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Posted inNews

Women’s Treatment Center Announces Permanent Closure After Abruptly Halting Services 

Amid mounting operating expenses and a sudden closure that triggered complaints to the state, Volunteers of America Oregon says it will shut down the women’s inpatient facility and lay off all staff.
Avatar photo by Courtney Vaughn

Almost two weeks after abruptly discharging nearly 50 patients from a women’s inpatient substance use treatment center in Northeast Portland, Volunteers of America Oregon (VOA) announced it will permanently close the site and lay off all staff, effectively immediately.  Staff were laid off Thursday, April 16. VOA Oregon did not confirm how many employees were […]

Posted inNews

Kicked to the Curb: Substance Abuse Patients Ordered to Leave As Treatment Center Abruptly Closes

Without warning, an inpatient drug treatment facility temporarily shuttered, leaving nearly 50 women scrambling for a place to go. For some, the knee-jerk decision cost them their sobriety.
Avatar photo by Courtney Vaughn

In December, Molly finally got tired of running from the law. She checked herself into a drug treatment center in Northeast Portland. Last Friday, she was just three weeks away from completing her treatment program when she and the other patients were called into an emergency meeting. “I was told on Friday at 5:30 pm […]

Posted inNews

Legacy Health Staff Say They’ll Stay on Strike Until Company Offers Better Deal

Clinicians say their pay hasn’t kept pace with wages at other local health care systems as the two sides begin mediation.  
Avatar photo Abe Asher

Advanced practice providers at Legacy Health medical centers in Portland remain on strike this week, and say they’ll stay on their picket lines until they reach an agreement for a new labor contract. “The energy is high,” Megan Barckert, a nurse practitioner at Legacy Cancer Services, told the Mercury from a rain-soaked picket line at […]

Posted inNews

Staff at PeaceHealth Southwest Say Job Cuts Could Backfire

The health care provider is slashing 1% of its workforce. Impacted employees say it will only strain the hospital system and prolong patient stays.
Avatar photo Abe Asher

Kris Burleigh, a unit coordinator in the emergency department at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, Washington, was enjoying the final day of a vacation in April when her phone rang: After more than 24 years of work, she was told, she was being laid off.  “I truly did not see this one coming,” Burleigh […]

Posted inNews

Health Care Providers Continue Gender-Affirming Care As Legal Battle Plays Out

Despite an executive order, Oregon health care organizations haven’t stopped care for youth patients, but some say a federal funding loss could devastate them.
Avatar photo Abe Asher

On January 28, President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending federal funding for all American medical institutions that provide gender-affirming care to people under the age of 19. The order, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” was quickly challenged on constitutional grounds by doctors and Democratic state attorneys general, and temporarily blocked […]

Posted inQueer

Fucking Political: Lessons From the Early AIDS Activists Who Took Matters Into Their Own Hands

It’s possible one booklet by two AIDS patients and their doctor—and another written by drag queens—saved thousands of lives.
Avatar photo Vivian McCall

[Originally published in the Mercury‘s sister publication The Stranger, as part of its Love & Sex Issue.] On July 3, 1981, the New York Times announced the coming plague with a short news item tucked into Section A, Page 20: “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals.”  Nobody knew the purple Kaposi’s Sarcoma lesions the article […]

Posted inNews

Providence, Union Set to Re-Enter Negotiations Amid Historic Health Care Worker Strike

Roughly 4,000 Oregon health care workers are on strike. This time, the picket lines include physicians.
Avatar photo Abe Asher

The largest health care worker strike in Oregon history is continuing this week, with thousands of Providence nurses and a number of doctors taking to picket lines across the state.  Health care workers began their strike on Friday, January 10. They have two central points of contention with Providence: staffing levels and compensation. Providence, a […]

Posted inNews

Portland Takes Rehab on the Road

Following in the footsteps of Maryland and California, Portland Fire & Rescue unveils mobile opioid use treatment program administered by paramedics.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

As Portland firefighters report a surge in 911 calls for drug overdoses, and Oregon sees rising rates of substance use disorder, a new mobile addiction treatment program could provide hope.  An overdose response team at Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) will soon start administering opioid withdrawal medication. A new pilot program, called the Mobile Medication […]

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New Research Finds No Link Between Measure 110 and Overdose Deaths

Research emerges amid heightened public scrutiny and new efforts to recriminalize hard drugs in Oregon
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

A new study commissioned by the CDC found no correlation between Oregon’s drug decriminalization law and rising overdose deaths.  The study was published Wednesday, Sept. 27 in JAMA Psychiatry, a peer-reviewed medical journal. Researchers said after Oregon became the first state to decriminalize all drugs via Measure 110, they wanted to gauge the impact of […]

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The First Portland Area Detox Center Funded By Measure 110 Will Open Soon

It’s the first drug withdrawal center in the Portland metro region to focus on fentanyl addiction, and proof that Measure 110 efforts are paying off
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

Dr. Ben Schwartz used to be an emergency room physician. Now, he spends most of his time treating people who need addiction medicine and recovery. The need for addiction treatment was so pressing, it changed the trajectory of his career. Now, with a stronger, more powerful opiate overtaking the illicit drug market, Schwartz’s job just […]

Posted inHealth

Oregon Lawmakers Seek to Expand Access to Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Healthcare Amid National Attacks

HB 2002 would protect Oregon providers from out-of-state persecution.
Avatar photo Isabella Garcia

As states across the nation restrict abortion access and launch legislative attacks on LGBTQ Americans, Oregon legislators are looking to protect people seeking reproductive and gender-affirming medical care, as well as doctors providing the services. House Bill 2002, sponsored by 34 Democratic lawmakers, would strengthen protections for medical providers who offer abortion services, close reproductive […]

Posted inCoronavirus

Oregon to End Healthcare Mask Requirement April 3

The announcement comes as the US moves to end the COVID-19 emergency declaration.
Avatar photo Abe Asher

The Oregon Health Authority announced Friday morning that it will lift the state’s mask requirement for healthcare settings on April 3, ending one of the final remaining COVID-19-related public health measures still in place. According to OHA state epidemiologist Dean Sidelinger, the decision to end the mask requirement comes as the rate of circulation of […]

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