Heppner Gazette-Times. Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 1,2008 - THREE
Health district loses $35,000 in
August; prepares for levy
-Continuedfrom Page ONE er, representing Columbia assistance in signing up for
the district move from their
current carrier, H udson,
which they have had for
the past year, to a new car­
rier, Washington Casualty.
The cost for m alpractice
insurance from Washington
Casualty will be $45,332 a
year, compared to Hudson,
which estim ated a yearly
premium cost o f $49,697.
Mahoney said that malprac­
tice insurance with Hudson
cost $57,163 last year. She
said the switch would pro­
vide better service and better
risk management services.
However, Washington has a
B+ rating, which was lower
than Hudson’s rating. Ma­
honey said that with backing
by FinCorp, W ashington’s
rating improves to an A-.
“Well if w e’re going to do
this, we need to be there
(with the new carrier) for
awhile,” said MCHD CEO
Larry Mills. While the dis­
trict is changing carriers, it
is not changing brokers, said
Mahoney.
-received a request
for a letter o f support from
the district from Karen Pet­
tigrew and M indy B ind­
Advertise with
the Heppner
Gazette-Times
Call 676-9228
River Com m unity Health
Services. CRCHS is once
again seeking a $70,000
yearly donation from Mor­
row County Health District
by the end of December. The
district has donated funds to
CRCHS each year for the
past three years, however,
board m em ber expressed
concern that the d istrict
would not be able to donate
to CRCHS if the levy did
not pass.
CRCHS is a federal­
ly-funded migrant clinic in
Boardman, but also serves
the general populace. Dr.
R obert Boss, who previ­
ously operated a privately-
owned clinic in Boardman,
is employed as a physician
at CRCHS. CRCHS has had
a reputation of not supplying
requested financial informa­
tion to MCHD.
Vander Does said
that he w ould send each
board member a copy o f the
interagency agreement that
CRCHS is requesting that
MCHD sign.
CRCHS has indicat­
ed that a pledge from MCHD
is important for CRCHS to
co ntinue to receive fed ­
eral funds and funds from
the city o f Boardman. The
health district has been used
as a pass-through agency be­
tween CRCHS and the city
o f Boardman, whereby the
city o f Boardman donates
to CRCHS, but sends the
payment to MCHD, which
in turn forwards the money
to CRCHS.
-heard from board
member John Murray who
reported that the time for
the Medicare Part D signup
is nearing. The district has
previously offered people
V o te r F a c t S h e e t
The District provides healthcare to
Morrow County residents in many ways:
Ambulance Service
Ambulances & EMTs located in Boardman, Heppner & Irrigon
Quick Response teams with EMTs located in Lexington & lone
Standby coverage for community & sporting events
Pioneer Memorial Home Health & Hospice
Services provided to the entire county
Nurses & therapists see patients in their homes
Irrigon Medical Clinic
Primary' healthcare (nurse practitioner & physicians), free sports
physicals & blood pressure checks
Boardman Health Care Center Subsidy
Primary healthcare to all residents of the Boardman community
Pioneer Memorial Clinic
Primary healthcare, free sports physicals & blood pressure checks
Pioneer Memorial Hospital
Emergency Room, Inpatient & Swing Bed care. Lab, X-ray & CAT
scan, upper endoscopy, colonoscopy
County-wide
County-wide assistance to sign up for Medicare Part ‘D’
Comparison of Health District Current Tax Rates
$2.1329
$ 1.9314
$ 1.7997
$ 0.6050
per $1,000
per $1,000
per $1,000
per $1,000
M orrow County is
kicking off its annual Needs
and Issues Inventory process
that will result in the selec­
tion o f projects to receive
Tippage Fee Awards. The
County Court has set aside
$500,000 to be allocated in
the 2008 funding round.
Eligible applicants
include cities, special dis­
tricts, ports, non-profit or­
ganizations or other groups
that provide services that
benefit the people o f Mor­
row County. AH projects
seeking financial assistance
from the M orrow County
Tippage Fees must be listed
on this Inventory.
To be included on
the Inventory, sponsors must
submit an application for
S
S
S
A pplications must
be submitted by October 24
to be included on the 2008
Needs and Issues Inventory.
The meeting of the Econom­
ic Development Committee
w ill be held on November 6.
All applicants are invited to
give a brief oral summary of
their projects.
Greater Eastern Or­
egon D evelopm ent C o r­
poration (G EOD C) is fa­
cilitating this process for
Morrow County. Program
G uidelines, applications,
and other information are
available by calling Sondra
Lino, GEODC, at 541-575-
2786, via e-mail at slino@
oregonvos.net or they may
be downloaded from www.
geodc.org.
