Tillamook County Community Health Centers

12/23/2025

🎄We are wishing you a safe, happy and healthy holiday season!🎄

12/23/2025

This month on the Tillamook Today Podcast, Behavioral Health Clinician Michelle Walters, MA, CIMHP, LMFT, speaks about staying mentally well during the holidays and the darker winter months. She shares practical tips for reducing holiday stress and managing the “winter blues.”

🌧️ What Are the Winter Blues? Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that shows up in fall and winter and often improves as spring and summer return.

💡 Ways to Support Your Mood This Season:
• Check your vitamin D levels. Low sunlight can mean low vitamin D. Talk with a healthcare provider about testing and supplements.
• Try light therapy. “SAD lights” or light therapy bulbs can mimic sunlight and may help boost mood and energy.
• Build supportive routines. Set small goals, keep a schedule, connect with others, and add simple joys to your day.
• Set boundaries. Holiday pressure is real—gift buying, long work hours, travel, cooking, and expectations can pile up. It’s okay to say no and protect your energy.
• Practice healthy habits. Choose one dessert instead of all of them, take a walk with family outside, unplug from social media, or play a game or puzzle together.
• Use gratitude to shift your mindset. Try a gratitude journal or gently interrupt negative thoughts with reminders like, “Maybe I am enough.”

💛 Need Support? The Tillamook County Community Health Centers have four behavioral health clinicians ready to help. 📞 Call (503)-842-3900 to schedule an appointment today.

Take care of yourself this season—you deserve it.



https://podcasts.com/tillamook-today-on-ktil-386b4ddb6/episode/120325-tillamook-county-community-health-center

12/18/2025

**Weather Closure**

12/18/2025

December is National Human Rights Month, and the very last month of 2025!

Human rights are rights that humans have simply because we exist. Human rights include fundamentals, like the right to life. They also include the things that make life worth living, like the rights to food, education, work, health, and liberty. This month, we take time to reflect on what human rights are, why they exist, and express gratitude to those working to make them possible.

Thank you to our healthcare and social service partners, employees, and everyone else protecting the life, health, happiness, and dignity of our community. We wish you well in the new year and look forward to continuing to serve you.
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Diciembre es el Mes Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, ¡y el último mes de 2025!

Los derechos humanos son derechos que los seres humanos tenemos simplemente por el hecho de existir. Los derechos humanos incluyen derechos fundamentales, como el derecho a la vida. También incluyen aquellas cosas que hacen que la vida merezca la pena, como el derecho a la alimentación, la educación, el trabajo, la salud y la libertad.

Este mes, nos tomamos un tiempo para reflexionar sobre qué son los derechos humanos, por qué existen, y expresar nuestro agradecimiento a quienes trabajan para hacerlos posibles. Gracias a nuestros socios de servicios sociales y de salud, a nuestros empleados y a todas las personas que protegen la vida, la salud, la felicidad y la dignidad de nuestra comunidad. Les deseamos lo mejor para el nuevo año y esperamos seguir prestándoles nuestros servicios.

12/18/2025

Sharing this timely message from our friends at Oregon Health Authority.

Did you know that the loss of power could affect the safety of your food? Knowing how to keep food safe and how to determine if food is safe will help minimize the potential loss of food. It can also prevent foodborne illness.

Here are some food storage and safety tips during a power outage.

For more information, visit https://ow.ly/bCEG50XLev0

12/17/2025

12/09/2025

Due to potential flooding hazards, we are joining the county in a delayed opening of our clinics and offices tomorrow, December 9th until 10:00am.

12/08/2025

Sharing this important safety message regarding potential flooding concerns on behalf of our partners in community safety. There are some helpful links included, please read!

Tillamook County is currently expecting an extended severe weather event including consistent heavy rain, wind gusts exceeding 40 MPH, potential power outages, and moderate to heavy localized road and river flooding.

If there is an immediate threat to life or property or an imminent threat of the same, please call 911.

