notice
as the actual onset of extreme
weather conditions and other
circumstances beyond OTEC’s
control may disrupt coordina-
tion and notifi cation eff orts.
OTEC receives its power from
Bonneville Power Adminis-
tration, which may deener-
gize transmission lines with its
own PSPS policy. If BPA ini-
tiates its own PSPS, it would
be outside of OTEC’s control,
but OTEC would still work to
notify aff ected members.
Ongoing Updates: OTEC
will provide ongoing updates
throughout the PSPS through
social media, local news outlets
and the outage map on its web-
site otec.coop.
Safety Inspections: After
www.bluemountainhospital.org
Blue Mountain Healthcare Foundation
SUMMER
S
U M M E R RAFFLE
R
A F F L E
SUM
RAFF
1st Prize:
$400 Grant County Greenbacks + $300 Beef Box
2nd Prize:
$300 Grant County Greenbacks + 1/2 Pig Cut &
Wrapped to your choosing
3rd Prize:
$100 Grant County Greenbacks + Local Guided
Fishing Trip for 2 ($600 value)
4th Prize:
$200 Grant County Greenbacks
Save the Date:
How OTEC Members
Can Prepare
• Update contact infor-
mation with OTEC via an
online account or by calling
541-523-3616.
• Have a personal safety plan
in place for every member of a
household, including a plan for
pets and/or livestock.
• Sign up for the county’s
emergency notifi cation system.
• Plan for any medical needs
like medications that need to
be refrigerated or devices that
require power, such as oxygen
tanks.
• Create or restock an emer-
gency supply kit, including
food, water, fl ashlights, a radio,
fresh batteries, fi rst aid supplies
and cash.
• Identify backup charging
methods for phones and medical
equipment.
• Know how to open garage
doors manually.
• Ensure any backup genera-
tors are ready to operate safely.
• Identify the unique needs
of family and loved ones in the
area for an emergency plan.
• Designate an emergency
meeting location.
Generator Safety Tips
• Make sure to disconnect
from OTEC’s system using an
approved disconnect switch
before using a generator to pre-
vent backfeed, which could
be deadly to utility workers
attempting to turn power back
on.
• Do not overload the gener-
ator. Use it to only power essen-
tial appliances or equipment.
• Only operate the generator
outside, not indoors. The gener-
ator could release carbon mon-
oxide inside the house, which
could be deadly.
Food Safety/Storage
• Try not to open a refriger-
ator during an outage. The food
might remain safe up to four
hours or longer.
• A freezer full of food should
remain viable for up to 48 hours,
24 hours for a half-full freezer.
• OTEC is not responsible
for spoiled food.
For a list of addi-
tional
information
and
resources, visit otec.coop/
public-safety-power-shutoff s.
Wyden: Expect feds to mobilize
forest fi refi ghters this year
By Peter Wong
Oregon Capital Bureau
Prizes include:
extreme weather has passed,
OTEC will inspect the lines/
equipment in aff ected areas to
determine if there is any dam-
age to the electrical infrastruc-
ture. Any damaged equipment
must be repaired before power
can be safely restored. This pro-
cess could take several days.
Power Restoration: Power
will remain out for as long as
extreme and dangerous weather
conditions pose a potential fi re
risk. Depending on the sever-
ity of the weather and other
factors, power outages could
last several hours or multiple
days. That is why it is critically
important for everyone to have
an emergency plan in place, not
just for a potential PSPS, but for
any natural disaster.
$5 Each or 5 for $20
All proceeds will go toward the purchase
of a 3D Mammography Machine for the
BMH Radiology Department.
Winners will be announced 8/26
To purchase tickets visit:
bluemountainhospital.org/raffle
Blue Mountain Healthcare Foundation
Fundraiser Golf Scramble July 17, 2021
S252400-1
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden says
he is awaiting an announcement
by President Biden’s adminis-
tration about a mobilization plan
for fi refi ghters and equipment
for widespread forest fi res in the
West.
The Oregon Democrat told
reporters Saturday that such a
mobilization plan is likely to
require more money as well.
He based his observation on a
June 17 hearing of the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources
Committee, which heard a pre-
sentation by Chief Vicki Chris-
tiansen about Biden’s 2022 bud-
get request for the U.S. Forest
Service. That budget year starts
Oct. 1.
“I do think it will take addi-
tional resources,” Wyden, who
sits on that committee, said. “I
think in a matter of days, the
Biden administration will be
outlining the steps that I have
touched on that constitutes its
strategy against this grave threat.
“I believe what we will hear
about is making sure there are
personnel available in the West
to fi ght multiple fi res at the same
time. This is a departure from
the past. Usually we have one
big fi re and other western states
would chip in to help the state
that was hit the hardest. Now,
we are talking about something
that is unprecedented: Big fi res
simultaneously throughout the
West.”
Wyden led the committee
for about one year, from 2013
to 2014, when he took over the
tax-writing Finance Committee,
which he now leads again after
Democrats became the Sen-
ate’s majority party with Vice
President Kamala Harris the tie-
breaker in a 50-50 chamber.
Wyden continues to sit on the
Energy and Natural Resources
Committee as the No. 2 Demo-
crat behind Chairman Joe Man-
chin of West Virginia. Sen-
ate rules allow one committee
chairmanship per member.
Budget details are decided
by the Appropriations Com-
mittee; Oregon Sen. Jeff Merk-
ley leads the subcommittee that
oversees the Forest Service.
Wyden spoke on a weekend
when temperatures exceeded
100 in virtually all of Oregon,
and drought aff ects most of the
state.