May 1, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 9A
Providence Play Smart program
Free heart screenings for youth offered
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
Providence Health and
Services is asking parents to
play it safe by getting their
children’s hearts checked,
and they have the opportunity
to do so through the health-
care organization’s free Play
Smart Youth Heart Screen-
ings program that recently
has been offered on the North
Coast.
Providence plans to hold
its third heart screening event
at the coast from 4 to 7 p.m.,
May 20, at Astoria’s Provi-
dence Heart Clinic, 1355 Ex-
change St. At least 50 youth
need to register before it can
be offered. Registration for
the event currently is very
low, said Lydia Hibsch, the
Business and Community De-
velopment Manager at Provi-
dence Health & Services.
The Play Smart program is
for people 12 to 18. Cardiolo-
gists will give painless, non-
invasive screenings to teenag-
ers to check their heart health.
The free screening includes
an electrocardiogram (EKG),
blood pressure reading and
height and weight check. If
the results show a potential
problem, students can get a
free echocardiogram.
“We are trying to prevent
heart disease by identifying
risk factors in kids,” but the
screenings are used to help
detect and diagnose a number
of potential cardiac issues,
Hibsch said.
The program received
about $10,800 as a donation
from the Oregon Logging
Conference’s annual Ladies’
Desserts for Dreams fund-
raiser held as part of the con-
ference in Eugene in Febru-
ary. Judy Nygaard, the wife
of then OLC President David
Nygaard, chose Play Smart as
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family has a personal connec-
tion to issue.
On June 12, 1998, 15-year-
old Andrew Nygaard, a
swimming and track standout
who had recently graduated
from Astoria Middle School,
died suddenly of heart prob-
lems during a swim practice
for the North Coast Swim
Club in Seaside. Multiple
tests conducted after his
death could not detect a spe-
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to a cardiac problem, Judy
Nygaard said.
Andrew’s death was unex-
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and had no apparent medical
issues. He was doing light
dry land drills when his death
occurred. Judy Nygaard said
she was on her way to pick up
her son when she received the
call. She is now an advocate
for youth heart screenings.
“I think people just don’t
student athletes. Her daugh-
ter, Melissa Svensen, helped
with decorations. About 40
community businesses donat-
ed desserts for the event. In
donating the money to Prov-
The Oregon Logging Conference’s annual fundraiser
brought in more than $10,000 for program
know how important this is,”
she said. “When it comes to
the heart, it doesn’t matter if
your child is active or healthy
RU SK\VLFDOO\ ¿W ± WKH\ QHHG
to be screened, because for
us, there weren’t any warning
signs.”
Even when children have
physical examinations prior
to participation in sports, they
don’t include heart screen-
ings. Unfortunately, when
it comes to cardiac issues, if
medical attention is reactive
rather than preventative, it’s
too late, Judy Nygaard said.
As the wife of the con-
ference president, she was
responsible for planning the
Desserts for Dreams fundrais-
er. She selected a sports theme,
given that the screenings are
particularly targeted toward
idence for Play Smart, Judy
Nygaard’s only request was
that they would offer screen-
ings at the North Coast.
The hospital held two prior
Play Smart events in the area
on Jan. 21 at Providence Sea-
side Hospital and Feb. 4 in As-
toria. Between the two clinics,
123 students were served. Of
the 123 students screened, 95
were in the normal range for
their age; two were recom-
mended to get the additional
echocardiogram
screening
for more information; and 26
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vated blood pressures.
All the youth received the
results of their screenings,
Hibsch said. Those who had
elevated blood pressure were
given recommendations for
further care and treatment with
their healthcare practitioners.
Dr. Robert Morse, a cardiolo-
gist, followed up with parents
and did phone consultations to
give recommendations.
Providence Health & Ser-
vices started its Play Smart
program in June 2012. The
screenings have been “highly
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“It’s one of those things
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she added. “There is no down
side to screening kids.”
