Salem Reporter’s Rachel Alexander, right, quizzes Gov. Kate Brown about school reopening plans on April 1, 2021 at Lincoln Elementary School in Woodburn (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
2021 opened with an ice storm and appears on its way out with a snowstorm – with no shortage of confusion over vaccine eligibility, school operations and the state of the pandemic along the way.
I’m grateful this year gave us an opportunity to cover some non-pandemic developments and events, and also report on the longer-lasting impacts of 2020 which are just beginning to show. Here are my top stories from yet another unusual year.
As more of Salem returns to normal, these families are still in the dark
Salem’s February 2021 ice storm was so intense that people like me, who lost power for “only” three days, ended up feeling like we’d won the lottery. As the city returned to somewhat normal life, I set out to find the holdouts – people who had gone nearly two weeks without power. Perusing angry comments on Portland General Electric’s Facebook page led me to a south Salem apartment complex where one building was still lights out. I was grateful residents were willing to talk to me and in fairly good spirits despite their struggles.
A student follows one-way arrows to get to her desk at Richmond Elementary on Tuesday, March 2. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
Salem’s youngest kids head back to in-person classes
This was one of those days where local news means writing an early draft of history in real time. After a year of online school, it was so fun to hear six-year-olds’ excitement and nervousness as they marched into class – many for the first time in their lives.
Whitney Contreras and son Ivan wave to a friend during the Hallman Neighborhood Family Council’s inaugural “Fun Fridays at Northgate Park” event on Friday, July 9, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
New Hallman neighborhood council hopes Fridays at the park will give kids a boost
A parent-led effort in Salem backed by nonprofit and business leaders is aiming to change the odds for kids growing up in the city’s poorest ZIP codes. Their work began this year in the Hallman area, where I got to chronicle how Zoom meetings led neighborhood parents to a summer-long event series in Northgate park promoting health, literacy and more.
Health care workers work in the intensive care unit at Salem Hospital on Friday, Aug. 20, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
Inside Salem’s ICU, the “emotionally draining” work of caring for Covid patients marches on
This story was a reporting challenge – how to take an abbreviated 30-minute visit to the ICU in a pool with two other reporters and two photojournalists and write something that didn’t sound like every other ICU story being published during the delta surge.
I relied on what I know from my own friends who are nurses to shape my questions and tried to lean into the human aspects of ICU work as much as I could instead of focusing on the clinical progression of Covid symptoms. Through some of those details – the miles of walking each day inside the hospital, the “rage room” where exhausted health care workers smashed plates and the calls to families about dying loved ones – I hoped to show people outside the hospital the emotional toll the surge was taking.
Pandemic widens graduation inequities for Salem high schoolers
The impacts of the pandemic on kids and their education are starting to show up as more normal school resumes. This story was an early look at some of the first year-end data from the 2020-21 school year, when Salem’s public school students were almost entirely taught online.
Incident reports from Oregon State Hospital provide a window into some of the chaos at the institution.
Staffers at Oregon State Hospital endure violence, long hours despite promises of improvements
This story was months in the making as I filed records requests and spoke, often anonymously, with roughly a dozen state hospital workers and patients multiple times to paint a picture of what’s been going on inside the brick walled building. While other media outlets had covered various aspects of the staffing crisis and treatment problems at the hospital, I was able to explain the specific policy choices as hospital administrators responded to Covid that employees said were responsible for increased violence and stress on the job.
Vet tech Alexa Franklin carries out Porter after taking x-rays at the Salem Veterinary Emergency Clinic on Nov. 10, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
Shortage of vet care means long waits for owners, burnout for workers
After my cat, Winston, got sick in the fall, the whisperings I’d heard about vet care being difficult to find suddenly came into sharp focus. I set out to better understand why care had become so hard to come by, and chronicle the impact on both pet owners and vets. (Winston has since recovered and is back to his usual routine of screaming at me while I am on the phone conducting interviews.)
Mike Bednarek performs a card trick as Dr. Fun E. Bone for an 18-year-old pediatric patient at Salem Hospital on Aug. 25, 2021 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)
Rubber chicken and concertina in tow, Salem’s hospital clown lifts spirits
In a year full of mostly grim hospital stories, this was a much-needed break. Mike Bednarek was a joy to see in action, and I was surprised by how well teenage patients responded to having a clown barge into their hospital rooms.
Leslie Middle School students Claire Harder and Sydney Tufteskog look at a copy of the school’s alma mater from the 1971 time capsule at Leslie Middle School on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
Time capsule opening recalls life at Leslie Junior High 50 years ago
I am a sucker for local history, so this story was already fun. But when I discovered a Leslie 8th grader and the school librarian helped ensure the school’s time capsule was opened on schedule because they read a plaque on the wall that was hidden in plain sight, I was especially delighted.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
JUST THE FACTS, FOR SALEM – We report on your community with care and depth, fairness and accuracy. Get local news that matters to you. Subscribe to Salem Reporter starting at $5 a month. Click I want to subscribe!
