Interview Transcript.

Brittney Ortis

Interview Questions – Mary Schabert

When did you go to Utah?

-I went the winter of 2006. It was super cold here but surprisingly perfect on the hills in Utah.

Which part of Utah?

-We went and stayed in Salt Lake City.

How long did you stay in Utah?

-We stayed for 8 days. It was the perfect amount of time to stay.

How long have you been snowboarding?

-I started snowboarding when I was 12. I have skied since I was 4 but switched after I broke my leg skiing and was to scared to try that again ha-ha.

What’s your favorite thing about snowboarding?

-The faster you go the more fun it is. It is such a rush to be going down a mountain and barely being able to see.

Do you go off of any jumps or ramps?

-I go off everything. The rails are the scariest due to how much it hurts to hit your head on one. Jumps are only fun with out the fall.

Have you ever raced in snowboarding?

-I have never done any competing with snowboarding. Just for fun.

What was your favorite thing about the trip?

-The best thing about the trip was how one day was packed down snow, tons of trails through the trees, and speed. The next day was fresh powder, fun jumps, and a ton of hiking.

Did anything funny happen?

-My best friend landed a back flip, which I thought I had on camera; somehow it just didn’t stay on the camera. Wasn’t too funny to him but I laughed pretty hard.

What was the experience like?

-It is a totally different experience snowboarding where you have never been before. Also the new people we met are crazy fun.

Did you have any dangerous falls or scares?

-I fell off of a box once in a blind spot. Other snowboarders didn’t see me and kept coming down the hill. Got landed on once pretty bad.

Did you do anything else while in Utah?

-They really don’t have nightlife there. After snowboarding the hot tub is the next place to go.

Who did you go with?

-I went with family and a few friends who could afford the trip.

Did you stay in a cabin?

-We actually stayed in a cabin like hotel. Very log like.

Do you do this every year?

-No sadly. That has been a one-time trip. My brother currently lives in Colorado and I am saving up for a trip out there still.

What is the best memory you have?

-In Utah the first day was amazing. I had never seen mountains and seeing something that beautiful and large was awesome.

Anything else you would like to add?

-I think your questions covered pretty much everything. Sorry this is so last minute.

Story #3, Hospital Bill.

How would you feel after being billed to donate your own son’s organs minutes after his tragic death? Flustered, confused, angry, maybe?

            Carmen Foucault, mother of a 23-year-old son, James Foucault, who died in a tragic motorcycle accident last week, Wednesday. The officers informing her of her son’s accident drove Foucault to Mercy Hospital. Minutes after arriving, doctors were suggesting that she keep her son alive just long enough to donate his organs. That with the brain damage caused in the accident, there was no way he would regain full consciousness. He was barely alive then. Foucault stated, “I knew it’s what he would want. He was always helping other people, so I agreed.”

            What upset Foucault most was that after staying at the hospital until the afternoon after, the nurse just told her it was over with and she should go home. “They had him all cut apart, just butchered him. They didn’t say it was going to be like that. Then they didn’t thank me or anything. Can you believe it? My son dies, they take his parts, and then they send me a bill.” Foucault said very confused and angry.

            Mercy Hospital billed Foucault $41,000 for keeping her son alive for an extra day while they took his organs. She was not informed of this at all before the procedure was started. Later to find that the hospital put a lien on her son’s house to ensure that they got paid the money. This caused Foucault to be unable to pay for a proper funeral and burial of her own son.

            After hiring an attorney, Foucault was informed by the hospital’s chief administrator, Irwin Greenhouse, that the bill was a complete mistake on the hospital’s end. It was to be originally sent to the Division of Transplantation for review. Greenhouse stated, “It’s embarrassing, and we’ve already had our attorney remove the lien, told him to make it his number one priority.” The Division of Transplantation has now taken the liberty of paying Foucault’s cost of normal emergency care.

            Now Foucault only wants to meet whoever got her son’s organs. She would “like to meet them, touch their chest and see who Jimmy saved.”

Brittney Ortis- Obituary

Brittney Ann Ortis, mother, ultrasound technician, and world speaker of brain cancer. Ortis died on her 25^th anniversary while under for brain surgery on October 10, 2042. She was 49 years old.

            Ortis graduated in the top 10 percent of her class at St. Cloud State University. She dove in the world championship competition of diving along side of her teammates. She began speaking about brain cancer when she was diagnosed with stage-two brain cancer at the age of 18. Ortis married Billy Karth at the Basilica in St. Paul on October 10, 2017. Ortis worked at Mercy Hospital in Minnesota for 15 years while traveling the world speaking. She enjoyed playing with her son, dog, and her fish.

            Surviving her are husband Billy, and child Bentley Carl. The funeral will be held at Zion Lutheran Church in Milaca at 5pm. Burial to follow immediately at Forest Hill Cemetery. 

Story 2

Kanabec County’s Sheriff department is going through a dispute of what the funding should go towards. It is now left in the commissioner’s hands to decide.

            Sheriff Gus Dicesari is at odds with some of his commissioners with the funding. Commissioners Anita Shenuski and Raymond Laybourne believe that the funding should go towards the sheriff’s department and law enforcement. Commissioners Valerie Dawkins, Faith Ellis, Jose Gardoz and Roland Grauman believe it should go towards programs for migrant workers in the county.  Dicesari said, “You’re putting the live of the people of this county in jeopardy.” The sheriff wants to hire five new sheriff’s deputies and eight new police cruisers. Commission president, Anne Chenn, is not on the same page. There is a belief that the migrants are the reason to all of the problems in the county, and that residents need to be protected from them. As the arguments kept growing and becoming more heated points were made, but with five in favor of president Chenn’s proposal and only two in favor of Sheriff Dicesari, the additional money requested for eight new cruisers and five additional deputies was refused.