NEWS
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
Healing:
Continued from Page A1
their loved ones to inpatient
mental health treatment in a
secure facility because they
didn’t want them “locked up
like a common criminal.”
But when he toured
Aspen Springs he was pleas-
antly surprised by how invit-
ing the building was.
“I thought it would look
like a jail,” he said.
Instead, Aspen Springs
is painted in warm col-
ors, with paintings of aspen
trees on each patient’s pri-
vate bedroom. Everything
in the rooms is designed
with patient safety in mind,
such as the lightweight mats
stuck to the wall with Vel-
Contributed photo by Cheryl McIntosh
The 16 private patient rooms at Aspen Springs Psychiatric
Hospital in Hermiston feature attached bathrooms with
flexible mat doors that provide privacy without allowing
people to barricade themselves inside.
cro that provide privacy in
their bathroom area but pre-
vent them from barricading
themselves inside. Patients
also have access to com-
mon areas, including a land-
scaped, fenced courtyard
where they can get fresh
Wyden urges Oregonians
to set a good example
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Eastern Oregon resi-
dents expressed to Sen.
Ron Wyden during a June
25 virtual hall that many
in their community are not
taking COVID-19 precau-
tions seriously despite ris-
ing case levels.
One Elgin woman ref-
erenced a quote by Dr.
Anthony Fauci, the nation’s
top infectious disease
expert, that some Ameri-
cans “don’t believe in sci-
ence and don’t believe in
authority.”
“What steps can be
taken to deliver COVID-
19 info to people of this
mindset?” she asked.
Wyden said while there
is no simple answer, many
people are more willing
to trust their friends and
neighbors than an expert in
Washington, D.C. He said
in a small community, peo-
ple seeing their neighbors
wearing a mask at the gro-
cery store can have more
of an effect than “hand-
ing out 10 papers by Tony
Fauci.”
“At a fundamental level,
you cannot in effect force
people — control — how
everybody handles a pan-
demic,” he said. “You
just can’t. But when you
wear a mask where people
see how important it is to
you, and your family and
friends, I personally think
that makes a really big
difference.”
He said he wears a mask
while around other people,
based on the scientific evi-
dence that doing so helps
lower the risk of transmit-
ting COVID-19. He encour-
aged everyone else to take it
upon themselves to lead by
example in their own circle.
“Talk to friends, talk to
family, tell them why you
believe in precautions, and
why those precautions are
important to you,” he said.
In response to another
question about COVID-19,
Wyden said that “practical,
common sense measures”
like washing your hands
shouldn’t have anything to
do with political parties.
Wyden also talked about
the need to increase test-
ing and contact tracing, and
said small community phar-
macies like Murray Drug in
Heppner should be part of
“TALK TO FRIENDS,
TALK TO FAMILY, TELL
THEM WHY YOU
BELIEVE IN
PRECAUTIONS, AND
WHY THOSE PRECAUTIONS ARE
IMPORTANT TO YOU.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, addressing a question about how to change
the mindset of people who won’t take COVID-19 precautions
the solution in making test-
ing available to everyone.
He also said he was work-
ing to help get personal pro-
tective equipment, testing
reagents and other supplies
to Oregon.
Wyden said when a vac-
cine becomes available he
wants to make sure it is
affordable to everyone.
“As I’ve always felt with
respect to pharmaceuticals,
it’s great to have the product,
but if people can’t afford to
get the product, how did the
innovations and the break-
through really help people
in their homes and in their
communities?” he said.
He promised as a mem-
ber of Congress that he
would work to hold pharma-
ceutical companies account-
able that in exchange for all
of the federal funding they
were receiving to research
COVID-19 and develop a
vaccine or cure, there will
be no “profiteering” off of
the end result.
Other topics Wyden
addressed at the town hall
for Umatilla, Morrow,
Union and Wallowa coun-
ties included the Wild and
Scenic Rivers Act, protect-
ing the integrity of inspec-
tor general positions in fed-
eral agencies, problems with
the Oregon Employment
Department’s system for
disbursing unemployment
benefits, and the importance
of a strong meat inspection
program.
