Health Options Digest
June 6, 2004
Coalition for Health Options In Central Eugene-Springfield (CHOICES)
In This Issue
From the Editor
Week in Review
Not much news was reported this past week. But be sure to read "Where are we going with health care?" by Anne Thomas, which appeared in Friday's Springfield News.
Also, Deep Dish with Dinah dishes up lots of rumors around the recent Eugene election -- and whether some want to have a second election. You'd think we'd have learned something from the 2000 presidential election fiasco in Florida. But noooooo. Only in Eugene...
In this time of remembering fallen soldiers, loved ones and D-Day, I was reminded of the late Lyle Hatfield. For an all too brief time, Lyle headed up the Springfield Planning Commission and then the Springfield City Council. Whether you agreed with Lyle or not, you had to appreciate his love of Springfield and respect his tireless efforts. Lyle was also smart enough glimpse the future.
Lyle once told me that Springfield has land to accommodate only 20,000 additional residents. You see, Springfield is between I-5, two rivers, and the foothills of the Cascades -- sort of like being between a rock and a hard place. If one does the math, what Lyle said translates to another 20 years of population growth, give or take. After that, Springfield will be up against natural barriers and will be forced to stop growing. Of course, the southern Willamette Valley region won't stop growing. People will continue to move into Eugene, Coburg, Junction City, Veneta, Creswell, and Cottage Grove, all of which can continue accommodating growth by filling up and then expanding their urban growth boundaries.
What does Lyle's observation have to do with hospitals? Well, the land in the Gateway area that PeaceHealth wants to use for a new hospital was and continues to be mostly planned for residences. The more land PeaceHealth uses for a new hospital, the less land will be available for new residents. (PeaceHealth says not to worry: It will build high-rise housing complexes in the flood plain, but only later after the hospital itself is up and running.) In essence, by allowing PeaceHealth to use up so much land that had been planned for residential uses, Springfield is hastening the day when it will run out of land for its own people.
But who needs to plan for the future, right?
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Looking Ahead
There are no meetings this week directly related to hospital siting.
But on Wednesday, Lane County and LTD will both be looking at the design of the Martin Luther King Junior (Pioneer) Parkway and at Bus Rapid Transit.
Also on Wednesday, the Eugene City Council will be talking about who decides how to allocate state and federal transportation funds. In the past, the cities and county have been involved in this process. But more recently, some authority has passed to the Metropolitan Policy Committee. One issue is who decides if, say, the I-5/Beltline interchange, Martin Luther King Junior Parkway, West Eugene Parkway, Bus Rapid Transit, etc. get funded -- or if flexible funds are used to patch potholes rather than to build new roads.
Still nothing from the justices in black robes. Be patient.
Expect the West Eugene Parkway to make the news this week.
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Rob Zako, Editor
343-5201
rzako@efn.org
Calendar
Wednesday, June 9 -- Eugene City Council
City Hall, 777 Pearl St., Eugene
Noon, Work Session, McNutt Room
1. Prioritizing and Allocating State and Federal Transportation Funds.
2. Update on 1998 Parks and Open Space Bond Measure and Parks, Recreation and Open Space Comprehensive Plan.
Contact: Lynda Rose, 682-5017, lynda.l.rose@ci.eugene.or.us
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Wednesday, June 9 -- Lane County Board Of County Commissioners and LTD Board of Directors
Public Service Bldg., 125 East 8th Ave., Eugene, 682-4203
Noon, Joint Meeting, Harris Hall Main Floor
1. Call to Order.
2. Martin Luther King Junior Parkway Design.
3. EmX Update.
4. Rural Transit Service Update.
5. Adjournment.
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Wednesday, June 9 -- Lane County Board Of County Commissioners
Public Service Bldg., 125 East 8th Ave., Eugene, 682-4203
1:30 p.m., Regular Meeting (cont.), Harris Hall Main Floor
16. Public Works
a. Alignment, Right-Of-Way Widths and Other Design Features for the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, Previously Known as the Pioneer Parkway Extension, as Adopted and Recommended by the City of Springfield.
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McKenzie-Willamette/Triad
Letter -- PeaceHealth acts like a bully
| By Melaney Dolbin, Springfield | June 4, 2004 |
Am I the only community member who is disgustedly sick and tired of PeaceHealth's continued monopolistic and bullying ways? PeaceHealth has done and is continuing to do everything in its power -- or pocketbook, I should say -- to eliminate choice in this community. When is it going to end?
