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
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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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