Ogden completes milestone climb of Mt. Adams
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Twenty-five and counting. That’s the milestone Dr. Jim Odgen reached on July 27 when he and a group of climbers reached the summit of Mt. Adams. Ogden has been climbing the mountain nearly every year since 1980.
Over those 30 years, the past two have been the most extreme. “Last year had the least amount of snow and this year had the most I have ever seen,” says Ogden. There have been variations in the amount of snow over the years, but never as extreme as the last two years. Most of the climbs have been around the last week of July, but have been as late as Labor Day.
“I prefer to climb with snow rather than rocks,” says Ogden. Snow makes the climb easier, particularly since they wear crampons. This year’s snow forced the group to make a slight detour from the usual route. “Usually we climb around Glacier Ridge to the trees. This time we had to climb about a 40 foot wall of ice using toe holds. Coming down was even more difficult as it required a rope to get back down.” The entire climb was more difficult as it was steeper in areas and the team had to melt snow for drinking water, as the usual streams were not available.
There have been failed attempts to reach the summit of Mt. Adams. Weather forced a couple of attempts to be abandoned and injury and illness of others forestalled a couple other attempts. In 2008, the fire at the base of the mountain prevented an attempt. Ogden has also climbed Mt. St. Helens twice and has a ticket to climb again on Sept. 1. He had two attempts at Mt. Shasta which were turned back by weather.
“I intend to climb [Mt. Adams] each year. When I can no longer make it to the top I will admit I have reached middle age,” says Ogden.
GHS students get noticed at Nashville conference
Stacy Thompson and Kyle Ross took their green energy show on the road this summer, along with advisor Rob Wing.
The two students attended the national Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) convention in Nashville this July, representing Goldendale High School. They shared the chapter’s state winning green energy project at the conference. Although the project did not place in the top 10 (104 projects were entered), Thompson and Ross gave it their best shot and were pleased with their performance.
The two graduated seniors were also able to attend several job/career preparation workshops, in addition to visiting historic areas of Music City. They also heard keynote speaker Robin Crow, who owns Darkhorse Recording, one of the top recording studios in Nashville. He shared two maxims: do whatever it takes to exceed expectations, and take responsibility for what happens when you are in charge.
The two ended their FBLA careers with high praise and, observers agreed, represented Goldendale with distinction. Thompson will be attending University of Washington in the fall, and Ross will be attending Washington State University.
State’s ABCD dental program said to be a model for other states
A collaborative program developed in the state of Washington to address “the greatest unmet need for health services among children” has achieved impressive results while delivering “a strong return on taxpayers’ investment,” according to the Pew Center on the States.
In its June 2010 report, Washington’s ABCD Program: Improving Dental Care for Medicaid-Insured Children, Pew says, “other states would be smart to consider a similar approach.” The need for prevention-based programs is apparent because, as the Pew report notes, “The costs of dental disease are severe: impaired nutrition and health, lost school time, worsened job prospects and sometimes even death.”
“We were very impressed with Washington State’s ABCD program. It is a good model for others to consider because it is effective and shows that investing in early preventive care results in lower dental treatment costs over time.” said Shelly Gehshan, director of the Pew Children’s Dental Campaign.
Access to Baby and Child Dentistry (ABCD) began as an idea by Dr. Peter Milgrom and Dr. Peter Domoto, University of Washington professors of dentistry, who recognized that huge numbers of children across the state were not receiving adequate dental care and decided to do something about it.
Starting with a pilot program in 1995 in Spokane, they developed a model in which dentists, dental societies, local health districts, the state’s Medicaid program and the UW collaborated to encourage more dental offices to serve young children. The Pew report notes that the program began spreading across the state in 1999 when the Washington Dental Service (WDS) Foundation learned about ABCD and contributed resources to implement the program in Benton/Franklin and Yakima counties.
Today ABCD programs provide preventive care and dental services to Medicaid-insured children under age six in 33 of Washington’s 39 counties. In 1997, less than one in four such children saw a dentist each year. Since then the number of Medicaid-insured children under six receiving dental care has more than doubled, and the number of children visiting the dentist before their second birthday has more than quadrupled.
Having children’s teeth screened by either a physician or dentist by their first birthday is crucial. WDS Foundation President and CEO Laura Smith says in the report, “We believe that if you can keep them from getting those first few cavities, they’re going to have better health the rest of their lives.”
“ABCD’s decade-long success in improving children’s dental health is a reflection of the sustained commitments and investments made by the program’s broad base of supporters,” the Pew report concludes.
Other ABCD program components that are cited by the Pew report as keys to its success include:
Financial incentives for dentists to perform certain preventive and restorative procedures, which encourage provider participation.
Training sessions for dentists that provide hands-on experience in treating very young children.
Local health departments that administer the program, coordinate community dental screenings and outreach events, and provide case management for the parents of children who need ABCD’s services.
Beginning in 2008, providing training and reimbursement for pediatricians and family physicians to provide dental health screenings, risk assessments, family education and fluoride varnish during well-child checkups. This innovative approach is particularly promising because young children typically see a physician more than eleven times for well-child checkups before age three.
There are now more than 1,300 ABCD-trained dentists across the state, and the report notes that surveys show these dentists are three times more likely than other dentists to say they are comfortable seeing children under a year old. *
Collaboration among the many participating entities and solid policy and financial support at the state level are also cited as important factors in the program’s success. The report lauds the cost-effectiveness of the program, noting that the state has spent only about $13.50 more per Medicaid-insured child per year in the counties with ABCD than in those without it. That $13.50 difference is less than one-quarter of the cost Medicaid pays to restore a tooth with a cavity.
This is in addition to, “the many thousands of dollars saved each time ABCD’s mix of education and prevention saves a child from cavities that develop into infections or surgical extractions, requiring emergency-room visits and operating-room services,” the report says.
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