HAPPY
INDEPENDENCE DAY
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2020
HermistonHerald.com
EasternOregonMarketplace.com
UPDATES
State health
plan website
will be
unavailable
July 2-5
during
upgrade
HERMISTON HERALD
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Human Ser-
vices and the Oregon
Health Authority will
be upgrading the eli-
gibility system Ore-
gonians use to apply
for health insurance
coverage.
As part of that tran-
sition, the online appli-
cation for the Oregon
Health Plan will be
unavailable from July
2-5 while the upgrade
is being put into place,
according to a news
release from the state.
Any application that
is started before then
but not submitted by
4 p.m. on July 2 will
not carry over to the
new system and will
need to be restarted,
offi cials said.
People can still mail
in paper applications or
apply over the phone at
1-800-699-9075 during
that time. Both options
are available in multi-
ple languages.
According to DHS,
the new Oregon ONE
system will continue to
be upgraded, in phases,
through February 2021.
Once the system is
fully upgraded, Oregon
residents will be able
to apply for all of their
cash, child care, food
and medical benefi ts in
one place.
“This upgrade is just
the fi rst step in improv-
ing the way the state
delivers health and
human services ben-
efi ts to Oregonians
and their families,”
DHS director Fariborz
Pakseresht said in a
statement.
Photo contributed by Kimberly Nevil
Lifeways CEO Tim Hoekstra, center, prepares to cut the ribbon at a celebration for the opening of the organization’s new Aspen Springs Psychiatric
Hospital in Hermiston.
Hope for healing
Aspen Springs Psychiatric Hospital will off er inpatient care
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
W
hen
Umatilla
County Com-
missioner John
Shafer worked
for the Umatilla
County Sher-
iff’s Offi ce, he says, he saw far
too many people in the middle of
a mental health crisis who ended
up in the Umatilla County Jail
because there were no available
beds for them at an inpatient men-
tal health facility.
“They’ve turned our jail into a
mental health facility, and our cor-
rections staff are not mental health
professionals,” he said.
Shafer said there is a “humon-
gous need” for psychiatric hospital
beds in the state, which is why he is
excited that Umatilla County now
has those beds located right in the
county as Aspen Springs Psychiat-
ric Hospital opens in Hermiston.
The 16-bed hospital at 1212
Linda Avenue is run by Lifeways,
Inc., a community mental health
provider whose services cover
parts of Eastern Oregon and Idaho.
Lifeways held a ribbon-cutting cel-
ebration for the facility on Thurs-
HH fi le photo
Aspen Springs Psychiatric Hospital in Hermiston will off er 16 inpatient
beds for people experiencing a mental health crisis.
“Our main focus will be Eastern
Oregon, but we will be serving the
entire state.”
— Jana Flataur, Aspen Springs Administrator
day, June 24.
“We’re just really excited to
start serving the community,” said
Aspen Springs Administrator Jana
Flatau.
She said it should just take a
few more days for the state to do
its fi nal licensing survey before
they can start taking patients who
are experiencing an acute men-
tal health crisis and need inpatient
care. After a brief, scaled-down
“soft opening” period, the facility
will offer 16 spots for people tem-
porarily in need of 24-hour care
while they are in crisis.
“Our main focus will be Eastern
Oregon, but we will be serving the
entire state,” she said.
Oregon’s shortage of beds for
psychiatric patients has been a
topic of concern across the state,
but particularly in Eastern Oregon.
As a county commissioner, Shafer
said when people asked him during
his campaign what Umatilla Coun-
ty’s top problem is, there was no
doubt in his mind it was inadequate
resources for addressing mental
health.
He criticized state government
for cutting thousands of mental
health beds, including the Blue
Mountain Recovery Center in
Pendleton in 2014. He also said
the state needs a mental health-ori-
ented version of the Justice Rein-
vestment Program, which focuses
on reducing recidivism by fund-
ing additional supervision and sup-
ports for people who are released
from prison.
He said he has heard area resi-
dents say they were afraid to send
See Healing, Page A8
COVID-19 cases rise
in Umatilla County
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Shearer’s Foods announced on June 29 that six employees of its Hermiston processing plant have tested positive
for COVID-19.
INSIDE
A3 Local churches make adjust-
ments in the face of COVID-19
A6 Students honor their middle
school teachers
Umatilla County hit a record
new number of hospitalizations for
COVID-19 on Tuesday, June 30,
according to Umatilla County Pub-
lic Health.
The county health department
announced that eight Umatilla
County residents with COVID-19
are currently hospitalized. Over-
all, as of June 30, the county has
had a total of 482 confi rmed cases
and currently has 42 presumptive
cases. According to the county, 267
people have recovered and there
are 252 active cases when counting
both confi rmed and presumptive.
The health department cur-
A7 Dr. Robert Rolen retires from
practice.
rently defi nes a presumptive case
as someone who has been in close
contact with a confi rmed case of
COVID-19 and is now showing
symptoms, but their test results
have not yet come back.
On Monday, June 29, the
county reported its fi fth death of
a COVID-19 patient. The patient
was a 74-year-old man with under-
lying health conditions who tested
positive on June 21 and died at
Good Shepherd Medical Center in
Hermiston on June 26.
“We recognize that we are in
a very abnormal situation with an
unknown endpoint and as such,
increased stress, fear and anxiety
See COVID, Page A8
A9 HAREC researchers study
pollinators.