In regard to the certificate of need rules hearing at Harris Hall, (Register-Guard, May 25): It is beyond me how PeaceHealth leaders and supporters could even show their faces in the crowd. They have been enabled to do whatever they please, as long as it benefits the owners in Washington state and not our community.
If the city of Springfield, or good ol' Mayor Sid Leiken, had enough gall to say no to Sacred Wallet, then McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center would not be in such a predicament. But when a bully comes to town and is able to build a campus in McKenzie-Willamette's backyard with no obstacles, no certificate of need, what is a small community hospital supposed to do to survive and provide a choice to our community?
I believe the only thing to do, especially to survive, is to move to where the community need is greatest. If you are a community member who believes in choice, you will support McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center. And to PeaceHealth's dismay, McKenzie-Willamette is here to stay!
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Letter -- Triad's goal is to turn a profit
| By Danielle Utter, Eugene | June 5, 2004 |
While you would not know this from reading reporter Tim Christie's article about McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center and Sacred Heart Medical Center (Register-Guard, May 25), McKenzie-Willamette's owner, Triad, is a very large, publicly traded, for-profit corporation. Its No. 1 goal is returning profits to stockholders and, in order to meet this goal, Triad can be very creative in minimizing the amount of charity care it provides the poor and the care it gives to the elderly who are on Medicare.
If a particular group of patients cannot themselves or through their insurance meet the levels of reimbursement necessary for Triad to reach its profit targets, Triad will look for ways to minimize serving those patients. This is to be expected from a stockholder-owned, for-profit corpo- ration.
Also, if a particular Triad-owned hospital does not meet its profit targets, Triad can shut it down and fire all of its employees, just as it did to the Douglas Community Medical Center in Roseburg in 2000.
I have no problem at all with for-profit corporations in general. However, when it comes to hospitals, I am not certain that a community's health care goals are of greatest concern to a large, for-profit hospital corporation. Just ask anyone in Roseburg!
With the multitude of needs in our community, we certainly should not use precious taxpayer dollars to support a corporation like Triad.
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Health Care, etc.
Commentary -- Where are we going with health care?
| By Anne Thomas | June 4, 2004 |
One hundred years ago a person who became ill or had medical problems often died. Even if they had access to a doctor or hospital -- and many didn't -- health care may not have saved them. The medical technology simply wasn't there.
But that began to change around the time of World War II. Medical advances began to emerge -- one of the most important was the development of penicillin.
Along with huge leaps in medical technology came the idea that businesses should provide health care insurance for their employees. Medical care was still affordable, and we began to see improved health care and healthier people.
But in recent years the trend has gone the other way. Today medical insurance has become so expensive many people can't afford it. Approximately 44 million, many of them children, today are uninsured in the United States. (more...)
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Effort to measure quality of hospitals still evolving
By Tim Christie
The Register-Guard | May 31, 2004 |
If you're buying a new car, you can find lots of information rating the quality and reliability of different models in consumer and automotive magazines.
If you're choosing a hospital or nursing home, though, and you're looking for ratings that compare quality of care and patient safety records, good luck.
Such information is hard to come by, despite efforts by consumer groups and government agencies to prod hospitals and other health providers into publicly disclosing information about preventable medical errors and infection rates.
The idea is that public reporting of such information will improve patient safety by reducing preventable errors. But the effort to make comparative quality information on health organizations readily available to consumers is still in its infancy. (more...)
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Pay for health execs up more in Oregon than across nation
Bonuses and other compensation push totals up by double digits in 2003, official filings show
By Boaz Herzog
The Oregonian | June 1, 2004 |
The compensation packages received by Oregon's highest-paid health insurance executives last year grew significantly faster, on average, than those of executives nationwide -- during a period when insurance premiums grew at more than twice the rate of overall inflation.
The biggest factor in the growth was larger bonuses and other nonsalary payments tied to the insurers' improving financial health, according to an analysis of state regulatory filings conducted by The Oregonian. Base salaries, in many cases, grew slowly or not at all.
Regardless, the findings left consumer advocate Maribeth Healy fuming. (more...)
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Nearby Developments
Gravel producer seeks OK for plants
By Joe Harwood
The Register-Guard | June 1, 2004 |
SPRINGFIELD -- Morse Bros. Inc. will soon seek permission to install portable concrete and asphalt plants along the northern portion of its 416-acre Springfield Quarry.
