By Kim Rosenberg
I bet everybody who lives in Tillamook County knows friends, family, or neighbors who have either traveled hours and miles into the valley for health care or have moved somewhere else to get the health care they need. Or maybe it’s your own sweet self, driving the 26 to Portland to see a doctor or get health care that’s unavailable to you here. That’s me, and a whole bunch of other people I know.
On Sunday I went to NCRD to listen to Marc Johnson and Gail Nelson speak about the health bond on the ballot, May 16.
Here’s where we are with health care in north Tillamook County right now and without significant investment the picture is pretty bleak.
The clinic in Wheeler has 1.5 exam rooms per provider. The general standard in patient clinics is 3 rooms per provider. This means longer waits to get an appointment or to see a provider once you do. There aren’t the specialists here that an aging population could use like rheumatologists, cardiologists, neurologists and oncologists. There’s not even a dentist.
Two local long-term homes closed recently but not for lack of patients. For folks requiring skilled nursing care, no beds available means leaving the place you’ve called home for years or maybe a lifetime, to move away from friends and community when you really need your people for support.
There isn’t affordable housing for our health care work force. Not for doctors, not for skilled nurses and definitely not for the folks who do the grunt work of health care like certified nursing assistants or medical assistants.
The pharmacy is only 450 square feet with not much room for storage so not every prescription can be filled the same day because it has to be ordered and there’s also no room for the other stuff we usually get at a pharmacy—stuff like over the counter meds, first aid supplies, hot water bottles, greeting cards and such. There’s no space for a private conversations between the pharmacist and the patient. That little space is crowded and busy. They do a great job but it’s a tight space.
The Nehalem Bay Health Center & Pharmacy works hard for the community. It provides so many necessary services and functions for all of Tillamook County and because it’s also a Federally Qualified Health Care district it receives money from the feds to provide care and services to the uninsured and underinsured including transportation for people who need to get to the doctor but can’t without a ride. They also offer folks without resources a sliding fee scale. No one is turned away because they can’t pay and for some folks it’s the only way they are able to access health care. Other state grants helped to establish the bilingual food program serving 157 low income families, and the Student Health and Wellness Center for the Neahkahnie School District.
The Local Health Care bond would help create the space to do more for our community and to do it better.
The plan is to build a nearly 17,000 square foot clinic and pharmacy that would include a three-chair dental suite. The proposed location is at the bottom of Hospital Road and 101. There’d also be room for disaster supplies and food storage. There’d be room for the kind of merchandise that a typical pharmacy carries like greeting cards and such. Located right on 101, it could make some cash money.
Up top of the hill the old hospital will be torn down and the site prepared for building some much needed work force housing for health care workers built in keeping with the character of the existing neighborhood. Some of those units could be studios for visiting specialists who commit to providing care a certain number of days per month.
The existing 50 bed skilled nursing and care center would get an update and modernization like some air conditioning for those hot summer days. There’s nothing worse than being sick and sweaty or doing a physically demanding job in the heat.
There are discussions to engage in collaborative partnerships with Providence, and OSHU to get specialists and interns. There are more plans, people, and they’re good ones. These plans invest in the health and well being of our entire community.
Does it cost money? Yep. It’s an investment in the community that we live in for all our people.
It will cost a total of 10.25 million dollars over the 25-year life of the loan, and if the bond is approved, property owners within the Health District boundaries would pay .37 cents per $1000 of assessed not market value. For a $300,000 home that’s $111 at first and will increase to $170 over time. That’s like $14 bucks a month. That’s less than Netflix, kids. And we get some stuff we need.
We are all connected. When one of us is in trouble, we’re all in trouble. In taking care of each other, we take care of ourselves. This bond is an investment in our shared future.
The last presentation is at NCRD May 3, at 5pm. You don’t need to register, just show up.
You can find out more (and honey, there’s plenty more) at NehalemHealthCare.com