Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 2009)
Health District provides free Medicare Part D enrollment info to district residents visits and said he was con dures, 14 EKG tests, two Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Libran University of Oregon Eugene. OR 97403 M orrow County Health District CEO Mi chael Blauer told the health district board at their regu lar meeting in lrrigon Mon day night that Elizabeth Peterson, who is employed by the district, has been providing advice to district residents regarding enroll ment in Medicare Part D. This is a service that the health district has been providing to residents free of charge. Blauer also report ed that the recent personnel changes have gone smooth ly. Molly Rhea, who was formerly director of nurs ing services. Home Health and Hospice, is retaining only the director of nurs ing services, while former Home Health and Hospice nurse, Robanai Disque, is assuming the position of di rector of Home Health and Hospice. Blauer said this change will allow Rhea to take on more “risk manage ment” tasks and concentrate on her DNS position. He said that Disque reported that the transition is going well. VOL. 128 NO. 52 8 Pages Wednesday, December 30, 2009 Morrow County, Heppner. Oregon B lauer said that during the last two weeks o f January, two different electronic health record vendors will be on site to demonstrate their products. He said the district is ex cited to learn more about the benefits of an electronic system and recognizes that choosing a system will be a very significant decision with long-lasting implica tions. He also said that community service fees from wind farms in the county resulted in a higher amount o f revenue than anticipated and budgeted. However, he added, the dis trict has received notice that the tax revenue in February may be 30 percent less than anticipated because some businesses in the county had an inflated estimated value. Blauer also noted that the CT scanner at Pio Heppner Mayor Les Faustian (Right) presents Randy Sample with a retirement gift. Sample neer Memorial Hospital worked with the City of Heppner for 13 years. Photo by David Sykes has undergone numerous repairs and maintenance Sample retires from city job Rev. Grace Drake moving to Idaho After many years serving as a volunteer in Heppner, Rev. Grace Drake will be moving to Payette, ID, where her daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Tom Ferguson, live. She will be moving into The Cottage Assisted Living. Born and raised in Kimball County, NE, Grace (Gadeken) Drake was raised on a dryland farm. After graduating from Kim ball County High School in 1939, she attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, NE. She graduated from college in 1944. That same year she traveled by train to Portland to work as an assistant teacher in the Vanport City Child Care Centers for pre-school chil dren of shipyard workers during World War II. In Septem ber o f 1946 Drake came to Mor row County to work as an Oregon State Extension employee. Also in Septem ber, she married a returning WWII veteran, Douglas E. Drake. The couple began farming with his parents on their Sandhollow ranch. The couple had four children: Susan (Drake) Ferguson, Douglas A., Gwendolyn, and Richard. From 1950 to 1955, Drake taught the Jaycette Kindergarten that was held in the old fair buildings located where the library and museum now stand. In 1 9 5 6 th e f a m ily m oved from th e ir town home to t h e i r ranch home. Rev. Grace D rake was Drake widowed in 1967 when her husband died in a hunting accident. Drake served at the juvenile court director un der Judge Paul Jones from 1968 to 1972. From 1972 to 1975 she attended seminary at Pacific School o f R eli gion in Berkeley, CA. After completing her schooling in 1975, she served un til 1986 at three different charges in the United Meth odist Church. She served in Union/North Powder from 1975-1978. In 1977 she was ordained in La Grande. She served in Filer, ID, from 1978 to 1981 and in Ashton, ID, from 1981 to 1986. In 1986 Drake re tired and returned to Hep pner where she began vol unteering for num erous organizations. She served on the Home Health advi sory committee and on the board of directors of South Morrow County Neighbor hood Center and St. Pat rick's Senior Center. She also planned and organized the summer project for the Neighborhood Center which consisted of planned activities and field trips for youth ages 6-14. The project w as carried on with the help of volunteers and lasted three years. Drake also served as a volunteer chaplain of Pioneer Memorial nursing home. Besides calling on residents, she also held me morial services at the hos pital for deceased residents. During her volunteer years she also served as a court appointed special advocate of youth under the jurisdic tion of juvenile court. January 3, 2010, will be Rev. Grace Drake’s last Sunday in Heppner. The United Methodist Church will be honoring her dur ing the w orship service from 10:30-11:30 a.m. A potluck will be held after the service. The public is invited to attend. Anyone who cannot attend the wor ship serv ice is still welcome to visit the fellowship hall to wish Drake farewell. D rake’s new ad dress w ill be G race E. Drake. 1481 7,h Ave. N. #7. Payette, ID 83661. Town and Country Awards event to be held Jan. 14 The Heppner Chamber of Commerce Tow n and Country Community Aw ards event, sponsored by Century Link, will be held in the Pav ilion at the Morrow County- Fairgrounds on Thursday, January 14, at 6 p.m. Catering w ill be prov ided by “Pudding on the Ritz". Tickets will be $20 and will be available for sale on Monday. January 4. cerned that it may fail. He said that he and Nicole Mahoney, MCHD chief fi nancial officer, are currently looking at funding options to replace the machine, rather than being forced to find a replacement on short notice. Mindy Binder, the executive director for the Columbia River Commu nity Health Services clinic in Boardman, reported at the meeting that a federal grant that they had applied for to fund construction of a new CRCHS build ing has been denied. She reported that they w ill look for alternate funding, but the setback will delay their construction plans. The board re ceived the financials for November which showed that the district lost $27,340 for the month. The district had $456,641 in gross pa tient revenue w ith $16,194 in revenue deductions, $95,521 in tax revenue and $1,079 in other operating revenue for $537,047 in to tal operating revenue. Total operating expenses were $574,214 with a $9,826 non-operating gain. The district had a $5,277 aver age monthly year to date loss. Reports indicated that P ioneer M em orial Clinic had 370 patient vis its for the month, with 31 new patients, 45 seen by a nurse and six no-shows; lrrigon Medical Clinic had 215 patient visits, 20 new patients, 45 seen by a nurse and 10 no shows. H eppner A m bu lance had nine page-outs and nine transports for $ 11,544 in revenue; Board- man Ambulance had 21 page-outs with seven trans ports for $8,326 in revenue; and lrrigon Ambulance had 22 page-outs with eight transports for $7,912 in revenue. P io n eer M em o rial H ospital had seven admissions, two swing bed admissions, 11 admitted for observation, 399 total outpatients, 53 emergency room encounters, 1230 lab tests, 101 x-ray proce- colonoscopy procedures, three endoscopy procedures and 67 respiratory therapy procedures. Home Health had 117 patient visits; Hospice had one adm ission; and pharmacy had 1180 drug doses for $63,566 in rev enue. The board m eet ing calendar for 2010 is as follows: January 25, lone Community Church; March 1, Sand Hollow Room, Port o f M orrow, Boardm an; March 29, Home Health Office, Heppner; April 26, Lexington School District office; May 24, Home Health Office; June 28, Morrow County Annex, lrrigon; July 26, lone Com munity Church; A ugust 30, Home Health Office; September 27, Sand Hollow Room; October 25, Lex ington School District Of fice; November 29, Home Health Office; December 27, Morrow County Annex. All meetings are held on Mondays at 7 p.m. Motor home rolls on icy roads near Lexington The Morrow Coun ty Sheriff’s Office reported that a motor home was totaled after it wrecked on slick roads at milepost 34 on Hwy. 74 between Lexington and lone on De cember 28. MCSO said the accident occurred just past the long straight stretch not too far out of Lexington. They reported that a motor home was towing a pickup and the motor home rolled. A c c o r d i n g to MCSO one elderly female was transported by ambu lance. According to re ports, the driver of the ve hicle was Leo DeZoete of Heppner. His wife Rita DeZoete was injured in the accident and taken to Pio neer Memorial Hospital by Heppner Ambulance. Gazette-Times closed on Friday The Heppner Gazette-Times w ill be closed on Friday, January, for New Year's Day. We will re-open on Monday, January 4, at 9 a.m. M.C. Sheriff’s Office vehicle damaged in traffic crash According to the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office, on Monday, Decem ber 28, a Morrow County Sheriff’s Office vehicle was damaged in a traffic crash while attending to another crash. At the time, a 23 year old male and a two year old female were sitting in the sheriff’s office car to keep warm. Sgt. Randy Ray- bum of the Morrow County S heriff’s Office had re sponded to a report of ve hicle roll-over crash on Interstate 84. After he ar rived, two of the three occu pants of the car that crashed were placed in his car to keep warm. Another car. driven by Sierra Ames of Pendleton with a female juvenile passenger, struck Sgt. R ayburn’s vehicle, knocking it into Boardman firefighter Rick McKee, 22, of Boardman. EMTs evaluated M cKee and he was re leased with minor injuries. The two occupants of Sgt. Rayburn’s patrol car were also evaluated and refused treatment. Boardman F ire De partment, Morrow Coun ty A m bulance, Morrow County Sheriff's Office and Oregon State Police all responded to the scene. Oregon State Police are in vestigating the incident. The Morrow Coun ty Sheriff’s Office urges all driver to slow down when approaching and passing accident scenes. M.C. Health Department announces flu clinic schedule The Morrow County Health Department announces its schedule for flu clin ics: January 5 - H 1N 1, Boardman Senior Center (11-1 p.m.) January 6 - H1NI, Heppner Senior Center (10-2 p.m.); H1N1, lone Fire Hall (4-7 p.m.) January 7 - Free Seasonal Flu, Heppner-Gilliam Bisbee Building conference room (8:30-12 & 1-7), H1N1 will be available January 11 - H1N1, lrrigon Senior Center (11-1 p.m.) January 11 - Free Seasonal Flu Boardman Health Department office (9-12:30 & 1-7), H1N1 will be available We will be closing at 5 pm December 31st and opening again Monday, January 4th Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221'1-800-452-7396 «at nw»»»cHi.t
