Bud h brewster hospital 8 pgs

Bulletin Board

Continued on Page 2

To you and your family

Happy

New hope for local mental health servicesBy Bill Forhan

In March, the state legislature appropriated $5 million for the development of three mental health evaluation and treatment facilities one of which is to be located in Eastern Washington. In July, the Chelan-Douglas Regional Support Network submitted a pro-posal to the Department of Social and Health Services requesting $1.7 million be dedicated to the completion of the Parkside project. That level of funding appears to be sufficient to complete the project and add 16 beds to the current statewide inventory. No decision has been made but the program does hold some promise of relief for the CDRSN.

According to the architect Len-ka Slapnicka the projects current estimate to complete Parkside is $1.4 million plus $370,000 for carpeting and furniture. To date the project has cost $3.6 million and has exhausted the financial resources of CDRSN leaving them unable to pay for their current operating needs including obliga-tions to the state of $686,000.

An email from Chelan County Commissioner Doug England in May laid out the steps that needed to be agreed upon before deciding if the CDRSN needed to be kept operational. England said; 1) The governance must be changed to something that allows control to be shared equally between Chelan and Douglas Counties; 2) The issue of debt to both Douglas County and the RSN cash reserves created by Parkside must be ad-dressed in a way that does not hinder the new group; 3) Ongoing Supplemental funding by the State [must be secured]; 4) The bed al-location deficiency be settled to our satisfaction with the State; 5) The provider’s contracts be cor-

rected to address over utilization responsibilities.

The Governing Board has been reorganized with 2 commissioners from each county and an at large representative. The two Douglas County commissioners will be Ken Stanton and Dale Snyder. Ron Walter and Doug England will represent Chelan County and the at large member will be Dr. Peter Rutherford, CEO of Confluence Health. Walter will serve as the Chairman of the newly constituted board.

No plan for resolving the debt to Douglas County or the RSN cash reserves has yet been established. The state has formulated a plan for forgiving the $686,000 owed to the state, but much of the rest of England’s conditions are still in question.

The good news is that the state has recently announced it has awarded $1.3 million to the CDRSN to improve intensive mental health services with local programs. What is unclear as of this writing is exactly how those funds can be used. It appears that the program is part of a new statewide effort to improve mental health care. How that money can be used to address the CDRSN’s current financial problems is unknown.

The CDRSN has completed its review of all providers through its RFQ (Request for Qualifica-tions) process and awarded new contracts for 2014. It recently an-nounced that Catholic Family & Child Services would be the main provider of mental health adult crisis and outpatient services beginning Jan. 1, 2014.

What that means exactly is still being negotiated. According to John Young, President and CEO of Catholic Charities in Yakima, the contract is still being negoti-

See new HoPe, Page 2

Brewster couple says hello to retirement

Quad photo by Amber SchlenkerTwo weeks ago, friends and family of Bob and Regena Fateley celebrated a life-long career at the Triangle Exxon in Brewster. The couple said their goodbyes to the business they owned for more than 40 years, while remembering the good times they’ve made along the way. The couple says they’ll miss the customers and employees the most. Now that they are retired, the two plan on taking summer trips, fishing more and spending even more time with their family.

Large crowd shows forBrewster hospital board meetingBy Amber SchlenkerAssistant Editor

Nearly 50 were in attendance at this past Tuesday’s Three Rivers Hospital regularly sched-uled board meeting.

Attendees included hospital employees and area residents, all waiting to hear the fate of their careers and their commu-nity hospital.

After months of discussion on how to remedy the hospital’s financial woes, board directors focused a majority of Tuesday’s meeting to hearing suggestions on the hospital’s next steps.

Hospital CEO Bud Hufnagel was called upon to bring options to the board for consideration on how to remedy the issues. Hufnagel’s presentation began with a background on the hos-pital’s condition.

“As a practical matter, this hospital has been bankrupt since 1998,” Hufnagel said. “We have been fully bankrupt since 2000.

“We have been in to warrants with the county full time, and it’s been a growing number over the years.

“The net of it is, we, as an organization, have not been able to sustain itself from its own operations since at least 2000,” Hufnagel added.

“When we started into this adventure a couple of years ago, the intent was to find a way to turn around what we had going on at the hospital, so that we could get to the point where we could be sustainable again.

Since 2000, says Hufnagel, Three Rivers Hospital has ex-perienced declining volumes, declining revenue from op-erations, shifting demographics and loss of physicians.

Intended as a short-term fix, the hospital began relying on county warrants to fund opera-tions. Nearly 13 years later, the hospital is still in debt to the county. The number has fluctu-ated from $1.9 million to $3.2 mil-lion, and currently, the hospital is sitting on $2.2 million in debt to Okanogan County.

Hufnagel says hospital admin-istrators have been trying for the past few years to figure out the issue, complete with chang-es to the hospital’s programs, staff and other avenues.

“At the end of the day, where we have ended up is that the key thing (is that) we have contin-ued to lose physicians out of the community for several years.”

Hufnagel says one of the larg-est reasons physicians leave the local area is due to the way in which they get paid or reim-bursed.

“Because it wasn’t worth the battle with the government to get paid for all of the effort they’ve put in,” Hufnagel said.

Hospital administration had begun to replace lost physi-cians by participating in a joint recruiting program with Conflu-ence Health and Family Health Centers in February of this year.

“So far this year only one physician recruitment has been successful and we remain below the necessary level needed to support the hospital district,” Hufnagel added.

“The real crux of the issue is that we don’t have enough doc-tors here. We don’t have enough physicians to do what we need to do. It’s just as straightforward as that.”

As a domino factor, bench-marks have also declined over the past few years. Hufnagel said admissions to the hospi-tal is down by 23 percent OB deliveries are down 36 percent, length of stay at the hospital is down by 16 percent, in-patient revenue is down 37 percent, out-patient revenue is down 13 per-cent, surgical revenue is down 28 percent and total patient days are down by 37 percent.

“In response to general de-clines, we have initiated af-filiation discussions in March

2012 with regional providers,” Hufnagel said.

In addition to the financial woes of the hospital, they are also facing challenges from state and federal mandates, funding and reimbursement options, too.

“The federal government wants to eliminate cost-based reimbursement to critical ac-cess hospitals: That by itself will put all of us out of business. Just that one thing, all by itself, will do us all in.”

“The federal government in the rules of what we get paid, they have continued the 2 per-cent reduction that came with the sequester, 2 percent of what we should be getting paid, just because they can.”

With all of the setbacks and challenges faced by Three Riv-ers Hospital, Hufnagel began offering suggestions to hospital board directors, on how to elimi-nate expenses.

The first option would take the hospital’s 104 full time equivalent, employees, down to nearly 82. That option sug-gests eliminating services at the hospital, which include; labor and delivery, cardiopulmonary rehab, HealthBeat Fitness, Ad-vantage DME and total joint replacement surgaries. Option A also suggests modifying re-

spiratory therapy to operate only Monday through Friday; revising the emergency room from a trauma level 4 facility, to a level 5; and only opening the surgery suite Monday through Friday, eliminating emergent and after-hour procedures.

This option would still leave the hospital about $224,225 to cover annually.

Option B is almost identical to “A” with the exception of keeping Labor and Delivery services at the hospital. That option would leave the hospital

See Hospital on Page 3

BAZAARSIs your non-profit orga-

nization or church having a Holiday or Christmas Bazaar? Have your infor-mation included in the Bulletin Board. Send your information to [email protected],

Christmas Bazaar

The annual Brewster Grange Christmas Bazaar will be December 6 & 7, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Grange Hall. Lunch will be available on the premises. For more infor-mation call Marge Hagy 689-2748.

BREWSTER

Thanksgiving Dinner

American Legion Post 97 in Brewster will be hosting a Community Thanksgiv-ing Dinner on Nov. 28, Thanksgiving Day, at 1 p.m. at the Legion Hall. The meal is free, but any donations to help cover the cost of the food is much appreciated.

Thanksgiving Day Service

Hope Lutheran Church will be having a Thanks-giving Day Worship Ser-vice, on Thursday, Nov. 28, at 11 a.m. They invite everyone to come and sing praise and thanks to God with them this Thanksgiv-ing. The church is located at 1520 Sunset Drive, 1/2 mile west of Brewster High School. For more informa-tion 689-3106.

‘Pearl Harbor Remembrance’The American Legion in Brewster will be having a F l a g Ce r e m o ny o n Saturday, Dec. 7. They will be holding the “Pearl Harbor Remembrance” Ceremony at 11 a.m. (8 a.m. Pearl) with the Flag Burning Ceremony to follow at Noon.

HOSTS mentors needed

Brewster Elementary School is in need of HOSTS mentors. HOSTS (Help One Student To Succeed) is a program that pairs community members with students grades 1st – 6th who need help reading. Just 45 minutes once a week is all it takes to change a child’s life. For more information please call 689-2581, ext. 631.

