Local teens participate in farm safety course
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Sugano,
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(L-R back row): Dustin Padberg, Bill Broderick, Dan Jepsen, Kelly Thompson, Tyler Brown, Montana
Marlatt, and Larry l.utcher; (L-R front row ): Sloan Keithley, Roy Proctor, Justin Gregory, Amy Jepsen,
Brianne Jones, Emilv Tallnian and Austin Arballo.
OSU Extension 4-H
and Morrow County Grain
G row ers team ed up to
prov ide a tractor safety course
for kids planning to work on
farm s and ranches this
summer.
A safety program is
required by state law for teens
14-17 working on farms and
owned by persons other than
their parents, however, many
p aren ts also send th eir
children for safety’s sake.
This year 11 kids
participated in the program,
which provided hands-on
experience in safe tractor
o p eratio n
and
basic
maintenance, as well as first aid
and farm common sense. The
15-hour course, gave the
teens in-field driving lessons
and as well as testing their
knowledge with a written
exam . Scott D ougherty
assisted w ith the combine.
“This would not be
possible w ithout G rain
Growers,” said Larry Lutcher,
with the OSU Extension
Office. “Safety is the top
priority,” he added.
It’s official-lone has its own
school district
VOL. 122
NO. 27
8 Pages
Wednesday, July 2,2003
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
lone's Fourth of |uly
& Blues Festival %
66
L eap Into lo n e’s C elebration99
J J3
Annual 4th of July Golf Tournament at Willow £
Creek Country Club. ($35 per golfer.) Contact Craig ^
Holland, 422-7455.
/jV
6:00 p.m.
:oo p.m.
Food Vendors and Beer Garden opens in park.
Music by licit tilents Jeff Eyietlcb, |ln Logan anl Dustin
Piriberf.
FRIDAY, JULY 4th
J3 i
^ *
. i
7:30 a.m.
☆
j .J 2
Dawn's Early Light Fun Run, starting at lone School. ^ •
Contact Jim Raible, 454-2830.
10:00 a.m.
Horseshoe pit opens.
11.00 a.m.
PARADE with theme "Leap Into lone's Celebration”,
. J
#
^ *
Grand Marshals: Coach Del LaRue and lone Track Teams. ^ *
J3
BLUES CRUISE CLASSIC CAR SHOW. Contact J 2
S
Chuck Nelson, 989-8148.
12:00 p.m. Food Vendors and Beer Garden opens.
f
■■■ ^
~ Scheduled Events:
^
* Pie and Coffee in the Fire Hall, sponsored by the Altar
Society Ladies.
v* * Used Book Sale in the Fire Hall, sponsored by the Topic \LT
Club.
y fh
* Bingo at the Legion Hall. Contact Harold Rietmann, 422-
7472.
- Children’s Games:
* Straw Money Pile (ages 3-8); * Fish Pond and Balloon
^
Races; * Bicycles raffled off; * Frog Jumping Contest -fc *
(frogs provided).
j-
J
- Other Events and Games:
* Dunk Tank, sponsored by Creative Care Pre-School.
* Volleyball for high schoolers and young adults
2:00 p.m.
J *
Swimming Pool opens - SWIM FREEI
lone Booster Club Shirt Sale: Frog Theme - “Have A
Blast”.
3:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m.
J +
DUSK
BLUES MUSIC: w ith Eddie Kirkland, Joanne
Connors, Jimmy Lloyd Rea and Michael Burks.
Jet Boat Fishing Trips Auction to benefit Mike Mathews
Scholarship Fund and lone Education Foundation.
D istrict as an interim
su p erin ten d en t.
Board
positions have been advertised
and are expected to be
discussed July 9 at the ESD’s
next regular meeting.
G eorge M urdock
could not be reached for
comment Tuesday, so further
details were not available.
Health district board votes to drop Trauma
Level IV designation
Move could reduce
emergency room
coverage by
physicians
THURSDAY, JULY 3rd
9:30 a.m.
School District No. 1 and the
lone School District. The
changes went into effect
Tuesday, July 1.
