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Tillamook County Wellness

Mental Health Maintenance

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Headlight Herald

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2021

VOL. 134, NO. 5• $1.50

TILLAMOOK, OREGON • WWW.TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM

COVID-19 update: Rollout of vaccines continues Hilary Dorsey Staff Writer illamook County Health Department provided a COVID-19 vaccine update during a Tillamook County Board of Commissioners meeting Wednesday, Jan. 27. Administrator Marlene Putman said Tillamook County is at 373 positive cases, as of Jan. 27. People should continue to use precautions to keep the case count down. “We have 1,250 doses allocated for Phase 1A,” Putman said. “That will hopefully be 1,350 if we receive an additional 100 today.” As of Jan. 27, 950 individuals in the county have been vaccinated, Putman added. “We are working through and expect to

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finish up our Group 1, which is mainly health care providers in that group,” Putman said. “We will close that out here today we hope.” The health department hopes to finish vaccinating those in Phase 1A, Group 2, by the end of the week. Group 2 includes long-term and group living facilities, foster care, hospice, mobile crisis units and staff in correctional setting. The health department is also working on Groups 2 and 3. Educators were approved to begin receiving the vaccine Jan. 25. The health department has reached out and gathered information from public and private schools. They will see next week if there are enough vaccines to cover all educators in the county. For those 65 years

and older, there is no new date identified yet to receive the vaccine. “We will continue to develop our strategies for large events for vaccine distributions,” Putman said. “We’ll also be setting up a new scheduling software.” Commissioner Erin Skaar said it is going to take a while to get everyone in Tillamook County vaccinated. Some counties are vaccinating seniors currently, but Tillamook County is still working on health care providers and long-term care facilities. Chair Mary Faith Bell said vaccines are being distributed by population. Vaccine clinics are being set up for Phase 1A. “We’re all frustrated that we’re not getting

Day of service EXCLUSIVE

ORIGINAL

Roby’s Furniture and Appliance pitches in on maintenance projects at Kilchis Point Reserve

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Joe Warren jwarren@countrymedia.net

erving the community is something the owners and management of Roby’s Furniture and Appliance take very seriously. “For the last 11-years all six Roby’s stores on the coast close on this day to do a community service project,” Tillamook Store Manager Natalie Rieger said, while pushing a large wheelbarrow full of gravel to fill in holes on the hiking trail. “But this year has been a little different, we had to look for an outside project due to social distancing.” This year, the Roby’s teaming Tillamook shut down the store on Wednesday (Jan. 27) and all 22-employees converged on Kilchis Point Reserve to give the

popular park a sprucing up. According to Rieger, the Roby’s team along with new Pioneer Museum Director, Jakob Wood worked all day filling in holes on trails, fixing bridges and building directional signs. Kilchis Point Reserve is managed by the Pioneer Museum as part of a trust set up years ago. When Wood was approached by Rieger to offer their day of service, he was all in. “I jumped at the opportunity to team up the Roby’s team,” Wood said. “They are amazing, and we are getting a lot of much needed maintenance and repairs done today, we are very grateful for their help.” Roby’s furnishes all the materials and

labor for the day. In all, Rieger said all six stores were doing projects that day, with a total of over 90 employees, owners and management all rolling up their sleeves for a day of service working in their communities. Past projects included working with Tillamook High School, Kilchis House and many more. “This year we focused on outdoor projects,” Rieger said. “We got a break in the weather so we’re happy to be out here helping in our community.”

Tillamook County Pioneer Museum welcomes new director T

he Tillamook County Pioneer Museum (TCPM) welcomes its new director, Jaykob Wood. Wood, who originally hails from Michigan, moved to Oregon in 2018 and worked in federal and state public lands as a park ranger before coming to work for TCPM. “In my role as museum director, I hope to build and foster relationships with other

historical and ecological organizations, and to broaden the museum’s local involvement,” Wood said. “Most of all, I look forward to becoming a member of the Tillamook County community and making this area my home.” Wood, 27, graduated from the University of Michigan in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology, history, and museum studies. While in college, he worked as a museum docent at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. He started his career as a field archaeologist and later, an interpretive ranger. It was his experi-

ence working with the public that inspired Wood to pursue a career that would allow him to connect visitors to their cultural and natural history. “This job is multi-faceted, and it’s not just front-line work: The museum director is responsible for keeping everything running in the museum, so that Tillamook residents can use this platform to connect with their heritage,” Wood said. “There is an amazing collection and wonderful permanent and temporary exhibits at the TCPM. Now, I have the pleasure of making those artifacts relevant to present-day visitors.” Wood is well-versed in informal educational standards