S.O.S. Bible Club

S.O.S. Bible Club has begun at the Community Log Church. All area kids, k indergarten through sixth grades, are invited to attend. S.O.S. is held on Wednesdays through the school year from 3:15-5 p.m. Snacks are served at 3 p.m. S.O.S. is a time of games, music and Bible lessons.

Bud Hufnagel

IndexBulletin Board ..................................... 1-2News/Community ............................... 2-3

School & Menus .................................... 3Letters .................................................... 4Opinion .................................................. 4

Sheriff & Obituaries ................................ 5Schools .................................................. 9School .....................................................9

Health & Beauty ..................................... 3Church Directory .................................... 5Businesses & Service ............................. 9

Classified Index Classifieds/Public Notices .................. 6-8 Puzzles ................................................... 6

NCWBusiness.com

Single Copy $1.00November 28, 2013 • volume 111, No. 48 Your Best source of News for Lower okaNogaN aNd dougLas couNties

Meet your neighbor See page 9Meet your neighbor

Family Health CentersCentros de Salud Familiar

1321 Main St., Oroville509-476-4400

626 Second Ave. S., Okanogan 509-422-6705

101 6th, Brewster509-689-3789

525 W. Jay, Brewster 509-689-3455

MEDICAL716 First Ave. S., Okanogan

509-422-5700106 S. Whitcomb, Tonasket

509-486-0114

Toll Free: 800-660-2129

DENTAL

YOUR AD HERE

HEALTH CARE

On the menu

needing to recoup $309,316 an-nually.

“It’s ok, we can do that, but the community is going to have to decide how they are going to support the hospital,” Hufnagel added.

The presentation was halted to allow the numerous folks in attendance to speak, as some needed to get back to work.

Many pleaded with the direc-tors to not cut their specific pro-grams or services. A resounding “no,” was heard, however, on behalf of the labor and deliver-ies services at the hospital.

“It’s clear the community doesn’t want us to do away with (labor and deliveries),” Board

chairman Dan Webster said. “We want you to know, we’ve

heard you.” The other options included

focusing the hospital’s efforts on emergency services and an outpatient clinic, shutting the hospital down completely and delaying the board’s decision.

Three Rivers Hospital board directors weren’t able to make a decision, just yet, but have decided to revisit the issue at the Dec. 16 meeting.

More detailed information on the meeting, and efforts being made by the hospital to rem-edy the financial crisis, can be read in next week’s Quad City Herald.

Continued from Page 1

Hospital: Large crowd athospital meeting

Bridgeport Elementary

Nov. 29- No school

Dec. 2Breakfast: Biscuit and sausage,

yogurtLunch: Whole grain corn dog, green

beans, perfect peaches, baked beans

Dec. 3Breakfast: Maple bar, string cheeseLunch: Whole grain bean and cheese

burrito, salsa, broccoli florets, juicy orange

Dec. 4Breakfast: Breakfast burrito, yogurtLunch: Pizza slice, golden corn, sweet

strawberries, dark green salad

Dec. 5Breakfast: Pancake on a stick, yo-

gurtLunch: Hamburger on wheat bun,

baked potato wedges, yellow ba-nana, crunchy baby carrots

Dec. 6Breakfast: Breakfast pizza, yogurtLunch: Breaded chicken nuggets,

green petite peas, crisp carrots, Washington grown apple

Bridgeport Secondary

Nov. 29- No school

Dec. 2Breakfast: Biscuit and sausage,

yogurtLunch: Whole grain corn dog, green

beans

Dec. 3Breakfast: Maple bar, string cheeseLunch: Chicken crispito, string

cheese

Dec. 4Breakfast: Breakfast burrito, yogurtLunch: Spicy chicken burger, golden

corn

Dec. 5Breakfast: Pancake on a stick, string

cheeseLunch: Bacon cheeseburger on

wheat, baked potato wedges


garlic bread stick

Brewster Secondary

Nov. 29- No school

Dec. 2Breakfast: French toast, yogurtLunch: Meatball marinara sub with

mozzarella cheese on wheat, steamed carrot

Dec. 3Breakfast: Breakfast burrito, string

cheeseLunch: Enchilada burrito, Tex mex

coleslaw, peas


garlic bread stick, Jell-o

Dec. 5Breakfast: Pancakes, String cheeseLunch: Specialty pizza slice, winter

squash

Dec. 6Breakfast: Oatmeal with fruit topping,

yogurtLunch: Toasted cheese on wheat, tri

tater patty

Brewster Elementary

Nov. 29- No School

Dec. 2Breakfast: French Toast slices, Yo-

gurtLunch: Whole grain bean and cheese

burrito, steamed baby carrots, fruit and veggie bar

Dec. 3Breakfast: Breakfast wrap, string

cheeseLunch: Enchilada, Tex mex coleslaw,

garden peas, fruit and veggie bar

Dec. 4Breakfast: Breakfast pizzaLunch: Breaded chicken nuggets,

oven fries, jell-o

Dec. 5Breakfast: Pancake, String cheeseLunch: Cheese pizza slice, winter

squash, fruit and veggie bar

Dec. 6Breakfas t : Oatmeal , Yogur t

Lunch: Hamburger on whole wheat bun, Tri tater patty, chilled fruit cup, fruit and veggie bar

Brewster getsjump on

Christmas

Quad photos by Amber SchlenkerSharry Farrington of Brewster hands homemade goods to a customer at the annual bazaar at the Brewster Legion earlier this month. At right, the room was filled with various handmade goods for locals to begin getting into the holiday spirit.

November 28, 2013 • Quad citY HeraLd 3

Schools & Community

Bulletin Board

Continued on Page 2

Quad photo by Matt BaideThe Pateros High School Volleyball squad earned the State tourney sportsmanship award. Last Tuesday, WIAA officials presented the award to the team at a special assembly. Pictured here are (front row L-R) Emily Larsen, Madison White, Kat Wilson and EmmaLee Luft; (back row L-R) WIAA Mascot Sporty, Ana Vasquez – Assistant coach, Bobbi Hall, Beatriz Morales, Kerlyn Heen, Chloe Gill, Jessi Dowers, Grace Williams, Brandy Woodward, Ashton Steggall, Gene Dowers – Coach and Dakota Salcido, dressed in the Billygoat suit.

By Matt BaideStaff Writer

The WIAA made a special ap-pearance at Pateros High School last Tuesday with a special presentation.

WIAA Assistant Executive Di-rector Cindy Adsit spoke at the assembly to Pateros students and staff at the assembly. She congratulated the volleyball team on its fifth place State fin-ish. She said that the officials talked about a tournament sportsmanship award, and when the officials discussed which school to give it to, they decided to give a sportsmanship medal to the entire volleyball team.

Along with the WIAA mas-cot Sporty, each player on the Pateros Volleyball team stepped up and got a medal for sports-manship.

“It is overwhelming,” Pateros volleyball coach Gene Dowers said. “To have the whole team get the award is amazing. It is the first time it has ever hap-pened and it is humbling. Out of so many teams, to be singled out is humbling.”

Dowers said that this is not just an award for the volleyball team, but for the Pateros School District.

“This is a good place,” Dow-

ers said. “The staff teaches respect and it trickles down. This is a good place to meet good people.”

The WIAA then presented

Pateros with its fifth-place tro-phy to Pateros ASB President Jonathan Gelstin.

Pateros volleyball earned its highest-ever State finish

this year, with fifth-place hon-ors. The team won its first match against Quilcene, but lost its second match to Christian Faith.

Pateros won its next two matches, including the final match against rival, Almira-Coulee-Hartline to earn fifth place honors.

Pateros volleyball squadmakes history with WIAA award


Bridgeport used to have a Fam-ily Health Centers clinic before it was forced to close its doors. It has recently been announced that the Family Health Centers is coming back to Bridgeport next year.

Family Health Centers CEO Mike Hassing said Bridgeport was open and would welcome a Family Health Center back in Bridgeport.

“Bridgeport has always been part of our strategic plan for many years, looking at it and

seeing what we could do down there,” Hassing said. “Our board of directors said it was a good time for it… the city and the mayor have been very helpful in working with us and has been very welcoming to Family Health Centers.”

The board applied for a new access point grant to open up the center. The application didn’t earn the grant in the first applica-tion process, but the Health Re-sources Services Administration decided to fund some additional new access point, they were selected for funding. The initial grant award is for $858,000.

The clinic will be at the old North Cascade National Bank building in town. With the grant money, $150,000 is going to be used for renovation.

“This is going to give them an option to receive services right there in town,” Hassing said. “Because of our area… (people) have real significant transporta-tion issues, public transportation issues. So what we are hoping then is by having a clinic right in town, that many of those people that have not been able to travel to Brewster… can walk to the clinic if they need to. So we are hoping to see quite a few new

patients there.”There will be limited services

offered when the clinic first opens. Hassing said that he expects the clinic to be open sometime in the spring with limited services offered. The clinic’s services will be expanded as the clinic gets going. Services provided will be medical, dental and limited mental health services.

