A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
OUR VIEW
Governor hopefuls
need to listen to
rural Oregon
‘T
is the season not
only for Christmas
trees and year-end
celebrations but for Oregon’s
gubernatorial candidates to
shift into high gear in anticipa-
tion of the 2022 election.
First off , we want to wish
all of the candidates the best.
At last count, 28 candidates
were in the running for the
Democratic or Republican
nominations, and a handful of
others were in the wings. Add
the independents and third-
party candidates, and Ore-
gonians will have plenty to
choose from in the November
general election.
Running for governor is
a grueling and sometimes
demeaning undertaking in
which candidates are often
marketed like boxes of cereal.
Armed with the latest polls
and piles of donations, they
ply their trade with one goal in
mind — getting Oregonians to
vote for them.
Many of them seem to be
saying, “Be reasonable, and
see it my way.”
Others seem to be quoting a
character in the movie “Napo-
leon Dynamite,” who prom-
ised during a student coun-
cil election, “Vote for me and
all of your dreams will come
true.”
But that’s all backwards.
Candidates need to refl ect Ore-
gonians’ views, not the other
way around.
Only then will the state’s
voters get a governor worthy
of their support.
We have a suggestion for
the candidates. Instead of pre-
senting voters will pre-pack-
aged platforms, why not go
where Oregonians live? And
listen, really listen.
Those of us who live in
rural parts of the state — the
vast majority of Oregon’s
98,466 square miles — know
what it’s like to be ignored or,
almost as bad, patronized.
A candidate from Portland
— whose area is a puny 145
square miles — or some other
city will often do a drive-by
“appearance” in rural Oregon
aimed at getting some atten-
tion in the press and then head
for the next stop.
But in the process what do
they learn about rural Oregon?
Do they understand the stress
and hardship laws written for
urban areas can have on the
rural residents and their econ-
omy? If they do, what have
they done about it?
Do they know the diff er-
ence between throwing money
at a problem and solving it?
And in this era of COVID,
what, specifi cally, would they
have done diff erently if they
were governor? Should tiny
Burns be subjected to the same
regulations as Portland?
The answers to those and
other questions should not
come from bullet points from
a canned speech but from
serious discussions of the
issues with working rural
Oregonians.
We’re not just talking about
meeting with the local big-
wigs. We’re talking about the
folks who farm and ranch,
who work at dairies and nurs-
eries or who punch a time
clock at a factory or process-
ing plant.
The squeaky wheels in
Portland and the rest of urban
Oregon get plenty of attention.
It’s time for the politicians to
listen to the drive wheels that
make this state’s economy go.
OFF THE BEATEN PATH
How to carve a coconut
hwack!
The early morning thump
awakens me in my Tongan
fale (cottage). I tie my lava lava
(skirt) around my waist, slip into
sandals and head outside.
A muscular youth with a fear-
some-looking machete reduces a
pile of coconuts to coconut halves.
He strips off the brown outer fi bers,
gives the coconut a chop and the
shell cracks open as easily as though
he peeled a banana.
I off er to help. Communication
consists of pantomime.
I reach for his machete wanting
to try a couple whacks — it looks
simple yet impressive.
With actions and words thick
with vowels, I’m given to under-
stand he will not be responsible for
me hacking off my limbs.
Using a sharp tool attached to a
stool, he shreds the coconut.
I spot the machete on the ground
thinking I could snatch it, get in
a couple trial chops on a coconut
before he intervenes. He sees me
eying the machete and plants his
foot on the blade.
When the coconut overfl ows a
pan, he throws a few scraps to wan-
dering chickens. He picks up a pile
of the brown fi bers that surround
the coconuts, fans the fi bers across
his hand, piles shredded coconut
in the middle and wrings out the
fi bercovered coconut as if it were
a dishrag. The creamy white liquid
he collects in a pitcher and drops
the dry fl akes into another pan. He
hands me a golf ball-sized hunk
T
what else — a machete. He hefts a
coconut, gives it a smack and the
coconut splits open.
