Health & Medicine

Oregon Beaches may soon be smoke free. The Parks and Recreation Department is seeking public input on proposed rules that would restrict smoking on shorelines.

Smoking is already restricted in all Oregon State Parks. You can smoke in your campsite or vehicle, but that's about it. Parks and Recreation Spokesman Chris Havel says people were inquiring about restricting cigarette use on beaches during the last public comment period about smoking on State Parks. He says if you restrict smoking in a park, people on the coast can just walk down to the beach.

A new Oregon law requires all students under the age of seven to complete a vision screening before entering into a new school.

Springfield school district is looking at enrolling between 800 and 1000 new kindergarteners in a little more than a month. According to spokesperson Devon Ashbridge, they will all have to go through a vision screening.

Counties across the Northwest are heavily dependent on timber revenue from federal lands have been struggling to provide public health services. Now, one county in Oregon has told the state it will no longer provide those services. That's left state officials scrambling to figure out how to cover the gap.

Young people can remain on their parent's health insurance programs until they are 26, and thanks to a provision in the Affordable Care Act, so can foster kids.

Oregon's program is called Former Foster Care Youth Medical Program, or F-CY. It's estimated more than 3,000 youth are eligible. Valerie Rucks is a Program Manager for Oregon's Department of Human Services. She says before the Affordable Care Act, it was more difficult for youth leaving foster care to obtain medical coverage.

Oregon continues to rank among the most "food insecure" states in the nation. Dependency on food stamps is at an all time high. According to the Children's Defense Fund, more than 315-thousand Oregon kids were eligible for free or reduced school lunches last year. So, what happens when school is out? KLCC's Tiffany Eckert looks at the problem of childhood hunger and what some agencies and school districts are doing to meet the need over the summer.

"B" Loftis has been feeding school kids for 27 years.

Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield recently obtained an updated version of their robotic Da Vinci Surgical System. KLCC’s Desmond O’Boyle stopped by to check out what the new X-i system can do.

Independence Day can be a traumatic time for pets.  Kelly Darnell has her own story about her pet dog, Sandy:

Darnell:  “Every Fourth of July she would be in the bathtub.”

Kelly Darnell is Eugene’s Interim Animal Services Manager.  She says when fuses are about to be lit, before your pet’s exposed to the rocket’s red glare – and blare – put them inside and…

“turn on the TV, turn in on a fan, so they can’t hear it as much.  If they have a fear of fireworks, certainly not taking them to fireworks.”

Some patients won't have to go to the doctor anymore to get their vital signs recorded. The local health agency the Good Samaritan Society is piloting the use of "telehealth". It uses a phone line to transmit data about a patient’s health.

It's called the Latino Paradox. It's what happens to the health of Latinos after they migrate from Mexico and other Latin American countries to Oregon.  KLCC's Jacob Lewin has the latest in our ongoing series on health disparities amongst Latinos:

An ironic thing happens to immigrants when they come from relatively resource-poor Central American countries to the resource-rich U.S, according to Alberto Moreno of the Oregon Latino Health Coalition:

A new University of Oregon-led study reveals some interesting notions about sleep. The research included middle-aged and older people in six countries. Anthropologists found a correlation between "optimal" sleep and increased cognition. KLCC's Tiffany Eckert spoke with the study's lead author.

Health care workers and their supporters held picket signs and rallied for fair wages and benefits Thursday outside Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital.

Last November about 120 hospital employees in Lincoln City voted to unionize and join SEIU Local 49. Union spokesman Jesse Stemmler says they've been bargaining with hospital management since then. But he says the workers don't feel they're receiving the same compensation as those at other Samaritan hospitals, including Newport, Corvallis and Albany.

Dr. Lorne Bigley, a family physician for 24 years practicing in Eugene, is offering his patients shared appointments.  He discusses what's involved in serving eight to twelve patients at one time in one room.