Both the City of Bridgeport and Family Health Centers are excited to be welcoming a clinic back to town.

“I have lived in Bridgeport for 32 years, we have never had a medical clinic here,” Bridgeport

Mayor Marilynn Lynn said. “We have never had a dental clinic here. We have never had a mental health clinic here as long as I’ve been here. All of those things are coming with this new clinic. For the citizens of Bridgeport, having a health clinic that they can walk to or minimally drive to within just a few blocks is going to make the accessibility to basic health care needs available.”

“Years ago, we had some ser-vices in Bridgeport, but due to budget issues, those had to be curtailed,” Hassing said. “This is coming home and we’re excited to be coming home to Bridgeport.”

Family Health Centers coming to Bridgeport

By Amber SchlenkerAssistant Editor

After months of discussion on how to remedy Three Rivers Hospital’s financial woes, board directors focused a majority of a meeting held last month to hear-ing suggestions on the hospital’s next steps.

Hospital CEO Bud Hufnagel was called upon to bring options

to the board for consideration on how to remedy the issues before the board and those affected by the decisions. Hufnagel’s presen-tation began with a background on the hospital’s condition.

“As a practical matter, this hospital has been bankrupt since 1998,” Hufnagel said.

“We have been in to warrants with the county full time, and it’s been a growing number over

the years. “The net of it is, we, as an

organization, have not been able to sustain itself from its own operations since at least 2000,” Hufnagel added.

Since 2000, says Hufnagel, Three Rivers Hospital has ex-perienced declining volumes, declining revenue from opera-tions, shifting demographics and loss of physicians.

Intended as a short-term fix, the hospital began relying on county warrants to fund opera-tions. Nearly 13 years later, the hospital is still in debt to the county. The number has fluctu-ated from $1.9 million to $3.2 mil-lion, and currently, the hospital is sitting on $2.2 million in debt to Okanogan County.

Physician recruitment

“At the end of the day, where we have ended up is that the key thing (is that) we have continued to lose physicians out of the com-munity for several years.”

Hufnagel says one of the larg-est reasons physicians leave the local area is due to the way in which they get paid or reim-bursed.

“Because it wasn’t worth the battle with the government to get paid for all of the effort they’ve put in,” Hufnagel said.

Hospital administration had begun to replace lost physi-cians by participating in a joint recruiting program with Conflu-ence Health and Family Health Centers in February of this year.

“So far this year only one physician recruitment has been successful and we remain below the necessary level needed to support the hospital district,” Hufnagel added.

“The real crux of the issue is that we don’t have enough doc-

tors here. We don’t have enough physicians to do what we need to do. It’s just as straightforward as that.”

Since 2011, Hufnagel says the area is down “net seven physi-cians.”

Dr. Joseph Matel spoke at the meeting, and has decided to leave the area.

“A lot of the reason why that happened is because of the un-certainty here. I came out four years ago.

“I can’t give up doing OB in my career at this point. I need to keep doing it. I’m going for less money, but I get to keep doing OB, and that’s what is important to me,” he said.

Dr. Matel obtained his BA in Biology at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota and received his Medical Degree from the University of Minneso-ta. He did his residency at Santa Rosa Family Medicine in Santa Rosa, California and graduated in 2009. Followed by an OB Fel-lowship at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM where he graduated in 2010. Dr. Matel’s special interests include Obstetrics, Women’s health, Sports Medicine and Integrative Medicine.

Matel says with two young children in his family, “I can’t get a pink slip in six months or however long it will be.”

See Hospital on Page 2

Locals wait to hear fate of Brewster hospital

Quad photo by Amber SchlenkerDr. Gordon Tagge, a local specialist, reads a letter to hospital commissioners at last month’s meeting. The letter was signed by nearly 10 area physicians. The letter urged hospital commissioners to consider the effects of cutting programs at the hospital.

Christmas Services, Special Events

Is your church having spe-cial events, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day Services this month? Have your informa-tion included in the Bulletin Board. Send your information to [email protected],

Christmas play and sing along

Students of Brewster Ad-ventist Christian School will be performing “An Angel’s Christmas Carol” an adapta-tion of Charles Dickens Christ-mas Carol, on Thursday, Dec. 12, 6:30 p.m. The evening also includes a Community Sing Along with refreshments. Everyone is invited.

Christmas Carol-Sing and Bonfire

Hope Lutheran Church will have their annual Christ-mas Carol-Sing and Bonfire on Wednesday, Dec. 18, at 7 p.m. Everyone is welcome. The church is located at 1520 Sunset Drive in Brewster. From 7th Avenue, turn West at Brewster High School. Driveway is on the right, ap-proximately 1/2 Mile

Christmas Eve Services

Hope Lutheran Church wishes you joy in your celebra-tion of Christ this Christmas. Join them for their Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship Service on Tuesday, Dec. 24, at 7 p.m.

BAZAARSIs your non-profit organiza-

tion or church having a Holi-day or Christmas Bazaar? Have your information in-cluded in the Bulletin Board. Send your information to [email protected],

Christmas BazaarThe annual Brewster

Grange Christmas Bazaar will be December 6 & 7, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Grange Hall. Lunch will be available on the premises. For more information call Marge Hagy 689-2748.

BREWSTER

‘Parade of Boats’A “Parade of Boats” is be-

ing planned for Saturday, Dec. 21, at 6 p.m. Boat owners are invited to dress up their boats with Christmas lights and cruise around Brewster Bay. Boats will launch from Cove Park in Brewster. Anyone in-terested can George Pearson at 509-686-1022.

‘Pearl Harbor Remembrance’

The American Legion in Brewster will be having a Flag Ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 7. They will be holding the “Pearl Harbor Remem-brance” Ceremony at 11 a.m. (8 a.m. Pearl) with the Flag Burning Ceremony to follow at Noon.


Brewster Elementary School is in need of HOSTS mentors. HOSTS (Help One Student To Succeed) is a program that pairs commu-nity members with students grades 1st – 6th who need help reading. Just 45 minutes once a week is all it takes to change a child’s life. For more information please call 689-2581, ext. 631.


School & Menus .................................... 3Letters .................................................... 4Opinion .................................................. 4

Sheriff & Obituaries ................................ 5Community ............................................. 9Community ........................................... 10



NCWBusiness.com

Single Copy $1.00December 5, 2013 • Volume 111, No. 49 Your Best source of News for Lower okaNogaN aNd dougLas couNties

I’m thankful for...See pages 9-10I’m thankful for...

246 N. Mission St., Wenatcheewww.WenatcheePediatricDentistry.com

Call Today!

664-5000

Look who is cavity free!

Colton Bjorklund and Aubree Clark are our Cavity Free Winners for October 2013.

Wenatchee’s only pediatric dental specialists




101 6th, Brewster509-689-3789

525 W. Jay, Brewster 509-689-3455



509-486-0114

Toll Free: 800-660-2129

DENTAL

HEALTH CARE


Bulletin Board

If you have a Bulletin Board news item about a nonprofit event, you can e-mail it to [email protected], FAX it to 509-682-4209 or mail it to P.O. Box 37, Brewster, WA 98812. Deadline is noon on Monday. Items will run two weeks maximum and must be 100 words or fewer.

Send your Bulletin Board item

correctionErrors appearing in the Quad

City Herald will be corrected in this space. We are accountable for the paper’s content.

If you find an error in the news-paper, bring it to our attention by calling (509) 689-2507 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Hospital: Community, doctorssay ‘keep OB program’Continued from Page 1

WENATCHEE – The holidays are often a time when family and friends visit their parents or other aging relatives whom they haven’t seen since the last holiday season.

And when they visit they dis-cover their loved ones aren’t doing so well. Maybe mom and dad ap-pear frail and their typically tidy house is in disarray. They might find unopened mail and bills tucked in a drawer. These can be the signs of declining health and triggers that mom and dad need some assistance to remain safely at home.

The Alzheimer’s Association has put together a checklist of things to look for that may signal help is needed:

Look in the fridge – Is the freez-er full of TV dinners and the vegetable drawer empty? Has the milk gone sour? A quick scan can tell you whether your parents are still able to shop and prepare meals.

Take a peek at the mail – Un-opened junk mail is nothing to worry about, but if personal mail is piling up it may be cause for concern. Unpaid bills are a red flag that things may be getting out of control.

Drive the car – Ask your loved one if you can take the wheel at a family outing, and check under

the hood when you get home. Are they keeping the oil changed? Are the tires low? Is there enough anti-freeze to protect the vehicle?

Investigate the bathroom – The bathroom is one place where it’s hard to cover up if they’re having a tough time keeping the house clean. A quick once-over can tell you if your relatives are struggling and could use help with chores.

Take note of how the pets are doing – And check the plants too. The ability – or inability— to care for other living things may offer clues to how they’re managing their own care.

