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Senate passes Medicare Bill--Washington Post, Amy
Goldstein and Helen Dewar
Economy rises at 8.2 percent pace--Washington Post,
Fred Barbash
Farmers Market close to signing lease--Columbian,
Jeffrey Mize
Farmers market will sign lease--Oregonian, Allan
Brettman
Fears stewing over Clark College food
program--Columbian, Tom Vogt
Council noncommittal on tax hikes--Columbian,
Jeffrey Mize
Christmas tree farms ready for their
bough--Columbian, Jonathan Nelson
Four die in Scappoose plane crash--KGW-TV, Teresa
Bell
No more reading glasses?--KATU
Paper
vanishing from SWMC
Radiation Therapy Department
Cheri Grove's
Southwest Washington Medical Center Radiation
Oncology Department becoming paperless
Southwest
Washington Medical Center’s Radiation Therapy
Department is 80 percent paper free today, and the
goal is to reach 100 percent by next summer, reports
Cheri Grove,
manager of the department.
The
paperless system is run off a software program
called IMPAC, which is also used in the Medical
Oncology Department.
Now
anyone on the staff can access nearly all
information from a patient’s chart from computer
terminals all around the department.
Grove says
the move to a paperless system has increased
efficiency and productivity, decreased supply costs
and improved the way the department tracks patient
data. “And,” she says, “We spend a lot less time
filling out paper work and tracking down patient
charts.” she says.
According to
Grove, adapting to a paperless environment has been
a successful team effort involving brainstorming and
good communication. “Once we got over the initial
fear [that comes with change],” she explains, “we
discovered we have a user-friendly system and that
we can’t erase anything.”
Grove says
the department has eliminated over ten thousand
pieces of paper since switching over to electronic
patient records.
Vancouver
gets CREDC encomium
for system that ‘really works’
At its annual
meeting last week, the Columbia River Economic
Development Council, declaring that the City of
Vancouver has streamlined the permitting process
with a program that “really works,” presented the
city with the CREDC Pillar of Excellence in Economic
Development Award.
The
first-ever award was for the city’s 90-day
streamlined permitting process. Said
Bart Phillips,
CREDC president: “The review committee had unanimous
praise for the city’s efforts to develop an
expedited permitting process [and was] impressed
with their philosophy of continuous improvement and
with their commitment to developing a system that
really works.”
Vancouver is
a good place in which to do business, Phillips
added.
Ports of
Vancouver and Portland selected to participate in
national environmental project
The ports of
Vancouver and Portland, along with the Portland
District Corps of Engineers, are participating in a
two-year national Port Environmental Management
Systems Assistance Project.
Joined by the
Port of Los Angeles, the west coast ports will work
with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,
Port of Houston Authority, Virginia Port Authority,
Port of Corpus Christi, the Port of New Orleans and
Port Everglades in a study sponsored by the
Environmental Protection.
The
participants are expected to develop a set of
management processes that will help organizations
analyze, control and improve environmental
consequences
“The Port of
Vancouver has a long history of environmental
stewardship, including annual audits, protective
lease language, and responsible mediation of
inherited cleanup sites,” says
Larry Paulson,
executive director of the Port of Vancouver.
People
Michael Cooper
and the staff of Family Medicine of Southwest
Washington were recently honored by the ARC of Clark
County with the organization’s Outstanding Service
Award. The doctor and clinic were recognized for
providing high quality health services for members
of the developmentally disabled community for the
past eight years.
News brief
Clark County
commissioners begin public hearings on the update of
the 20-year Growth Management Plan at 6:30 p.m.
today in the Public Service Center. Maps outlining
urban expansion surrounding the county’s cities will
be available at 4 p.m. in the center.
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