Greetings from The Eagle Point and Upper Rogue Chamber of Commerce.
Welcome to the Lunar year and the year of the dragon. Somehow that title seems fitting.
Business wise I’ve been traveling overseas and chatting with Middle East and North African business people about the shipping navigation problems in the Red Sea and Black Sea and with South American customers about the current restrictions for transiting through the Panama Canal. Global supply chains are a real mess right now and it is very much like we have returned to early 1800 sea trade routes. On the positive side, I see no problems with shipments of Easter or Christmas presents this year. This is great news for people like me who have given up chocolate for Lent and desperately need to have replenishment on April first.
On a local basis, I have been researching the problem of attracting medical doctors to our Valley. Like me, some of you may have lost your primary care physician due to early retirement or relocation out of Oregon. Finding a replacement can be difficult. There are multiple appointments available with Nurse Practitioners but very few available with MD’s. I view this as a serious problem with our State medical and insurance regulations. If you read the local papers and chat with doctors, you will quickly learn that Oregon has one of the lowest Medicare reimbursement rates in the nation. State regulations also require insurance companies to pay the same dollar amount for claims covering visits to Nurse Practitioners as for MD’s. This creates an obvious motivation for Health Care providers and helps create the shortage of MD’s that currently exists.
On the very local front, your Chamber is working with business owners and local authorities to investigate what options exist to grow our downtown business environment.
The Eagle Point & Upper Rogue Chamber of Commerce is also hosting the annual Vintage Fair on May 11th, 10am-3pm, and the next Chamber business mixer is 3/19 at 5pm, location will be at the EP library.
Come join us.
Regards,
Jay O’Neil
E.P. & Upper Rogue Chamber of Commerce