PeaceHealth Designated as Ebola Center

28 October 2014
Coast Radio News
Local News

State Designates Ebola Readiness Centers

PeaceHealth and five other hospital systems in Oregon have been designated by health officials as the “go-to” centers for treatment in case someone in the state is suspected of having Ebola or is diagnosed with the disease.

The news was announced yesterday at a press conference in Portland.

It’s not clear if all four Lane County PeaceHealth facilities will serve as treatment centers, or if just one or two will be designated. In addition to Peace Harbor Medical Center in Florence, PeaceHealth operates RiverBend in Springfield, Sacred Heart in Eugene and Cottage Grove Community Medical Center.

Preparations for how to deal with a suspected Ebola patient are under way at all four facilities.

Doctors, nurses and staff at RiverBend rehearsed last month how they would respond in the event of a suspected Ebola patient.

Other hospital systems receiving the official designation this week are Oregon Health and Science University, Legacy Health, Providence Health, Kaiser Permanente Northwest and Samaritan Health.

Boosting Economic Development

Helping to boost the local economy will be one of the major goals of the new council following next week’s election. Temporary City Manager Larry Patterson:

Larry Patterson – “It’s one of the topics that we’ve heard in this campaign, as well as, I know the present council’s talked about, and that’s economic development. And there’s a lot of work that needs to be done there if we’re truly going to take a hard look at that issue and try to put something together.”

Patterson says the first and best step is to ‘look within’.

Larry Patterson – “You can look at your existing businesses and industries, see which ones may be willing or have some issues about expansion and what the barriers are and see if you can clear some of those.”

Once that is accomplished, the word would spread that Florence is “business friendly” and a good place to live.

Jail Levy Reduces Early Releases

In the 18-months since Lane County Voters approved a five-year jail operating levy the number of early releases and potentially dangerous defendants put back on the street prior to trial has plummeted.

Voters approved a five-year special property tax levy in May 2013 that will proved nearly $75-million over that time period for operations at the Lane County Jail.

In the first full fiscal year of operation, the nearly $13-million collected effectively doubled jail capacity from 131 to 256 beds and allowed jailers to keep prisoners locked up longer.

In fiscal year 2012 there were 5,129 early releases due to a lack of capacity; that tumbled to fewer than 13-hundred in 2013.

The boost also helped officials hang on to more ‘repeat offenders” and people accused of violent felonies until their trial…

Open Enrollment for Individual Insurance

The second year of Obama Care, Cover Oregon, the Affordable Health Care Act, or whatever you want to call it, is upon us.

Open enrollment for the 2015 health insurance plan year is less than three weeks away.

That means if there was something about your current plan you want to change… now is the time to begin your research for a possible replacement according to the state’s Insurance Division.

November 15th through February 15th is the only time you can change or even sign up for coverage in Oregon.

The Insurance Division says this year in addition to dealing directly with an insurance agent or company, consumers will finally have the opportunity to sit down and shop, compare and even enroll in one sitting online at healthcare-dot-gov.

New Police Chief In the Works?

Now that the search for a new Florence City Manager will start over again at the first of the year, an earlier decision to hold off on hiring a new Police Chief is being reconsidered. Interim City Manager Larry Patterson said Florence’s former Police Chief, Ray Gutierrez, retired at the end of 2013.

Larry Patterson – “Depending on what the new council wants to do in terms of the recruitment of a city manager, as opposed to maybe waiting until that person on board which has been kind of the wisdom to date… we probably need to move and go ahead and get that position filled as well.”

Retired Chief Lyn Lamm has been acting as the interim chief since January. A recruitment and interview process last spring to hire a new chief yielded no results. Patterson says rather than wait much longer it would be in the city’s best interests to look for a new chief immediately rather than leave it for a new City Manager.

Rotary Offers Professional Development Grants

A pair of $2-thousand professional development Fellowships will be awarded next spring by the Florence Rotary Club.

John Minter says the fellowships will go to professionals in education, health, city and county government and non-profit service organizations who want to upgrade their knowledge or skills.

Four fellowships have been previously awarded by the club to teachers and youth workers.

Application forms are available at the Siuslaw Public Library Reference Desk. They must be completed and returned by January 30th.