Newly Formed Decontamination Team
Peach Health announces a newly formed decontamination team for Florence. Traditionally when a patient arrives at the hospital with a contamination issue the hospital would have to call the Fire Department to decontaminate the individual. Now with this Specially formed team the hospital can quickly deal with an emergency situation of this type. Facilities Manager Pat Kirby is one of the teams lead members. And Coast Radio news asked him about the impetus for the program
“In our incidence would be if we received patients that may come in with hazardous contamination on them. We couldn’t’ enter them into the building until they were decontaminated. So we now have a team that can take care of that for us.”
Kirby says the team is experienced and well qualified
“Most of them are from the ED Department they also are volunteers with the fire department so they’ve got experience with the Fire Department as well.”
He says they all work very well together and have been certified by FEMA. There will be an Emergency Response drill on June 28th to practice their training.
Gas Prices Hold Steady
As we inch closer to the holiday weekend we see prices at the pump holding steady. However the balance of supply versus demand is still on the supply side and that is holding prices down for the second consecutive week. In Fact, price for a regular gallon of gasoline in Florence is actually down 3 cents on average from last week at 2.40 a gallon. Marie Dodds with Triple A:
“This year we’ve had plentiful supplies of gasoline. The refineries have been cranking out a lot of product and so with all of those supplies we have seen gasoline peak a little bit earlier than usual.”
Now some of us gas misers like to drive a little off the beaten path when traveling to try and save a little money, but Dodds says it’s not always the best plan.
“You’re really not saving a whole lot especially if you have to drive around.”
Dodds says though…there is an ap for that!
“And it’s really easy to find you can go AAA dot Com Slash Mobile”
Pantry Plans Expansion
On the heels of two generous donation drives by the public, the Ford Peanut Butter Drive and the Letter Carriers Food Drive, the Florence food share has announced plans for an expansion of their facility. Executive Director of the Food share, Norma Barton said that in July of 2016 their client base doubled leaving the program with a serious need for additional space. At the close of 2016 the Florence food share reported that they had served approximately 4168 individuals and the new estimate for 2017 has seen that need expand to numbers in excess of 9500. Barton says that the expansion of the facility will add an additional 600 square feet of space and cost about $160,000. She says that grants and community donations have already collected more than half the monies needed for the project. That total currently stands at $90,000. Barton has initiated the Food Pantry Capital Expansion Plan to raise the balance of funds needed. Construction for the additional space is set to begin mid-summer and ready for use by early fall. For more information, or to donate, go to www.florencefoodshare.org
Family Seeks Answers
The Register Guard is reporting that according to Portland attorney John Devlin, David Brickey, the inmate who died while in custody in Florence on May 8th, has had a struggle with mental health in recent years. Devlin has been retained by Brickey’s family who is looking for more information on the events that led to his death. According to the Register-Guard the family wants to know if Brickey received any mental health treatment while in custody and why he was held for four days. KCST has placed a call with the family’s attorney, but has not yet received a response. We will continue to follow the story as more information becomes available.