To date, more than 6,000
youth have been screened
at more than 60 school and
community based events,
and the screenings have
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that needed further assess-
ment and treatment of var-
ious cardiac issues. Some-
times personnel from other
healthcare organizations will
volunteer for the Play Smart
clinics.
Hibsch works with school
nurses to get them engaged
and to disseminate informa-
tion to students about the
screenings. For the North
Coast screenings, she has
worked with the Astoria,
Knappa, Seaside and Warren-
ton school districts.
“We’re going to have anoth-
er push to try to drive aware-
ness in the schools” before the
May 20 event, she said.
One of the biggest chal-
lenges for the hospital is to
get information to parents
about the screenings so they
will bring their children or
sign consent forms for their
children to be screened. Any-
one younger than 18 must get
a parent’s or guardian’s signa-
ture since it’s a medical pro-
cedure, she said. The hospital
encourages all people who
work with youth to send out
reminders about the screen-
ings through emails, newslet-
ters and other means.
In other areas served by
Providence, such as the Port-
land-metro area, the screen-
ings are sometimes offered
directly in schools.
“We do have plans in the
future to have the screenings
at one of the high schools”
on the North Coast, Hibsch
said, adding it’s just a matter
of selecting which school and
promoting the event.
Each screening takes
about 10 minutes. Youth and
their families will receive the
results in about two weeks.
For more information or to
schedule an appointment, call
503-216-6800 or visit www.
playsmartgetscreened.org.
Consent forms can be found
online.
Gearhart man Science teacher leads fish release project
µDJUHDW¿W¶WR Steelhead
take reins as
rec district’s
new director
from Page 1A
Archibald from Page 1A
Archibald and his family
moved back to Gearhart in Au-
gust, when he started working at
3DFL¿F 8QLYHUVLW\ +H FRPPXWHV
to Forest Grove each day, which
he is willing to do because they
enjoy living in the area.
“When the position opened up
that I’m currently working, my
family and I decided to make our
home in the Seaside area,” he said.
He now will transition into
being executive director, which
KH GHVFULEHG DV ³D JUHDW ¿W SUR-
fessionally,” as it will give him
the opportunity to serve the com-
munities and residents he cares
about. Although he does not feel
FRPIRUWDEOH JLYLQJ VSHFL¿FV DW
this time, he is looking forward
to helping the district’s programs,
services and visibility expand.
“Coming in as an outsider, my
¿UVW IRFXV LV DFFHVVLQJ ZKHUH WKH
district is at,” he said.
He feels former General Man-
ager Justin Cutler, who resigned in
March, did a good job maintaining
the district’s stability and helping
it grow. He plans to continue that
growth and also be a resource and
community partner to help the
district be “an organization that is
really receptive to receiving feed-
back from the community” and
doing things the board and patrons
are interested in.
He has a varied background,
he said, working in different pro-
gressive and high-functioning or-
ganizations that have helped him
broaden his professional experi-
ence, which he now brings to the
Sunset Empire Park & Recreation
District. He is looking forward to
building relationships with com-
munity partners and working with
the district’s existing staff.
“It’s really exciting to be able
to work in an industry, and par-
ticularly with the Sunset Empire
Park & Recreation District, to en-
hance the quality of life and pro-
vide these great services for peo-
ple. I just can’t think of anything
that would be better,” he said.
sag in that area and, since it’s part
of the tsunami trail for students,
it was posing a public safety risk.
The project received funding
from the Oregon Watershed En-
hancement Board, Oregon De-
partment of Fish and Wildlife’s
Restoration and Enhancement
Program, U.S. Fish and Wild-
life and a partnership between
the National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration’s com-
munity-based Restoration Pro-
gram and American Rivers.
Since replacing the culvert,
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which is a good thing, Meyer
said. For several years, Coho in
the area were unable to spawn.
This past winter, he and stu-
dents saw a couple pairs of Coho
salmon moving through the
stream, as well as a few carcasses.
At the culvert, Meyer told the
students about the work done
and money spent to help give
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the creek, while encouraging
them to show the same respect
for the natural world by not lit-
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species or disturbing sensitive
streams.
