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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 2021)
SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, September 29, 2021 New doctors join MCHD Interim Morrow Coun- ty Health District CEO Em- ily Roberts announced at the MCHD board meeting Monday night that Dr. Rio Lion will join the district under a one-year contract. She said he began to see pa- tients at Pioneer Memorial Clinic and began providing emergency call coverage three days a week begin- ning September 27. She also noted Dr. Josh Sirucek is joining the dis- trict in a three-year contract starting around January 21and would be onsite for 12-day blocks once per month during which he will be scheduled to see pa- tients at Pioneer Memorial Clinic and provide emer- gency coverage. “During the weeks he is offsite, he will be available to provide telemedicine services,” said Roberts. “His ultimate goal is to move to Heppner and be available onsite every week.” Roberts added that Dr. Michael Rossi is interview- ing in Heppner and Irrigon on October 4. Also at the meeting, the board approved a three- year contract between the district and Jon Watson, Physician’s Assistant, to provide patient care ser- vices 40 hours per week, primarily at the Irrigon Clinic, and also to cover the Heppner and Ione clinics on a rotating basis if needed, within the 40-hour week. In the contract he will be entitled to 16 days a year paid vacation, 12 days sick leave per year, seven days paid for continuing ed and up to $2,000 per year for continuing ed expenses, among other benefits. EMS Director Rusty Estes has given notice of his retirement from the Morrow County Health District, effective January 6, Human Resources Direc- tor Patti Allstott, who was not present at the meeting, announced. Allstott also report- ed six new people have been hired for the district: Samantha Van Laer, com- pliance/HIPPA/security officer, Kayly Abercrombie, Pioneer Memorial Hospital Certified Nursing Assis- tant II, Richard Hernan- dez, Boardman Ambulance Station EMT basic, Mark Keith, Boardman Ambu- lance Station paramed- ic, Jason Atchley, main- tenance technician, and Leslie Cross, PMH dietary director. She also noted the fol- lowing positions remain open: chief operating of- ficer, now held by inter- im CEO Emily Roberts, Pioneer Memorial Clinic director, community rela- tions and communications director, PMH RN, Home Health and Hospice RN, information technology technician, one EMT in- termediate and two EMT basics for the Boardman Ambulance Station. Dr. Betsy Anderson, chief of staff, reported via telecom that the district has found some issues with narcotic prescriptions, that they are starting to decrease with patient care in mind. Also, at the meeting, Boardman Fire Chief Mi- chael Hughes presented a plan to the board in which Boardman Fire Rescue would take over emergen- cy response for Boardman and Irrigon. Hughes said the plan would “improve pre-hospital emergency medical services with 24- hour onsite staffing” and reduce medical transport “get out” and “on-scene times.” Under the plan, MCHD would hire two addition- al employees at a cost of $198,974 and an additional four employees for Irrigon at a cost of approximately $397,948. The plan entails MCHD “contract with the (Boardman) Fire District to manage personnel; health district maintains own- ership of all equipment; the MCHD logo remains on all transport vehicles; MCHD retains all billing responsibilities”, but the Boardman “Fire District would provide management and oversight of shift per- sonnel.” Concerning COVID-19 state mandates, Roberts assured the board, “The district is working closely with employees and vol- unteers to comply with the Governor ’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health- care workers, ensuring that all employees and volun- teers are vaccinated or have received an appropriate religious or medical accom- modation by October 18.” The board learned from Chief Nursing Officer Kath- leen Greenup, RN, that the district currently has an opening for a full-time RN. Greenup also reported, “Sa- vannah Moreno-Hernan- dez finished her certified medication aide course, which will make nearly 100 percent of our nurse’s aides certified to pass med- ication-this is a huge asset.” She said 100 percent of the nurse’s aides have their CNA 2 certification. Greenup also reported that Maria Romero, Irrigon Clinic referral coordinator, moved to discharge co- ordinator; Brittany Clark moved from a medical as- sistant position to referral coordinator; Irrigon Clinic conducted interviews for a medical assistant position and “had some great can- didates that will hopefully result in hiring.” She said Mark Kearns, “in addi- tion to coming to Heppner weekly, is also performing ultrasounds at the Irrigon Clinic on a regular basis and has completed a number of echocardiograms.” Greenup also assured the board personal protec- tive equipment and testing supplies remain adequate. In other business, the board: -approved a contract renewal with Coverys in- surance, which had a “slight increase” in premiums, but came in as the lowest bid. Coverys presented “a very competitive bid,” commented Chief Financial Officer Nichole Mahoney. -delegated, in an Morrow County Health Department ! D LE Flu & Covid Clinic September 29 E C I T Ione Clinic O N Drive Thru Pod ER H 4:00 - 7:00 PM T R U F Senior Center Heppner St. I Patricks L 10:30 AM UN - T 1:30 PM Flu and Covid-19 vaccines E C AN C Columbia Basin Electric Cooperative Utility Pole Testing Underway Columbia Basin Electric Co-op will be starting their annual utility pole checking and treatment work for 2021 on Monday, September 27th. CBEC will be checking poles out of the Sandhollow and Sniption substation areas. This will include: Bombing Range, Alpine Ln., Sandhollow Rd., Spur Loop