Representatives of the Tangent-based company are scheduled to meet with city officials next week to discuss permitting and land-use issues for siting and operating the proposed plants, prior to submitting a formal application.
The 23-acre plant site is south of the Mill Race between South 18th and South 23rd streets. The site is immediately northeast of the massive quarry, a heavily excavated hill that sits between Mount Pisgah and south Springfield.
Jeff Steyaert, environmental and permits manager for Morse Bros., said the company isn't in a big hurry to obtain the permits needed to operate the plants. (more...)
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Editorial -- Street of dreams: Eugene should explore Eighth Avenue concept
| The Register-Guard | June 3, 2004 |
Sooner than many might think, Eugene is going to need a new police station. Mention a new police station, and it doesn't take long before talk turns to a new City Hall.
With a new federal courthouse already under construction and a renovation project on the horizon for the Lane County Courthouse, Mayor Jim Torrey and the Eugene City Council thought it made sense to explore the possibility of civic synergy emerging along Eighth Avenue.
And you know what? It makes a lot of sense. Take a step back, squint your eyes and engage your imagination. The pieces are all there. (more...)
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Eugene Subsidizes New Federal Building
By Alan Pittman
Eugene Weekly | June 3, 2004 |
While the federal government is blowing billions of dollars in Iraq and slashing taxes for the wealthy, the city of Eugene is spending millions on subsidizing a lavish new federal courthouse.
The city spent $4.1 million buying the Chiquita cannery site for the courthouse and another $2.2 million buying and relocating the adjacent AutoCraft body shop for a total cost of $6.3 million.
But the federal government paid the city only $3.9 million for the courthouse site. That leaves the city $2.4 million in the hole. The city hopes it can sell a couple acres of land the courthouse didn't want at the site for another $1.6 million. But even that optimistic scenario leaves the city about a million bucks in the hole. (more...)
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Bakery owner willing to sell site for UO arena, but hurdles remain
By Greg Bolt
The Register-Guard | June 4, 2004 |
The recipe for replacing a bakery with a basketball arena hasn't become much simpler now that the University of Oregon's next-door neighbor has warmed to the idea.
Although the chief executive at Williams Bakery said he's willing to consider selling the 6.5-acre property to the university, that's about the only thing that's changed. Other obstacles remain, leaving the bakery site the most expensive, complicated and time-consuming one on the list.
A UO administrator said last week that a new plan for building the 14,000-seat arena is under consideration and that the Williams Bakery plant on Franklin Boulevard is the top choice for a location. The new plan would use a private, nonprofit company to build and own the arena and lease it back to the university. (more...)
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Housing boom in Harrisburg: Location, low prices attracting scores of new residents
By Karen McCowan
The Register-Guard | June 4, 2004 |
HARRISBURG -- Imagine that the Eugene-Springfield metro area was going to add another Springfield -- this year.
That puts in perspective the pace of the construction boom in this town of 3,000 on the banks of the Willamette River. (more...)
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Transportation
Letter -- Voters aren't getting parkway
| By John Caudill, Eugene | June 3, 2004 |
Reflecting on Kitty Piercy's win over Nancy Nathanson in Eugene's mayoral contest, I wondered just how positive that decision is. Let's see: Eugene voters voted for the West Eugene Parkway some time ago, but the powers that be overrode that decision. So maybe we can just ignore Piercy's win and keep Mayor Jim Torrey. Sound crazy? Maybe, but the law is based on precedents, isn't it?
Once you allow someone to do something, it is assumed you can do it again. I voted for the West Eugene Parkway and understood we had the funds. I never got what I voted for, so why should those who voted for Kitty Piercy get what they voted for?
What is going on? What happened to the two-way street that democracy is supposed to stand for?
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Loose hose caused fire on LTD bus
By Tim Christie
The Register-Guard | June 2, 2004 |
Investigators have determined that a hydraulic hose failure caused the fire that burned the back of a Lane Transit District bus in April.
The hydraulic hose came loose from a crimp fitting, either because it wasn't inserted far enough or it wasn't crimped properly, LTD spokesman Andy Vobora said Tuesday. The loose hose sprayed hydraulic fluid on the hot exhaust system, sparking the blaze. (more...)
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Officials spar over Country Coach aid
By Sherri Buri McDonald
The Register-Guard | June 3, 2004 |
Oregon and Lane County officials are eagerly handing out $750,000 to help Country Coach expand its recreational vehicle factory in Junction City. But the officials are sharply at odds over how many jobs Country Coach must create in return -- a dispute that illustrates deep confusion over the little-known state-run business subsidy program that is paying out the bulk of the cash.
