Pharmacy Issues Continue
The Florence area continue to deal with long waits and limited access to their medications as the new year has not resolved the issues with pharmacies. Peace Harbor Director of Medical Group Operations, Cheri Payne says they are seeing some smoothing out of the issue but there are still many who are struggling.
“We are still hearing from patients and from the phone lines that Rite Aid is still working on getting consistency in whether they’re open or not.”
Payne also says that for the time being Fred Meyer Pharmacy has temporarily closed on Sundays. Leaving one pharmacy available to patients. She also recommends that people plan ahead and not wait until the last minute to fill a prescription.
“We’re very familiar that people rely on other to give them rides or to pick things up for them in this community, it’s pretty common so make sure that as those things are being set up that you know that your pharmacy is going to be open, don’t assume that it’s just normal business hours as usual.”
Payne also says to coordinate with your physician during appointments to work out any potential medication issues.
Weather Advisories
Wind and rain continue to be an issue for the Oregon Coast. The national weather service has issued multiple warnings and advisories for the Florence area and for Mapleton. There is a flood watch and a flood advisory in effect through Friday afternoon. The advisory warns of the potential of flooding in low lying areas and streams and rivers could over run their banks. In addition to flooding they have issued a high wind warning that goes into effect this evening at 7 pm. Beaches and headlands could see wind speeds up to 70 miles per hour while inland winds are expected to be as high as 60 miles per hour. The high wind warning is expected to expire Friday morning at 10 am.
Travel Concerns
The Oregon Office of Emergency Management is warning travelers to be cautious as more winter weather and heavy rains cause problems for roadways. In a release issued yesterday afternoon OEM Director Andrew Phelps says the risk of landslides, and debris flows is high and there is the potential of being trapped by floodwaters or stuck on snow covered roads. Phelps says OEM is monitoring and coordinating statewide hazards and will continue to notify Oregonians of trouble spots. He recommends that individuals sign up for emergency alerts at oralert.gov.
19 Cases in Single Day for Florence
There were 19 more cases of COVID-19 reported in Florence yesterday making it 66 new cases in just the past two weeks. 935 known cases have been identified since the beginning of the pandemic. Lane County reported 570 cases yesterday and the state had another record breaking day of reported cases with 6,203. Cases have increased by 140% over the past week with 16,791 new cases reported. The OHA report is from Monday to Sunday and does not include the totals from this week.
C.R.O.W. Auditions
Auditions for roles in an upcoming concert style production of Disney’s Frozen Jr. in Florence are being held next week. Melanie Heard with the Children’s Repertory of Oregon Workshops, or CROW says there are several roles that appeal to girls and young women, but she wants to encourage a different category of young actors and singers.
“I want to get it out into the community how important the male roles are in our production because they have some great songs to sing, some great parts to play and we just need some strong boys.”
Auditions will be held Monday and Tuesday, the 10th and 11th, 6:30 PM at the Crow Center for the Performing Arts on highway 101. The production, with minimal sets and presented “concert style” will be April 22nd through the 24th at the Florence Events Center.
