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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2020)
TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 1, 2020 The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow Heppner GAZETTE-TIMES U.S.P.S. 240-420 Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper SEARCH OLD COPIES OF THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES ON-LINE: http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/ Published weekly by Sykes Publishing and entered as periodical matter at the Post Office at Heppner, Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Periodical postage paid at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 188 W. Willow Street. Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax (541) 676-9211. E-mail: editor@rapidserve.net or david@rapidserve.net. Web site: www.heppner.net. Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times, P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $31 in Morrow County; $25 senior rate (in Morrow County only; 65 years or older); $37 elsewhere; $31 student subscriptions. David Sykes ..............................................................................................Publisher Bobbi Gordon................................................................................................ Editor Giselle Moses.........................................................................................Advertising All News and Advertising Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. For Advertising: advertising deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Cost for a display ad is $5.25 per column inch. Cost for classified ad is 50¢ per word. Cost for Card of Thanks is $10 up to 100 words. Cost for a classified display ad is $6.05 per column inch. For Public/Legal Notices: public/legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Dates for pub- lication must be specified. Affidavits must be required at the time of submission. Affidavits require three weeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date must be specified if required). For Obituaries: Obituaries are published in the Heppner GT at no charge and are edited to meet news guidelines. Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space for the obituary. For Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor MUST be signed by the author. The Heppner GT will not publish unsigned letters. All letters MUST include the author’s address and phone number for use by the GT office. The GT reserves the right to edit letters. The GT is not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will be placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks” at a cost of $10. Marriage Licenses The Morrow County Clerk’s office has released the following report of marriage licenses: March 6, 2020: - Christopher Puckett, Sr., 57, and Elizabeth Pettibone, 53. March 11, 2020: - Michael Stensrud, 35, and Jenna Reeves, 33. March 19, 2020: - Raymond Wilcox, 69, and Linda Stevens, 64. March 20, 2020: - Aaron Harris, 35, and Clerissa Arnold, 33. - Thomas Roberts, 45, and Kimberly Moore, 55. - Shane Lazinka, 28, and Regina Seitz, 30. Lexington Easter egg hunt cancelled The 2 nd annual Lexington Easter egg hunt that was scheduled for April 11 at the Holly Rebekah Lodge Friendship Park in Lexington has been cancelled. Health district open for business The Morrow County Health District Board and hospital and clinic staff remind people that “We are open for business.” The board and administrators, meeting via teleconference Monday evening, learned that the district is seeing only “60 percent” of the patients it usually sees, says board member Leann Rea. The current downward trend, likely resulting from fears of the COVID-19 epidemic, could possibly endanger the proposed re- model of Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner if it continues. Reconstruction of Pioneer Memorial Clinic is still deemed necessary because of lack of space. At the meeting, board mem- bers also questioned the addition of more staff in the event that business does not improve. According to CEO Bob Houser, additional employ- ees still needed include registered nurses for PMH, a part-time medical assis- tant for PMC, a discharge planner/nurse manager for PMH, an informatics di- rector and an IT technician. He said that all provider positions have been filled. The district reports that it has seen only one COVID-19 patient, who was transferred out and is reported to be recovering. That patient is the only one reported in Morrow County up until now. “As the numbers of COVID-19 cases increase in our state, we are do- ing everything we can to protect our staff and com- munity members