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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 2021)
EIGHT - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 27, 2021 Health District doing well Morrow County Health District Board member Aar- on Palmquist told the Ga- zette-Times Tuesday morn- ing that he was pleased with the progress the health district has made. “We’re doing really well,” he said. “We’re seeing improve- ment.” He noted that Pioneer Memorial Clinic in Hep- pner now has a new phy- sician, Dr. Rio Lion, and another physician, Dr. Mi- chael Rossi, is scheduled to visit with the possibility of employment with the district. MCHD earlier had staffing problems, when two physicians, Dr. Dan Hambleton and Dr. Russ Nichols, resigned. C o n c e r n i n g COVID-19, Interim CEO Emily Roberts reported at the Monday night meeting in Irrigon, that the district “is in compliance with the Governor ’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health- care workers,” adding that “There was no reduction in workforce as a result of compliance with the man- date.” Roberts said that Dr. Michael Rossi had been invited to return to the dis- trict to get acquainted with the Irrigon area. She said he “anticipates making a decision toward the end of November.” Chief Nursing Officer Kathleen Greenup, RN, noted the district has an opening for a full-time RN; a full-time medical assistant at Pioneer Memorial Clinic and a full-time float medical assistant for the district. She added that MCHD personal protective equipment and testing supplies remain WWW.HEPPNER.NET adequate. Human Resources di- rector Patti Allstott reported new hires since the Sep- tember meeting, besides Dr. Lion, include a medical assistant at Irrigon Medical Clinic, a full-time RN at Pioneer Memorial Hospital; two Boardman Ambulance EMTs; and a discharge co- ordinator at IMC. Allstott said the district is recruiting for the follow- ing positions: Emergency Services Director, chief operating officer, Pioneer Memorial Clinic director, community relations and communications director, a full-time RN at Pioneer Memorial Hospital, a full or parttime RN for Home Health and Hospice, an information technology technician, an intermedi- ate EMT or paramedic for the Boardman Ambulance Submit News, Advertising & Announcements Letters To The Editor Send Us Photos Start A New Subscription HealthyMC.org Monoclonal Antibodies for COVID-19: • Early treatment with monoclonal antibodies may prevent progression to more severe disease and hospitalization • Monoclonal antibodies are proteins produced in a lab to target and attack specific antigens, such as the Covid-19 virus • Once inside your body, the monoclonal antibodies attach themselves to the Covid-19 antigen, and engage your immune system to target and attack the virus • Patient data from clinical trials showed that high risk Covid-19 patients treated with monoclonal antibodies had a 70% reduction in relative risk of progression to severe disease or hospitalization compared to patients who did not receive monoclonal antibodies • Outpatient one-time dose • Treatments are generally available at little or no cost to eligible patients Patients may be eligible for treatment who: • Have mild to moderate symptoms of Covid-19, and • Have tested positive for Covid-19, and • Have had symptoms for 10 days or less (the treatment is most effective when given shortly after symptoms appear, so it is important to get tested and treated as soon as possible), and • Are at high risk of getting more serious symptoms Source: CombatCOVID.hhs.gov Contact your MCHD provider for more information regarding Monoclonal Antibody Therapy for COVID-19. Station, a medical assistant for Pioneer Memorial Clin- ic, and a full-time EMT-1 or paramedic/emergency department technician for Pioneer Memorial Hospital. In other business at the meeting, the board: -received the following profit and loss statement for September: the district had $1,138,995 in gross patient revenue; less $5,352 in a provision for bad debts, less $241,552 in contractual and other adjustments, plus $197,710 in tax revenue and $9,750 in other operat- ing revenue for $1,110,256 in total operating revenue, less $1,460,485 in total operating expenses, plus a $25,041 non-operating gain for a $325,188 loss for the month and $527,146 loss for the year. -received the following report for Pioneer Memori- al Hospital for September: one inpatient admission, four swing bed admissions, one death, four admissions for observation, 651 total outpatient admissions (in- cluding emergency), 89 emergency room encoun- ters, 1,510 lab tests, 89 x-Ray/ultrasound tests, 25 CT scans, one MRI scan, 30 EKG tests, six respiratory therapy procedures; Phar- macy had 2,368 drug doses for $143,635 in revenue. -received the following for Home Health & Hos- pice: Home Health had 125 patient visits, Hospice had four admissions and four deaths. -received the following ambulance report: Hep- pner Ambulance had 15 transports for $32,368 in revenue; Boardman Am- bulance had 15 transports for $29,319 in revenue; Irrigon Ambulance had 31 transports for $54,689 in revenue; Ione Ambulance had no transports. There were two life flights. -received the follow- ing clinic reports: Pioneer Memorial Clinic had 226 patient visits, 14 new pa- tients, 66 seen by a nurse and 21 no shows; Irrigon Medical Clinic had 427 pa- tient visits, 26 new patients, 193 seen by a nurse and 47 no shows; Ione Medical Clinic had 75 patient visits, 25 seen by a nurse and zero no-shows. -approved the purchase of a $30,755 Stryker (gur- ney) from ProCare Ser- vices, with annual pay- ments of $10,251.67. -learned that the next board meeting will be a dinner meeting on No- vember 29, starting at 6 p.m., followed by a board meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Pioneer Memorial Confer- ence Room in Heppner. A December meeting will be scheduled only as needed. Volleyball holds senior night at districts Above: (Left) Senior ZaBrena Masterson and her parents. (Right) Senior Serena Humphreys and her parents. Below: Morgan Cutsforth loading up a mean spike against Stanfield, covered by Serena Humphreys and Daralynn Teeman (#3). -Photos by Susan Hisler. By Hannah Finch Last Tuesday, Mustang volleyball hosted their last home game of the season and their senior night. This year’s two seniors, ZaBrena Masterson (#10) and Sere- na Humphreys (#25) were acknowledged before their game against Stanfield. Although the Mustangs lost 0-3, it was easy to see their improvement since the beginning of the sea- son. Many of the plays ran smoothly and there were a lot of excellent hits. The girls qualified for districts and traveled to Ath- ena to play Weston-McEw- en, where they fought hard but in the end lost 1-3. This marks the end of their season. For being a young team, the girls have played impressively throughout the past couple months. This year’s volleyball team was one of the first teams to get a regular season since lock- down, and they definitely did it justice. TIME TO PLAN for next year. 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