CCO Celebration Press Release
By Betty Johnson of MVHCA and HCAO:
Albany Mayor Sharon Konopa welcomes guests to the celebration
Midst balloons, flowers and birthday cake, residents, Oregon Health Plan members, health care providers and community partners celebrated the third anniversary of InterCommunity Health Care Network Coordinated Care Organization (IHN-CCO) , Wednesday , July 29th at the Albany public Library.
Health Heroes were applauded, health care providers told stories about unprecedented collaboration and improvements in services. IHN-CCO leaders including CEO Kelley Kaiser, spoke about current and future challenges as that organization leads the transformation of health care for members of the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) in Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties.
Dick Knowles, Chair, Linn Local Advisory Committee , announced Karen Keon Levy as a Health Hero for her leadership as Project Coordinator for the Linn-Benton Health Equity Alliance.He cited her strong presence on Facebook and her endless efforts to keep everyone informed and included by connecting, respecting and educating Linn and Benton County residents.
Miao Zhao, Inreach Clinic Manager ,introduced Rev. George Matland, Founder and president of Signs of Victor Mission, as another Health Hero. She praised his dependable leadership of the team including OHSU nursing students who collaborated on the successful tobacco cessation project with homeless persons who frequent the
Signs of Victor Mission.
Phi Warnock, Transportation Program Manager for Ride-Line, Oregon Cascade West Council of Governments, was designated as a third Health Hero. His development of a greatly expanded non-emergent medical transportation system was praised. Ride-Line now has twenty-three providers under contract to transport OHP members to non-emergent medical appointments, compared to nine contractors in its early beginning. In addition Linn County members alone have experienced 173,471 trips in the past two years !
Frank Moore, Administrator of Linn County Health Services, was introduced as the fourth Health Hero by Dick Knowles who has known him many years because of his role with the Linn Mental Health Advisory Committee. Knowles cited Frank Moore’s major accomplishments in implementation of transformation of health services working with IHN-CCO, particularly in the mental health in cooperation with other counties. Knowles credited him with always seeing “the big picture”.