WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 2021
HermistonHerald.com
EasternOregonMarketplace.com
UPDATES
Burn
bans in
eff ect
due to
drought
HERMISTON HERALD
Eastern Oregon coun-
ties are enacting burn
bans in response to
drought conditions.
Umatilla
County
announced its annual
nonagricultural burn ban
went into eff ect at noon
Tuesday, June 8, and an
open burn ban to include
agriculture goes into
eff ect Wednesday, June
16.
According to a press
release, the Umatilla
County Board of Com-
missioners adopted the
bans in a June 8 meeting
“in response to serious
drought related conditions
in Umatilla County.”
The bans include all
unincorporated areas of
the county but excludes
lands belonging to the
state of Oregon, the fed-
eral government, the Con-
federated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation and areas that are
in rural fi re districts, the
press release said. Some
of those agencies have
their own bans in eff ect.
The burn ban prohib-
its burn barrels, yard and
garden debris piles and
small-scale
residential
burning, and agricultural
burning.
Residents
wanting
to learn more about the
burn ban or to report ille-
gal burning can call the
Umatilla County Plan-
ning Department at 541-
278-6252 or Umatilla
County Dispatch 541-
966-3651 after 5 p.m. and
on weekends.
Morrow County has
implemented a burn ban
that took eff ect on June
1 in the south part of the
county, June 15 within
Boardman Fire District
and will start July 1 in
Irrigon Fire District.
Anyone with ques-
tions about whether they
can burn in their area
should contact Morrow
County Sheriff ’s Offi ce at
541-676-5317.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Dr. Greg Jones, dentist for Fourth Street Dental, inspects a patient’s teeth during an exam Thursday, June 10, 2021, at the offi ce’s Hermiston location.
Putting it off
Patients delay getting preventive care during the pandemic
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
As newly vaccinated patients
are resuming their normal pre-
ventative health care, some are
fi nding those appointments they
skipped during the pandemic have
consequences.
Dr. Greg Jones, dentist for
Fourth Street Dental in Hermiston,
said he is seeing some patients for
the fi rst time in a long time.
“You could tell people had put
stuff off ,” he said. “Cavities were
a little bigger, cleanings had been
skipped, some broken teeth could
have been fi xed sooner.”
He also saw signs that peo-
ple had been under additional
stress, including an increase in
cracked teeth, jaw pain and other
side eff ects of people grinding or
clenching their teeth.
Jones said dentists in big cities
where people are more cautious
about COVID-19 still are see-
ing lower patient volumes, but in
rural areas, appointments mostly
have rebounded after dropping off
in 2020. He said it wasn’t uncom-
mon last year for people to can-
cel an appointment at the last min-
ute because they had been asked
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Dr. Greg Jones, dentist for Fourth Street Dental in Hermiston, speaks with
a patient prior to an exam Thursday, June 10, 2021. Jones said he has
seen appointments rebound after dropping off in 2020 as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
by the health department to quar-
antine, while other people decided
they weren’t comfortable with the
risk of going in to the offi ce.
“It was a little like a snow day,
where some people don’t leave
their homes and other people drive
around like it’s no big deal,” he
said.
In Oregon, health care provid-
ers were directed to only provide
emergency services during the
spring of 2020, to help preserve
personal protective equipment that
was in extremely short supply.
In a weekly survey of 13,000
dentists nationwide by the Amer-
ican Dental Association, 76% of
dentists said their offi ce was only
open for emergency patients and
18% said they were closed com-
pletely on March 23, 2020. Those
numbers slowly shrunk over the
year, and by December, 39%
described their practice as oper-
ating normally and 60% said
they were open but seeing fewer
patients than usual.
Jones said dentists already prac-
ticed many of the guidelines for
preventing COVID-19 transmis-
sion even before the pandemic,
including instrument sterilization
and wearing gloves and masks
while working on patients. But
they have also added new precau-
tions, including more frequent san-
itization of the waiting room area
and temperature checks when
patients arrive.
Cancer screenings
One of the times delaying pre-
ventative care can have the most
serious consequences is when can-
cer is involved.
Dr. Nattamol Hosiriluck, a
hematologist with Tri-Cities Can-
cer Center, which has offi ces in
Hermiston, said she has seen a
few cases of people whose cancer
is more advanced after delaying a
See Delay, Page A12
Lifeways criticizes
county’s decision
Offi cials with the mental health care provider decry Umatilla
County’s decision to choose CCS as ‘arbitrary and capricious’
By BRYCE DOLE
STAFF WRITER
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Lifeways, with its offi ce at 331 S.E. Second St., Pendleton, has been Umatilla County’s mental health services
provider for 16 years. But the county earlier this month decided to not continue working with Lifeways and
instead selected Community Counseling Solutions to provide mental health and addiction treatment. Lifeways
is protesting that decision while claiming it can pivot to fi nd new ways to serve local clients.
INSIDE
A3 The Hermiston city council
OKs changes to zoning codes and
building department fee schedule
A8 Lawmakers are petitioning
the state to end its participation in
increased unemployment benefi ts
Lifeways is not going down
without a fi ght.
Offi cials with the community
mental health services provider
are criticizing Umatilla County’s
decision to go with Community
Counseling Solutions as its cen-
tral provider for mental health and
addiction services and are urging
the county to change its mind.
Lifeways, which has served
A10 Hermiston’s public transpor-
tation options continue to expand
as the city grows
the county for more than 16 years,
claims CCS “is underqualifi ed and
underprepared to take on the sig-
nifi cantly more complex, higher
volume work in Umatilla County,”
Chief Executive Offi cer Tim
Hoekstra said in a press release.
The company argues Community
Counseling won’t be able to get up
and running in time to provide ade-
quate care for the county’s more
than 4,000 patients.
See Lifeways, Page A12
A11 Hermiston will break
ground on a $2.5 million industrial
infrastructure project on July 7