The Alzheimer’s Association can help adult-age kids and rela-tives understand how to address the signs of dementia. The Asso-ciation can be reached at 1-800-848-7097 or visit www.alzwa.org.

Resources are also available locally. Aging & Adult Care of Cen-tral Washington (AACCW) has services to help seniors, including in-home chore assistance, home-delivered meals, and respite for family caregivers. Programs are state and federally funded.

AACCW has offices in Omak, Moses Lake, and Wenatchee, and covers all of Adams, Chelan, Doug-las, Grant, Lincoln and Okanogan Counties. For more information call 1-800-572-4459 or visit www.aaccw.org.

A ‘home-for-the-holidays checklist’ forfamily of aging relatives

Submitted byBrook Beeler, Ecology

Stage 1 bans start imme-diately in Columbia, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, and Pend Oreille counties, according to the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology). In addi-tion, Stage 1 burn bans in Aso-tin, Chelan, Douglas, Kittitas, Klickitat, Okanogan, Stevens, and Walla Walla counties will continue.

Bans are necessary since poor air quality and stagnant conditions are expected to con-tinue for the next few days.

Ecology’s Stage 1 burn ban for these counties will continue until at least 10 a.m. Sunday, when they could be called off or extended. The Stage 1 ban applies to the use of uncertified wood-burning devices (includ-

ing wood stoves, inserts and fireplaces) and to all outdoor burning.

All outdoor burning – includ-ing residential, agricultural and forest burning – is prohibited.

Under a Stage 1, ban the use of uncertified wood-burning devices – including fireplaces, wood stoves and inserts – is prohibited unless they are a home’s only adequate source of heat.

Ecology’s burn bans do not apply on tribal reservations, where the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has juris-diction.

Burn ban violators are sub-ject to civil penalties. You can report violators by calling Ecol-ogy’s smoke complaint hotline (1-866-211-6284).

For burn ban updates, go on-line to www.waburnbans.net

Douglas, Okanoganamong seven counties added to Stage 1 burn ban

Board directors and specta-tors at the meeting all agreed a decision needed to be made, before more physicians followed in Matel’s footsteps.

Keeping OB open

Board director Jerry Tretwold also spoke, saying he’s received many letters from the public. Nearly 50 letters came in to the board, expressing their desire to keep the OB department of Three Rivers Hospital up and running.

“I am prepared to make a mo-tion at this time that we actively and aggressively promise our community that we will secure to the best of our ability the OB program, the baby-friendly program that we have here in Brewster. Not just today, but into the future, the long future. That’s my motion,” Tretwold said.

With no seconds to the mo-tion, board vice chair Vicki Or-ford said, “I don’t think it needs to be a motion. We are all going to work our very best to keep OB open, to keep respiratory therapy open, to keep cardio open.

“We don’t want to close any of these departments, any more than you want to see it, but we also have to make a decision, and we need to do it, diligently, and not quickly. It hasn’t come quickly, but we can’t keep put-ting off your lives, by saying ‘we’ll make a decision next week’.

“I think you need to know, it’s definitely true, that we are going try to and save all these programs.”

Tretwold added, “If we don’t have a motion, I think this room deserves a consensus that we are in agreement.”

Dwilndling numbers

As a domino factor, bench-marks have also declined over the past few years. Hufnagel said admissions to the hospital

is down by 23 percent, OB deliv-eries are down 36 percent, length of stay at the hospital is down by 16 percent, in-patient revenue is down 37 percent, out-patient revenue is down 13 percent, sur-gical revenue is down 28 percent and total patient days are down by 37 percent. The actual num-bers of these percentages were not available before press time this week.

“In response to general de-clines, we have initiated af-filiation discussions in March 2012 with regional providers,” Hufnagel said.

Federal, state challenges


“The federal government wants to eliminate cost-based reimbursement to critical access hospitals: That by itself will put all of us out of business. Just that one thing, all by itself, will do us all in.

“The federal government in the rules of what we get paid, they have continued the 2 per-cent reduction that came with the sequester, 2 percent of what we should be getting paid, just because they can.”

With all of the setbacks and challenges faced by Three Riv-ers Hospital, Hufnagel began offering suggestions to hospital board directors, on how to elimi-nate expenses.

Options

The first option would take the hospital’s 104 full time equiva-lent, employees, down to nearly 82.

That option suggests elimi-nating services at the hospital, which include; labor and deliv-ery, cardiopulmonary rehab, HealthBeat Fitness, Advantage DME and total joint replace-ment surgaries. Option A also

suggests modifying respiratory therapy to operate only Monday through Friday; revising the emergency room from a trauma level 4 facility, to a level 5; and only opening the surgery suite Monday through Friday, elimi-nating emergent and after-hour procedures.

This option would still leave the hospital about $224,225 to cover annually.

Option B is almost identical to “A” with the exception of keeping Labor and Delivery ser-vices at the hospital. That option would leave the hospital needing to recoup $309,316 annually.

“It’s ok, we can do that, but the community is going to have to decide how they are going to support the hospital,” Hufnagel added.

The presentation was halted to allow the numerous folks in attendance to speak, as some needed to get back to work.

Many pleaded with the direc-tors to not cut their specific pro-grams or services. A resounding “no,” was heard, however, on behalf of the labor and deliveries services at the hospital.

“It’s clear the community doesn’t want us to do away with (labor and deliveries),” Board chairman Dan Webster said.

“We want you to know, we’ve heard you.”

The other options included focusing the hospital’s efforts on emergency services and an outpatient clinic, shutting the hospital down completely and delaying the board’s decision.

Three Rivers Hospital board directors weren’t able to make a decision, just yet, but have decided to revisit the issue at its next meeting, slated for Monday, Dec. 16 at noon.

More, detailed information on the meeting, and efforts being made by the hospital to remedy the financial crisis, can be read in the coming issues of the Quad City Herald.

S.O.S. Bible ClubS.O.S. Bible Club has be-

gun at the Community Log Church. All area kids, kinder-garten through sixth grades, are invited to attend. S.O.S. is held on Wednesdays through the school year from 3:15-5 p.m. Snacks are served at 3 p.m. S.O.S. is a time of games, music and Bible lessons.

Pool tournamentsBrewster American Legion

Pool Tournaments are every Sunday, 2 p.m. at the Legion Hall. There is a $5.00 entry fee and the tournament pays 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. Ameri-can Legion Pool December 1. There were eight players. First place went to Mike Flanagan; second Larry Boyd; third Keith Downing. Legion Turkey Shoot will be Dec. 15 with $10 entry fee. Guar-anteed to pay five places. Everyone is welcome. They’d like to have more players, so come on out on Sundays.

Friday Night Pinochle

Join them starting at 6 p.m., at the Senior Center (you need not be a member) and have lots of fun. The group would love to have more players. Win $2 for High, and $1 for low, door prize, and pinochle. New faces and new friends always welcome.

OKANOGAN COUNTYGenealogical Society Christmas party

It is time again for the annual Okanogan County Genealogical Society Christ-mas party to be held on Dec. 5, 2 p.m., at the Wilson Re-search Center. It is a day of sharing both goodies and your successes in the past year. If you have completed a project bring it to show off. If not, plan to tell us about what you have had good luck learning. They will have their usual sale of goodies, both eatable and otherwise. Also bring goodies to share for the party and bring a friend to share the fun. For further information call Maggie at 509-422-3944.

Auditions for TotoHave you always thought

your small dog was destined to be a star? Here is your chance to find out. Auditions for Toto, Dorothy’s faithful dog in The Wizard of Oz, will be held on Sunday, Dec. 8, 12:30-2 p.m. at The Fitness Academy, 14 Main Street, Omak. They are looking for a small breed that can be eas-ily carried, is well mannered and friendly, to join the cast of the show to be produced in Omak by Okanogan Valley Orchestra & Chorus on May 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11, 2014.

2 Quad City Herald • deCember 5, 2013

News

Bulletin Board

Continued on Page 2See Hospital on Page 2


After months of researching, discussing and hearing local comment on how to remedy the hospital’s financial woes, the Three Rivers Hospital District Commissioners finally made a unanimous deci-sion on the near future of Three Rivers Hospital.

This past Mon-day, Dec. 16, the board room was standing-room only, as many area residents and hospital staff came to hear the fate of their local hospital.

Th e u n a n i -mous decision made by hospital district commissioners earlier this week was to accept, of the revised options, “Option 2” pre-sented by Three Rivers Hospital administrators. Option 2, as presented to commissioners is to discontinue Cardiopulmonary Rehab, HealthBeat Fitness and Advantage DME.

The motion, made by Commis-sioner Mike Pruett was to accept Option 2, with the revision that the Cardiopulmonary Rehab department would get a second look after the end of this month. Administrators are currently undergoing negotiations with Confluence Health, for that entity to take over the cardio depart-ment at the hospital.

