Expanding health care options

The Cheney City Council unanimously approved a resolution at its Sept. 23 meeting supporting the establishment of a Community Health Association of Spokane (CHAS) clinic in Cheney.

The resolution not only supports establishment of a clinic but also the organization’s grant application for funding from the Bureau of Primary Health Care. If successful, CHAS will provide medical, dental and behavioral health care along with pharmacy services to low income, uninsured and underserved populations on the West Plains.

Cheney City Administrator Mark Schuller said they would be able to tailor their services to the specific needs of the community.

“There are some holes here in Cheney,” Schuller said, citing as an example a lack of mental health counseling.

CHAS Chief Executive Officer Aaron Wilson and Michael Weiser, behavioral health specialist, told the council the clinic would be open to all individuals, accepting all forms of insurance and not denying care to anyone because of an inability to pay.

The City Council also unanimously adopted a resolution supporting Mayor Tom Trulove’s proposed 2015 legislative agenda. Trulove said critical items on the list are protecting and restoring state revenues to cities from the sale of liquor as well as restoration of a solid balance in the Public Works Trust fund, opposition to any new unfunded or underfunded mandates and support for a new science building at Eastern Washington University.

The agenda items also include urging the Legislature to pass a transportation improvement package in 2015 that includes funding for widening State Route 904 from the Four Lakes I-90 interchange to Cheney, although Trulove didn’t have much hope this would happen.

“Smart money says the 2015 Legislature won’t get their act together and fund the package,” he said.

Also on the list is support for funding to provide training and resources to address potential impacts from the transportation of oil by rail from the Bakken Oil Fields in North Dakota to ports in Oregon and Washington. Trulove said in conversations the city has had with Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the main transporter of Bakken oil, the railroad has said while train traffic through Cheney is the lowest it’s been since 2008, trains are tending to be longer in length, and there is the likelihood of traffic volumes increasing.

In law enforcement resolutions, the council approved a memorandum of understanding between the Cheney Police Department and the Washington Traffic Safety Commission allowing the department to apply for funding on several WTSC emphasis patrol programs. Cheney is applying for up to $2,000 covering overtime expenses as part of a driving under the influence/distracted driving — including cellphone usage — campaign and $1,500 for seatbelt enforcement patrols.

The council also approved an annual contract with the Cheney School District to provide a uniformed officer in schools for the 2014-2015 school year. The agreement has been approved each year since 2005.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].