He said when the United
States is no longer dealing
with the physical and eco-
nomic effects of the pan-
demic, he wants to see the
country create a national
strategic food reserve to pre-
pare for future crises.
Wyden also addressed
a question from a viewer
about voting by mail, a topic
he frequently tweets about.
He said since the COVID-
19 outbreak the need for all
Americans to be able to vote
by mail has moved from
an academic question to an
issue of public health.
Wyden, a Democrat,
said he was the country’s
first senator elected com-
pletely by mail, and that for-
mer senator from Oregon
Gordon Smith, a Republi-
can, was the second, proving
that members of both par-
ties can be elected through
a vote-by-mail system. He
also pushed back on Sen.
Mitch McConnell’s claims
that expanding mail-in bal-
lots would encourage fraud.
“The late (Oregon Secre-
tary of State) Dennis Rich-
ardson, who was a Repub-
lican, a conservative, he
actually wrote Donald
Trump and said ‘Oregon
just hasn’t seen it,’ and that’s
because we have been so
strong in opposing the kinds
of things that could generate
fraud,” Wyden said.
He said some in Wash-
ington, D.C. want to “suffo-
cate” the U.S. Postal Service
to profit off of privatizing
the service or to prevent vot-
ing by mail. But he said the
postal service provides med-
ications and other import-
ant supplies to rural Ameri-
cans who can’t access them
locally.
“I don’t think rural Ore-
gon, or rural America, can
afford not to have this life-
line,” he said.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2020
air, a reflection room and a
common area where they
can play games or watch
television.
There are also private
rooms where patients can
meet with a therapists or
family member.
Flatau said one of the
benefits of someone being
able to receive care in their
own community is that
their support system of
friends and family is usu-
ally nearby.
That can help as they
transition out of the hospi-
tal and into less intensive
treatment.
During the June 24 rib-
bon-cutting ceremony, Den-
nis Burke, CEO of Good
Shepherd Health Care Sys-
tem, told the audience that
people in a mental health
crisis often end up in the
hospital’s emergency room.
When that happened, it
was not unusual for them
to end up being transported
across the state for the inpa-
tient mental health care they
need.
“Finding a place to put
that individual is a chal-
lenge,” he said.
He said Good Shep-
herd had looked at a lot of
options for inpatient men-
tal health care in the past,
but recruiting profession-
als themselves proved diffi-
cult and when they looked
at various private organiza-
tions “nothing felt right.”
He said they are excited
about Lifeways’ project and
looking forward to working
closely with Lifeways to
provide future care.
COVID:
Continued from Page A1
among Umatilla County
residents is to be expected,”
the department stated in
a news release. “UCo
Health encourages Uma-
tilla County residents to
continue to prioritize your
physical and mental health
during this time.”
The department contin-
ues to warn residents that
many cases of COVID-19
are being traced to work-
places, and that no one
should go into work while
experiencing any symp-
toms of the virus. The
county has also urged
employers to not pres-
sure employees to come in
while sick.
On June 29, Shearer’s
Foods announced that six
employees of its Herm-
iston processing plant
have tested positive for
COVID-19.
“The safety of the Shear-
er’s products, employees,
and community remains
their top priority,” the news
release stated. “As a result,
the facility will be closed
for 24 hours to conduct a
deep cleaning of all equip-
ment based on CDC guide-
lines and using EPA-ap-
proved registered products
for COVID-19.”
The company stated
that all employees would
continue to receive their
pay and benefits during
the shutdown and if they
needed to quarantine.
Employees who worked
in close contact with those
who tested positive have
been notified and asked to
self-quarantine for 14 days.
According to the com-
pany, the employees who
got sick were not in contact
with products at the facility
and “there is no food safety
risk.” The company will
continue to take tempera-
tures of employees arriving
at work, require social dis-
tancing, practice increased
sanitation and require per-
sonal protective equipment.
