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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2018)
PREPS » OREGON STATE WRESTLING RECAP LOCAL TEAMS • HERMISTON • IRRIGON • ECHO/ STANFIELD • HEPPNER WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018 HermistonHerald.com ALICE TODRYK CAPTURES TITLE SPORTS • PAGE A10 $1.00 INSIDE HOPEFUL IMMUNIZATION EXCLUSION TIGHT-KNIT DAY IS HERE A Hermiston ministry provides hope and material support to the homeless. PAGE A4 Hermiston Yarn Club binds members together as they make blankets and other items for those in need. PAGE A6, A15 UNPREPARED Statewide kindergarten assessments show Hermiston students entering school less prepared. PAGE A7 BY THE WAY Rocky Heights class sets reading record Rocky Heights Ele- mentary School students have a reason to celebrate. All of the students in Mrs. Melissa Doherty’s third grade class achieved 100 percent of their acceler- ated reading goal this year. The Accelerated Reader program motivates student reading by setting point- based goals for students, then allowing them to choose books to read and answer questions about the books to earn points. Doherty’s class earned the distinction of being the first class in Hermis- ton School District history to meet 100 percent of its goals. • • • Interested in building your knowledge of water law? The Oregon Water Coalition is hosting a “Water Rights 101” work- shop next Tuesday from 7-8:15 p.m. at the Herm- iston Community Cen- ter, 415 S. Highway 395. The workshop will be led by Greg Silbernagel, the local District 5 Watermas- ter. The workshop will provide an overview of common terms and con- cepts in water law such as priority date and beneficial use. The workshop is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is requested. To STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Registered nurse Eryn Griffin gives a dose of a meningitis vaccination to Skyanne Gunn, 12, of Umatilla, on Thursday at the Umatilla County Health Department office in Hermiston. Student immunizations must be up-to-date or they will be sent home By KATHY ANEY STAFF WRITER S tudents who aren’t up to date on their immunizations are being sent home today as part of the state’s annual Exclusion Day. Last year, Hermiston School District sent home 84 students. Spokes- woman Maria Duron said school sec- retaries have been reaching out to par- ents since January to make them aware that their child needed more vaccine- sand/or needed their records updated to reflect their most recent immunizations in order to be able to continue attending public school. “It is very important for our students to be up-to-date with their immuniza- tions to help protect their peers and pre- vent others from contracting illnesses, some of which could be fatal,” Duron wrote in an email. Last year, measles broke out in a Somali-American community in Min- neapolis. When the dust settled, Min- nesota had notched 79 cases of mea- sles — the state’s largest outbreak in 30 years. Twenty-one people, mostly chil- dren, were hospitalized. According to local media reports, fears that the mea- sles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine caused autism drove the slump in vac- cinations from 92 to 42 percent in the community over 10 years as parents got exemptions for their kids. See EXCLUSION, A16 530 147 84 Students were sent letters of warnings of potential exclusion by Umatilla County Public Health. Students were sent home last year on Exclusion Day by the county. Students were sent home last year in the Hermiston School District. See BTW, A16 Lifeways hires consultant to restore confidence Paul Spriggs-Flanders comes from Wallowa Valley Center for Wellness By KATHY ANEY and JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITERS Lifeways provides community mental health services in Umatilla County. A new consultant could help improve those services. Lifeways recently got an ulti- matum: change its ways or lose its contract. The mental health provider responded by engaging consultant Paul Spriggs-Flanders to help the agency improve crisis services for Umatilla County. In past months, Pendleton and Hermiston police chiefs and others have criticized Lifeways for leav- ing it up to law enforcement offi- cers to de-escalate mental crises encountered on the streets. Often, they said, people in crisis end up in jail or back on the streets without receiving adequate treatment. They also complained that Lifeways won’t deal with people in mental crisis who are also intoxicated. Kevin Campbell, CEO of con- tracting agency Greater Oregon Behavioral Health, Inc. issued a public statement in early January saying that if Lifeways didn’t make “key changes” by Feb. 20, its con- tract for crisis services in Umatilla County would be terminated. Spriggs-Flanders could be just the one to put Lifeways on a bet- ter course, said Campbell. He said Spriggs-Flanders, the founder of the Wallowa Valley Center for Well- ness, has worked in the trenches and recently retired from the Enter- prise mental health center. “He’s managed crisis services. He’s worked as a crisis worker. He’s worked with numerous community partners such as law enforcement, courts and hospitals,” Campbell said. Spriggs-Flanders could not be reached for comment. A Wallowa Valley Center for Wellness repre- sentative said he worked as a clini- cian for the group for many years, and was one of the main crisis See LIFEWAYS, A16