Other facets approved by board commissioners include reduc-ing respiratory therapy hours to Monday through Friday and limit the surgery suite to Monday through Fridays with no after-hours procedures, except for emergency c-sections.

This option also reduces staff-ing by 103.95 FTE (full-time equiv-alent) positions, to 85.79 FTE’s. Administrators say that though it appears many will lose their jobs, some positions are already va-cant and won’t be replaced. CEO Bud Huf-nagel says that in reality, two or three full-time equiva-lent positions will be elimi-n at e d . Th i s option leaves the hospital’s numbers in the black, with net revenue num-bers showing $422,349.

The decision to accept this option, how-eve r, d i d n ’ t come without months of dis-c u s s i o n a n d protest from community mem-bers and area medical profes-sionals.

Background

Hospital CEO Bud Hufnagel was called upon to bring options to the board for consideration on how to remedy the issues. Hufna-gel’s presentation at the Nov. 25 regular commissioner meeting began with a background on the hospital’s condition.

“As a practical matter, this hospital has been bankrupt since 1998,” Hufnagel said. “We have been fully bankrupt since 2000.

“We have been in to warrants with the county full-time, and it’s been a growing number over the years.

“The net of it is, we, as an organization, have not been able

to sustain itself from its own operations since at least 2000,” Hufnagel added.

Intended as a short-term fix, the hospital began relying on county warrants to fund opera-tions. More than 13 years later,

the hospital is still in debt to the county. The number has fluc-tuated from $1.9 million to $3.2 million, and as of Nov. 25, the h o sp i t a l wa s sitting on $2.2 million in debt t o O ka n o g a n County.

Hufnagel says t h e m a j o r i t y of the problem lies within the inability to re-cruit physicians to the Brewster

area. As a domino factor, benchmarks have also declined over the past few years. Hufnagel said admissions to the hospital is down by 23 percent, OB deliveries are down 36 per-cent, length of stay at the hospital is down by 16 percent, in-patient revenue is down 37 percent, out-patient revenue is down 13 percent, surgical revenue is down 28 percent and total patient days are down by 37 percent.

State, federal limitations


With all of the setbacks and challenges faced by Three Rivers Hospital, Hufnagel began offering options for the commissioners’ considering on how to eliminate expenses and generate revenue for Three Rivers Hospital.

One of the main concerns for keeping with cardiopulmonary rehab department open, is a new federal mandate, titled the “Direct Supervision Rule,” re-quired for each rural hospital in the nation.

“The direct supervision rule,” Hufnagel ex-plained, “says a p hys i c i a n or physician’s assistant or nurse practitio-ner who is ad-vanced-trained and certified in cardio must be in the area of where the test is being done.”

That means the medical ex-pert must be “immediately available.”

“If they are wo r k i n g o n something else, they have to be able to get up and leave im-

mediately when called upon,” Hufnagel added.

“That means you can’t use a physician in town, because they are not immediately available. You can’t use somebody in the same building, like a provider in ER, they can’t just drop what they are doing to go help.”

With the cardiopulmonary de-partment seeing just 23 patients in the last year, Hufnagel says ad-ministrators can’t justify hiring one specialist to sit in the cardio department full-time. But, with hopeful negotiations with Conflu-ence Health, Hufnagel says they, do, have the specialty resources to provide a cardiologist to the department.

That decision, should be made by month’s end. If Confluence

Ice cold

Hospital boardmakes decision

Christmas Services, Special Events

Christmas programs for children and adults

New Test Baptist Church in Brewster on Dec. 22, will hold its Adult Christmas Program at 10:30 a.m.

Christmas Eve Services

Hope Lutheran Church wishes you joy in your celebration of Christ this Christmas. Join them for their Christmas Eve Can-dlelight Worship Service on Tuesday, Dec. 24, at 7 p.m.

New Test Baptist Church in Brewster will hold their Christmas Eve Service at 6 p.m. at the church.

BREWSTER

‘Parade of Boats’A “Parade of Boats” is

being planned for Saturday, Dec. 21, at 6 p.m. Boat own-ers are invited to dress up their boats with Christmas lights and cruise around Brewster Bay. Boats will launch from Cove Park in Brewster. Anyone inter-ested can George Pearson at 509-686-1022.


Brewster Elementary School is in need of HOSTS mentors. HOSTS (Help One Student To Succeed) is a program that pairs com-munity members with stu-dents grades 1st – 6th who need help reading. Just 45 minutes once a week is all it takes to change a child’s life. For more information please call 689-2581, ext. 631.

S.O.S. Bible ClubS.O.S. Bible Club has

begun at the Community Log Church. All area kids, kindergarten through sixth grades, are invited to at-tend. S.O.S. is held on Wednesdays through the school year from 3:15-5 p.m. Snacks are served at 3 p.m. S.O.S. is a time of games, music and Bible lessons.

Pool tournaments

Brewster American Le-gion Pool Tournaments are every Sunday, 2 p.m. at the Legion Hall. There is a $5.00 entry fee and the tournament pays 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. Guaranteed to pay five places. Everyone is welcome. They’d like to have more players, so come on out on Sundays.

Due to the passing of Zearl Wilson, who dili-gently updated pool tour-ney results, current results are unavailable. Staff of the Quad City Herald extends our sincerest regards to friends and family of Mr. Wilson. He will be missed.


On Dec. 13 they had seven players, Jeannie Johnson took High, and Traveler, Gene Anson took Low and Door Prize. There will be no Pinochle on Friday nights until Jan. 10, weather per-mitting. They wish all Mer-ry Christmas, and a Safe and Happy New Year.

Lights line Pateros Mall for the Holiday season. A “Pateros Town Holiday Celebration will be on

tap this Saturday, Dec. 21, from 1-4 p.m. The day will include Santa, sleigh rides, treats and

crafts. Admission is free, but, donations will be accepted to support local charities. The event is set to be held at the Central Building, at 207

Pateros Mall. In Brewster, the Brewster Sky Lantern Festival is on tap for this Friday, Dec.

20, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Brewster City Soccer Field. Tickets to purchase a lantern are

on sale at various businesses around town. Quad photo by Amber Schlenker

Santa Claus is coming... to Pateros, Brewster

Dr. James Lamberton

Commissioner Jerry Tretwold


The Bridgeport School Board has written a proposed $3.9 mil-lion bond to help build an addi-tion to Bridgeport Elementary School.

In total, the project will cost $8.5 million. The state is match-ing 89.6 percent on the building construction.

The estimated tax rate on the bond is at $2.12 per $1,000 assessed property valuations. The bond is an 18 year bond ending in 2033.

Bridgeport School District Superintendent Scott Sattler presented the proposed bond at the Bridgeport City Council meeting last Wednesday.

“The need is great,” Sattler said. “We’ve got a growing stu-dent population and the need is great, we really need to do something for the kids now. If we push this out further, it’s going to be a bottle neck in 15 years and we are going to have to take care of an elementary and a middle school…I’d like to do the planning now, take care of one portion of it and that’s

paid for, we go out and we take a look at what’s next.”

The plan is to demolish and replace the building pods that were originally built in 1977. The new construction will add on to the existing main elemen-tary school building which includes the library, gym and 10 classrooms right now. The addition would include 16 new classrooms, a music room, a computer lab, modern kitchen facilities, a multi-purpose room and a complete elementary playground.

Bridgeport School Board proposes bond

See Bond on Page 3

Photo courtesy of Lynda KentFrozen falling waters show freezing temperatures near Pateros last week near Hwy. 97.


School .................................................... 3Letters .................................................... 4Opinion .................................................. 4

Sheriff, Obituaries, Community .............. 6Sports & Recreation .................. 8, B3, B4Santa Letters ...................................B1-B2



NCWBusiness.com

Single Copy $1.00December 19, 2013 • Volume 111, No. 51 Your Best source of News for Lower okaNogaN aNd dougLas couNties

Fire claims home...See page 5




101 6th, Brewster509-689-3789

525 W. Jay, Brewster 509-689-3455



509-486-0114

Toll Free: 800-660-2129

DENTAL

HEALTH CARE

Holiday Gift Guide


Bulletin Board

If you have a Bulletin Board news item about a nonprofit event, you can e-mail it to [email protected], FAX it to 509-682-4209 or mail it to P.O. Box 37, Brewster, WA 98812. Deadline is noon on Monday. Items will run two weeks maximum and must be 100 words or fewer.

Send your Bulletin Board item

Bridgeport CounCil Briefs


Hospital: Commissioners make decision before year’s enddecides to decline the request to jump on board with the hospital, Hufnagel says they will have to discontinue the department all together.

Options

After months of recalculating, and listening to hospital employ-ees and area residents, as well as input from local physicians and commissioners themselves, Hufnagel approached this past Monday’s meeting with two op-tions on the table for commission-ers to decide on.

The decision didn’t come with-out several minutes of scheduled public comment and discussion between commissioners, and the occasional outburst of public opinion.

