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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 2017)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, August 30, 2017 Two Heppner youth represent county at state spelling contest Serenity Rodriquez and Jackson Coiner, both of Heppner, will be repre- senting Morrow County this year at the Oregon Statewide Spelling Cham- pionship. The champion- ship will have 63 spellers coming from 27 counties in Oregon to challenge their spelling skills at the Oregon State Fair in Salem on Saturday, Sept. 2. KOIN 6‘s Andrew Dymburt will be the master of ceremo- nies for the championship. Students competing in the championship have won their school, district and county written spelling contests. This is the ninth year Oregon Spellers has spon- sored the Oregon Statewide Spelling Championship. Oregon Spellers is an all- volunteer group funded solely by donations and sponsored by the Oregon Association for Talented and Gifted (oatag.org). Or- egon Spellers was formed after the Oregon Depart- ment of Education ended its support for the spelling contest in 2009. Local and regional coordinators are sought to expand the pro- gram to areas not currently participating. For more information, please check out their website at www. oregonspellers.org. HEALTH DISTRICT -Continued from PAGE ONE part-time with the district Enhancement Funds, which ment and a maintenance vehicle. Endoscopy services have been curtailed since the state required ventila- tion changes months ago. The state has not yet ap- proved the remodel, which has reduced vital patient services and funding for the district. Out of that $179,000 amount, the board approved spending up to $20,000 for the purchase of the mainte- nance vehicle and $39,000 for the purchase of micro- biology equipment. They also approved purchase of Microsoft Office Stan- dard 2016 and Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2016 for $26,326.75 with cash on hand. Also at the meeting CEO Bob Houser reported that the Board of Medical Examiners informed the district that they will not act on a recommendation to license Dr. Gayle John- ston, a physician newly hired by the district, until mid-September, with a final decision planned the first part of October. Houser anticipated an earlier approval by the med- ical examiners since Dr. Johnston is already licensed in the state of Washington; however, he added, the current time frame is “the norm.” He said that Dr. Johnston will be working until she is licensed to see patients. The board also heard a teleconference presenta- tion from Wes Thew of the Wipfli CPA and consulting firm on the district’s debt capacity concerning pro- posed funding for remod- eling or rebuilding Pioneer Memorial Hospital and Pioneer Memorial Clinic. Wipfli provided several sce- narios with varied funding amounts and interest rates. The Wipfli report in- dicated that the district’s revenue has been growing at a rate of three percent per year. Also, board mem- bers Leann Rea and Aaron Palmquist commented that large increases in taxing income for the district are anticipated, both of which would make remodeling or rebuilding more feasible for the district. In other business, the board: -learned that the district has received a $20,000 grant from Wildhorse to go toward the Irrigon Medi- cal Clinic expansion proj- ect. Houser said that the district has also applied for a $25,000 grant for the project from Oregon Community Foundation. The district also received a $50,000 grant for the Irri- gon Medical Clinic parking lot expansion project from the Irrigon Community were made possible through CREZ II funding. -learned from local pharmacist and MCHD Board member John Murray that the proposed expansion of his pharmacy business into Boardman will not proceed (see story PAGE ONE). After learning of his expansion plans, mem- bers of the Columbia River Community Health Servic- es voted to start their own pharmacy in Boardman, to be affiliated with their federally-funded clinic. Un- like public boards such as the Morrow County Health District, the CRCHS Board is not required to have open meetings or publish budgets or funding sources. Ann Murray told the Gazette that they curtailed their expansion plans because their private business could not compete with a feder- ally funded pharmacy and that two pharmacies could not successfully co-exist in Boardman. -heard from Houser that the district may or may not continue their lease with Lee Langan for the Home Health and Hospice office in Boardman after January 1, 2018. Some problems ex- ist with the current building that limit accessibility for their patients, including a non-operational elevator. The district had tentative PHARMACY -Continued from PAGE ONE A news story in the East years.” cussing it with our board we believe that the sale of the GSHCS pharmacy to Mr. Murray would be the right decision,” Good Shepherd Director of Marketing and Communication Nick Beja- rano told the Gazette. “With Murray’s Drug’s history of successful drug stores that provide pharmaceuticals and additional retail items, this would be an added benefit for the Boardman community. “We were unaware of any interest at the time of the Columbia River Com- munity Health Services interest in commencing with pharmacy services,” he added. CRCHS apparently plans to take over the cur- rent location of the Good Shepherd pharmacy in- side the Boardman market. Oregonian reported that CRCHS has no plans to take over Good Shepherd’s inventory or client