“The trick is to locate the cru-
cial spot to hit,” says the B&B
owner.
Sounds simpler than the ham-
mer, screwdriver and hack-
saw I employ at home to open a
store-purchased coconut.
With forks, houseguests take
turns prying out hunks of coconut.
What ranks as more spectacular,
increasingly rare fruit bat sightings
or the rich fl avor of fresh coconut?
The answer remains under
dispute.
When I return home, an Ore-
gon morning turns brisk and cold.
I scout a grocery store for coconut
and pay for purchases.
From a grocery sack, I pull out
packages of fl aked coconut. With
a plastic knife, I saw open a bag
and toss coconut across grilled
chicken. I sprinkle coconut across
the top of a frosted cake, stir coco-
nut into coconut cream pie fi ll-
ing and garnish with oven-toasted
coconut. I add shaved coconut to
homemade granola. Foods fami-
ly-rated as “mighty fi ne eating.”
Coconut-laced meals, yes, but
not quite quintessential coco-
nut freshly forked from a shell
served with fruit bat entertainment.
I wished for a pile of fresh coconuts
and my own machete.
Jean Ann Moultrie is a Grant
County writer. She anticipated a gift
of a machete but instead received a
fi shing pole and pocket knife.
of coconut and I
savor the treat as
he works.
When the
pitcher and pan are
fi lled, he knocks
at the back door
Jean Ann
of a restaurant and
Moultrie
hands the shredded
coconut and coco-
nut cream to the cook.
At another Tongan island, I’m
served delicious chicken breasts
stuff ed with papaya chunks and
rolled in a crusty coating of toasted
coconut.
Days later in Fiji, while sitting on
a mat in a village home, the home-
maker instructs me in the proper
way to toast coconut: heat a stone
in the outdoor fi re pit, place the hot
stone in a basket of coconut fl akes,
and toss until the coconut turns a
pale brown.
My last night in the South Pacifi c
and I’m sitting on the patio of a
B&B in American Samoa. A fi sh
soup simmers on the stove. While
waiting for dinner, we congregate as
the B&B owner discusses the rain-
forest around us.
The attraction for the evening:
bats, as in fruit bats.
The owner points out the fi rst
fruit bat sighting that evening that
looks to me like a soaring rap-
tor. Bats the size of cats and kit-
tens swirl on wind currents. Slack-
jawed, I watch them lift off from
branches and dip past tree trunks.
The B&B owner ambles inside to
check the soup and returns with —
COMMENTARY
Mental health gets short shrift
uring the fi rst wave of the
pandemic in April 2020,
my boyfriend asked, not
unkindly, if I’ve ever been diag-
nosed with anything besides gener-
alized anxiety disorder.
I was relieved that somebody
had fi nally asked about my mental
health.
All spring and summer 2020, I
kicked the ball of my fritzing brain
down the fi eld to some imaginary
goal of “things” getting better in
the world, or at least more stable.
Plainly, that didn’t happen.
And so, like many others, I went
back to therapy. Or tried to.
I’m on Medicaid, and while the
insurance I receive through the pro-
gram is accepted by many dentists
and primary care physicians, fi nd-
ing a therapist or a psychiatrist who
takes it has been, in my experience,
impossible.
I used Psychology Today’s
search tool and found just three
therapists in my area who said
they accepted Medicaid. Only
one returned my email, but after a
detailed intake interview, I never
heard from her again.
Over the next eight months, more
fruitless attempts to fi nd care for my
mental health took a real toll on my
time, money, and well being.
I asked for help fi nding a ther-
apist and a psychiatrist from my
in-network primary care physi-
cian. A month later, she wrote to say
that she knew no psychiatrists who
accepted Medicaid, ending the mes-
sage with a well-intentioned but
D
WHERE TO WRITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201 S. Humbolt
St., Suite 280, Canyon City 97820. Phone: 541-
575-0059. Fax: 541-575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax: 541-575-0515.
Email: tocc1862@centurylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville 97825. Phone:
541-987-2188. Fax: 541-987-2187. Email: dville@
ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day, 97845.
Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-575-1721. Email:
cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long Creek 97856.
Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax: 541-421-3075. Email:
info@cityofl ongcreek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025. Email:
cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt. Vernon 97865.
Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax: 541-932-4222. Email:
cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie City 97869.
Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax: 820-3566. Email:
pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca 97873. Phone
and fax: 541-542-2161. Email: senecaoregon@
gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State Capitol, Salem
97310. Phone: 503-378-3111. Fax: 503-378-6827.
Website: governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol, Salem,
97310. Phone: 503-986-1180. Website: leg.state.
or.us (includes Oregon Constitution and Oregon
Revised Statutes).
• Oregon Legislative Information — (For
updates on bills, services, capitol or
messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313,
oregonlegislature.gov.
• Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale — 900 Court St.
NE, S-301, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-986-1730.
Website: oregonlegislature.gov/fi ndley. Email:
sen.lynnfi ndley@oregonlegislature.gov.
• Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane — 900 Court St.
NE, H-475, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-986-1460.
District address: 258 S. Oregon St., Ontario OR
97914. District phone: 541-889-8866. Website:
oregonlegislature.gov/fi ndley. Email: rep.
markowens@oregonlegislature.gov.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500; Phone-
comments: 202-456-1111; Switchboard:
202-456-1414.
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart Senate
Offi ce Building, Washington D.C. 20510.
Phone: 202-224-5244. Email: wayne_kinney@
wyden.senate.gov. Website: http://wyden.
senate.gov Fax: 202-228-2717.
unhelpful “;-(”.
After combing
the Internet, I found
fi ve other local
psychiatrists who
had “Medicaid”
listed on their pro-
Katie
fi les. They never
Prout
returned my emails
or my calls. I cried.
It turns out I’m not alone. Amer-
icans are seeking mental health care
in record numbers, and many are
struggling to fi nd it. Even before
the pandemic, NPR reported that
77 percent of U.S. counties faced
a severe shortage of psychiatrists.
Meanwhile the number of practices
accepting Medicaid has declined.
For people like me, our condi-
tions can grow more disruptive and
life-threatening with every pass-
ing week without care. Studies
show that being poor is correlated to
higher rates of mental illness. What
is perhaps less widely understood is
that poverty causes mental illness,
too.
Anyone who has tried to get help
knows that the process consigns
whole days to the dump.
During my search, I was working
as a freelance journalist. The time I
spent chasing down care was time
I couldn’t spend fi ling stories and
earning income to live. For that mat-
ter, it was time I could’ve spent call-
ing my mom, cleaning my fridge,
applying for a job, running around
the block — anything.
Eventually, I found a graduate
student therapist for $25 a session.
Blue Mountain
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
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But a proper psychiatric evaluation
remains elusive. One place said I’d
have to switch my therapy over to
them, but I wasn’t ready to do that.
Another said I’d have to leave my
current primary care physician.
I said no. I didn’t want to disrupt
what stable care I had in exchange
for the uncertain promise of even-
tual help.
Medicaid has been good to my
body — I got a dermatologist, a pri-
mary care physician, a gynecologist,
and a gastroenterologist with rela-
tive ease — but it has abandoned
my brain. I need timely, accessible,
aff ordable care — just like millions
of Americans. I want choice, not a
fi stful of deeply unhelpful options
wrestled from the cruel system we
make poor people navigate to access
health care.
Some days I still can’t believe
that more than a year and a half into
a pandemic — with its massive lay-
off s, record unemployment, hun-
dreds of thousands of deaths, and
increase in mental illness — this
country still ties “good” insurance to
your employer.
We deserve so much more. For
me, I want to be present in my exis-
tence, rather than getting lost in the
endless twilight plains of my mind.
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Katie Prout is a staff writer at
the Chicago Reader. This op-ed was
developed by the Economic Hard-
ship Reporting Project, adapted
from a longer story at the Chicago
Reader, and distributed by Other-
Words.org.
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Blue Mountain Eagle
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