The meeting began with an executive session, where com-missioners were slated to talk about personnel issues. Once the meeting was again called to order, Dr. James Lamberton was allowed to speak for 10 minutes, where he gave his opinion on the possibility of cuts to hospital services and staff.

At 10 minutes of speaking time, Board Chairman Dan Webster told Lamberton he’d allow him another two minutes to speak.

Lamberton responded, “I’ll tell you what, we have a group of people here... I want to be respect-ful to you, the board, the people and respectful of Mr. Hufnagel... but we have a group of people here today that need to hear this. I plan to finish what I started.”

During a total of nearly 30 minutes of speaking time, Dr. Lamberton also read a letter, signed by seven area physicians, that stated their disapproval in the current administration of Three Rivers Hospital.

“We feel the hospital is in peril due to lack of positive leader-ship,” Lamberton read from the letter.

The letter, signed by doctors Lamberton, Hanson, Matel, Wal-lace, Haeger, Tagge and Bryant, called for a change in the board’s direction by the start of 2014. Other calls to action stated in the letter included full disclosure of all financial numbers, the cessa-tion of eliminating services until a new plan is in place, an outside auditor/reviewer to come and analyze charges, billing and ac-counts, a community advisory committee and the immediate resignation of Hospital CEO Bud Hufnagel.

Keeping OB open

At the Nov. 25 meeting, Com-missioner Jerry Tretwold also spoke, saying he’s received many letters from the public. Nearly 50 letters came in to the board, ex-pressing their desire to keep the OB department of Three Rivers Hospital up and running.

“I am prepared to make a mo-tion at this time that we actively and aggressively promise our community that we will secure to the best of our ability the OB program, the baby-friendly program that we have here in Brewster. Not just today, but into the future, the long future. That’s

my motion,” Tretwold said. With no seconds to the motion,

board vice chair Vicki Orford said, “I don’t think it needs to be a motion. We are all going to work our very best to keep OB open, to keep respiratory therapy open, to keep cardio open.

“We don’t want to close any of these departments, any more than you want to see it, but we also have to make a decision, and we need to do it, diligently, and not quickly. It hasn’t come quickly, but we can’t keep putting off your lives, by saying ‘we’ll make a decision next week’.

“I think you need to know, it’s definitely true, that we are going try to and save all these programs.”

Tretwold added, “If we don’t have a motion, I think this room deserves a consensus that we are in agreement.”

Tretwold again tried to get the commissioners to agree on the motion at the Dec. 16 meeting.

“I made a motion here at the last meeting that died for a lack of second and I’m very disap-pointed in that. The one good thing we can put in the papers is that we are a baby-friendly hospital and we do a good job here, we get (commendations) for that. We had a consensus, and I hope my fellow board members understand that a consensus is to do the right thing. I’m going to make that motion again.

Tretwold stated a motion that the “Brewster hospital makes OB the cornerstone of our next year and into the future, that we are a baby friendly hospital.... and that (discontinuing) any other depart-ment is put on hold, until we as a board have a time to carefully look at what needs to be done. That’s my motion. I’m looking for a second.”

With a few seconds of silence, the audience began to mumble. One attendee said, “Oh, come on.”

Webster stated, “I would sup-port that if you were talking about OB in particular at this point.”

Commissioner Tracy Shrable contributed, saying, “OB isn’t even on the table for closure right now, is it?”

Tretwold responded, “No, I’m asking for a motion for (OB to continue to be open) and always will be.”

Commissioner Orford re-sponded, “We can’t guarantee it, we can’t guarantee what this

hospital is going to look like next year at this exact same time.

“There are budget cuts all across the line.... we can’t guar-antee it. There’s no guarantee of the future. I can’t second it and I will oppose it.

Commissioner Pruett said, “I will second the motion with the addition that... OB being identi-fied as one of the cornerstones of three Rivers Hospital, with the ability to review (its status) in six months and every six months after.”

Tretwold accepted the addi-tion to the motion and commis-sioners unanimously agreed on the motion.

Final steps

Three Rivers Hospital will indeed continue to keep the OB department. Also, the hospital administrators now will, by com-missioner approval, sell DME and the health club. They will also modify the surgery schedule so that it’s open during the day.

“Now we can sit down and see what we can do to put this thing together. We don’t anticipate having non-emergency surger-ies.

“We are going to do OB, and will have on-call surgery people to take care of emergency C-sections.

“The surgery department will require a restructuring, we will be reorganizing that department so we can accommodate our marching orders.”

Also as part of the approved option is cutting back on FTE positions.

“Since we started working on this with the departments at the end of October, most of the physi-cians we expected to leave under this option, did.”

So administrators are down to two to three FTE’s that need to be eliminated. That makes for a total of 18 FTE’s that will be cut from the annual budget.

“It’s important people under-stand, it’s 18 FTE’s not 18 bodies,” Hufnagel added.

Hospital commissioners slated a special meeting, Monday, Dec. 30, at noon, to swear in a new board commissioner, to discuss dealings with Confluence Health, and to celebrate Webster’s time of service to the commission.

Amber Schlenker can be reached at 509-682-2213 or by email [email protected]

PATEROS

Pateros Town Holiday Event

Dec. 21, from 1-4 p.m. Santa, sleigh rides, treats and crafts. Free admission, donations accepted to support local charities. Held at the Central Building, 207 Pateros Mall, Pateros.

OKANOGAN COUNTYEarn diploma, GED

The Omak Learning Cen-ter, located in the Work-Source Office in Omak, can help students age 16-21 who want to earn their high school diploma or GED. For more in-formation, call Monica Garza, (509) 826-7310. ext. 7546, or 1-800-887-8057. -

WENATCHEEAuditions for Bat Boy: The Musical

Producer Don Fox and Di-rector/Choreographer Jaime Donegan, who reimagined the Broadway version of the cult-classic “Rocky Horror Show” in 2013, will return in August of 2014 to run Bat Boy: The Musical on the PAC stage starting Thursday, July 31. Fox, and Donegan are thrilled to bring this graphic novel (comic book) rock op-era to life. The production is based on the original 1992 “Bat Boy Found in a Cave!” Live auditions will be held at the Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee on January 20 and 21, 2014. For audition information, contact Jaime Donegan at [email protected].

Support groupThe new NCW Lyme Sup-

port Group meets on the 4th Tuesday of the month from 6:30 p.m. at 208 North Chelan Avenue in Wenatchee. They focus on providing informa-tion and resources to anyone whose life has been disrupted by Lyme disease as well as interested providers of care. Lyme is the most frequently occurring vector-borne infec-tious disease in the U.S. and can cause arthritis, mental illness, and neurologic prob-lems. The co-leaders of this group have over 18 years of cumulative experience with this debilitating illness. For further information, call Mary (RN) at 509 630-3400.


Tacoma Water Main Project Funds

The Tacoma Water Main Proj-ect funds was a topic of discussion at last Wednesday’s Bridgeport City Council meeting.

Mayor Marilynn Lynn explained

the situation to the council. The council approved the staff to take out a loan to pay for the Tacoma Water Main Project line. The staff was told that it would be ‘inappro-priate’ to borrow the money when the city has enough money in the reserves to pay for the project. By paying for it with city funds, Bridgeport will save $222,000 over the next 20 years, according to Lynn.

Attorney Chuck Zimmerman was in attendance and explained his thoughts on the situation.

“We were asked to look at the loan document and we asked why are you borrowing the money,” Zimmerman said. “If you have $1.3 million in reserve, borrow to replenish your reserves when you need them. It’s not like you don’t have borrowing capacity, you have plenty of that…Why

would you not rid yourself of 0.2 percent investment instead of pay five percent interest for borrowed money?”

The council agreed with the attorney.

“It makes a lot more sense to me to pay for it out of our funding and not borrow the money,” Council-man Kevin Morris said.

The motion was made to use reserve funds to fund the project

and the motion passed unani-mously.

2014 Budget

The Bridgeport City Council was presented with the first reading of the 2014 budget ordi-nance at last Wednesday’s council meeting.

See CounCil Briefs on Page 3

2 Quad City Herald • deCember 19, 2013

News

Bulletin Board

Continued on Page 2

See CorreCtion, Page 5

Have a non-profit Bul-letin Board item? Email it to [email protected]

Attention churches: Have your Lenten and Easter Special Events published in the upcoming issues of the Quad City Herald, email them to the above address.

Lenten/Easter Services Hope Lutheran

Wednesday Soup Sup-pers and Devotional Wor-ship for Lent will be held We d n e s d ay e ve n i n g s through April 9, 6 p.m. Soup Supper, 7 p.m. Wor-ship at Hope Lutheran Church. Special Worship Services for Holy Week are: Holy Thursday: 7 p.m., April 17; Good Friday: 7 p.m., April 18; Easter Wor-ship is 11 a.m., Sunday, April 20. Everyone is wel-come! For more informa-tion 689-3106.