Rd., Richmond Rd, Pattee Rd., Ferry Canyon and surrounding areas. National Wood Treating Company has been contracted to perform this work for CBEC. The pole checking will be conducted with a pick-up and ATV and all NWT vehicles will be marked with CBEC signage. The annual pole checking process is necessary to stay in compliance with Oregon Public Utility Commission and National Electric Safety Code regulations. CBEC thanks you in advance for your cooperation. amended resolution, au- thority for the CEO to au- thorize contracts involving expenditures in excess of $10,000 and authorize pay- ment of expenses by admin- istrative officers. -received the follow- ing profit/loss statement through August: the dis- trict received $1,333,904 in gross patient revenue, $234,181 in total revenue reductions, $197,710 in tax revenue, $12,603 in other operating revenue for $1,310,036 in total operat- ing revenue; $1,404,888 in total operating expenses, plus $40,488 for a non-op- erating gain for a $54,364 loss for the month and a $100,979 average year-to- date monthly loss. -received the following report for August: PMH had four inpatient admissions, three swing bed admissions, four admissions for obser- vation, 739 total outpatient admissions, 110 emergency room encounters, 1,665 lab tests, 122 x-ray/ultrasound tests, 44 CT scans, four MRI scans, 32 EKG tests, eight respiratory therapy sessions; Home Health had 174 patient visits; Hospice had three admissions and four deaths; pharmacy had 2,431 drug doses for the month for $110,214 in drug revenue. -approved the follow- ing medical staff appoint- ments: Hospital/Clinic-Ka- tie Mencos, PA-C, Pater Vi- vant, MD, William Everts, DO, Jon Watson, PA-C, Ei- leen McElligott, FNP; Pa- thology-Tomas King, MC; Radiology-Christopher Malcom, MD, John Gam- bino, MD; Telestroke-Ste- phen Burton, Abdelrahman Beltagy, Aixa Espinosa Mo- rales, Amit Kansara, An- drew Rontal, Achit Bhatt, Genjamin Atkinson, Bigg- ya Sapkota, Gruce Geryk, Chris Fanale, Corey White, Elizabeth Walz, James Giles, James Jordan, James Wang, Jeffrey Wagner, John Zurasky, Joseph Freeburg, Kinjal Desai, Kishan Patel, Kyle Ogami, Lilith Judd, Lindsey Frishmann, Lisa Yanase, Margarita Oveian, Michael Marvi, Minal Bha- nushali, Muhammad Fa- rooq, Neha Mirchandani, Nicholas Okon, Pawani Sachar, Pratik Bhattacha- rya, Ravi Menon, Robert Jackson, Robert Lada, Ruth Treat (formerly Thomson), Sarabjit Atwal, Sergey Ako- A View from the Hill By Doris Brosnan Last month everyone at Willow Creek Terrace wel- comed back two previous employees, Tiffany Akers and Josie Long. They also welcomed new staff interns, Hailey Wenberg and Dusty Robinson. (Several past teen interns have contin- ued their work in health care, some continuing work at the Terrace after high school graduation.) And ev- eryone welcomed fall, the season of changing colors, changing slant of sunshine and changing daytime tem- peratures. The community on the hill will also welcome trick- or-treaters at the end of this month. With Halloween in mind, on the 15 th the residents will be creating Halloween-themed deco- rations for their doors and apartments; playing trick or treat bingo on the 25 th ; and preparing trick-or-treat bags of goodies on the 29 th , the same day they will be having a chuckle over lunch on that “Frankenstein Friday.” Fridays always include an activity of some sort, ranging from card games to Wii games. The Wii bowling and golf seem to be favorites for some res- idents, and surely for the resident who recently beat a staff member at bowling. October seems to fea- ture several special-rec- ognition days that cele- brate foods, so through the month, everyone will probably enjoy at least one special feature, whether it be tacos (5 th ), salmon (8 th ), M&Ms (13 th ), chocolate cupcakes (18 th ), pumpkin cheesecake (23 rd ), or oat- meal (29 th ). On M&Ms 81 st birthday, everyone will be invited to taste test the large variety of the present-day candy that first was simply small, round chocolate, covered in a thin hard shell of candy. On the National Candy Corn Day, will participants be allowed to eat the candy once everyone has had a chance to guess the number of the tri-colored candy held in a large clear jar? After a brief delay, the Terrace’s Facebook page has returned. One of its first features contained pic- tures and comments about Grandparents Day (Sept. 12), which everyone thor- oughly enjoyed. And everyone was able to enjoy Rita Dezoete’s birthday last month, as well as Dorothy Green’s 98 th birthday on the 30 th . They will also enjoy seeing the costumes of lit- tle trick-or-treaters on the 31 st , who are encouraged to come before 6 p.m., to self-serve from the bags of treats in the entry area while residents and staff tremble at the sight of ghosts and goblins and sigh at the sight of princesses and heroes. Everyone views the closer-to-normal activities with relief, though caution and prevention continue to be watchwords. And every- one will view the rental of three available apartments with pleasure. pov, Shelia Smith, Tra- vinder Singh, Theodore Lowenkopf, Tod Czartoski, Yi Mao and George Arthur Lopez. -received the follow- ing clinic report: Pioneer Memorial Clinic had 249 patient visits, eight new patients, 96 seen by a nurse and 23 no-shows; Irrigon Clinic had 425 patient vis- its, 25 new patients, 202 seen by a nurse and 37 no- shows; Ione Clinic had 60 patient visits, 22 seen by a nurse and zero no-shows. -received the following EMS report: Heppner had 46 total page-outs with 26 transports, Boardman had 63 page-outs with 35 trans- ports; Irrigon had 42 page- outs with 29 transports; Ione had three page-outs; for a total of 154 page-outs and 90 transfers; with eight flight page-outs. WWW.HEPPNER.NET Submit News, Advertising & Announcements Letters To The Editor Send Us Photos Start A New Subscription
