In October of 2022, Marion County and its legislative partners were happy to present a check for $300,000 in federal funding to expand emergency medical services in the Lyons Rural Fire District. The district covers roughly 1,000 square miles and performed heroically during the 2020 Labor Day Fires. County Commissioner Colm Willis, Senator Fred Girod (SD9), and State Representative Jami Cate (HD11) attended the the presentation.

“We have been staffing additional EMS personnel primarily in the Idanha-Detroit area, but also extending services down into the Little North Fork, Gates and Mehema.” said Sherry Bensema, a paramedic and the EMS Coordinator for the district. “The extra funding will help alleviate some of that pressure on our resources overall.”

Originally Federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, Representative Cate and Senator Girod were instrumental in directing the $300,000 in funding to Marion County for the rural fire district to provide enhanced emergency medical services for Detroit during the summer recreational period.

“We prioritized public safety,” said Senator Girod. “The reason we did it is because of the work of the first responders in the fires up here, it was really important.”

“We know that there was such an added burden during the summer months when everyone comes up to recreate at Detroit and hike, and yet you know that’s always been an ongoing cost for this district,” said Representative Jami Cate. “But now you add in all of the recovery efforts and everything just pulling people in a million different directions, so anything we can do to try to help ease that burden we wanted to do for these communities.”

While the check was presented in Lyons, Sherry and her team work all the way up into the Idanha-Detroit area, covering roughly 1,000 square miles with ambulance services.

“This is a community that everybody knows was hit so hard,” said Commissioner Willis. “The last two years have been really rough, and this district didn’t get the money to do that extra service.

“I just want to say that I’m very grateful to this whole district for stepping up and doing the extra work during the Labor Day fires, because this was a time where the district was trusting the county and their legislators to show up and make sure that they weren’t left with a major funding gap after stepping up for their community.”

“The work was important,” said Bensema. “It’s important to support those outlying agencies that are struggling, and we have the capacity to do that. I trust you guys.”

“I think that willingness to work together and try to help out however we can is what makes the recovery effort so promising,” said Representative Cate. “That what we are seeing throughout the canyon is the communities and agencies coming together to get the job done.”

“The is a great team here, and we’re proud to be a part of it,” said Commissioner Willis.

Watch the video of the check presentation here.

Marion County is known for being an agricultural powerhouse in the Pacific Northwest, as well as one of the most beautiful forested recreational areas of the state. Marion County has always been dedicated to protecting and preserving our incredible surroundings and reducing waste through innovative and sustainable solutions that can also serve our community in positive ways. In recent years, we have made great strides in waste reclamation (reduction) and energy conversion, and we are proud of that work.

Marion County has a comprehensive, integrated solid waste management system in place, designed to reduce, reuse, and recycle as much waste as we are able. Our efforts include educational programs for the citizens of Marion County like the new Marion Resourcers Movement (formally the Marion County Master Recyclers) and innovative private partnerships like the Marion Resource Recovery Facility (MRRF), Covanta’s waste-to-energy facility. These programs have helped us achieve a waste recovery rate of 48.5% (for the year 2020), making Marion County one of the top recycling communities compared to the state average recovery rate of 42.1%.

Working with a waste-to-energy facility like Covanta is one area that differentiates Marion County from others in Oregon. As one of our key partners in our solid waste management system, their waste-to-energy plant converts trash that cannot be reclaimed into electricity and usable energy. All emissions from the facility are closely monitored and optimized, which is nearly impossible to do with a landfill. The plant reduces greenhouse gas emissions of CO2 by 130,000 tons each year (as much CO2 emitted on average by 26,000 passenger cars) while simultaneously providing enough electricity to power roughly 6,000 homes in our community. Marion County's contract with Covanta helps to reduce the amount of residential waste that goes to a landfill, while also providing a clean, renewable source of energy for our community.