BREWSTERFriday Night Pinochle

Join them starting at 6 p.m., at the Senior Center (you need not be a mem-ber) and have lots of fun. The group would love to have more players. Win $2 for High, and $1 for low, door prize, and pinochle. New faces and new friends always welcome.

Pool tournaments

Brewster American Le-gion Pool Tournaments are every Sunday, 2 p.m. at the Legion Hall. There is a $5.00 entry fee and the tournament pays 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. Everyone is welcome. They’d like to have more players, so come on out on Sundays.

PATEROS

Pateros Friends of the Library garage sale

Items wanted for garage sale. Do you have 5 good sellable items to donate towards a 2014 Spring Ga-rage Sale? All monies will be donated to the Pateros Friends of the Library. You may drop off smaller items at the library. They have available a pick-up service for larger items. Call the Pateros Public Library at 923 2298 or the pick-up-person 509-630 2028. Visit the Library today and ap-ply for your free library card. Dr. Seuss is waiting to inspire little minds and hearts.

Pateros Chamber to meet

The Pateros Chamber of Commerce will hold their monthly meeting on Wednes-day, April 2, 8 a.m., at Rivers Restaurant in the back. The general public, along with business owners are encour-aged to attend. For more information call Joni Parks at 509-670-8185 or email at [email protected]

Quad City Sunset

Photo submitted by Lynda KentA beautiful view of the sunset over the Quad Cities.


Not many may want to step into a job where there is a mess. But for Misty Ruiz, it was all about figuring out the puzzle.

The first step in getting the City of Brewster’s finances back in good order was for the newly appointed Clerk and Finance Di-rector, Ruiz, to see what she was dealing with.

“We were in a bad fiscal situa-tion because of mismanagement,” she said.

“The first step was calling in a representative, a financial consul-tant, to help us determine a game plan,” Ruiz said, after her official start date as the new finance di-rector in April of 2011.

The financial consultant first recommended the city change its utility billing software. That’s when Ruiz learned about Vi-sion Municipal, software that is especially made for Washington municipalities to use to balance the books and keep records of all financials the city deals with. Ruiz says with the former software used by the City of Brewster, it was “easy to make mistakes,” because the software used a different kind of accounting than what is required by Washington cities.

“This was a big step in giving the council a better understand-ing of the financial situation of the city,” she said.

Another step in getting Brewster finances back on its feet was to change the way Labor and In-

dustries was accounted for. Ruiz says the former finance director paid L&I for all hours accounted for, but only hours worked, are required to be reported to L&I, not sick days.

“We only needed to pay L&I for the days our employees actually worked, so that helped us save a little money there, too,” she said.

Next on the list of reviving the city’s finances was to review each and every expense the city incurred and look to see how the city could cut costs. Ruiz says, though it may be minimal, she looked into the bank the city was using and tried to get charges de-creased. Ultimately, the city ended up changing banking institutions, to drastically reduce the fees.

Ruiz says city administrators and council also looked at the way the utilities were being billed, and changed it so that everyone was paying the same. No one was getting billed more, or less, “we moved to a more uniform billing system for utilities,” she said.

The council also looked at the hours the city’s building inspec-tor was working and ultimately decided that there wasn’t enough work to sustain a full-time salary. So, that position was eliminated and the city now contracts with Okanogan County, and is paid per job.

“We also make sure every bill is paid on time,” Ruiz added. “That reduces fees we’d be charged.”

In addition to the other cost saving measures, the city also purchased a copy machine and

folding machine, instead of pay-ing for leasing. After extensive research, Ruiz says purchasing the equipment saved the city a bit more money than leasing.

“We also do as much car main-tenance as we can, in house,” she added. “Such as oil changes and those sorts of things.”

When Ruiz came on board, the city was in the red with its Okanogan County Jail fees.

“At this point, we are current,” she said.

With paying a little more than the current bill each billing cycle, Ruiz says the city finally caught up to become current.

In addition, the city was also re-cently awarded an energy efficien-cy grant to the tune of $500,000, which will help with upgrades around the city, as well as long-term energy-saving costs.

With almost three years on the job, Ruiz says the city has also paid off a line extension at the airport. In addition, the loans on the rec center and the city pool’s slide are scheduled to be paid in full this year.

Including the energy efficiency grant, Brewster officials have also gone after as many state and federal assistance as possible, through grants, or low-interest loans.

“We need our grants to survive as a small city,” Ruiz said.

In recent years the city has acquired two grants for patrol vehicles, printers and scanners for patrol vehicles, and radars for police officers.

Also part of getting the city back on its feet was raising util-ity rates.

“We needed to raise rates to sustain the waste water treatment plant upgrade in 2002, but we didn’t,” she added.

So slowly, the city began mak-ing up for the lost rate revenue, by slowing increasing the rates, instead of increasing the rates all at once.

“The sewer system wasn’t cov-ering its deficit, so we did a grad-ual increase,” she added.

“The main thing we’re worried about is making sure we are cover-ing our debt.”


Brewster financeshave come a long way

Quad photo by Amber SchlenkerBrewster City Clerk and Finance Director Misty Ruiz recounts the last three years on the job.

Recall correction


Quad City Herald staff have been following the Bridgeport news about a resident, whom is forging an effort to recall Mayor Marilynn Lynn.

Background

One of more than a dozen complaints by Bridgeport resi-dent Mike Knox, against Bridge-port Mayor Marilynn Lynn, was deemed factually and legally suf-ficient, allowing for a recall effort, spearheaded by resident Mike Knox, to move forward.

Of the 14 complaints written to Douglas County Auditor Thad Du-vall, in January, requesting the re-call of Bridgeport Mayor Marilynn Lynn, 10 were denied or dismissed at a sufficiency hearing by Doug-las County Superior Court Judge John Hotchkiss on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The remaining four complaints were “taken under advisement” by Douglas County Superior Court Judge Hotchkiss.

Three of the four complaints were considered insufficient by

Judge Hotchkiss in the judge’s decision released on Feb. 21.

But, Hotchkiss found complaint #3, the illegal hiring of a city employee, sufficient, allowing the process to move forward into a recall election. The next step would have been for Knox to circu-late a petition, asking the county auditor’s office to create a special election, to ask local residents to vote on the recall of Mayor Lynn. But, Lynn filed for a motion for reconsideration to the courts. Hotchkiss released his ruling on the motion for reconsideration March 11.

“Mayor Lynn has provided the court with several documents that were not submitted at the time of the hearing on the recall petition. Pursuant to CR 59(a)(4), any new evidence must be newly discovered evidence. Only newly discovered evidence which was not available may be considered on a motion for reconsideration, pursuant to CR 59(a)(4). Morinaga v. Vue, 85 Wn, App. 822, 831 (1997). The documents provided to this

Scott Grahamnamed as newThree Rivers CEO


It came down to two final can-didates for the open position of Three Rivers Hospital CEO.

Background

The search began earlier this year after current CEO Bud Huf-nagel turned in his resignation, Dec. 30. Hufnagel’s official last day of work is set for the end of April.

After more than 25 candidates turned in their applications, the hospital board of the commis-sioners held special meetings to whittle the list down to a final four or five.

The final four were interviewed in an open public meeting, via the telephone. After the telephone in-terviews, commissioners whittled away again, eventually inviting two candidates to the Brewster hospital for a tour of the city and surrounding areas and for an in-person interview, in an open public meeting forum, with the public invited to attend.

Then there were two

At this public in-person inter-view, the two candidates, Eugene Suski of Crescent City, Calif., and Scott Graham of Grand Coulee, were asked a list of the same questions.

Questions ranged from what

the candidates thought about rural health care, what their lan-guage abilities are and what style of management they prefer.

But after the many meetings, numerous questions and almost five hours of interviewing this past Tuesday morning (March 25), the Three Rivers Hospital District Board of Commissioners chose Graham as the new Chief Executive Officer for Three Riv-ers Hospital in Brewster.

At the end of the meeting, Com-mission Board Chair Vicki Orford issued the following statement:

“The board would like to thank both of the qualified candidates.

“The board stands united that Scott Graham is the best candi-date to fill the CEO position. We based this decision on extensive research, skill sets, best fit, inter-views and previous employers.

“Due to regulations, Scott Gra-ham was not able to state his side of the conflict of why he is leaving Grand Coulee. We respect his integrity and professionalism.

“We are fully confident that Scott Graham will help move Three Rivers Hospital forward in the future environment of rural health care.

“This has been a long process. We have decided on what is best for the entire hospital district and will stand behind Scott Graham as our CEO, and he has our com-plete support.

Graham has been the CEO of the hospital in Grand Coulee for the past few years, and has since decided to move on. There had been some rumblings in the local media regarding Graham, but he says, due to his position, he can-not speak to the issue.

Graham comes to Three Riv-ers with extensive background in the medical field, he sits on the Executive Board of Directors of the Washington Hospital As-sociation, and is President of the Association of Public Hospital Districts, as well as working with committees devoted to critical access hospitals.

