Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2008)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner. Oregon Wednesday, October 1,2008 - SEVEN State’s smallest hospital faces challenges, tackles expansion lone students learning Editor’s Note: This article staff (30-some at the hospi nursing services, also heads hospitals have specialists ran in the September is tal, many with shared duties up home health and hospice, doing. But most don’t want through experience sue o f the online magazine w ith the H ealth D istrict, and is a backup nurse in the to have janitorial duties also, or to live an hour from the which employs 70 full time). emergency room. CareNews. From the hill on the east side of Heppner, Pio neer Memorial Hospital has a birds-eye view o f the Mor row County seat. Molly Rhea, director o f nursing services, looks out of the glassless window frame on the hospital’s south side. From here, you can see most o f the town and most o f the homes for its 1,400 residents. Right down there, she says, a few blocks from the courthouse, is the house where she grew up. On that hill over there, a little west and north o f downtown, is the high school she attended before going away to nurs ing school. You can’t see it from this window, but just south o f town and slightly east is Willow Creek Dam, the w o rld ’s first ro ller-co m pacted concrete dam. And just outside the window of M olly’s office on the floor below, a fam ily o f quail g ath ers on the law n for lunch. These windows will give a nice view for the residents and staff when the new seven-bed long-term nursing wing is finished. Once home to a 32- bed nursing home, this wing o f the hospital closed in 2003 after years o f losses. The Morrow County Health D istrict, which owns and operates the hospital, is re building the wing with eight beds for the nursing home that can do double duty as licensed hospital beds. The designation will bring the district a higher rate of compensation. “ We w o n ’t b reak even, but w e’ll be within $ 4 0 ,0 0 0 ,” says H ospital Administrator Victor Vander D oes. “ B efore w e w ere anyw here from $200,000 to $400,000 o f losses every year.” T he new n u rsin g wing is a bright spot and a source o f pride for Victor, M olly and the rest o f the Sheriff’s Report The Morrow County Sheriff’s Office reports han dling the follow ing busi ness: July 8 cont.: -BPD issued a citation to Sebastian Ramirez Bernal, 24, for no operator’s license and driv ing uninsured. -BPD issued a cita tion to Leobardo O rozco Vivian, 21, for no opera tor’s license and obstructed window. -BPD arrested M i chael Wayne Hoston, 38, for driving while suspended. -BPD received a re port from a caller that there are kids on bikes going out into traffic. -BPD received a re port from a caller that while he was in the hospital he residence was broken into, his cell phone and some cash were missing. -BPD received a re port that a male subject is giving rivers inappropriate hand signals to vehicles on the freeway. -B P D a r r e s t e d Dustin Reed Harper, 32, for driving while suspended. -BPD received a re port from a caller that there are 4 or 5 kids that are jum ping on the hood o f a car and driving around with their feet. -MCSO received a report of a fire on the upper end o f Big Butter Creek. The » But the wing also demon strates the challenges o f op erating a hospital in a town small enough that you can point out all the landmarks from a single window. Small town pluses... In many ways, there are advantages to living in a small town. A five-minute commute all the way across town certainly is worthy o f envy. And it’s nice to be able to greet every person on the street by name. “I think we have to be m ore p o lite, because we see th ese people all the tim e,” says M olly, a lifelong Heppner resident w ho gained her big-city experience while studying nursing at Portland’s Good Samaritan Hospital. And the old axiom about being considered a newcomer for the first 30 or 40 years o f residency doesn’t quite hold up like it used to, she says. “We’re quick to wel come you because we need more people,” Molly says. Having new people means some o f the burdens of com munity can be shared. Take Molly and her husband. Steve is a d e s c e n d e d o f Oregon Trail pioneers and an insurance agent. H e’s been on the city budget committee, is Hep- p n er’s volunteer assistant fire chief and for weeks this summer was in California w orking as a firefighter. M olly is the L ion’s Club secretary, is active at the Methodist Church, used to be a coach and still yells encouragem ent from the sideline. ...and small hospital chal lenges At the hospital, ev eryone pulls double, triple, even quadruple duty. The adm inistrator, Victor Vander Does, some times works as a volunteer ambulance driver (usually on St. P a tric k ’s Day, he says). Molly, the director of “Some days, when you get busy, all your plans for big projects just have to be pushed aside,” she says. In lieu o f a security staff, nurses keep an eye on the monitor that acts as a security system. T h a t’s som etim es an advantage. Just from that single glimpse on the m onitor, many tim es the nurse will recognize who’s coming in for urgent care, know what crop they were bringing in that day and what pulled muscle is likely to be the diagnosis. More often, the small tow n presents real c h al lenges for services, structure and staff, Victor says. So the hospital makes adjustments and makes do. Pioneer M em orial no longer does surgeries or handles childbirth. There weren’t nearly enough sur geries and births to keep obstetricians, surgeons and anesthesiologists busy, so they had to drive in from H erm iston or Pendleton. Now surgical patients and mothers in labor make that hour-long trip in the op posite direction. But in the space left vacant by these services, the hospital now houses adm inistration as well as a CT scanner and digital X-ray. That means fewer trips out of town for trauma patients to follow up on suspicious neck injuries or possible skull fractures. Just like reopening the long term nursing wing means families won’t have to travel out o f town for visits. S iz e d e f i n i t e l y makes a difference when it comes to finding staff, Molly says. “ I try to play the small town up as a good thing, but finding qualified people is hard,” she says. M any n u rse s, for example, enjoy the profes sional challenge o f handling additional duties that large nearest movie theater and other cultural niceties. A lot o f times, the best place to find people is right at home, Molly says. There are other home-town kids like her w ho’ve