files. Be- jarano did not address the issue directly, but spoke to some uncertainty in Good Shepherd’s relationship with Boardman. “It is our hope and in the best interest of the Boardman and Irrigon com- munities that something can be worked out between Murray’s Drug and Co- lumbia River Community Health Services,” Bejarano said. “We want to make sure that the communities served by the GSCHS pharmacy in Boardman do not have a lapse in pharmaceutical services and residents can expect the same quality service that they have been receiving from the GSHCS pharmacy over the past five The Murrays expressed their disappointment in the events but said that, given the close proximity of the pharmacies in a relatively small community, it was not practical to compete with the Boardman clinic. “It is not financially feasible to have a second pharmacy in Boardman as the prescription volume is not high enough to support two, and it is too difficult for a private company to compete against one with government money avail- able to it,” stated the Mur- rays. CRCHS is a Federally Qualified Healthcare Clinic and receives government funding. The Murrays had planned to have their son, Sean, operate the Boardman pharmacy. - FIVE HHS plans open house, conferences Heppner Junior/Senior High School will be holding an open house Wednesday, Sept. 6, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. All teachers at HHS will be available to show- case programs, meet par- ents and answer questions. Seventh-grade parent/ student conferences will be held Wednesday, Sept. 6. “Conferences will be scheduled with all seventh- grade parents/students to assist in the transition to junior high,” stated princi- pal Matt Combe. “We will be contacting parents soon plans to move the Board- to set up conference times.” “We have found that man Home Health and Hos- pice office into space at the Mountain Valley Land building that the Murrays had planned to purchase for -Continued from PAGE ONE Utah, while her son is what their pharmacy. -learned from Hous- brought her to Heppner in er that a new vendor has 1989. She said that twins submitted bids for testing run in her family and there the pressurization in the has been at least one set in fire sprinkler system. He every generation. Her son, Gary and his said that the system is still wife Jeri, and grandson functional, but a leak in John and his wife Shelley, the system causes the air are still in the area. Great- compressor to kick on and grandsons Adam and wife off and eventually burn out. Natalia along with their -learned that the district children Cooper and Jax- has hired Ian Murray, RN, son, and Riley and his wife for a position at Pioneer Memorial Hospital; and Amanda with their daughter Jolene Favorite as a new Remi also live here. Arlene has two sons, medical assistant at Irrigon Rick and Ken; Darlene has Medical Clinic. two children, Tony and -discussed the process Mary Lou. for finding a new board When asked what tips member following the res- she would give others in ignation of Jill Parker who reaching a century mile- moved out of the district. stone, Wight said, “Keep -received the follow- praying. Keep happy. That’s ing profit/loss statement: my goal. I’m happy.” MCHD had $955,388 in She places a lot of em- gross patient revenue for phasis on prayer. “I bet July, $5,699 for provision I’m the best prayer in the for bad debt, $42,628 in world.” contractual and other ad- As for keeping hap- justments, $124,699 in tax py, she stressed, “I’ve had revenue and $17,934 in friends wherever I went. other operating revenue for People seemed to love me. $1,049,695 in total operat- I always loved everybody.” ing revenue; $1,031,960 in total operating expenses, She says she thinks ev- plus a $10,610 non-operat- eryone likes her so well ing gain for a $28,345 gain because she likes to laugh. Her future goal is very for the month. clear, saying “I’m gonna go Following the champi- onship, Mr. Dymburt will also emcee The Bee at the Fair — a just for fun verbal spelling bee sponsored by Oregon Spellers. The bee is open to all Oregon State Fair patrons. For more informa- tion, contact us at oregon- spellers@kaynor.net or check out their website at http://www.oregonspellers. org. beginning the year with open lines of communica- tion has really helped all parties involved. Parents want to know how to best help their student; this has helped start a positive six- year relationship with our school and staff,” stated head teacher Greg Grant. “Junior high is such a dras- tic change in routine and environment, it is important to reach out to parents and students to develop rela- tionships.” For more information contact Greg Grant or Matt Combe at HHS. WIGHT 100 “Since he was fully committed, he will now be coming back to expand pharmacy services in Hep- pner and Condon,” they told the Gazette. Ann Mur- ray also said that they had been moving along with preparations, including contracting to have side- walks poured and ordering new signage, all of which had to be canceled. The change also leaves MCHD in some uncer- tainty, as the health district had planned to leave its current lease and move the Boardman MCHD Home Health and Hospice office to space within the Moun- tain Valley Land building following completion of re- modeling to accommodate home health and hospice, anticipated around the first of January. with the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what I’m gonna do.” As for any regrets she may have in her life, she didn’t go into