during TA KI N G T H E RI G H T A C T IO N Visit CDC.gov for the latest guidelines. Symptoms of COVID-19 this pandemic,” report- ed Jamie Houck, director of nursing at PMH. “On March 16, we developed a daily COVID-19 update call where department heads and providers have the opportunity to discuss current information on COVID-19.” Houck said the daily agenda includes COVID-19 updates, per- sonal protective equipment and supply updates, staffing updates and the total num- ber of COVID-19 patients in Morrow County. “This situation is very fluid and changes occur daily, if not hourly,” said Houck. “We are working with all areas of the district to provide the best care pos- sible to the patients within Morrow County.” “The goal of Morrow County Health District’s antimicro- bial stewardship program is to have a coordinated program that promotes the appropriate use of antimi- crobials, improves patient outcomes, reduces microbi- al resistance and decreases the spread of infections caused by multi drug-resis- tant organisms.” Pioneer Memorial Hos- pital has gone to one en- trance only, with outside staff and patient screening effective March 26, as per recommendations from the state epidemiologist. Screening includes taking subjects’ temperatures be- fore and upon entering the facility, perhaps multiple times. The district named Jodi Ferguson “social dis- tancing officer” as per ex- ecutive order. Houser said, “Mainte- nance will begin work on the district’s building in Boardman as their sched- ule permits due to need- ing them here during the COVID 19 crisis.” Chief Financial Officer Nicole Mahoney reported a $136,415 loss for February with $1,014,457 in gross patient revenue, $148,826 in revenue deductions (pro- vision for bad debts and contractual and other ad- justments); $181,603 in tax revenue, $44,987 in other operating revenue for $1,092,220 in total oper- ating revenue; $1,288,347 in total operating expenses and a $59,713 non-oper- ating gain for a $136,415 loss for the month. The dis- trict, however, still shows a $22,818 average monthly year-to-date gain. In other business the board received the follow- ing reports for February: -Houser reported on an update of the meeting with the architect, department directors and providers. -Mahoney reported on an update on the status up- date of the district’s USDA pre-application and the district’s financial fore- cast/debt capacity study by Wipfli. -Pioneer Memorial Clinic had 448 patient vis- its for February, with seven new patients, 19 seen by a nurse and 24 no-shows; Irrigon Medical Clinic had 361 patient visits with 35 new patients, 108 seen by a nurse and 31 no-shows; Ione Community Clinic had 67 patient visits, three new patients, six seen by a nurse and zero no-shows. -Pioneer Memorial Hospital had three acute inpatient admissions, three swing bed admissions, 11 admissions for observa- tion, one hospital respite admission and 527 outpa- tients,76 emergency en- counters, 1,712 lab tests, 103 x-ray/ultrasound tests, 26 CT scans, six MRI scans, 20 EKG tests, seven lower endoscopy procedures, two upper endoscopy proce- dures, 32 respiratory ther- apy procedures. -Home Health reported 111 patient visits. -Hospice reported one admission and one death. -Pharmacy deliv- ered 2,613 drug doses for $52,805 in revenue. -Heppner Ambulance had 25 page-outs with 22 transports for $38,903 in revenue for the month; Boardman Ambulance had 31 page-outs with 19 trans- ports for $35,079 in reve- nue; and Irrigon Ambulance had 18 page-outs with 11 transports for $17,641 in revenue; there were nine life flights. -Boardman’s new am- bulance has been delivered and is now in use. -The Lucas 3 unit (chest compression system) for Heppner’s ambulance has arrived. The donation was made possible from a donation from Amazon, said Houser. All three of the district’s “first out” am- bulances are now equipped with Lucas 3 units, he said. DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5PM Locals make masks Sheena Shank of Serendipity Designs fabric shop in Hep- pner and a group of women, Kathy Marick, Darlene Klock, Cherrie Clark and Hailey Wenberg, have sewn over 300 fabric masks for use in fight- ing the COVID 19 virus. VOTE Fever Cough Shortness Of Breath ARMATO STAY H OM E I F No Symptoms Mild Symptoms Moderate Symptoms Severe Symptoms CA L L A H EA D B EF O RE V ISIT IN G Y OU R D OCT O R IF No Symptoms Mild Symptoms Moderate Symptoms JOSEPH Severe Symptoms FOR SEVERE SYMPTOMS, VISIT THE EMERGENCY ROOM OR DIAL 911: Those include: difficulty breathing, becoming confused or especially hard to wake, persistent chest pain/pressure, or developing bluish lips/face. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. MORROW COUNTY COMMISSIONER