Two county commissioners -- Bill Dwyer and Anna Morrison -- say Country Coach should have to create at least 200 new jobs once the government aid is used to upgrade roads near the firm's factory. But several state officials say Country Coach needs to create only 33 new jobs.
The reason for the different views: The state regards the subsidy in effect as a reward to Country Coach for creating jobs at its factory in the past few years. But the county commissioners argue that if Country Coach is to get a new subsidy now, it must create substantial new jobs now, rather than point to jobs it added previously. (more...)
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Creswell project that never was still got funds
| The Register-Guard | June 3, 2004 |
CRESWELL -- What must a real estate developer do to get the state to pay a half-million dollars to help build a road in his project?
Not much, in the case of the Creswell Marketplace, a shopping center east of the Interstate 5-Creswell interchange.
State officials in 2000 gave a $500,000 subsidy to realign a road in the market property. The money came from the Immediate Opportunity Fund, a state program intended to create industrial-grade jobs.
State records make clear the rationale behind the subsidy: A distributor -- Authentic Models -- was planning to build a 50-employee headquarters and distribution center on the property to serve customers nationwide.
But Authentic Models never built the facility. And the state never asked for the money back. (more...)
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Elections
Deep Dish with Dinah: Do You Hear Singing? (#492)
By Dinah
Comic News | June 4, 2004 |
Now that Kitty Piercy defied expectations and scored a knockout punch against her opponent in the May mayoral primary, we can spend the next seven months contemplating what a progressive mayor might do to Eugene and vice versa, right? Well, no. The fat lady might still sing -- or the thin lady might still dance. The lack of a Nancy Nathanson concession speech wouldn't have turned heads, except that NN is known to respect protocol. When you don't get the popular vote, you congratulate the candidate who did -- if you ever hope to run for anything again. Of course, this is only the case if you're finished running THIS TIME. Jimmy Carter broke new ground by conceding defeat too soon, and Al Gore didn't congratulate our current president until the final vote tally (5-4) was announced, weeks after the polls closed. Is Nancy Nathanson done for good, or not done yet? As of this writing, nobody knows. Or nobody who knows is telling.
But there's plenty of speculation, all of which involve hi-jinks from older white men in suits. Maybe the Chamber of Commerce got itself a little too puffed up by Arr-Gee reporter Diane Dietz's proclamation that every time the Chamber has gotten behind a candidate or a ballot measure, it has succeeded. The machinery was just starting to rev up for a summer of mayoral fund-raising when Kitty's 51.6 percent knocked anyone else from the ballot in November. But there will be a ballot, with plenty of room to write Nancy Nathanson's name. Or somebody else's. But who and how -- that might explain the silence.
The next time NN calls a press conference, it may be her last, so what's the message? The easy guess is that she'll allow the suits to continue raising money and put herself forward as a write-in candidate for November. That has a certain "do over" feel to it, but how does it fit with her "discuss it, decide it, and move on" mantra? Instead, she may announce that the future of Eugene is just too important to have it decided by a single election, so she's throwing her support in November to a Candidate Emeritus. That may be former mayor Jeff Miller (a favorite of tycoon-recluse Aaron Jones), but only if Jim Torrey resists the overtures he's getting from his Chamber pals to prevent a coming train wreck. Again. Torrey as Hamlet? It's not likely, but it could happen. (He'd rather find bigger fish to fry with something statewide.)
So if Nancy steps into the limelight for a concession-qua-endorsement speech, surely that won't be the end of things, will it? There are rumors she may have seller's remorse about giving up her ward seat to Chris Pryor, but running against a man you recruited to take your place and who you praised throughout the spring campaign seems a bit over the top, even for Eugene. Pryor isn't expecting any competition in November, so he's vacating his seat on the 4J school board this summer. So for somebody who's looking for an opportunity for public service, there's always that, Nancy. (more...)
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Commentary -- Gang of Nein
Do progressives say no to everything?
| By Tom Lininger | June 3, 2004 |
It's only been a few weeks since city government took a progressive turn in the May elections, but the alarmist predictions have already begun. In a letter to The Register-Guard on Friday, May 28, Steve Hawke warned that the left-leaning council majority will nix proposals for economic development: "The liberal group will chase away any prospective businesses," claimed Hawke. (more...)
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