July 28, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 3A
Pacific Power Foundation
awards grant to county
library program
Possible shark sightings prompt
warning signs along the coast
Don’t panic,
calmly exit the
water
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
BRENNA VISSER/EO MEDIA GROUP
Signs in Seaside warn beachgoers of the potential danger.
There have been multiple
shark dorsal fin sightings in
Cannon Beach, according to
observations made by Cannon
Beach lifeguards.
Cannon Beach Police De-
partment tweeted Oregon
State Parks will be posting
warning signs soon along the
coast.
General Manager of Sea-
side Aquarium Keith Chan-
dler said without a photo he
couldn’t confirm one way or
the other that these sightings
were shark fins or not, and
that often people common-
ly mistake porpoise fins for
shark fins.
“If they see shark fins, it’s
usually two. If it’s just one fin,
probably a porpoise,” he said.
“Sharks would not be unusual
in this area. They follow the
food, and if their prey gets
close to the shore they will,
too.”
Chandler advises that if
someone does encounter a
shark to not panic and to
calmly exit the water.
Pacific Power Foundation
has awarded a $1,000 grant
to the Libraries Reading
Outreach in Clatsop County
program. This program pro-
vides outreach services to all
youth in Clatsop County that
are not served by a public li-
brary through collaborative
work done by the three pub-
lic libraries and five school
districts in Clatsop County.
The Libraries ROCC
program is a nonprofit that
is currently supported by
grants or in-kind support
from Pacific Power Foun-
dation,
Georgia-Pacific
Foundation, Clatsop Coun-
ty, Clatsop Cultural Coali-
tion, the Oregon Communi-
ty Foundation, the Seaside
Public Library Foundation,
the Astoria Oregon Library
Foundation, Fibre Federal
Credit Union, private dona-
tions from community mem-
bers, and the cities of Asto-
ria, Seaside, and Warrenton.
The program supports
the work of our schools
and teachers through three
main goals: a library card in
the hands of every child. A
countywide annual summer
reading program, and couri-
er services to help children
return library materials.
Any child residing in
Clatsop County may sign up
for a free library card at their
closest public library.
Amid changing environment, Providence Seaside weathers gale
Higher costs,
lower subsidies
stress system
By R.J. Marx
Cannon Beach Gazette
Providence Seaside Hospi-
tal, the city’s largest employer
with 375 employees, is bracing
for changes amid a changing
health care landscape.
Members of the hospital’s
corporate office responded to
comments after an Oregonian
report of “aggressive cost-cut-
ting and layoffs” by Provi-
dence Health & Services this
week.
For caregivers in the Prov-
idence St. Joseph Health sys-
tem — including Providence
Seaside Hospital— there are
no planned layoffs, wrote
Providence Health & Services
Regional Chief Executive Of-
ficer Dave Underriner in a let-
ter to employees this week.
“That doesn’t mean we
will not continue our regular
stewardship of business, mak-
ing decisions that can change
employment
for some care-
givers, but we
are not hav-
ing
Oregon
regionwide
layoffs,” Un-
Dave
derriner said.
Underriner
“Financially
in Oregon, we
are doing OK and meeting our
budget.”
In 2016, Providence Sea-
side Hospital saw more than
1,000 inpatient admissions,
with 146,000 outpatient visits,
including more than 10,000 in
the emergency department.
“In 2017, we are running
ahead of those figures, and
definitely expect to exceed
those 2016 totals,” Providence
Health & Services Communi-
cations Director Gary Walker
said Tuesday.
Higher costs, lower
reimbursements
Lower government health
care reimbursements are driv-
ing higher costs throughout the
system, Underriner said.
Since the start of health care
reform in 2011, Providence cut
$340 million in costs in Ore-
gon, he said. But new state tax-
es on hospitals and health in-
surance, along with uncertainty
at the federal level “means we
need to continue to focus on
meeting the needs of the com-
munity in light of the revenue
we receive,” Underriner said.
“We are busier than ever, serv-
ing thousands more patients,
but there continues to be a fun-
damental shift in reimburse-
ments to cover the costs. It’s
unlikely that reimbursements
will improve anytime soon.”
Providence’s 50 hospitals
handled more than 1 million
Medicaid patient visits in
2016. The Renton, Washing-
ton-based company was forced
to subsidize the unfunded por-
tion of Medicaid at a cost ex-
ceeding $1 billion, said Prov-
idence spokeswoman Colleen
Wadden.
The current year is bringing
more of the same, she said.
This is all a dramatic con-
trast to 2014 and 2015, when
many large hospitals enjoyed
windfall profits, in large part
because Medicaid eligibility
was loosened and millions of
Americans joined the program.
Oregon alone added more than
400,000 to the Medicaid rolls,
and many flocked to hospitals
for long-delayed treatment.
“This trend is continuing
into 2017,” Underriner said.
“We are a safety net for many
patients, especially those with
Medicaid, and we are deeply
committed to continuing to
serve this vulnerable popula-
tion.”
Safety net
The state Legislature
passed the $550 million Ore-
gon Health Authority budget
and a hospital and provider tax
package that allows the state to
continue covering health care
for low-income families.
In Clatsop and Tillamook
counties, 30 percent of the
population receives health care
coverage through Medicaid or
insurance on the Oregon Mar-
ketplace, according to state
Rep. Deborah Boone. In Ore-
gon, more than 50 percent of
births occurred on Medicaid.
Across the country nearly half
of all children get health care
Alaina Giguiere
Marty Giguiere
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through the program.
Fifty-five percent of Prov-
idence Seaside Hospital pa-
tients are covered under Medi-
care, Walker said. Twenty-five
percent have Medicaid and an-
other 20 percent are commer-
cially insured, self-pay or have
other forms of coverage.
Underriner said he is “pro-
foundly disappointed” by the
U.S. Senate’s Better Care
Reconciliation Act. “Its pro-
posed Medicaid cuts are deep-
er and more devastating than
the House’s American Health
Care Act,” he said. “It will
increase the burden on low-in-
come Americans, dramatically
roll back Medicaid, reduce the
number of insured, and end
coverage for some critical ser-
vices like mental health. This
is not acceptable.”
Politics in play
Providence Health & Ser-
vices in Oregon is in a “good
position,” wrote Underriner,
but he said he expects to con-
sider operational improve-
ments and changes in the way
people access health care.
Services like Elder at
Egrane Brown
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167 AMBER
159 W NEBESNA
Home — which provides care
for frail elderly in their homes
— and lower-cost express care
services are bringing down
costs. Telehealth services con-
nect rural and smaller hospitals
to access specialist consulta-
tions within the community.
“We are focusing first on
process and cost efficiencies,
and will do everything we can
to avoid affecting jobs,” Un-
derriner said.
Employees were advised
to await a planned financial
update in the next month. At
that time, Providence Health
& Services will look at the re-
gion’s finances for the first six
months of the year.
“Here’s the bottom line,”
Underriner said. “Health care
funding will continue to evolve
at both the federal and state
level. As a leader in providing
services, Providence has the
responsibility to create the best
organizational model that al-
lows us to serve our communi-
ty’s changing needs in the most
cost-effective way possible.”
Jeff Manning of The
Oregonian contributed to this
report.
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8820 PELICAN
ARCH CAPE OCEAN FRONT
+ S
31 RE
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SALE
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