For current information about storm event, service disruptions, road closures, flooding information, etc., please use these services instead of calling 911:

For current general storm event information:
Tillamook County Emergency Management webpage
https://www.tillamookcounty.gov/emergency-management
503-842-3412

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Tillamook-County-Emergency-Management-100087515736285/

Power:
Tillamook PUD https://www.tpud.org/outages/power-outages/
503-842-3525

Road Closures/Road Information:
Tillamook County Public Works
https://www.tillamookcounty.gov/publicworks
503-842-3412

State Highway Information
Trip Check
https://www.tripcheck.com/Pages/Road-Conditions?mainNav=RoadConditions&curRegion=1
Call 511

National Weather Service Forecast Office-Portland
https://www.weather.gov/pqr/
503-264-9246

11/27/2025

🦃🍗😋🍂❤️

11/25/2025

ROCKAWAY BEACH CLINIC LOCATION CLOSING
Our clinic location in Rockaway Beach will be closing effective December 31, 2025. We are pleased to share that our Central Clinic, located at 801 Pacific Avenue in Tillamook remains open and ready to continue high-quality, compassionate patient care. All existing appointments scheduled at the Rockaway Beach location on or after January 1, 2026, will automatically be moved to the Central Clinic in Tillamook. Please contact us at (503) 842-3900 if you have any questions or need assistance with scheduling or would like directions to the Central Clinic. We are happy to help.
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CIERRE DE LA CLÍNICA DE ROCKAWAY BEACH
Nuestra clínica en Rockaway Beach cerrará a partir del 31 de diciembre de 2025. Nos complace informarles que nuestra Clínica Central, ubicada en 801 Pacific Avenue en Tillamook, permanece abierta y lista para brindar atención compasiva y de alta calidad. Todas las citas programadas en la clínica de Rockaway Beach a partir del 1 de enero de 2026 se trasladarán automáticamente a la Clínica Central en Tillamook. Si tiene alguna pregunta, necesita ayuda para programar una cita o desea indicaciones para llegar a la Clínica Central, contáctenos al (503) 842-3900. Con gusto le ayudaremos.

11/22/2025

In this month’s episode, Registered Nurse Shelby Jenck, joins the Tillamook Today Podcast to talk about Diabetes and National Diabetes Awareness Month.

https://podcasts.com/tillamook-today-on-ktil-386b4ddb6/episode/110525-tillamook-county-community-health-center

Our bodies turn the food we eat into sugar, which we use for energy. When sugar levels become too high, it can lead to diabetes. The pancreas, a small organ in the abdomen, produces insulin—a hormone that helps the body use sugar effectively. If the body doesn’t make enough insulin (Type 1 diabetes) or cannot use the insulin properly (Type 2 diabetes), sugar builds up in the blood. Diabetes occurs when blood sugar levels rise above normal.

There’s also something called prediabetes. This means your blood sugar is higher than normal, but not high enough to be called diabetes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1 in 3 American adults—that’s nearly 98 million people—have prediabetes. Most (80%) don’t even know it, because there are no clear symptoms. But here’s the good news: prediabetes can often be reversed!

Making healthy changes like eating better, cutting back on sugar, staying active, and talking to your doctor can help lower your risk of getting type 2 diabetes.

Want to know if you might have prediabetes? Take the quick quiz at doihaveprediabetes.org. If your score is 5 or higher, make an appointment with your healthcare provider.

For more tips and support, visit the Tillamook County Wellness page on Diabetes Prevention or call the Tillamook County Community Health Centers at (503) 842-3900 to schedule a visit.

11/21/2025

November is Native American Heritage Month!
Tillamook County is situated on the ancestral land of several Native American tribes. Among them are the Tillamook, Nestucca, Siletz, Nechesne and Nehalem tribes. These tribes all have a rich history with coastal lands and the sea.

Native American communities face worse health outcomes such as a higher risk of injury, su***de, and chronic liver disease. Factors like trauma, violence, poverty, and discrimination increase the risk of substance use disorder and other health problems.

Repeated displacement and colonization have caused trauma. As a result, Native Americans also face cultural struggles with keeping their language and history alive. It is important to take this month to learn about Native American cultures, especially those whose lands are what we now call home.

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El condado de Tillamook está situado en las tierras ancestrales de varias tribus nativas americanas. Entre ellas se encuentran las tribus Tillamook, Nestucca, Siletz, Nechesne y Nehalem. Todas estas tribus tienen una rica historia relacionada con las tierras costeras y el mar.

Las comunidades nativas americanas se enfrentan a peores resultados en materia de salud, como un mayor riesgo de lesiones, suicidio y enfermedades hepáticas crónicas. Factores como el trauma, la violencia, la pobreza y la discriminación aumentan el riesgo de trastornos por consumo de sustancias y otros problemas de salud.

Los repetidos desplazamientos y la colonización han causado traumas. Como resultado, los nativos americanos también se enfrentan a dificultades culturales para mantener viva su lengua y su historia. Es importante aprovechar este mes para aprender sobre las culturas nativas americanas, especialmente aquellas cuyas tierras son lo que ahora llamamos nuestro hogar.