With the NCAA Track and Field Championships underway in Eugene, thousands of athletes and their fans will spend hours at historic Hayward Field in the thick of pollen season.  KLCC's Tiffany Eckert visited a leading allergist to learn just how bad it is out there and what allergic athletes can do.

A pilot program in Portland is hoping to prescribe healthy meals for low income families and individuals. Oregon Health Plan members at select clinics can get a $15 prescription for healthy food and fill it at their doctor's office. 

The Food Rx (Prescription) program features a trolley car parked in select doctors' parking lots filled with healthy food. Patients obtain a voucher from their doctor to use at the trolley. CareOregon spokesman Tom Wunderlich says the response has been positive so far.

Compared to other Oregonians, a lot of Latinos in Oregon don't drink alcohol. Yet those who do drink face bigger problems. Some of the reasons are cultural.  This is the latest in KLCC's series on health disparities amongst Oregon Latinos.

(Mariachi music)

PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend will now accept donations of breast milk. It's the first hospital-based project of its kind in Lane County. KLCC's Tiffany Eckert reports how the new milk drop site works.

Midwives and health care practitioners have long known mother's milk is the best food an infant can get. But, sometimes a woman can't produce milk for her new born. That's when other mothers can help.

Registered nurse and lactation consultant Jana Langeliers coordinates the donor milk drop site (at PeaceHealth Medical.)

Professor of Economics Gerald Friedman of the University of Massachusetts will be in seven Oregon cities this month, including Eugene, Portland, Corvallis and Bend (schedule below). He’ll be presenting on the merits of government financed universal -- “single payer” -- health care coverage. Professor Friedman is heard below in conversation with KLCC’s  Claude Offenbacher. 

{See pnhp.or/prof-gerald-friedman and "Gerald Friedman" on You Tube.}

May 13  LaGrande:  BMCC at Noon

May 13  Pendleton:  3:30 and 7 p.m. at EOU

A nonprofit serving Fern Ridge is offering a one-day, one-stop event for anyone in need of free personal services. 

While Eugene and Springfield residents in need have several agencies to turn to, that's not the case in Oregon's rural areas.

Mid Lane Cares, a nonprofit serving the Fern Ridge community, seeks to change that:

Kis:   "We get very little attention from all the big agencies based in Eugene, and people here have a pretty hard time getting to Eugene."

The number of H-I-V cases in Oregon is declining, but not amongst Latinos.  They are twice as likely to contract the virus as non-Hispanic whites.  This is the first in an ongoing series on Latino health disparities in Oregon:

"Buenos días.  Mi nombre es Diana Herrera......"

Twice a month, dozens of Latinos from throughout Oregon come to the Mexican consulate in Portland to see about documentation.  They also get a primer on HIV and AIDS and an HIV test if they want one:

"A empezar el timbre...lista?..."

It’s been years in coming.   Officials broke ground on a new Veterans health facility in Eugene Monday afternoon.  

The site of the future Veterans Health Care Center in North Eugene sits within eye shot of I-5.  That’s the same interstate veterans in Lane County now travel long distances on to get health services not provided at the current small clinic in Eugene.    Oregon Representative Peter DeFazio spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The national deadline to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act has already passed.  But in Oregon, persistent tech problems prompted the Governor to extend the final sign-up date by a month to April 30th.  The Cover Oregon website is still not fully functional, although people can complete most of the application process on-line.

Since the great recession, job security has been elusive. One bright spot is the health care field. Lane Community College in Eugene offers training programs to help students land well-paying jobs in the health care industry, including dental care. Lane recently opened a new dental clinic on Willamette Street where students can learn by treating patients.

On Tuesday, residents can get to know Eugene area farmers and help those in need get access to healthy food. The 15th annual "That's My Farmer" event showcases local community shared agriculture programs.

John Pitney was a farm kid with a passion for food and people. When he moved to Eugene to be a minister at First United Methodist, he formed a group to link farmers and the community.

Pitney: "One of the things that was a natural component of the organizing from the very beginning was that we would encourage donations at the door and create a low-income fund."