Rolling into controversy
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State considers new rules for cyclists, but hits resistance • SPORTS, D1
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Thinking small
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Little-known Bend company, huge federal contracts Is doctors GREEN, C1
Industry tries to adjust as new rules make food traceable Curious shoppers gain access to data on items’ path from grower to market By Lyndsey Layton
‘I Run for Eva’ Bend mom is making strides with her campaign to raise awareness of cerebral palsy
Going the
The Washington Post
In response to a new federal food safety law and growing consumer interest, vast amounts of new data are being generated about the complicated path that food takes from field to supermarket shelf. And, increasingly, some of that information is being offered to curious shoppers. In some stores, it’s even possible for consumers to wave a smart phone above an apple or an orange and learn instantly where it was grown, who grew it and whether it has been recalled. They can also contact the farmer, if they feel moved to do so. A provision of the federal food safety law passed last year requires that all players in the country’s food supply chain be able to quickly trace from whom they received a food product and to whom they sent it. They’ll have to maintain that information in digital form, creating deep wells of information that, in some cases, consumers could tap into through their computers or cell phones. See Food / A5
Courtesy of Sean Ferrell
extra mile
group on a collision course with St. Charles?
Independent physicians hope their organizational model will be an alternative to health system’s By Markian Hawryluk The Bulletin
Eager to maintain their financial and clinical autonomy, a group of independent physicians in Central Oregon has chosen to pursue a new organizational structure that could emerge as an alternative to the integrated delivery system envisioned by the St. Charles Health System. Physician members of the Central Oregon Independent Physicians Association, known as COIPA, are actively developing a model that would have doctors collectively set quality standards and then police each other’s adherence. The group could then negotiate contracts with insurance companies that would reward physicians for meeting quality targets and using resources efficiently, rather than for increasing the volume of services they provide as they do now. While both models aim to improve the quality of care for patients and lower health care costs, the hospital system and COIPA appear to be on a collision course that will likely force the region’s physicians to chose between the two. “In some ways, they are (mutually exclusive),” said John Ryan, COIPA’s executive director. “If St. Charles is going to negotiate contracts with insurers, the time will come where physicians will have to choose one or the other.”
Proven model The COIPA effort is based on the Mesa County IPA model developed by physicians in Grand Junction, Colo. That model has been hailed for providing high-quality care at some of the lowest costs in the nation. In 2007, the average spending per Medicare beneficiary in Grand Junction was $6,599, about 25 percent lower than the $8,682 national average, and about 10 percent lower than average spending in Bend. See Doctors / A4 Rob Kerr / The Bulletin
Anne Ferrell and her daughter Eva share a laugh while doing some arm exercises on Wednesday night at their home in Bend. At top, Anne greets friends and family at mile 7 of the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon in Phoenix on Jan. 16. Anne ran to raise awareness and money for Eva, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy.
By Sheila G. Miller • The Bulletin
A
nne Ferrell never wanted to be noticed. She tried to hide in plain sight, a quiet person who planned to go about a quiet life. Then she had Eva, and there was no hiding after that.
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You can help For more information on Eva or to donate money to her trust, go to www.littlemustardseed.org.
manage Eva’s condition. They want to give her the fullest life possible. So Anne stepped forward and decided not to hide anymore. She’s taken up running, launching the “I Run For Eva” campaign and completing her first marathon on Jan. 16. She’s run more than
1,000 miles during training, to try to raise awareness about children like Eva, who have disabilities but are capable of learning and growing and becoming more independent. Anne has slogged through the rain and the snow and the hot sun to raise money for her daughter that will allow for additional, expensive therapy sessions and a therapy dog. Anne said that for years she would read newspaper articles and hear stories about people doing incredible things, and she would cry. See Running / A5
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Steve Dykes / New York Times News Service
Part of the new TV series “Portlandia” was filmed at Jamie Dunn’s restaurant, the Gilt Club, in downtown Portland.
Show tests Portland’s ability to laugh at itself By Jesse McKinley New York Times News Service
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Eva is now 6, a first-grader at Buckingham Elementary, and she has severe cerebral palsy. The condition limits the use of her arms and legs, has slowed her development and weakened her neck control. She has vision and speech problems and uses a motorized wheelchair. Inside, her mind is clear. Eva is trapped in a body that doesn’t want to respond to the commands she gives it. But the Ferrells — her mother Anne, 47, father Sean, 41, and sister Sage, 4 — are not content to merely
Engineering harmony between people, wildlife In Colorado, bridge design could help avert car-wildlife collisions By Matthew L. Wald New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON — At a picturesque spot in the mountains near the ski resorts of Vail and Breckenridge, Colo., two streams of traffic converge: people driving on Interstate 70, and animals
— black bears, cougars, elk and deer — headed north and south to feed and mate. When they collide, the animal is almost always killed and the vehicle badly damaged, even if the driver is lucky enough to escape injury. The obvious solution is a
bridge or a tunnel for the animals — but how do you build one they will use? On Sunday, a nonprofit group announced the winner of a competition to design such a crossing: Michael Van Valkenburgh & Associates, a landscape architecture firm
with offices in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Cambridge, Mass. The design team, associated with the national construction firm HNTB, submitted a proposal for a bridge made of lightweight precast concrete panels that are snapped into place and covered with foliage. See Bridge / A5
PORTLAND — The first episode of “Portlandia,” a new television show that pokes at this Northwestern city’s urban preciousness, includes a scene in which a couple at a restaurant interrogates a waitress about the quality of the life lived by a chicken they hope to order. The couple soon learns that the bird has been raised locally on organic sheep’s milk and that it has a name, Colin. “He looks like a happy little fellow,” says the character played by Fred Armisen, a “Saturday Night Live” star and a creator of “Portlandia,” when he is shown a photograph of a pre-plucked version of the bird. It is a funny moment, a send-up of this city’s obsession with provenance. Yet the fact that it is a spoof might not always be clear. See Portland / A4