Jaykob Wood and has a deep passion for living history interpretation. He hopes to continue the muse-

n See MUSEUM, Page 4

Send comments to: headlightreporter@ countrymedia.net

COVID-19 update: Case numbers, vaccine outlook T

(Top) Roby’s Furniture and appliance employees in Tillamook take time for a group shot of the team who participated in their annual day of service. This year the Roby’s team worked on maintenance at Kilchis Point Reserve. (Bottom) Tim Fletcher with Roby’s Furniture and Appliance would on a bridge at Kilchis Point Reserve Wednesday. Roby’s team celebrated their 11th year in a row they have taken a day off to work on a service project in all the communities they serve.

more than what we’re getting but we can’t administer more than we have,” Bell said. “We’re limited by the amount of vaccine we’re receiving at this time.” The health department will provide an updated vaccine report during the Tillamook County Leadership call Friday morning, Jan. 29. Visit the county’s website for call-in information. For COVID-19 vaccine questions, call the health department’s new COVID-19 Vaccine Line at 503-842-3914.

Hilary Dorsey Staff Writer

illamook County is at 337 confirmed positive cases, as of Thursday, Jan. 28, according to the Oregon Health Authority. Tillamook County Community Health Centers reported during a Tillamook County Leadership call Friday, Jan. 29, that the county had 10 new confirmed positive cases this week. “We don’t have anyone in Tillamook County that is currently hospitalized for COVID-19,” Administrator Marlene Putman said. “We’re currently monitoring 18 individuals.” The health center continues to provide COVID-19 testing. If you have symptoms, schedule an appointment to get tested at the health center’s acute clinic at 2111 8th St. in Tillamook. Call 503-8423900 to make an appointment. The county’s risk level is Low Risk, effective Jan. 29. The county had previously been at Extreme Risk. “We can’t let our guard down,” Putman said. “We must continue to be cautious and follow the recommendations for COVID-19 guideline precautions like wearing a mask, watching your distance and washing your hands.” The health department receives information on the amount of vaccine the county will receive each week. They get the notice on Thursdays and receive the delivery the following week. They distribute doses to vaccine partners Adventist Health, Rinehart Clinic and Nehalem Bay Fire & Rescue. Currently, the health department has been working with its vaccine partners to vaccinate those in Phase 1A. Those who skipped or missed out on the vaccine and are eligible under Phase 1A are always eligible to receive the vaccine. As of Jan. 28, 1,179 doses of the Moderna vaccine have been administered in the county, according to the health department. Adventist Health has administered 621 doses, the health department has administered 375 doses with an expected additional 100 expected Jan. 29, Rinehart Clinic has administered 20, and Nehalem Bay Fire & Rescue has administered 163, as of Jan. 28. Booster shots are also beginning to occur for those who have received the first shot. Emergency Coordinator Ed Colson said Phase 1A, Group 1 should be finished soon. Vaccine partners are continuing to vaccinate anyone in that group who missed their shot. “For Groups 3-4, we’re continuing to work on addressing this group through outreach and vaccination scheduling,” Colson said. “Some categories still need to be scheduled within these groups but that is progressing.” Vaccine partners have begun scheduling vaccines for public and private schools beginning the week of Feb. 1. The state is eligible to start vaccinating those 80 years old and older beginning Feb. 8. Groups 3-5 include those between 65-75 and older and will be scheduled when available. “The state estimates that Phase 1B will be about 12-15 weeks,” Colson said. The health department is continuing to develop strategies for their vaccine pod at the Tillamook County Fairgrounds and for larger vaccine events. They are working on scheduling those events for the future. “Many of the people we have outreached to have accepted the vaccine, very few have not,” Colson said. “As more vaccines are coming online, we’re starting to see the change in people’s acceptance go towards receiving the vaccine.” The health department reports zero waste of doses of the vaccine. Putman said they are careful to monitor and have a backup list to administer doses if there are any extra. Visit the Tillamook County Health Center’s website for COVID-19 vaccine updates at https:// tillamookchc.org/coronavirus/vaccines/ or by calling 503-842-3914. Send comments to: headlightreporter@countrymedia.net


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