Hospital Recruitments; Recycling Additions; Florence COVID Cases

Hospital Recruitments

Hospitals all across the nation are feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.  But rural hospitals in places like Florence have always had challenges in recruiting and maintain quality hospital staff, something that Peace Harbor Hospital has been actively looking to change. CAO of Peace Harbor, Jason Hawkins says it all begins with defining a good rural candidate.

“We want to target and attract those people who want to be in a community hospital to start.”

Doctors and nurses and other medical support people have to be shown the benefits of a community like Florence.

“Florence is a great community to recruit.  I’ve seen rural communities who have kind of a stagnant economy.  This is anything but stagnant here in Florence.  It’s a great place to live and very health and affectionate community for that matter and very inclusive to outsiders which is very important for people to see.”

Hawkins says being part of a bigger network of hospitals is also a strong support for rural hospitals.

Recycling Additions

Lane County is opening up recycling opportunities for Lane County Residents.  Lane County transfer stations like the one off of Rhododendron Drive has begun accepting #1 and #2 bottles, jars and jugs at their facility.  Items will need to be clean, dry and larger than a tennis ball according to Lane County Waste Reduction Program Supervisor Angie Marzano.  Since the initial change to not accepting those materials Marzano says companies have added additional machinery and advanced technology to “sort and clean up the recycling stream”  She says you can expect to see the recycling efforts improve in the coming years.  More information is available at lanecountyor.gov

Florence COVID Cases

The number of Florence COVID-19 cases has risen to 1654.  30 more cases than last reported on Thursday of last week.  Since the number are now reported weekly it is difficult to know the affect the holiday weekend had on those numbers, but it does show the presence of the virus in a significant way.  Lane County has discontinued updating their site and the numbers can now be found on the Oregon Health Authority site.  Lane County reported 213 cases yesterday and statewide there were 1,847 cases reported.  Number show no signs of decreasing, however hospitalizations have been steady at 299 for several days.