gone off to school but want to come home. And there are relatives of people already on staff. “ We do OK with at tracting providers,” Victor says. Two new doctors came on board just in the last year: Betsy Anderson, MD, came from Corvallis, and Russell N ichols, MD, came from John Day. Both are primary care and emergency room physicians. But many physicians spend only a few years, hav ing signed on to a federal program that places physi cians in rural communities in exchange for reduced debt for medical school. O nce th eir o bligation is complete, many will move on. Quality improvement in small town practice Medical care in the United States is under tre mendous pressure to reduce costs and improve quality. T hat’s where some o f the greatest challenges lie for rural hospitals. “ My frustration is that we have so many re quirements and there are so few o f us,” Molly says. It would be nice if there were enough staff to have someone who could do infection control as their primary duty. It would be nice to have electro n ic m edical records so that medical rec onciliation wouldn’t be such a difficult issue. It w o u ld be nice if the director o f nursing services/home health and hospice director didn’t also have to be the quality im provement department. But then it wouldn’t be a small hospital. fire was determined to be in the Pilot Rock district. -MCSO received a report from a caller in Hepp ner that there was a fire. The small fire was put out. -Irrigon ambulance re ceived a report that a mother fell. July 9: -MCSO re ceived a report from a caller in Irrigon requesting extra patrol due to semi trucks and 10 wheelers traveling fast up and down the road. -MCSO received a report from a caller in lone that two o f his antique gas pumps had been stolen. -BPD received a re port from a caller that there was a vehicle in the grass at a rest area. A deputy made contact and advised him to move the vehicle. -M C S O d e p u ty helped to assist a subject in starting there vehicle due to the battery being dead. -M CSO received a report from a caller in Irrig on that her kids had been bit by the neighbor’s dog. The caller made contact with the neighbor’s and asked them to take care o f the problem, but they refused to do any thing about it. -BPD received a re port from a caller that heard two gun shots. -MCSO received a report from a caller in Irri gon that there were a bunch of kids up by the river with a bon fire and possibly drink ing. -BPD received a re port from a caller that there is som eone doing c o o k ies for about five minutes and would like someone to check it out. -B P D a r r e s t e d Shaw na Faye H ahn, 38, for unlawful possession of m etham phetam ine. Sub ject was lodged at Umatilla County Jail. -BPD arrested Ed w ard C harles M cG innis, 41, for unlawful possession o f methamphetamine. Sub ject was lodged at Umatilla County Jail. -BPD arrested M i chael Anthony Mullikin, 24, for criminal mischief. Sub ject was lodged at Umatilla County Jail. -B oardm an am bu lance received a call from a male subject that said his wife is sick, but the wife says she is fine and did not want them to respond. -Irrigon Fire Depart ment received a report that there was a fire near the grain elevators. The fire Department was unable to locate the fire in that area. -Irrigon Ambulance received a report from a fe male caller that her 80 year old grandmother is having some sort o f a reaction to some medications. July 10: -M C SO received a report that there was a motorcycle accident involving a male subject with a broken ankle. -M CSO issu e d a citation to Phillip A rthur Pringle, 52, for violation of the basic rule for 73 mph in a 55 mph speed zone. -MCSO received a report from a caller that there was a vehicle driving up and down the beach. The subject(s) left a bunch of beer cans and a fire burn ing. -MCSO received a report from a caller in Hep pner that said someone had left several horses in the pen at the fairgrounds without food and w ater and was wondering if someone had called in to say they were leaving them there. -MCSO received a report from a caller in Hepp ner that a male subject came in and was very upset and making statements concern ing his neighbor's home. -MCSO received a report from a caller in Herm iston that advised that there was a truck that was driving all over the road. -BPD issued a cita tion to Luis Gerardo Cade nas Nunez, 21, for violation o f the basic rule. -MCSO issued a ci tation to a female subject for violation o f the speed limit o f 48 mph in a 35 mph speed limit. -MSCO received a report from a caller in Irri gon advising that the trucks g o in g up and down the road are causing severe dust problem s and would like them to spray the road or use a different access road. Photos Top to Bottom: Alex Fetteroff is intent on knot tying. Lo ren Heideman helps Cory Peterson and Alex Kietmann tie knots. Gunner Jessen gets a knot tying lesson from Loren Heideman. Kristi C rowell talks about proper pony care w hen handling carts. In the background are students (L-K)J.I Dixson. Dennis Schmidt, Tanner Kietmann, Brianna Peterson and Hailey Arbogast. Dennis Schmidt and Tom Holland learn proper grooming techniques from guest presenter. Tori Rice. -ContributedPhotos Students in the lone C om m unity School a n i mal science class got some hands on experience this past week during the middle of their horse unit. Tori Rice, one o f the guest presenters, helped students get acquainted w ith type of gaits horses have, the difference between horse, m ules and donkeys, and what training can do for a horse. Rice, w ith the help of friends, Kristi Crowell and Sharon Woodside, showed off their cart ponies, walked stu d en ts through proper h o o f care and groom ing techniques and the different types o f saddles used. “ It was pretty cool seeing how they trained animals,” said senior, JJ Dixon. “ I re a lly like the -Continued on Page NINE miniature donkeys,” com I mented senior, Cory Peter son. "We appreciated getting to go on a field trip.” In another unique opportunity students were able to experience was knot tying. Local farmer and boy scout Loren Heideman dem onstrated a number o f differ ent knot tying techniques. “They are skills students can use to tie a horse or tie a load,” said Heideman. The animal science class is starting their year with a horse unit and will progress through all the other major livestock units in addition to a small animal unit, nutrition, inoculation, reproduction and ethics and rights. Anyone interested in being a presenter or provid ing a field trip opportunity is encouraged to contact instructor, Erin Heideman.
