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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 2020)
T HE C OLUMBIA P RESS Ju ly 2 4 , 2 0 2 0 5 Coming to highway near you: electrically powered big rigs A plan to create a clean transit corridor supporting electric-powered big rigs would have 27 charging sta- tions built along Interstate 5 through California, Oregon and Washington. During the next decade, electricity could power as many as 25 percent of the medium-duty trucks and 5 percent of the heavy freight haulers in the three states, according to the West Coast Clean Transit Corridor Initia- tive. The initiative is a study commissioned by a collabora- tion of utility companies, in- cluding Pacific Power. “The future of Oregon’s transportation is electric, and utilities have an essential role to play in building the infra- structure needed to support a cleaner energy future,” said Aaron Milano, a manager at Portland General Electric. The report, released in June, recommends expand- ing state, federal or private programs that provide fund- ing for transportation electri- fication, which could further accelerate electric truck adop- tion and expand economic opportunities constructing charging sites. Portland General Electric and Pacific Power are develop- ing infrastructure programs that support nonresidential electric vehicle charging, but more support will be needed Courtesy Volvo Trucks North America An electric concept truck by Volvo. Volvo LIGHTS (Low Impact Green Heavy Transport Solutions) is a public-private partnership working to transform freight operations. to reach levels identified in the study and meet state cli- mate goals. Transportation is the larg- est contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon, To learn more To read the full study or parts of it, visit westcoast- cleantransit.com. making the electrification of freight transportation a criti- cal part of meeting the state’s climate goals. The study’s final report pro- poses a phased approach to electrifying the I-5 corridor. The first phase would involve installing the 27 charging sites along I-5 at 50- mile intervals for medium-du- ty electric vehicles, such as delivery vans, by 2025. By 2030, 14 of the sites would be expanded to accom- modate electric big rigs as well. Of the 27 proposed sites, five are in Oregon. College nursing programs forced to get creative Portland Community College came up with an innovative way to run its nursing program during social distancing re- quirements brought on by COVID-19. The nursing program moved entirely online using software that al- lows its students to care for actor patients in real time. The pivot has allowed students to continue training, graduate on time and find jobs in the A screen shot of a nursing scenario health-care industry. students might face. Rather than attending clinical experiences to prac- cent of traditional clinical ex- tice direct patient care, stu- perience. dents engage in virtual sim- “This will be different ulation called “ATI Real-Life learning, but it will be no less Clinical Reasoning” scenar- valuable,” said PCC Nursing ios, which were approved by Program Director Heather the Oregon State Board of Reynolds. Nursing. “Not all students get the op- These scenarios were used portunity to work with a pa- in the National Council of tient experiencing chest pain, State Boards of Nursing for example, so combining study, which concluded that virtual scenarios with tradi- simulation can be effectively tional clinical experiences substituted for up to 50 per- may give students a breadth of experience they may not have otherwise got- ten.” The scenarios are quite lifelike, allowing student nurses to make indepen- dent decisions in a safe environment, Reynolds added. Students get immediate feedback on their choices and are able to go back and see what would hap- pen if they made differ- ent choices. Nursing students at Clatsop Community Col- lege and across the state are using similar training methods. Even before COVID-19, there was a high demand for nurses in Oregon. With the pandemic, the need has sky- rocketed. We’re online at thecolumbiapress.com. You’ll find expanded stories, more photos and a place to pay for subscriptions. SAFER WITH CMH The pandemic has changed many things. For one, it’s made our commitment to safe, high-quality, personalized medical care even stronger. We are all Safer Together when we each do our part. columbiamemorial.org/safer-together