Contract negotiations are set to begin shortly, with a tentative start date for Graham of May 1.

A clarification to last week’s storyon the recall of Bridgeport Mayor

Scott Graham


School News & Menus ....................... 2-3Letters ................................................. 4-5Opinion .................................................. 4

Sheriff ..................................................... 5Sports & Recreation ............... 5, 8, B1-B4Health & Beauty ..................................... 2

Church Directory .................................... 5Businesses & Service ............................B4

Classified Index Classifieds/Public Notices .................. 6-9 Puzzles ...................................................6

NCWBusiness.com

Mustangs begin baseball season See page 10

Single Copy $1.00March 27, 2014 • VoluMe 112, No. 13 Your Best source of News for Lower okaNogaN aNd dougLas couNties

Bulletin Board

Continued on Page 2

Prepared for winter?

See Winter, Page 2 Mirror photo by Amber SchlenkerPictured are examples of studded, stud-less and winter tires.


Though the Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan counties roads aren’t showing usual January snow, local tire experts say it’s still important to be prepared.

“Traditionally speaking we have at least a foot (of snow) on the ground by now,” said Chelan Les Schwab Tire General Manager Jason VanRensum.

Regardless if there is one or 10 feet of snow on the ground, or a blanket of ice, VanRensum says traction comes into play when motorists are taking long trips, or simply going in to work.

“We’ve done a very good job throughout the years of keeping the valley prepared,” VanRensum added.

In addition to acquiring traction, stud or stud-less tires for your ve-hicle, VanRensum says there are a few more things that folks can do to be prepared year-round.

“It’s important to be checking the brakes, shocks, battery life and fluids,” he added.

“We offer to check a lot of these things for free,” VanRensum said. “It’s important to check these, es-pecially in the winter, for peace of mind knowing (your) car is ready for winter.

VanRensum also says checking your tires tred life is important all year, but especially in the winter.

“Make sure your car is in a good condition for the winter, check your tires, you may not need snow tires on your cars,” he said.

One warning sign that a motorist may be sliding around more than what is normally accepted, is if the tire’s have low or inadequate tredding.

As said before, VanRensum’s shop does check these for free, but he also says locals can check this themselves by conducting the Abraham Lincoln Penny Test.

Place a penny into several tread grooves across the tire. If part of

Lincoln’s head is always covered by the tread, you have more than 2/32” of tread depth remaining and are good to go. If you can see the former president’s head, its time for new tires.

According to most state laws, tires are legally worn out when they have worn down to 2/32” of remaining tread depth. To help warn motorists that their tires have reached that point, tires are required to have indicators molded into their tread design called “wear bars” which run across the tread pattern.

However, as a tire wears it’s important to realize that the tire’s ability to perform in rain and snow will be reduced. With 2/32” of remaining tread depth, resistance to hydroplaning in the rain at high-way speeds has been significantly reduced, and traction in snow has been virtually eliminated.

For locals, that means extra win-


Brewster residents will be asked to decide on a school levy this coming February.

After a residential survey, school district officials say that residents preferred a four-year levy, over a two-year levy.

“Response was overwhelm-ingly a four-year levy,” officials said in a district newsletter.

Two years ago the levy was $3.12 for $1,000 of assessed property value. The proposed four-year levy would keep the price tag under $3 per $1,000.

The four-year levy would in-crease the amount the district would receive by $40,000 per year and keep the annual rate at $2.87 per $1,000 in 2015, $2.91 per $1,000 in 2016 and $2.98 per $1,000 in 2017-18.

In addition, senior citizens could be eligible for an exemp-tion from levy taxes if they are 61-years-old and have an annual income of $35,000 or less. For more information, senior citizens are encouraged to find out more information at the Okanogan (509-422-7190) or Douglas (509-745-8521) County Assessor offices.


After a special board of commis-sioners meeting of the Three Riv-ers Hospital District, held Monday, Dec. 30, Hospital CEO Bud Hufnagel turned in his letters of resignation to board commissioners.

According to the hospital’s Di-rector of Community Relations, Rebecca Meadows, Hufnagel will continue his duties as CEO until April 30. He has also offered to assist commissioners with the selection process, which is to begin in the next two weeks. Additional information on the matter was not available before press time.



About three years ago, the Pateros Chamber of Commerce was shut down.

Former chamber president Joni Parks said that she has had people approach her about why the chamber closed.

“We have several new mer-chant faces in town,” Parks said. “And there has been some rum-blings in the last year or so. A couple of people approached me wanting to know why the chamber was not functioning and what it would take to get it going again.”

And now the town has gener-ated enough interest to bring the Pateros Chamber of Commerce back.

The chamber closed down because of a lack of officers, ac-cording to Parks. Many of the officers got new jobs or had other things come up, not allowing them enough time to dedicate to

the chamber. “It’s basically been sitting in

a holding pattern, with officers waiting to start it back up,” Parks said.

Parks said that a few people have expressed interest that they are willing to be officers, which is a big reason why the Chamber of Commerce is coming back.

A meeting was held on Wednes-day, Jan. 8 at 8 a.m. to decide whether or not to reinstate the Chamber. If reinstated, elections would be held for officer posi-tions.

At the meeting, Parks hopes to figure out what direction the Chamber of Commerce will be headed, whether they want the chamber to promote businesses or the community of Pateros as a whole.

“I have talked to all the busi-ness owners and they want to see more activities,” Parks said. “Activities in town helps bring people to town, in return, helps

Hufnagel resigns

Why they chose Three Rivers Hospital for the birth:“ I h a v e h a d a l l m y children at Three Rivers Hospital and everything has always been real good.”

Pateros brings back Chamber of Commerce

See Chamber, Page 2

Parents: Maricela Carrillo and Jose De Jesus RamirezBaby:Anahy Guadalupe Ramirez CarrilloBorn: Friday, Jan. 3, 2014 at 10:26 p.m.Attending Physician: Dr. Keith HansonSiblings:Jesus Ramirez Carrillo, 6 years of ageAdrian Ramirez Carrillo, 4 years of ageResidence:Bridgeport, Wash.

Three Rivers Hospital2014 First Baby of the Year

Have a non-profit Bulletin Board item? Email it to [email protected]

BREWSTER


Brewster Elementary School is in need of HOSTS mentors. HOSTS (Help One Student To Succeed) is a program that pairs com-munity members with stu-dents grades 1st – 6th who need help reading. Just 45 minutes once a week is all it takes to change a child’s life. For more information please call 689-2581, ext. 631.

S.O.S. Bible ClubS.O.S. Bible Club is held

at the Community Log Church. All area kids, kindergarten through sixth grades, are invited to attend. S.O.S. is held on Wednesdays through the school year from 3:15-5 p.m. Snacks are served at 3 p.m. S.O.S. is a time of games, music and Bible lessons.

Pool tournaments

Brewster American Le-gion Pool Tournaments are every Sunday, 2 p.m. at the Legion Hall. There is a $5.00 entry fee and the tournament pays 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. Guaranteed to pay five places. Everyone is welcome. They’d like to have more players, so come on out on Sundays.


There will be no Pinochle on Friday nights until Jan. 10, weather permitting.

PATEROSPateros Cham-ber to meet

The Pateros Chamber of Commerce will be holding a reorganizational meeting and election of officers on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 8 a.m., at Rivers Restaurant in the back. The general public, along with business own-ers are encouraged to at-tend. For more information call Joni Parks at 509-670-8185 or email at [email protected].

Items wanted for garage sale

Do you have 5 good sell-able items to donate to-wards a 2014 Memorial Day Weekend Garage Sale? All monies will be donated to the Pateros Friends of the Library. They will pick up the items you wish to donate. Visit the Pateros Public Library located at 174 Pateros Mall Way, and read good book this win-ter. They also accept used donated books. To arrange a pick-up of your items call 509-630-2028 or the Pateros Library at 509-923-2298.

CHELAN

Wellness Group Cancer Support Group

The Women’s Wellness Cancer Support Group monthly luncheon will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 11:45 a.m. at the Lake Chelan Community Hospi-tal board room. For more information Anne Brooks at 509-682-8718.

Brewster Schools ask for levy in Feb.

Bud Hufnagel

Pateros, Wash.

IndexBulletin Board ..................................... 1-2News ...................................................... 2

School Menus & Community ................ 3Letters .................................................... 4Opinion .................................................. 4

Sheriff, Obituaries, Community .............. 5Sports & Recreation .......................... 8-10Health & Beauty ..................................... 2

Church Directory .................................... 5Businesses & Service ............................. 9


NCWBusiness.com

Single Copy $1.00January 9, 2014 • Volume 112, no. 2 Your Best source of News for Lower okaNogaN aNd dougLas couNties

Lady Bears still undefeated See page 10

Documents

Bud h brewster hospital 8 pgs