HES elects student council for new school year
and 4,h grade representatives Logan Grieb and Caden Hedman are ready to get things going. Advisor
Sue Gibbs said of the new group, “They are already ahead of the game, helping with open house and
making plans for Red Ribbon Week.” Student Council members look forward to continuing popcorn
days, helping at assemblies, and making HES the best school it can be. -ContributedPhoto
Christian Life Center welcomes
Antonucci as new pastor
-Continuedfrom Page ONE Oregon. Most recently they
Dean and Teri, who
was bom and raised in Hep­
pner and graduated from
Condon High School, have
no children now but plan
in the near future to begin
classes for foster care with
the state o f Oregon w ith the
intent to adopt.
The couple has start­
ed three private Christian
schools, two on the Oregon
coast and one in central
HOMECOMING
WEEK!
GO MUSTANGS!
With this Local Option Levy, the District is
proposing to continue a tax rate o f $0.39
per $1,000 o f assessed value. This equates
to $39 for a house valued at $100,000. Even
with the proposed levy, the Health District's
rate would continue to be only Half o f what
the other districts in our region average.
To Maintain the current level of services.
Current year budget projections indicate insurance discounts and charity
care will climb to a high of $984,780. Our current tax rate is estimated to
generate only $634,542 this year.
In the near future, current tax rate collections are projected to he flat
due to reductions of property values in the entire county.
Same 0.39 cents per $1000 as voted in 2004.
To provide Stability to local healthcare.
=
started a certified daycare in
Hermiston that was ranked
in the top five in eastern
Oregon.
Teri, the daughter of
Vern and Florence Nolan,
was recently awarded an
early childhood education
degree from Blue M oun­
tain Community College.
She is currently serving
as c h ild re n ’s pastor and
women’s ministries director
for church.
Dean enjoys cook­
ing, golfing and bowling and
Teri enjoys scrap-booking.
“ At Christian Life
Center it is our aspiration
to m inister to the whole
family through our various
programs which include the
whole family,” said Dean.
“ We have som ething for
everyone. Come give us a
try.
HEPPNER HIGH SCHOOL
We have newly designed
Mustang Sweatshirts
youth & Adult sizes $30
Why the Health District needs a
Five-Year Local Option Levy
•S
S
each proposed project. The
Morrow' County Economic
Development Committee,
with representation from
throughout the county, will
evaluate all proposals and
make a funding recommen­
dation to the County Court.
There have been a
few changes for 2008 based
on the recom m endations
o f a countywide advisory
co m m ittee th at was a p ­
pointed by the five cities
and the County Court. Some
changes include the ability
o f applicants to accumulate
funding for up to three years
prior to implementation o f a
larger project and the expan­
sion o f funding categories
to include non-capital ex­
penses.
the program and is once
again planning to offer as­
sistance.
-re v ie w e d a fact
sheet which would provide
factual information to the
public concerning the pro­
posed levy.
-heard the following
report: Heppner Ambulance
received 11 page-outs for
August with 11 transports
for $ 1 6,909 in revenue;
Boardman Ambulance re­
ceived 22 page-outs with
15 transports for $ 17,266 in
revenue; Irrigon Ambulance
received 21 page-outs with
15 transports for $15,422
in revenue; there were two
flights; Pioneer Memorial
Clinic had 399 patient visits
with 34 new patients, 52
seen by a nurse and seven
no-shows; Irrigon Clinic had
198 patient visits with 46
new patients, 38 seen by a
nurse and 28 no-shows; Pio­
neer Memorial Hospital had
two admissions, one swing
bed admission, one swing
bed nursing facility admis­
sio n , 10 ad m issio n s for
observation, 453 total outpa­
tients, 73 emergency room
encounters, 1460 lab tests,
94 x-ray procedures, 43 CT
scans, 17 EKG tests, one
treadmill procedure, seven
respiratory therapy proce­
dures; Home H ealth had
196 patient visits; Hospice
had one admission; phar­
macy had 1011 drug doses
for $37,579 in revenue; the
d istrict had $446,114 in
gross patient revenue and
$509,281 in total operating
revenue for A ugust with
$559,579 in total operating
expenses and a $ 15,115 non­
operating gain fora $35,182 HES elected the 2008-09 student council on September 18. President, Maddie Lindsay; vice president,
loss for the month.
Paige Grieb; secretary, Macy Gibbs; treasurer, Kelly Wilson; publicity director, Maken/i Hughes;
MORROW COUNTY HEALTH DISTRICT
John Day
Burns
Enterprise
Morrow
M.C. Tippage Fee Award applications available
Mustang Shorts $20
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