North Lincoln Health District Director Position 2 Choose 1
Special districts in Oregon are formed to provide specific local government needs. They are created by a vote of the people in the local area being served. Examples include people’s utility districts, library districts, water districts, fire protection districts, and more. They are governed by a board of directors, which is responsible for management and financial accountability. Special districts are empowered to levy any necessary taxes and fees to fulfill their mandate. Board members are not paid but may receive a per diem reimbursement.Health districts seek to provide a range of physical and mental health services to communities, sometimes in association with a hospital. The board is responsible for budgeting and personnel administration.Qualifications: Candidate must be a registered voter in the district. Employees of the district are not eligible. ORS 440.325 and 440.330(6)Term: 4 years
Biographical Information
Town Where You Live
Gleneden Beach
Your Experience/Qualifications
(7) years - OHSU Health Privacy Officer tasked with writing policy and educating staff on HIPAA privacy and security regs. (4) yrs Compliance Officer for Capital Dental Care. Additionally, served as Exec. Director for Lakeview Sr. Living, overseeing the AL and Memory Care communities. Education includes CHC & CIPP/US certs. J.D (Southwestern Univ. School of Law), B.A. (UCLA). Adv. Healthcare cert. (Pacific Univ.)
County
Lincoln
Term
4 years
Term Expires
2029
What medical, managerial, or financial experience do you bring to this position?
While not a healthcare provider I have for many years worked closely with healthcare teams, collaborating with them in an admin capacity, both at Lakeview Senior Living, at OHSU and during my time at Capitol Dental, a managed care organization with clinics in Lincoln City. I have served on various Board of Directors and understand accounting spreadsheets. Along with my wife, we also opened our own business here in Lincoln City - the Beach Dog Cafe in Taft. That required a fair amount of financial planning. We built it up from scratch, but, ultimately, turned it over to Roger and Sonya. We felt so grateful that they could take our idea and turn it into a resounding success.
What are the most urgent challenges faced by the District, and how would you address them?
As with many rural communities, the greatest challenge is ensuring that the community has sufficient care providers to meet the needs of its population. While the Health District has a "seat at the table." it still has to work collaboratively with its partners, and they face certain economic realities. That said, the District can identify specific benchmarks, and push hard to bring those to fruition. One area of improvement: Enhanced services to support those seniors in need of transportation to clinic(s) and the North Lincoln Hospital. Secondly, the Health District should develop a fundraising arm, with the hope of bringing additional funding to support build out of the STARS project in Newport.
How would you improve transparency on the board and facilitate public input?
The Board is transparent. State law requires that its monthly meetings are open to the public. And, content from its meetings, as well as other content relating to on-going projects, is shared on its website. That said, there is always room for improvement. One step might be for the Health Board to share its mission statement through a series of well-placed articles in the local newspapers, and via postings within the hospital and surrounding clinics.