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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2009)
• 1 1 11 11 1 1 1 Molly Rhea steps down as Home Health and Hospice director; Robanai Disque to assume duties ■ • > l i i i i i l h l m l By April Sykes Bessie Wetzel I Newspaper libran l Inis ersity of Oregon Eugene. OR 0741b M orrow C ounty Health District CEO Mi chael Blauer announced Monday night that Molly Rhea, director of nursing services. Home Health and Hospice for the district, has elected to step down as Home Health and Hospice director. Blauer said that the HEPPNER imes VOL. 128 NO. 48 8 Pages Wednesday, December 2, 2009 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Health department to begin public H1N1 vaccinations for high risk populations The Morrow County Health Department w ill begin giv ing H1N1 flu shots to the general public that fall into the high risk priority groups starting on Thursday, Decem ber 3. The health department will also have seasonal flu shots on hand. The shots will be offered at each of the regularly scheduled clinics on Monday and Tuesday in Boardman and Thursday in Heppner each week. Follow ing is the high risk population that can receive the vaccine: -Pregnant women -Household mem bers and caregivers of in fants less than 6 months of age. -Anyone 6 months through 24 years of age. -Persons age 25- 64 years who have health conditions associated with higher risk of complications from influenza. -Healthcare work ers and law enforcement. The health depart ment anticipates being able to offer H1N1 vaccination to the entire population w ithin the next several weeks. So far 1,269 doses have been given in the schools. Below are the to tals given out so far: H 1N 1 S c h o o l C lin ic s 2 0 0 9 School D ate lone School Dist. H eppner E lem entary A C H oughton Sam B oardm an Irrigon E lem entary M orrow E ducation C enter (EC ) W indy River H eppner H igh School Irrigon H igh School R iverside H igh School School P od 11/12/2009 11/12/2009 11/13/2009 11/13/2009 11/18/2009 11/18/2009 11/18 & 24/2009 11/23/2009 1 1/24/2009 11/24/2009 T o ta l # D o ses G iv e n 165 196 265 324 198 70 218 224 336 428 99 95 195 186 108 43 157 78 108 157 2424 1226 D ayC 'are, P r e sc h o o l, H ea d S ta r t C reative D ay Care H eppener D ay C are Irrigon H ead Start Sam B oardm an H ead Start B oardm an H ead Start B oardm an Early H ead Start 1 1/12/2009 1 1/12/2009 1 1/13/2009 11/13/2009 11/13/2009 11/13/2009 T o ta l (N o t D iv id e d bv F a cility ) move would enable Rhea to concentrate more fully on her du ties as direc tor of nurs ing services at Pioneer M e m o ria l Hospital in Mo|ly Heppner. Rhea ‘ Rhea, 51, has been director of nursing services. Home Health and Hospice for the past five years. She has been with the district since 1977, when she start ed at Pioneer Memorial as a nursing assistant. She has been Home Health director since 1986 and Hospice director since 2002. Blauer said that Robanai Disque, 53, who has been a nurse w ith Home Health and Hospice for the last 26 years, has agreed to become the director. “She is very well qualified,” said Rhea. Changes were ef fective Tuesday. The board learned from Chief Financial Offi cer N icole M ahoney that the district had a $61,658 profit for the month of October. The district saw $621,118 in gross patient revenue for the month, $83,312 in total revenue deductions, $95,521 in tax revenues and $24,787 in other operating revenue for $658,114 in total operating revenue. On the expense side, the district had $607,326 in total oper ating expenses, a $50,788 profit from operations and a $10,870 non-operating profit. Mahoney said the av erage monthly year-to-date profit was $238.51. Also at the meet ing, the board also discussed the importance of offering Medicare Part D counseling to the public. Last year the district offered Medicare Part D counseling sessions around the county free of charge and open to the public. Board member John Murray said that the ses sions were vital because of the complexity of the sign up process. He explained that different M edicare Part D plans cover different prescriptions, so if people’s medications change, their plans may need to change as well. He added that phar- macists are not allowed to select plans for patients, w h ic h is w h y th e district has offered the information as a p u b Robanai lic service. Disque D e a d li n e for signup for Medicare Part D is De cember 31. The district plans to offer Medicare Part D counseling two days in Heppner, One day in lone and Irrigon and by appoint ment in Boardman. The board also discussed out reach in Wheeler County. In other business, the board: -heard from Blauer that he has been in touch with Dr. Flanlon, who pre viously offered cardiol ogy services through the district. However, he said, purchasing equipment and hiring a tech would most likely be required. He said he also spoke with a cardi ologist from The Dalles. -heard from Ma honey that the district’s contract with the current auditors is expiring and she plans to put out requests for auditors. -learned from Rhea that two nurses have been hired to fill previously va cant positions, which will cut down on employment of temp nurses. - le a r n e d fro m Blauer that they are making progress on the punch list for the earlier construction project. Mahoney said there has been a problem with the quality of the flooring in the patient rooms. She said that the