In addition to environmental benefits, the MRRF and Covanta facilities have also provided significant economic opportunities, providing high- and living-wage jobs to support the local economy. These facilities also generate millions of dollars in revenue each year, which is invested back into the community.

The success of our integrated solid waste management system would not be possible without the support of our community. With Marion County Environmental Services spending years providing educational opportunities to make it practical to reduce, reuse, and recycle, residents have embraced these resources and have been instrumental in helping us reach our waste reduction and recycling goals. We are grateful for your support in this, and we know there is still much we can do.

We are proud as a county to be leading the way at the forefront of waste recovery and energy conversion, and we hope to continue optimizing to keep our community and our environment clean, healthy, and a beautiful place to live and call home. Our integrated solid waste management system is a testament to our commitment to this invaluable work.

On Wednesday, January 10, Commissioner Danielle Bethell, Marion County Health and Human Services (MCHHS), and various recipients of Behavioral Health Resource Network (BHRN) grant funds met together at Broadway Commons near downtown Salem to share their early successes and to highlight potential partnerships to collaboratively provide substance use disorder services (SUD) across Marion County.

The County and local community partners collectively received more than $20 million in BHRN grant funds, with the requirement to remove barriers and provide 24/7 access to addiction treatment services, regardless of someone’s ability to pay or insurance status. Along with MCHHS, Grant recipients present in the room included: Bridgeway Recovery Services, HIV Alliance, Ideal Option, Iron Tribe Network, and the Pathfinder Network of Oregon.

“Marion County is the first in the state to have this type of monthly collaboration among BHRN grant partners, and we’re already seeing increased utilization of individuals seeking services because of it,” said Commissioner Danielle Bethell. 

“It’s heartening to see these groups in the same room with the same mission, to help people with drug addiction to find resources and accountability to recover and reestablish a safe and healthy community life.”

“We’re all working toward the same goal as partners. However, some organizations may have a different focus or area of expertise, and having visibility to that through this collaboration can be invaluable,” said Carol Heard, MCHHS Division Director for Addiction Treatment Services.

“For example, if we as the county health department have a client who needs a referral to housing that supports addiction services, we can refer them to a BHRN partner with expertise in that area.”

MCHHS itself received $6.4 million in BHRN grant funding in July of 2022. Projects that are underway include:

• Opening “His Place,” a transitional home for fathers to live supervised with their children while completing their recovery journey. This is modeled on the highly successful “Her Place” that has been operated by Marion County for years.
• Partnering with PODER Oregon’s Latino Leadership Network to increase Substance Use Disorder (SUD) service awareness and access for Latinos across the county while also reducing the stigma that keeps individuals from seeking treatment.
• Hiring and training additional Certified Recovery Mentors (CRMs) in the county health department to grow the team from four members to seven to ensure better support for the community. This will expand resources for all, but also specifically for veterans, as they will be able to access SUD services without needing a referral from Veterans Affairs. These CRMs will also be deployed in more rural and underserved parts of the community, like the Santiam Canyon and Woodburn. The county is also adding a Community Response Team which consists of Qualified Mental Health Professionals on rotation in the Psychiatric Crisis Center, partnered with Certified Recovery Mentors to respond to individuals with SUD in crisis.
• Increasing the presence of the Marion County Wellness Van, which provides addiction treatment services, at the Mill City Clinic and the Santiam Outreach Community Center, going to each location twice a month.
• Providing funding to Catholic Community Services, Church at the Park, and Santiam Hospital to hire additional staff like community health workers and peer support specialists to help increase access to SUD services in their specific communities.

These resources and programs functioning in tandem to support our community and restore the lives of individuals stuck in drug addiction helps keep our community safe and whole. The stories of individuals who once needed these services and now work to help others are a testament to the value collaborations like this bring.

“To be in a room with so many individuals who once needed the very tools and resources they are now providing to others is so inspiring, and it encourages me that we’re collectively heading in the right direction,” said Commissioner Bethell.