detail but said, “I think everybody has regrets.” One tragedy did stand out in her mind; the time when her younger sister was murdered in the Port- land area. She herself has no great love for Portland, she says, preferring a small- er town. “I’ve had so many close calls in Portland, I could write a book.” In fact, she said she started writing a book about her history once, but never finished it, although “I’ve had an interesting life.” She said she likes to keep herself busy and does so by coloring with her col- ored pencils, reading books and her Bible and doing word search puzzles, some- times while also watching television. “I’ve been busy all my life, and I’ve got to keep busy. I keep busy some- times with two things at once.” During the party she shared with Ida Farra, “I think the whole place came. I never had a birthday with so many people.” COUNTY COMMISSION -Continued from PAGE ONE a campground host himself 2.5 percent, or about $230 per month plus benefits. The new position was not budgeted for in the current year. However, the county has a contingency fund of $300,000 from which to pay for the new position. In other business at the meeting the commission heard from Heppner citizen Jerry Olson who said he spent eclipse weekend at the county’s Anson Wright park, and did not have a good experience. Olson said he had problems with his reservations, the small size of the camping spots, and the condition of the facilities. “More spots don’t create more revenue, better spots do,” he told the com- missioners. Olson, who is at another campground in the state, says he knows something about parks. While at Anson Wright Ol- son said he talked to several people about their opinions of the park. “None of them were happy.” He said he ended up getting a different camping spot than the one he had reserved, and that some of the spots were so close together it was hard to open a door on an RV with- out hitting the neighboring camper. “I can’t say I would never camp there again, but I would ponder it,” he told the commissioners. County staff told Olson that the public works department understands there are some problems there, and are working to correct them. ‘Tobacco 21’ bill raises legal age for tobacco Contributed by the Mor- row County Health De- partment. On Aug. 9, Oregon became the fifth state to increase the sales age of all tobacco products to 21. This new law raises the mini- mum age to legally buy or obtain tobacco products and inhalant delivery systems from 18 to 21 years. The new law, Senate Bill 754, known as Tobacco 21, takes effect immedi- ately, with enforcement and fines to begin January 1, 2018. Proponents say this legislation will save millions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of lives, and improve health outcomes for Oregonians. “The passage of To- bacco 21 is a tremendous accomplishment for public health in this state, and the young people of Or- egon,” said Oregon Health Authority Public Health Division Director Lillian Shirley. “Tobacco 21 is an evidence-based strategy that will help reduce youth initiation of tobacco. We know that most addiction to tobacco starts in adoles- cence—in fact, nine of 10 adults who smoke report that they started smoking before they turned 18, and almost 100 percent start before they turn 26.” “We need to protect kids with laws such as To- bacco 21 because new mar- keting tactics and products with hookahs, e-cigarettes and flavored vaping prod- ucts put a new generation at risk of addiction,” she added. Tobacco prevention challenges in Morrow County abound. According to the 2015 Morrow County Health Assessment, twice as many sixth grade students reported smoking cigarettes in the past 30 days as was reported at the state level. More than five times as many reported using other tobacco substances. In the 11 th grade nearly 15 percent of students reported using “other” tobacco products. Our most recent statis- tics available (2015) show 26 percent of deaths in Morrow County were listed as tobacco related. In 2015 there were there are ap- proximately 1,180 adult smokers in Morrow County and 500 suffering a tobac- co-related illness. Another 24 percent routinely use smokeless tobacco. Currently, there is no violation for people ages 18, 19 or 20 to possess tobacco products or inhal- ant delivery systems. En- forcement will take place at the retail locations that sell these products; effec- tive immediately, retailers can no longer sell tobacco products, inhalant delivery systems or tobacco delivery systems to people younger than 21. There are no ex- ceptions for sales and use of tobacco or inhalant delivery systems to persons under 21 years of age. Retailers that sell to- bacco products or inhal- ant delivery systems are required to display a sign stating the prohibition of tobacco product or inhal- ant delivery system sales to persons younger than 21. Failure to post a sign stating this would be a Class A vio- lation. Enforcement of this law goes into effect Jan. 1. “Morrow County resi- dents have a reputation for total support of our youth,” said Molly Rhea, RN, Mor- row County Health Depart- ment. “We need to wake up to the menace we have allowed to proliferate when we tolerate tobacco use by our young people.” For more information about tobacco prevention and the work being doing in Morrow County, visit SmokefreeOregon.com. If you see a tobacco retailer selling tobacco to some- one you know is under 21 and would like to let us know, please send an email to: Tobacco.Inspections@ state.or.us.
