FROM PAGE ONE
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, MARCH 6, 2019
Hearts
Continued from Page A1
a heart. As the project pro-
gressed over the course of
two years she started feel
grateful for other people
in her life, then for good
things that happened to her
throughout the day and the
richness of the life she had.
“Nothing had changed
in my life,” she said. “But
the way I thought about my
life was completely dif-
ferent, and that changed
everything.”
The women featured in
the project are an eclec-
tic bunch, spanning rela-
tives, friends, a running
coach and a yarn shop
owner. Several live in The
Dalles, where Loughmiller
currently makes her home,
while others she met while
living in Hermiston from
2002 to 2006.
One of the hearts is for
Dr. Nancy Rudd-McCoy,
who served as Loughmill-
er’s OB/GYN in Hermiston
and delivered her daughter
Anna. Loughmiller wrote in
the note accompanying the
blue and white heart that
Rudd-McCoy had shared in
Contributed photo by Jenny Loughmiller
Contributed art by Jenny Loughmiller
The Hundred Hearts project will be on display at the Good Shepherd
Women’s Clinic starting March 12.
Jenny Loughmiller painted this heart for Krista
Westover, a friend from Hermiston.
heartbreak and in joy with
her.
“I’ll never forget the
kindness and dignity you
offered me,” she wrote.
When she got online
to search for the doctor’s
address to tell her about the
project, however, she dis-
covered Rudd-McCoy had
died in 2016.
She also discovered that
Good Shepherd Health
Care System had named
its new Women’s Center
after Rudd-McCoy. She
contacted Good Shepherd
about showing the work at
the clinic, and they agreed
to host the display.
Jessie Morrison, prac-
tice manager at the Good
Shepherd Women’s Cen-
ter, said she loved the idea
behind the Hundred Hearts
Project and felt that it was
a perfect fit for a center that
serves women, sometimes
through times of heartache
and sometimes through
times of joy.
“It’s just heart-warm-
ing to know that she
was touched by so many
women,” Morrison said.
She said she is amazed
Medicaid
Continued from Page A1
Long-term care for Med-
icaid patients isn’t cheap and
the cost is rising. The budget
for Medicaid for the 2017-
19 biennium was set at $2.7
billion, which includes both
state and federal funds.
In 2017, the Oregon Leg-
islature directed the state’s
Aging and People with Dis-
abilities program to rein
in the rising costs to insure
sustainability, said APD
Director Ashley Carson
Cottingham.
“Costs are continually
rising,” Cottingham said.
“We have an aging popu-
lation, nationally and here
in Oregon. The Legislature
was concerned about costs
increasing too quickly.”
Medicaid clients are
assessed annually to see if
they still meet requirements
and to determine the nec-
essary level of care. About
3,000 Oregonians are evalu-
ated each month on the date
they started service. A case-
worker assessed Rhome on
Feb. 5 by chatting with her
about her challenges in such
things as dressing, getting
around and doing house-
work. The worker found
Rhome to be independent in
grooming, dressing and get-
ting around, but deficient
in meal preparation, house-
keeping, shopping and other
tasks. Rhome’s service pri-
ority level of 18, however,
means she is too indepen-
dent for the program. Any-
thing above 13 is too high. A
year ago, she got a 7. Indi-
viduals assessed at levels
from 14-17 can hang on to
their benefits if they can’t
find safe housing.
Rhome is not a picture
of health. She sat on the
edge of her bed, skin pale
and voice breathy. Chronic
kidney disease has swelled
her legs. Her left arm jerks
as if it has a life of its own.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A nebulizer and inhalers sit on a night stand next to Jeanne
Rhome’s bed in her room at Sun Terrace assisted living facility
in Hermiston.
Near one wall of her room
is a fleet of mobility equip-
ment — walker, wheelchair
and motorized chair. Tra-
peze grab bars hang above
her hospital-style bed and
toilet. She has a cache of ice
packs and heating pads and a
nebulizer at the ready. A Sun
Terrace medication review
report on Rhome’s table lists
numerous diagnoses, includ-
ing heart and lung problems,
tremors and bipolar disor-
der. A list of Rhome’s med-
ications is four pages long.
Despite her maladies,
Rhome seems to appreci-
ate the small things. She
treasures her Yorkshire ter-
rier, Ashley, who snuggles
nearby. The word “Grati-
tude” is stenciled on one wall
and “Blessed” on another. A
vintage, well-thumbed King
James Bible sits atop the
microwave.
Her positive nature and
tendency to overestimate
her own abilities might
have been her undoing, said
Rhome’s daughter, Heather
Gilham.
“Mom likes to think she’s
independent, but she’s not,”
Gilham said, “She talks a
good game, but she needs
to be in an assisted living
facility.”
Honest evaluation
Oregon’s long-term care
ombudsman Fred Steele
is wary of the evaluation
process.
