OUR 112th Year
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
December 21, 2018
SANTA IN
SEASIDE
‘Well that’s one I haven’t heard before!’
Strategic
plan starts
with putting
students on
track
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
“We’re on our way,” Superintendent
Sheila Roley said at the Thursday, Dec. 13,
Seaside School District board meeting with
the adoption of a fi ve-year strategic plan.
The plan comes with “a lot of hard work,”
she added, “but I don’t think we could be
more excited.”
The 2019-2024 strategic vision plan aims
to encapsulate the desires of the community
and its families, as well as the needs of stu-
dents and goals of educators.
The planning effort effort started Dec.
5, 2017, when the school board and Roley
committed to undertaking a comprehensive,
nearly year-long process, not only to review
the district’s strengths and weakness but to
also develop a multiyear strategic plan.
They selected a team of 25 members
that included teachers, support staff, par-
ents, community member, administrators,
and school board members. The team met
monthly from January to October during the
planning process.
See School district, Page A5
Helping Hands
moving across
the street
Facility closes building,
relocates services
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
Jeff Ter Har/For Seaside Signal
Santa considers this young man’s holiday request at the 2018 Seaside Parade of Lights.
Helping Hands has closed one facility in
Seaside as the homeless outreach center pre-
pares to replace it with another.
Raven Russell, the outreach center’s
development director, told city councilors
Monday night that the center was unable to
negotiate terms with their landlord for the
rental of the building at 1530 U.S. Highway
101.
The “vast majority” of former residents
of the facility are now served in a new hous-
ing facility in Astoria, where they have bet-
ter access to county resources, Russell said.
The shelter at 286 W. Marine Drive,
opened last month.
The new Seaside facility, located on the
east side of U.S. Highway 101, is “much
larger than it appears,” Russell said, with
10 emergency shelter beds and long-term
housing.
The new facility should be open within
the next two weeks. In the meantime, beds
remain available at the Astoria facility, she
said, with occupancy about 90 percent of
capacity.
In 2004, the organization’s founder and
executive director Alan Evans opened an
eight-bed home for the homeless in Seaside.
See Helping Hands, Page A5
Medical services for the homebound
Providence Home
Services assists
patients in managing
their own lives
By Eve Marx
For Seaside Signal
Seaside Providence Hos-
pital’s Home Health program
offers short-term medical care
services and resources.
The program provides educa-
tion in disease management and
resources so patients can take
care of their own health, said
Mary French-Peterson, manager
for the program. “We help them
become independent in their
environment.”
Staff include an occupa-
tional therapist, speech therapist,
wound care specialist and certi-
fi ed nurses. “We work with fi ve
social workers at Seaside Prov-
idence Hospital,” French-Peter-
son said. “Our clients are from
all walks of life.”
French-Peterson has worked
in outpatient rehabilitative ser-
vices for 16 years. These days she
oversees the offi ce in Gearhart.
“We have nine nurses work-
ing in the fi eld and at any given
time, 100 patients,” French-Pe-
terson said. “We serve all of Clat-
sop County and into Wheeler in
Tillamook County.”
Eligibility for home health
services is through doctor refer-
ral. The fi rst step is often a home-
bound designation. But being
homebound these days doesn’t
mean what it used to.
That’s where technology can
come in.
“Providence is the most
wired health care company,”
French-Peterson said. “We have
top of the line technology which
makes it possible for patients to
manage their own care through
their laptops and iPhones.”
The help is professional and
medical, including skilled care
from registered nurses. “We can
See Providence, Page A5
Eve Marx
Jolie Taylor, registered nurse; Mary French-
Peterson, manager; and Carol Sumaray, team
assistant make Providence Home Health Services
a winning experience for homebound patients.