>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Affordable basic health care for all will be a lot closer to reality if health clinics in Elgin and Union can be saved and provided stable long-term funding.

The clinics are facing big challenges. Recently Oregon Health & Science University told the clinics that it is planning to end its sponsorship. Since then civic-minded individuals in both Elgin and in the Cove, Union, North Powder areas have banded together to keep these important clinics up and running.

Making sure adequate health care is available in both the north and south valley is an important part of keeping those communities strong. Elgin, for one, is attempting to form a health district. The city wants to put a funding measure on the November ballot. The proposal now circulating would cost homeowners 50 cents per $1,000 property valuation. In other words, the owner of a home with a $100,000 property valuation would fork over $50 a year toward the clinic’s operation.

It’s time for citizens to invest in their community to ensure adequate health care. It’s a small price to pay when you consider one emergency room visit to Grande Ronde Hospital, the other alternative for many people, would be much more expensive. And with the doctor shortage in the area, the proposal is all the more important.

Involved citizens are helping to try to save these indispensable clinics. The citizens’ groups are looking to local sources for financial contributions, applying for grants and recruiting interested physicians and nurse practitioners to run the clinics. We’re hoping their efforts will keep the clinic doors open so that people with urgent needs can get timely treatment in their own neighborhoods.

Public investment is needed to achieve long-term goals for the clinics. The health of valley residents is a basic building block on which all other goals, including economic development, are based. Good, affordable, easily accessible health care is critical to the long-term livability of the area. People who care about such things should rally in support of stable long-term funding to help the clinics stay alive and thrive.