On June 26, when Uma-
tilla County’s hospital-
Tim Hoekstra, CEO of
Lifeways, said the organi-
zation’s mission is to work
with community partners to
increase peoples’ health and
well-being.
“Aspen Springs will
serve as an essential ser-
vice to help our commu-
nities continue to develop
a full continuum of care,”
he said. “We believe there
is always hope for healing
and well-being. We envi-
sion Aspen Springs Hospital
being a safe port for those in
need. We hope to be a new
starting point for many in
their journey toward healing
and well-being.”
For more information
about Aspen Springs Psy-
chiatric Hospital, visit life-
ways.org/aspen-springs or
call 541-289-2340.
izations reached six peo-
ple, Good Shepherd Health
Care System announced it
was reinstating its incident
command system used for
emergencies.
“We have temporar-
ily moved our Treatment
Center and Good Shepherd
Cancer Center services
to the Day Surgery wing
in our Surgical Services
Department and the orig-
inal space those services
occupied on Unit C is now
a dedicated COVID-19
unit,” CEO Dennis Burke
said in a statement.
According to a news
release, the unit has 12
beds
for
COVID-19
patients, and four more can
be added temporarily to the
surgical unit for overflow.
Burke said Good Shepherd
is “judiciously monitoring”
personal protective equip-
ment and other supplies to
make sure the hospital will
be prepared in the event of
an influx of patients.
Patients can continue
to expect to be screened
before entering build-
ings, to see social distanc-
ing maintained inside and
to be limited to one visitor
per person in most cases
where the patient does not
have COVID-19. Educa-
tion classes continue to be
online, and the pharmacy
and home medical equip-
ment shop continue to offer
curbside pickup or free
home delivery.
The treatment center
and cancer center are in a
temporary location in the
surgical services depart-
ment on the main floor of
the hospital near the day
surgery entrance.
In response to what she
said was an “alarming rate”
of spread in both urban
and rural counties, Gov.
Kate Brown announced on
Monday, June 29 that start-
ing Wednesday, July 1, all
Oregon residents over the
age of 12 will be required
to wear a covering over
their nose and mouth in
indoor public spaces, such
as stores, gyms, restaurants
and public transportation.
The covering can take the
Can’t come in for an appointment?
Set up a virtual visit with us on the internet through
form of a mask or a clear
plastic face shield.
The state is putting the
Occupational Health and
Safety
Administration,
or OSHA, in charge of
enforcement of the rules
rather than police.
“Modeling from the
Oregon Health Authority
shows that if we don’t take
further action to reduce the
spread of the disease, our
hospitals could be over-
whelmed by new COVID-
19 cases and hospital-
izations within weeks,”
Brown said in a statement.
“The choices every sin-
gle one of us make in the
coming days matter ... If
we all wear face coverings,
practice six feet of phys-
ical distancing in public,
wash our hands regularly,
and stay home when we
are sick, then we can avoid
the worst-case scenarios
that are now playing out in
other states.”
She said she did not
want to have to close down
businesses again as some
states have started to do
when their hospitals near
capacity, and said that if
Oregonians don’t want to
see local shops and restau-
rants closed they can help
prevent that by wearing a
mask and social distancing.
“Please keep your
Fourth of July celebra-
tions small and local,” she
said. “We saw a lot of new
COVD-19 cases follow-
ing the Memorial Day holi-
day. Another spike in cases
after the upcoming holiday
weekend could put Oregon
in a dangerous position.”
The Oregon Health
Authority will hold a live
question and answer ses-
sion about the mask
requirement on its Face-
book page at 12:30 p.m.
on July 1, which will also
be available for viewing
afterward.
As of June 30, OHA
had reported 8,656 cases
of COVID-19 and 207
deaths. The Centers for
Disease Control and Pre-
vention have reported more
than 2.58 million cases and
126,739 deaths nationwide.
Robert B. Hopp, M.D.
& Associates
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