June 3, 2016 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 3A
Facing the challenges
at Providence Seaside
CB Farmers Market is back in season
Highlights include
music, children’s
program and new
vendors
By Lyra Fontaine
Kendall Sawa takes
helm at Providence
Seaside Hospital
Cannon Beach Gazette
By Nancy McCarthy
EO Media Group
With a new CEO in charge,
Providence Seaside Hospital
could be in for several changes.
More full-time doctors will
be hired. More partnerships
may be formed with Columbia
Memorial Hospital. The Prov-
idence Seaside campus could
even get a new look.
Hired in January, Kendall
Sawa came to Providence Sea-
side from Ocean Beach Hos-
pital in Ilwaco, where he had
been chief executive since late
2012.
He formerly served in sev-
eral positions at PeaceHealth
Ketchikan (Alaska) Medical
Center for 17 years, before tak-
ing the helm of Ocean Beach
Hospital under a management
agreement between the public
hospital district and Peace-
Health to manage daily oper-
ations. The agreement expired
Jan. 31.
The move from Peace-
Health to Providence Health
& Services wasn’t a giant leap,
Sawa said. Both systems are
Catholic not-for-proits, they
are located on the rural coast
and their values are much the
same.
He calls his new job “an ex-
citing journey for me.”
Scouting for docs
The challenges facing the
25-bed Providence Seaside,
Sawa added, aren’t too differ-
ent than those faced by hospi-
tals in other small communities.
Recruitment, changing reim-
bursement systems as a result
of the federal Affordable Care
Act and competition with other
local hospitals are among his
top concerns.
But Sawa is optimistic. Af-
ter recently introducing four
new full-time specialists to the
community, he is continuing
to scout for more primary care
doctors in the Cannon Beach,
Seaside and Warrenton clinics.
He’s using the coastal beau-
ty as bait, and he’s pretty sure
it will work; more providers —
including a nurse practitioner,
physician’s assistant, an inter-
nal medicine physician and two
walk-in clinic specialists — are
expected to arrive at Provi-
dence Seaside in the next six to
nine months, he said.
JOSHUA BESSEX/EO MEDIA GROUP
Kendall Sawa is the CEO of Providence Seaside Hospital
and the North Coast service area.
“It’s a beautiful place to
come and work,” Sawa said.
“There are providers looking
for an opportunity to serve a
small community hospital like
Providence Seaside.”
But, he added, every com-
munity wants more primary
care doctors, which are becom-
ing rare nowadays. Medical
school graduates are going into
the higher paying specialties
instead of serving general pop-
ulations.
Being in a small community
hospital has its disadvantages:
It means being on call much
more frequently than in a larg-
er hospital, where there may be
little or no on-call duty. It may
be dificult to ind an affordable
home, and the doctor’s spouse
or partner may not be able to
ind appropriate work.
But, Sawa noted, there’s one
big advantage: “In a rural com-
munity, you really get to know
the people you see as patients.”
There are other pluses, too, he
added. The North Coast is a
good place to make a lifestyle
change.
“We’ve been lucky to ind
several candidates who want to
make this a place to live,” Sawa
said.
Collaborations
Providence Seaside also
will continue to ind ways to
form partnerships with Colum-
bia Memorial Hospital in Asto-
ria, Sawa added.
“The walls are breaking
down,” he said. “It’s the right
thing to do. We are collabora-
tively working together.”
When CMH announced that
it was ending its home health
services at the end of April,
Providence Seaside agreed to
pick up CMH’s 17 patients. The
Seaside hospital already serves
about 100 home health patients
— those who need medical at-
tention but can’t leave home
and don’t need a nursing home.
In addition, the two hos-
pitals are collaborating with
each other and with Clatsop
Behavioral Health to create the
Clatsop Behavioral Health Re-
spite Center for those who need
treatment for mental health
crises. The Warrenton center is
expected to open at the end of
May.
While CMH recently be-
came afiliated with Oregon
Health and Science Univer-
sity in Portland, Sawa points
to the strength of the overall
Providence Health & Services
system, which stretches over
seven states. It is the third-larg-
est health system in the United
States.
Seaside Providence also
is working with Ocean Beach
Hospital by sending cardiol-
ogist Robert Morse there on a
regular basis. “He already sees
a lot of patients from that area,”
Sawa said.
To provide service for its
rural residents and still stay
within budget, the hospital is
increasing its use of “telemed-
icine,” where patients talk to
doctors online and don’t have
to travel to appointments. The
online process is being used to
admit patients to the hospital
and to have follow-up discus-
sions with cancer and stroke pa-
tients. The system is even being
used in the intensive care unit.
With the addition of doc-
tors and other personnel, the
hospital may have to expand
outside its current boundaries
on Wahanna Road in Seaside,
Sawa said. A master construc-
tion plan is being worked on,
he added, and more off-campus
ofices may opened.
“We are deinitely out of
space,” Sawa said.
C
Cannon
Beach’s Largest Selection
of Oregon and Washington Wine!
UPCOMING TASTINGS
June 4 • Pui n Wines
June 11 • Capitello Wines
June 18 • D’Anu Wines
June 25 • Kramer Vineyards
July 2 • Pudding River Wine Cellars
July 9 • Bergevin Lane Vineyards
Shack Hours
Sun-h urs • 11am to 5pm
Fri-Sat • 11am to 6pm
Tasting Room Hours
Saturdays • 1 to 5pm
Starting June 14, the City
Hall parking lot in Midtown
will be illed with fresh food,
music and fun activities at the
Cannon Beach Farmers Mar-
ket, every Tuesday through
Sept. 27.
Prepared food and music
run 1 to 5 p.m. Other vendors
are open 2 to 5 p.m.
Shoppers can expect a va-
riety of items, including low-
ers, produce, pasture-raised
meat, organic cheeses,
smoked salmon and baked
goods. One new vendor is
Northwest Roll and Bowl,
offering sushi and noodle
bowls. The sweet and savory
wafles from Hello Wafle
and Middle Eastern cuisine
from O Falafel are among
this year’s returning vendors.
Farmers market visitors
can enjoy local music during
each market. On the open-
ing day, Two Crows Joy will
play.
For the second year, the
market will have a children’s
program, spearheaded by Po-
lice Chief Jason Schermer-
horn, for kids ages 5 to 12.
“They meet farmers and
learn about where their food
comes from,” Market Man-
ager Philomena Lloyd said.
Each child receives two
dollars in tokens they can
spend or save on items of
their choice at the market. A
goat from a local creamery
will also make an appearance.
At most weekly markets,
an Oregon State Universi-
CANNON BEACH GAZETTE/FILE PHOTO
Shoppers at the 2015 Cannon Beach Farmers Market.
he market is open Tuesdays at 1 p.m. with music, pre-
pared food and community booths.
CANNON BEACH GAZETTE/FILE PHOTO
he line-up of Mexican dishes ofered by Casa de Tama-
les was among the array of prepared food in 2015.
ty program will offer food
demonstrations at the “Taste
of Place” booth.
“They will showcase how
easy and quick it can be to
prepare healthier versions of
our meals,” Lloyd said.
Community booths will
be present at each market.
Groups interested in signing
up can view the “calendar”
on the Cannon Beach Farm-
ers Market website (cannon-
beachmarket.org) for open
dates. Interested groups may
contact Bob Lundy through
the farmers market phone or
email.
Volunteers are always
needed. Those interested in
volunteering may contact
Philomena Lloyd at 503-436-
8044 or info@cannonbeach-
market.org
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