Doctor shortage could lead to a different kind of challenge
Dr. Ron Shearer calls it “the perfect storm”. The loss of four primary care physicians in the past few months has also been accompanied by an upsurge in local patients seeking care.
Ron Shearer – “The affordable care act: a lot more people have insurance, there’s more pressure on what providers you do have. So I think it’s a lot more intense this time. Literally, sometimes we have so many interviewing it’s kind of stressful.”
Shearer, the Medical Director at Peace Health Medical Group says three new physicians will arrive later this year, then two more over the next several months… bringing another challenge to local health care managers.
Ron Shearer – “Within a year, year and a half, we’ll be full enough that we’ll have… we’ll be talking about space. We’ll either have to go to opening on Saturdays and Sundays or we’ll be opening a new building.”
Officials at Peace Health have been making a concerted effort to alleviate the doctor shortage, but there has been a lot of competition. Rural communities all over the country are facing similar challenges.
Keeping the Siuslaw Vision in sight
A region wide effort to determine a set of goals to help make the Siuslaw Valley a better place to live is shifting to the next phase.
Siuslaw Pathways developed that list and now a core group of members… calling themselves the “Vision Keepers”… has taken that list and is seeking volunteers to try to make them reality. One Vision Keeper: Siuslaw Public Library Director Meg Spencer.
Meg Spencer – “This is actually one of the first projects I got involved in when I moved here to Florence about three years ago now. And, what I thought was so exciting was all these different kinds of people coming together.”
The goal is to keep attention on the list and solicit volunteers to take on one or more as a project.
Meg Spencer – “More than anything, the next step is getting this vision out and talking about it and getting people involved.”
That list includes things like establishment of a region-wide parks and recreation district, as well as expanding transportation, health care and housing opportunities. Spencer will be on Our Town to talk about the Vision Keepers. The show airs this afternoon on KCST from four to six, then again Thursday on KCFM from ten am until noon.
Cost of summer driving continues downward trend
The cash price for a gallon of regular gas in Florence slipped by two cents this past week to $2.36. That mirrors the dip in the national average price which also fell two cents to $2.13. Oregon’s average price, as measured by Triple-A, went down four cents a gallon, but is still well above the local average at $2.48.
All three averages are still considerably less than this time of year in previous years.
In fact, you’ll have to go back more than a decade… to 2004… to see lower gas prices in August.
That’s good news for summer travelers according to Triple-A’s Marie Dodds who says gasoline supplies remain high and crude oil prices are low. That adds up to cheaper travel through the traditional summer driving season.
No go on wild Coho
If you want to go after wild coho salmon without going onto the ocean, you’ll have to confine yourself to Siltcoos and Tahkenitch Lakes later this fall.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced this week they will not be proposing any freshwater coastal fisheries for the endangered species because of poor ocean survival this year. Fisheries managers want to make sure as many wild coho as possible can make the return run for spawning.
Hatchery fish… with the clipped adipose fin… will still be ok to catch, but the wild Coho, if caught on the Siuslaw or Umpqua rivers, will have to be released.
Fisheries managers say the decision does not impact federally regulated ocean fishing… nor the well established runs on Siltcoos and Tahkenitch Lakes.