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» A magazine for and about Oregon Community Hospitals.
Johnes has progressed
leaps and bounds in the
past year. He went from
not communicating to
full sentences.
“Just hearing him say
‘Mommy, can I have
a drink of milk?’ is
so amazing to me,”
Maree said.
The ASD Early
Identification Team
Program is made up of
medical staff from Grande Ronde Hospital Children’s Clinic,
education staff from InterMountain Educational Service
District, community partners from OHSU, and the Center
for Human Development, as well as the families of children
being identified, and a local parent who has raised a child
with ASD.
Grand Ronde continued from pg. 18
The education staff includes early childhood specialists and a
speech-language pathologist. The medical staff includes two
Grande Ronde Hospital pediatricians, a public health home
visiting nurse, local mental health professionals and the
clinic site coordinator.
“The main benefit for the community, as I see it, is that this
testing we do here paves the way for these families to get
the therapies and interventions they need,” said Dr. Kevin
Grayson, pediatrician.
Before this program, there were no local experts and
no process in place to point parents in the right direction
for help.
“Often families were thrown from one agency to the
next,” said Dr. Melindres Lim, pediatrician. “Now these
parents are informed. It’s very beneficial for them to have
a formal diagnosis and our referral to other services and
educational benefits that will help these children reach their
potential.”
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PeaceHealth Sacred Heart provides safe housing for recovery
For the past three years, PeaceHealth Sacred Heart
RiverBend Hospital has partnered with ShelterCare to
provide free housing for patients who leave the hospital
with no safe place to go to continue their recuperation
and recovery. The program is offered to at-risk patients
at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart to ensure emergency and
transitional housing, along with prescriptions, medical
equipment and transportation assistance.
At 54 years old, Rubee had been on her own since age 19
when her mother died. She had recently moved to Eugene
and lived at a homeless shelter for only a week when she
was admitted to the hospital for shortness of breath and
weakness. She was found to have Stage IV lung cancer and
needed to undergo chemotherapy if she wanted any chance
to prolong her life. With no friends or family to turn to and
a high susceptibility to infection if she returned to living at
the homeless shelter, her prospects for successful treatment
looked very grim.
The care management team at Sacred Heart RiverBend
approached Rubee about entering the ShelterCare Medical
Recuperation Program, and she was very optimistic about
the possibility. In July 2016, she was admitted to the
program and, from the beginning, had a safe place to live
and reliable transportation to and from chemotherapy
appointments.
She was assisted in establishing a relationship with a
primary care physician who coordinated her treatments, and
helped get her covered by Medicaid, ensuring her ongoing
access to needed medical services.
Many weeks later, Rubee was offered an extension in the
program to provide her more time to progress with her care
and find a safe, permanent place to live. In October 2016,
she transitioned in stabilized condition to an adult foster
home where she will receive quality long-term care.
The ShelterCare Medical Recuperation Program has helped
more than 220 vulnerable patients like Rubee. The number
of patients receiving housing after hospitalization through
this program continues to expand annually.
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SPECIAL SECTION: A COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY