Nearly 5,000 Providence Health & Systems nurses and other professionals walked off their jobs Friday in the largest strike by health workers in state history — and the first involving unionized doctors.
Bundled up and bearing bright-green signs, dozens of nurses gathered outside Providence Medford Medical Center Friday morning to begin their open-ended strike advocating for better pay, safe staffing and more adequate health insurance benefits.
Oregon is kicking off 2025 with new laws to stop drug use on public transportation, reduce the cost of prescription drugs and rein in the price of electronic device repairs.
Two children died of the flu in Oregon over Christmas week, the first such pediatric deaths in the state in two years, according to state health officials. They’re among 11 deaths of children from the flu nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Every year, the flu kills hundreds of people in Oregon, with the CDC showing 370 deaths in the state 2022, the latest year available.
The Oregon Nurses Association issued a 10-day strike notice Monday, setting the stage for what would be the largest healthcare worker and physicians strike in Oregon history. The notice followed a five-day cooling off period and additional mediated discussions that included nurses at Providence Medford Medical Center, as well as ONA members at Providence hospitals across the state. The strike is scheduled to begin Jan. 10.
A criminal trial against former Asante nurse Dani Marie Schofield, who faces 44 felony counts of second-degree assault against hospital patients, has been delayed for a third time.
More than 1,800 Oregonians died of drug overdoses in 2023, a rising trend that state leaders want to reverse with new programs to combat addiction. In Jackson County, people experiencing drug overdoses entered hospital emergency rooms 736 times in 2023. That same year, 130 people in the southern Oregon county died of drug overdoses.
Growing the birthing center and maintaining the emergency department at Asante Ashland Community Hospital are among the goals listed in a new strategic plan announced in a news release from Asante, which operates hospitals in Ashland, Medford and Grants Pass, as well as offering related medical services in a number of Rogue Valley locations.
Last March the Ashland Community Food Bank saw a 140% spike in demand. SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, benefits were reduced and many COVID protection programs such as eviction protection ended. Now, it takes about 60,000 pounds of food every month to feed those directly “shopping” at the food bank, but also to restock little satellite pantries around Ashland, such as at the library and at the Ashland Senior Center.
The night before Thanksgiving the city of Ashland announced it has secured a partner and a location to open its severe weather shelter, the city announced late in the day Wednesday, Nov. 27.
Residents from across Southern Oregon made the trip to Oak Knoll Golf Course in Ashland on Saturday, Jan. 18, for a “benefit concert for vulnerable communities” co-sponsored by Women’s March Southern Oregon and ORD2 Indivisible.
A group of about 40, mostly women, gathered in near-freezing weather Saturday morning on the East Main Street side of Ashland Plaza to show their support for women’s rights, from reproductive autonomy to equality across the board.
Ashland’s 37th annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration is set for noon to 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Historic Ashland Armory in downtown Ashland. The event is free and open to the public.
At its first meeting of the new year Tuesday, the Ashland City Council is expected to sew up loose threads from last year with votes to approve the 2200 Ashland St. Master Plan, formally create an Ashland Parks & Recreation Department and the first reading of an ordinance to mitigate carbon pollution for new residential structures, according to meeting materials.
Ask Strider: Our advice columnist turns to the problems of making friends and keeping them. As usual, he counsels restraint in troubled friendships, and asks the Old Cedar Tree what to do about making friends in the first place. The Old Cedar Tree has interesting thoughts on the subject.
A vandalism incident that left damage from large tire marks in Railroad and Lithia parks will cost thousands to repair and is part of a larger trend of vandalism in the city’s parks, according to Ashland Parks Superintendent Kevin Caldwell.
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