Providers and health plans paint a different picture.
Some provider groups have limited the number of Medicaid clients they will see, saying they can’t afford to treat them, given the low reimbursement rates from the state. Others are trying to expand to keep up with demand but are struggling to recruit providers.
Meanwhile, both of the county’s Medicaid managed care plans are working to expand their provider networks and meet client needs.
“I think we’ve, overall, managed to keep up,” said Karen Lee, president and chief executive officer of Columbia United Providers, a Vancouver-based Medicaid managed care plan. “That doesn’t mean it’s been easy. It’s been a really interesting juggling act.”
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Beloved Vancouver cafe dishes up last dinners
Chuck Chronis and his wife, Sandy, held on to Chronis’ probably a year or two longer than they should have, they said.
However, after operating the restaurant — which has had multiple locations — since 1968, the Chronises have retired. Friday was the last day their restaurant was open.
“It’s been a long ride,” said Sandy Chronis, 71.
“We’re going to take six months or so and just try to get back our health,” Chuck Chronis said, adding they have an RV they used to take to the Washington and Oregon coasts, but haven’t been able to use it for nine months due to his foot.
As for the location at the corner of Main and Ninth streets, no new tenant is scheduled to take it over just yet. The landlord, Dean Irvin of HG Industries in Vancouver, said he thinks a new tenant could be lined up within the next 30 days.
“Our hope is that it’s a similar venue, another restaurant, that moves in,” Irvin said. “Obviously, we wish Chuck was just staying. He’s an institution.”
Gus Melonas, a spokesman for BSNF, said Washougal sees an average of about 30 to 35 trains a day. Traffic flows peaked in 2006, when about 45 to 50 trains traveled through the city each day, and Melonas warns the rate could spike back up to that mark again this year.
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Homebuilding family watches economic rebound
When other developers were fleeing the housing market a half-decade ago out of financial desperation, Bob and Liz Rondeau were looking to get in.
Using proceeds from their sale of an educational software firm, the couple self-financed their first subdivision at a time when bank loans were scarce. Their new houses, in the Mount Vista area of Ridgefield, attracted buyers who dickered for lower prices.
Now, as their Waverly Homes development firm starts to build out the planned 155-house Hidden Glen subdivision in Hazel Dell, the Rondeaus don’t worry about attracting buyers or having to drop prices. These days, there is scarcely enough housing for sale in Clark County to meet demand.
With the arrival of the spring homebuying season, veterans in the local home construction and real estate industries are reporting that the housing market is shifting from its slow, steady recovery during the cruel housing downturn into a strong seller’s market. Builders and brokers say they’re seeing more first-time buyers finally entering the market, plenty of people downsizing or moving up as their houses have regained value, and a stream of newcomers, arriving mostly from California and other Southwestern states.
The month of March was “by almost any measure, the best March since 2006,” said Mike Lamb, broker at Windermere Stellar Vancouver, in his monthly market report. “(In) some respects, it was even better than March 2006.”
The housing recovery has replenished employment in some of the industries decimated by the downturn that left Clark County with bankrupt builders, unfinished subdivisions and countless loan foreclosures. But neither housing prices nor industry-related jobs have returned to their peak levels of the past decade.
From 2005 to 2007, real estate offices in Clark County employed just over 550 agents and brokers, according to the state Employment Security Department. The most recent count, in 2014, found about 375 workers in those positions. Construction employment has dropped from 13,000 in both 2006 and 2007 to 9,900 in 2014, the state Employment Security Department reports.
Being so close to the fire — this spectacular, pulsing symphony of flames — I understand why they say fires roar. Crackles punctuate the steady rumble of the blaze as it furiously reaches across the ceiling. Embers fall around me.
“We want to get this one really ripping. That will be fun for the crew,” said Greg Payne, training captain for Camas-Washougal Fire Department.
Once flames have claimed nearly the entire ceiling, he uses his radio to dispatch firefighters to respond.
The fire isn’t a “real” fire. In fact, I’m the one who used a propane torch to get it started.
I’ve always been a thrill-seeker at heart, so when I got the opportunity for a front-row seat to action usually reserved for those with months of training, I took it.
It’s enough effort getting on the gear — boots, pants, jacket, air tank, mask and helmet — which I’m told weighs 45 pounds altogether. Using the air tank is similar to that used in scuba, without the buoyancy to help you with the weight on your shoulders.
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