“I’m concerned about the
level of subjectiveness from
one case manager to the
next in properly evaluating
the needs of an individual,”
McKay Creek Estates
how unique and detailed
each piece is, based on
images Loughmiller posted
online, and she can’t wait to
see them in person.
The artwork will be on
display at the women’s cen-
ter March 12-29 with a pub-
lic open house on March 12
from 5-7 p.m.
Besides Rudd-McCoy,
three other women in the
Hundred Hearts Project
were women that Lough-
miller got to know while in
Hermiston. Krista Westo-
ver and Kristi Ander-
son have since moved, but
Julie Puzey still lives in
Hermiston.
Loughmiller described
Puzey as a “mentor/best
friend/mother/sister”
combination.
“She’s just a phenome-
nal person,” she said.
In the painting for Puzey,
hearts in various shades
form a pink flower against
a blue sky.
Each painting in the
Hundred Hearts Project is
one square foot. Some were
created with acrylic paint
and some are mixed-media.
Loughmiller minored in art
he said. “Individuals like
to believe themselves to be
more independent than they
actually are. When it comes
to toilet and bathing assis-
tance, people might not want
to admit they need help.”
Cottingham said 1,210
individuals out of 35,000
Medicaid long-term care
consumers were determined
to be ineligible.
“It continues to be a
concern around the state,”
Steele said.
Steele made his comment
on Tuesday. On Wednesday,
something happened that
could rescue Rhome and
some of the other seniors
from losing Medicaid bene-
fits. DHS filed a temporary
administrative order adding
individuals at service level
18 (such as Rhome) to those
allowed to keep their long-
term care housing while
they look for safe replace-
ment housing. This could
take months or years.
Rhome has already
appealed her loss of eligi-
bility. She held up a quar-
ter-inch-thick sheaf of DHS
rules on the topic. Until the
appeal is decided, Rhome
will stay at Sun Terrace, but
if she loses she must pay the
benefits back. Her Social
Security and Supplemental
Security Income payments
amount to $791. From that,
she pays $615 to Sun Ter-
race as a copayment.
Gilham worries about
how little time the seniors
have to find new living sit-
uations. Her mom’s assess-
ment happened on Feb. 5.
She received the notice a
week later saying she would
lose benefits as of Feb. 28.
“How do you expect peo-
ple to move 16 days after
receiving a notice?” Gilham
said. “The state hasn’t pro-
vided any support for look-
ing for emergency housing.”
Steele said the ombuds-
man’s office helps people
navigate the appeals process
and deal with other issues.
Pat Williams, who moved
from Sun Terrace to an
apartment on Wednesday,
said she will miss the facil-
ity’s medication manage-
ment, meals and an envi-
ronment set up for seniors.
She’ll miss her good friend
June.
“We
play
Yahtzee
together and do beading,”
Williams said.
APD’s director doesn’t
conceal her distress about
such situations. She got into
this line of work because
of an affinity for aging
Oregonians.
“All of these changes
are complex and difficult
and hard,” Cottingham said.
“We care so much. We want
to help our state’s most
vulnerable.”
However, she said, the
pot of money is only so big.
Spending wisely to make the
least painful impacts on con-
sumers is the goal. One strat-
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Rhome will take her
chances with the appeal.
She can’t afford housing
and her daughter’s home
has hallways and doorways
too narrow for her mobility
equipment.
“I’m
overwhelmed,”
Rhome said. “I physically
can’t take care of myself. I
feel like I’m being judged.”
She swept her hand
toward the window and the
landscape beyond.
“I can’t be out there,” she
said. ”I’m very scared.”
Rhome will likely get
to stay put, said APD com-
munications officer Elisa
Williams.
“We did a broad review
of residents at Sun Terrace
who have received their
annual Medicaid assess-
ments since the beginning
of the year,” Williams said.
“In this group, we cannot
definitively state that the
2017 changes were a decid-
ing factor …. however the
consumers here will bene-
fit from (extended waiver
eligibility) and stay in their
homes at Sun Terrace.”
On Thursday, Rhome got
some good news. Her social
worker informed her she is
eligible to stay until August
when she will be reassessed.
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‘I feel like I’m being
judged’
in college, but described her
past self as a self-conscious
artist who hadn’t created
art for public consumption
before.
“It was really fun for me
as an artist just to let the
inspiration come and not
question it,” Loughmiller
said.
After being displayed in
Hermiston, she will take
the Hundred Hearts Proj-
ect to locations in Oregon,
Idaho and Utah through-
out the year. When the tour
is over, she plans to send
each woman her painting
and the accompanying note
describing their impact on
her life.
Loughmiller is also
launching what she calls
the Million Hearts Project,
challenging other people to
commit to 100 acts of grati-
tude in honor of 100 people
who have touched their life.
“It could be 100 plates of
cookies, 100 notes or 100
poems,” she said.
The power of gratitude
is “phenomenal,” she said,
and she wants to inspire
others to harness it in their
own life.
For more information
visit hundredheartsproject.
org.
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