A2 • Friday, July 22, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
New pretrial release policy takes eff ect
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
Photos by Lydia Ely /The Astorian
The van housing the mobile clinic includes a private room for meeting with patients.
County launches a
mobile clinic with van
By ERICK BENGEL
The Astorian
A new Clatsop County
mobile clinic will help bring
public health services, such
as disease testing and vacci-
nations, to remote areas on
the North Coast.
The county has purchased
a van for $160,000 using an
Oregon Health Authority
grant for services related to
pandemic response.
The 2021 Ford E-450,
previously used by a New
York university, has been
refurbished for the county
Public Health Department,
which rolled out the van this
month.
Lisa McClean, the coun-
ty’s nurse manager and
clinic supervisor, said the
department is working out
the van’s schedule.
In a given week, the
mobile clinic may spend
time in Astoria, Warren-
ton or Seaside, as well as
smaller, underserved com-
munities such as Knappa
and Jewell. The van will be
staff ed with at least two pub-
lic health employees.
Emblazoned with the
health department logo,
the mobile clinic will reach
schools, workplaces and
central locations in com-
munities, but is unlikely to
make home visits or park
on residential streets, as it
should be kept near a power
source.
In Cannon Beach, the van
may be used to serve the
Hispanic community, deliv-
ering vaccines as the Oregon
Health Authority has done.
The front of the van is
equipped for blood draws;
the back has an exam table.
“We have new and
emerging diseases, for as
long as nature and humans
have
commingled,”
McClean said, “and so as
Public Health continues to
build stable infrastructure,
we have this van.”
The van arrives as coro-
navirus cases spike and
the county dismantled
its COVID-19 vaccina-
tion and drive-thru test-
ing services at Camp Rilea
Armed Forces Training Cen-
Lucas Marshall, left, the environmental health manager for
the county Public Health Department, shared COVID-19
statistics during a meeting.
ter in Warrenton.
The county had been
giving weekly boosters at
Camp Rilea. Since July 1 ,
the county’s drive-thru test-
ing takes place at the house-
hold hazardous waste facil-
ity on Williamsport Road in
Astoria.
At fi rst, the department
will use the van primarily
to off er COVID-19 vaccina-
tions and boosters. “That’s
kind of our priority right
now,” McClean said.
COME FALL, THE
MOBILE CLINIC
MAY BE USED
IN SCHOOLS’
STUDENT
IMMUNIZATIONS
EFFORTS.
In December, the coun-
ty’s overall COVID-19 vac-
cination rate reached 70%
— among the highest in
Oregon — but as of earlier
this month had yet to breach
75%.
Come fall, the mobile
clinic may be used in
schools’ student immuniza-
tions eff orts. “Our hope is,
we will be able to off er other
vaccines with the van,”
McClean said.
As
for
workplaces,
McClean imagined a sce-
nario where a large employer
— a mill or cannery, say —
has an employee who tests
positive for tuberculosis. To
investigate how many oth-
ers contracted the disease,
the Public Health Depart-
ment would normally send
out a team and convert
that employer’s lunchroom
or other workspace into a
clinic. With the van, the
county could bring its own.
Recently, a company
contacted the Public Health
Department to vaccinate
their employees against hep-
atitis B. The company was
looking to schedule appoint-
ments for more than a dozen
people at the county’s clinic
on Exchange Street in Asto-
ria. Getting everyone vac-
cinated at the clinic could
take about two days. “This
time we can just take the van
out there and probably be
done within an hour or two,”
McClean said.
A mobile clinic has long
been on the department’s
wish list, Margo Lalich,
the county’s interim pub-
lic health director, said at
a recent Board of Com-
missioners work session.
Mobile clinics are used
widely by public health
departments, including in
Tillamook County.
“This is quite historic
for Public Health in Clatsop
County, and I think it’s just
a huge relief for us,” Lalich
said. “And it will be, I think,
a relief for the community
once they get more famil-
iar with seeing us out on the
streets.”
A new Oregon law
directs courts to take a more
consistent approach when
deciding which off enders
should stay in jail before
trial.