T hroughout
the
transition process, George
Murdock, superintendent for
the Umatilla-Morrow ESD, is
assisting the lone School
J*
%
Schedule oi Events
G o v e rn o r
Ted
Kulongoski has signed the bill
that allows lone to become its
own school district. The
U m atilla-M o rro w ESD
Boundary Board met June 26
and held a hearing/meeting in
which they redrew the district
lines for Morrow' County
J *
FIREWORKS, FIREWORKS and m ore FIRE-
WORKSI (Please, NO dogs or fireworks in the park.)
Mislc spusiPf i ly lie Mirriw Cmty Uilflei Recre if lii District
In a move to staunch
the hemorrhage to its bottom
line, the Morrow County
Health District Board, at its
Monday night meeting in
Irrigon, voted to recommend
that P ioneer M em orial
Hospital drop its Trauma Level
IV designation, which requires
that a physician be on call 24-
hours-a-day, seven-days-a-
week.
The board's decision,
which would require a waiver
from state officials, w ould, in
effect, elim in ate
the
requirement for an emergency
room physician ev enings and
w eekends. MCHD CEO
Victor Vander Does said that
if (he waiver was granted, the
district hopes to employ mid
level providers, such as
physician’s assistants and
nurse practitioners, for after-
hours em ergency room
coverage. If PMH receives a
waiver it would be the only
hospital in the state to do so.
Vander Does said that
the district pays out around
$200,000 annually for ER
physicians’ coverage, while
the cost o f a physician’s
assistant is estim ated at
between $70,000-$80,000.
He says he believes the move
could save the district between
$130,000-5160,000 a year.
_ ...
Js T
M X\\
As of May 31, the district lost
over $519,000 for the fiscal
year 2002-03.
The change would not
affect the salaries of Dr. Sam
Datta and Dr. Ed Berretta,
who are under contract with
the district. Dr. Datta keeps
office hours at the clinic and
prov ides daytime emergency
room coverage. Dr. Berretta
also keeps office hours and
prov ides ER cov erage some
nights and weekends. Dr. Ken
Wenberg, who operates a
private practice in Heppner,
would be primarily affected,
since he prov ides ER coverage
nights and weekends on an
hourly-wage basis. He has also
worked at Pioneer Memorial
Clinic during office hours w hen
contract physicians are on
v acatio n or otherw ise
unavailable.
The board's move
was influenced not only by the
bottom line, but also by a
study of patients v ¡siting the
emergency room over the past
year, from July I, 2002, to
May 3 1 o f this year. The
majority of emergency room
visits, 271 out o f 696 v isits,
was for fractures, sprains,
head in ju ries, w ounds,
lacerations and burns. Next,
with 98 visits, was “ill-delined
c o n d itio n s"
including
abdominal pain and elevated
blood pressure. Third, w ith 79
visits, was respiratory illness,
such as bronchitis, sinusitis,
asthma and pneumonia. Fourth
was 46 visits for complaints
such as earach es, eye
infections, migraines and
multiple sclerosis symptoms.
Fifth was 44 v isits for
toothaches, stomachaches,
c o n stip atio n and other
digestive complaints. Sixth on
the list was 41 visits for
hypertension, angina, heart
attacks, cardiac arrest and
strokes.
Vander Does says
that he is confident that a
physician's assistant or nurse
practitioner could adequately
handle all emergency room
visits and stressed that in the
event o f a serious illness or
injury, such as a heart attack
or stroke, the m id-level
provider would be “on the
phone” with a physician.
Pioneer M emorial Home
Health and Hospice director
Molly Rhea, who was at the
meeting, pointed out that all
nurses are c ertified in
“ advanced cardiac life
support” and are required to
attend “high level trauma
training”. “I do not see quality
going down,” said Vander
Does, who added that this
cost-cutting measure was the
one of the “ last things” the
district could do to reduce
expenses.
The district already
em ploys tw o physician's
assistants, Sheridan Tamaskv,
w ho prov ides care at Pioneer
Memorial Clinic in Heppner
and Terry Anderson, who
works at the district’s Irrigon
Clinic. If the district does
eliminate the need for a 24-
continued page 2
HARVEST HOURS START
MONDAY, JULY 7
Monday * Friday 7 a.m.-6 p.m.
Saturday 7 a.m.-S p.m.
We w i l l be open Saturday, July 5 from 7 a.m .-12 noon
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
M ONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
I
Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396
For farm equipment. visit our web site at w w w .m cgg.m t
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