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and wildlife around us,” he said
WRKLV¿IWKJUDGHUV³:HZDQWWR
keep it nice and keep it friendly
and keep it real.”
The impetus for Meyer’s
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students was the replacement
of the culvert, with the common
goal of each outing being to get
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said. “From a science perspec-
tive, this is meant to gain con-
nection with kids to wildlife
and to give them some hands-on
experience with habitat and eco-
systems and watershed and the
lifecycle of salmon.”
Throughout the years, they
have put in Chinook salmon and
steelhead trout. The Chinook
are not expected to return to the
little creeks. They instead will
travel to larger tributaries in the
Necanicum system because they
JURZLQWRELJJHU¿VKDQGUHTXLUH
PRUHZDWHUÀRZ0H\HUVDLG
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endeavor,” Meyer would like
to put in Coho salmon, which
are the native run. Since Coho
KATHERINE LACAZE PHOTO
After releasing about 500 steelhead trout into China Creek, a group of fifth-graders continued down the path
to the culvert, which was replaced about three years ago to help with fish passage, that runs beneath Spruce
Loop Road near Seaside Heights Elementary School.
are an endangered and protect-
ed species, however, releasing
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prohibited by the Oregon De-
partment of Fish and Wildlife.
There are several reasons for
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biologist with the department.
Primarily, there is evidence,
he said, that “releasing too many
hatchery Coho can have a neg-
ative impact on the productivity
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has substantially decreased how
many hatchery Coho it releases
into rivers on Oregon’s north
coast. There are only two rivers,
Knutsen said, where they release
Coho: the North Fork Nehalem
River and the Trask River.
The risk posed by other spe-
FLHVRI¿VKSURSDJDWHGLQKDWFK-
eries is much lower, which is
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head trout and Chinook salmon,
for the classroom project, he
said.
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a different system, while done
historically, also is discouraged
and not currently done often
because there are genetic con-
sequences. Different watersheds
provide different population
structures for Coho, and the
species tends to vary genetical-
ly and sometimes behaviorally
after their removal, “the adult
salmon returned and then the
numbers have steadily grown,”
North Coast Land Conservancy
Executive Director Katie Voelke
said.
The conservancy became the
owner of the 80-acre estuarine
property in 2006 and has guid-
ed the process further forward
through restoration work. Now
the Coho population is “very ro-
bust,” Voelke said.
“A lot of the restoration
we’ve done is to make the juve-
nile habitat healthier and that’s
how you get to raise your adult
members,” she said, adding they
joke that they’re “building the
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“Really what we’re doing is
A success story
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Other programs in the area on its own,” she said.
have illustrated success in sup-
Last year, there were more
SRUWLQJ¿VKUHSRSXODWLRQLQWKHLU than 300 spawning salmon in a
native habitats. At Thompson very small section of the system,
Creek and Stanley Marsh, the which has become one of the
North Coast Land Conservancy most productive Coho spawning
has helped improve the habi- beds in the Necanicum Estuary,
tat so it is conducive to salmon Voelke said.
Meyer would like his pro-
spawning.
The resurgence of the na- gram to emulate the conservan-
tive Coho salmon at the loca- cy’s.
“That Thompson Creek sys-
tion was initiated in the 1990s
when tidegates used on Stanley tem is what I would like to see
Lake were removed. The tide- happen here,” Meyer said, refer-
JDWHV LPSHGHG ¿VK SDVVDJH VR ring to his school project.
among the distinct structures.
The department doesn’t want to
harm the native Coho salmon by
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or transferring Coho from a dif-
ferent location.
“That’s the key... you think
about the things you can change
that would produce more Coho,”
Knutsen said.
The department also regu-
lates harvesting and works to
improve habitats as ways to im-
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Those are the issues that can be
and are addressed, while a fac-
tor like ocean conditions, which
has a big impact on Coho pro-
duction, can’t be helped by the
department, Knutsen added.
&
pow ered b y
Present
Ro b ert Ca in , LD
45 yea rs of
experience
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