The law, which went into
eff ect this month, replaces
the state’s bail schedule
with pretrial release crite-
ria tied to the seriousness of
the charges and an off end-
er’s criminal history.
The goal is to have
a standardized pretrial
release program throughout
the state and to move away
from a system where an
off ender’s release depends
on how much money they
have available, according
to Julie Vredeveld, the trial
court administrator at Clat-
sop County Circuit Court.
The changes were
approved by the state Leg-
islature and signed into
law by Gov. Kate Brown
last year. Oregon Supreme
Court Chief Justice Martha
Walters issued guidelines
in June to help courts com-
ply with the law.
Under these guidelines,
off enders are sorted into
one of three categories
based on the nature of the
charges and potential risk
factors. Judge Dawn McIn-
tosh, the presiding judge
of the Clatsop County Cir-
cuit Court, signed an order
establishing these catego-
ries for her judicial district.
In category No. 1,
off enders who commit low-
level misdemeanors and
felonies can be released on
their own recognizance.
Category No. 2 includes
off enders with higher-level
misdemeanors or class B
or C felonies whose crimes
don’t include domestic vio-
lence. They can be released
with
court-imposed
conditions.
Off enders in category
No. 3 are alleged to have
committed the most serious
crimes, such as domestic
A new pretrial release
program began in July.
violence, violent felonies
and sex abuse. They will
be held until they appear
before a judge.
For the past several
years, Clatsop County has
used a pretrial release pro-
gram with some of the
same tools as the new order.
These include a risk assess-
ment tool that helps the
sheriff ’s offi ce determine
which off enders can be
released safely and under
what conditions.
The county adopted
the pretrial release policy
amid concerns about over-
crowding at the county jail
in Astoria and the fact that
too many off enders were
locked up before trial.
“We are really fortu-
nate in Clatsop County that
we had a very eff ective
and well-designed pretrial
release program, so much
of our pretrial release in
Clatsop will stay the same,”
Vredeveld said. “The big
diff erence is that, instead of
people using money to get
out of jail, the jail will fol-
low the information as laid
out in that presiding judge
order. So I think it will
feel very similar from the
outside.”
Although the county’s
pretrial release program has
been replaced with a new
one, the two are similar
enough that the impact to
the county won’t be as dras-
tic as elsewhere, according
to Judge McIntosh.
“I don’t think it’s going
to have a dramatic impact
on who gets out of jail in
Clatsop County and who
doesn’t,” she said, “except
that folks that are safe to
release into the commu-
nity, but don’t have enough
money and are charged
with a crime that previ-
ously would have necessi-
tated bail, can be released.”
In addition, people who
commit serious crimes,
and would previously have
been released after posting
a substantial bail, can now
be held.
The new order allows
certain conditions to over-
ride the category criteria. If
an off ender isn’t capable of
understanding the pretrial
release program, or poses a
credible threat of violence
to people associated with
the case, they may be slot-
ted into a diff erent category.
Sheriff Matt Phillips will
still be able to manage the
jail population and accom-
modate additional holds
based on available beds.
Phillips said it is good
that the law creates more
uniformity in how courts
use pretrial processes
throughout the state.
“There are some things
that I think a lot of us in law
enforcement see as con-
cerning,” he added.
For example, a per-
son could be released if
the victim isn’t a human
being. Category 2 could
allow crimes against ani-
mals to result in a condi-
tional release — the sus-
pect wouldn’t be allowed
to have pets — unless
other factors in the off end-
er’s history qualifi es them
for an override and allows
the jail to hold them until
arraignment.
In the old system, any-
one arrested for a crime
could be held. “So there’s
a few things that raise eye-
brows,” Phillips said.
The sheriff , Judge McIn-
tosh and Vredeveld believe
it is too early to predict the
eff ects.
McIntosh imagines there
could be legal challenges to
the law. “It’ll be interesting
to see how everything plays
out,” she said.
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Salon: ‘It was good to push myself’
Continued from Page A1
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