flooring installed during the construction project was not designed for the weight that it must bear. -discussed the im pact of the recent power outage, which affected op erations to a greater extent than in the past. Rhea said that previously operations were “seam less” during an outage. During the last outage, the kitchen had no power at all. Blauer said that the generators now only power certain opera tions during an outage, but he was not sure why this had changed and said he would check into the issue. -briefly discussed the tax receipts that the district will receive from the windmill projects lo cated in the district. An amount has not officially been determined, however board member LeAnn Rea prov ided estimates. -approv ed the fol low ing board meeting 2010 calendar: January 25 at the lone Community Church; March 1 at the Port of Mor row in Boardman; March 29 at the Home Health office in Heppner; April 26 at the Lexington School District office; May 24 at the Home Health office; June 28 at the Morrow County Annex in Irrigon; July 26 at the lone Community Church; Au gust 30 at the Home Health office; September 27 at the Port of Morrow; October 25 at the school district of fice; November 29 at Home Health; and December 27 in Irrigon. All meetings will be held at 7 p.m. -heard the follow ing report for October: * Pioneer Memorial Hospital had two admis sions, three swing bed ad missions, 22 admitted for observation, one admitted for hospital respite, 497 outpatients, 87 total emer gency room encounters, 1622 lab tests, 117 x-ray procedures, 27 CT scans, 17 EKG tests, six colonoscopy procedures, one endoscopy procedure and 145 respira tory therapy procedures. *Home Health had 131 patient visits. *Hospice had five admissions. *P harm acy had 1791 drug doses for $67,818 in revenue. * Heppner Ambu lance had 18 total page outs with 15 transports for $16,234 in revenue; Boardman Ambulance had 24 page-outs with 12 trans ports for $14,566 in rev enue; Irrigon Ambulance had 37 page-outs with 15 transports for $14,377 in revenue; there was one flight. * Pioneer Memorial Clinic had 527 patient visits with 52 new patients, 76 seen by a nurse and three “no-shows”; Irrigon Clinic had 252 patient visits with 23 new patients, 78 seen by a nurse and 17 no-shows. Time change announced for Light Parade The 1 3,h annual will be a special tree light The parade will begin at Light Parade, sponsored ing ceremony at the tree 5:30 p.m. Through Thursday, by Columbia Basin, will outside the post office. Hep light up Main Street in Hep pner Daycare and Heppner December 17, rew ards cards pner starting at 5:30 p.m. Elem entary School stu can be collected for the Cel on Thursday, December 3. dents have their homemade ebrated Heppner Christmas Local merchants will hold ornam ents hung on the Event to be held at 6 p.m. at open houses and special tree. There will be caroling the Elks Lodge. A list dona and can be purchased at activities. and extended store hours tion items w ill be available Community Bank, Heppner At 5 p.m., there throughout the evening. at a later dater. Chamber and Heppner TV through Thursday, Decem ber 17. The w inner of each basket will be drawn dur A medical fund has for pneum onia. He was contribute to the fund can ing the Celebrate Heppner been set up at Bank of East transferred Monday from do so at Bank of Eastern Christmas Event at the Elks ern Oregon to help the Col Kadlec Medical Center in Oregon, or send the dona Lodge on December 17. tion to: The Roy Collins The Elks will be lins family pay for their son, Richland, WA to Doern- becher Children's Hospital Medical Fund c/o BEO, P Roy’s, medical bills. serving lasagna, green salad O. Box 39, Heppner, OR Roy, a first grader in Portland. and garlic bread. The cost at H eppner Elem entary Anyone wishing to 97836. for dinner will be $9 for School, was hospitalized adults and $5 for children 12 and under. Those who purchase a dinner will be Area pastors invited to submit Christmas messages given a $10 Rewards Card The Heppner Gazette-Times invites area pastors to submit Christmas mes for each meal, up to $50 for sages to be published in the December 23 edition. The deadline is Friday, December a family. 18, at 5 p.m. Santa will be avail Messages can be dropped off at the Gazette office, emailed to editor@rapid- able to take pictures ($5 per serve.net, or faxed to 676-9211. picture) from 6-7:30 p.m. The drawing for prizes will begin at 7:30 p.m. 43 1269 Celebrate Heppner Christmas Event to be held Dec. 17 The Chamber Raf- Heppner TV. Raffle tickets fle Baskets are currently on are available for sale at display in the window at one for $1 and six for $5 Red for reading lone Elementary School student Austin C arter applies red dye to Principal Karl Ostheller's beard while teacher Linda Neiffer and other students look on. Ostheller agreed to go red if the students read 150 books by Thanksgiving. They met their goal, and their principal was happy to mark the event on his hair. -Contributed Photo ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: rW MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. Roy Collins Medical Fund set up at BEO Kerosene Forced Air Heaters % j *=: • Thermostat heat control • Multi-fuel compatible j y g m „UT 0UTPUT Fully enclosed oir over motor $274 00 17S.00 ITU HEAT OUTPUT 2S.00 BTU HEAT OUTPUT $529.00 $464.00 M orrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 *1-800-452-7396 rttfstatqttpam
