FROM PAGE ONE
TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2021
THE OBSERVER — 5A
ICONS
Continued from Page 1A
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
Construction is nearing completion on the new $7.4 million, 18,932
square-foot Hearts for Health Integrated Care Center on Medical Parkway
in Enterprise. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 10, 2021.
FACILITY
Continued from Page 1A
20 and June 17. The tours
will be at noon and 5 p.m.,
said Wellness Center Public
Relations and Development
Director Tosca Rawls.
To reserve a place on one
of the tours, call Rawls at
541-426-4524, ext. 1031.
The project is under
budget, Rawls said. Its
funding includes $800,000
in support from people
and businesses in Wal-
lowa County, $2.5 million
from the state of Oregon,
and funding from the M.J.
Murdock Memorial Trust,
Lewis Clark Valley Health-
care Foundation, the Ford
Family Foundation and the
Wildhorse Foundation.
Lem McBurney, project
liaison, said the facility is
planned to optimize privacy
while getting patients to the
care they need.
“Even though every-
thing’s together, there’s
kind of a medical side and a
mental health side,” he said.
But it’s the integration
of these until-now disparate
branches of medicine that
makes the HHICC unique
among rural health centers.
“When someone has a
mental heath break, dental
issues will push forward the
mental issues,” McBurney
said. “The same is true of
other conditions, including
urinary tract infections. So
mental health and medical
health are very closely tied
together. The idea here is
to take care of everybody’s
whole health.”
The HHICC also has
a teaching kitchen. It can
be used to prepare meals
for events, but its more
important role will be pro-
viding cooking and nutri-
tion classes.
“We want to partic-
ipate in what the hos-
pital got started with their
Blue Zones (program),”
McBurney said. “The idea
here is to teach people skills
and lifestyles that prevent
illness — mental or phys-
ical — from happening.
So the idea is that a ther-
apist could come in here,
COMPLEX
Continued from Page 1A
“It will look at the effi -
cacy of the model,” Steff ey
said.
C.B. Const, Inc. of La
Grande will be the gen-
eral contractor for the
Timber Ridge project.
Plans call for the Timber
Ridge complex to have 36
one-bedroom, 32 two-bed-
room, 32 three-bedroom
and four four-bedroom
apartments. It also would
have a large community
building, which will house
a classroom.
Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity Head Start plans
to operate an Early Head
Start program for children
and infants up to age 3 in
that classroom, which the
development is providing
at no cost.
The program will do
more than boost intel-
lectual development. It
also will make daily life
easier for parents and
cook a healthy meal with
somebody, and then they
could go out on the patio
and sit and eat it, and talk
about life skills. It’s taking
therapy outside an offi ce
and giving people new
skills and perspectives.”
The large conference
room, with a capacity of
more than 100 people, will
be able to host public and
private events, from actual
conferences to birthday
parties.
“We send our staff
across the state to attend
trainings,” Rawls said.
“With this facility, we can
bring the trainers here, to
us (either in person or on
the large screen). That could
save organizations here a
lot of money, save us a lot
of money and we’re going
to have the technology to
provide those services.”
The HHICC will have
lots of other innovative
facilities, from a medita-
tion room to a counseling
room set up so that par-
ents can keep an eye on
their children in an adja-
cent playroom while talking
with a therapist and an area
where people in need can
do laundry, iron clothes and
take a shower. The facility
will be helpful for people
who are in crisis.
“Our crisis team does
things day and night,”
McBurney said. “There’s
been 25-50 crisis actions
within the past three weeks.
But people don’t know that
because the crisis team does
the work so quietly.”
And, of course, there’s
plenty of conventional
medicine and dentistry,
including four dental oper-
atories, fi ve medical exam
rooms and 17 clinical
rooms. The parking areas
also will be available to
people who are using the
adjacent Jensen ball fi elds,
McBurney said. There
will be a total of 2 miles of
walking paths.
“We’re leading the
charge on a new model of
integrated health care, espe-
cially in rural areas,” Rawls
said. “We’re really excited
to show other providers
how this works.”
guardians, Steff ey said,
explaining it will give res-
idents a chance to receive
child care while they are
working.
Solar energy will be
another Timber Ridge fea-
ture. Steff ey said the apart-
ment complex will receive
much of its electrical
energy from solar panels,
which Leet Development of
Enterprise will install. He
said the availability of solar
energy will signifi cantly
reduce the electrical costs
of power for Timber Ridge
residents.
“There will be no spikes
in heating costs in the
winter,” Steff ey said.
A portion of funding for
the construction of Timber
Ridge Apartments would
come from the state’s Local
Innovation Fast Track pro-
gram, also known as LIFT.
The Oregon Legislature
approved the program
about two years ago and
it is providing funding for
aff ordable housing projects
throughout Oregon.
with her family.
“My mom used to push
me around the grocery
store, and I would sing the
Oscar Mayer song,” Pit-
tman said. “This is my
‘90s dream come true.”
Blockbuster was the
third out of four stops in
Central Oregon for the
Wienermobile. The trav-
eling hot dog made an
appearance at Fort Rock
Park in Sunriver on
Thursday, April 22, in
downtown Bend on Friday,
April 23, and traveled
south again to the Village
at Sunriver on Sunday,
April 25.
The Wienermobile has
been on the road since
1936.
Today, six Wienermo-
biles travel around the
country at all times.
The Wienermobile that
came to Bend travels the
West Coast and averages
about 500 miles per week,
said Tommy Derken, a
“Hotdogger” who drives
the Wienermobile.
Derken graduated from
University of Southern
California in May and hit
the road in the Wienermo-
bile in June.
Driving the Wienermo-
bile is the perfect job for
a recent college graduate,
since it’s good public rela-
tions and marketing expe-
rience and a good way to
see the country, Derken
said.
“And you are a celeb-
rity everywhere you go,”
Derken said.
Derken and another
Hotdogger, Nina LeBrun,
spent Saturday handing
out stickers and Wiener-
mobile whistles to the
crowd. The two Hotdog-
gers also took families’
pictures, signed auto-
graphs and helped children
pose behind cardboard cut-
outs of hot dogs.
No food was served
during the event, which is
a common misconception,
Derken said.
“We don’t sell hot
DISTRICT
Continued from Page 1A
Ohio, Pennsylvania and
West Virginia lost seats.
Democrats hold a 218-
212 majority in the House.
Five seats are vacant.
How the district lines
will be drawn diff ers from
state to state. Oregon is
among 33 states where the
Legislature controls all or
most of the process. Eight
states — including Cali-
fornia and Washington —
use independent commis-
sions to do redistricting.
Two do a mix.
Data from the U.S.
Census required to draw
districts that meet federal
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
A crowd gathers Saturday, April 24, 2021, to look at the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile during its stop at the Bend
Blockbuster.
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Ruby and Brewer Mottern stand with their two dogs Griz (behind cutout) and Luna as their mother, Jody
Mottern, takes their picture Saturday, April 24, 2021, while visiting the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile at the Bend
Blockbuster.
dogs,” Derken said. “We
just look like one.”
Bend resident Helen
Guerrero-Randall came
early on April 24 and
could not contain her
excitement as she watched
the Wienermobile park in
front of Blockbuster.
Guerrero-Randall, a
retired medical librarian
for St. Charles Health
System, always loved the
old advertisements for
Oscar Mayer on TV, but
never had a chance to
see the Wienermobile in
person.
“I didn’t know they still
had this going around,” she
said. “They are actually
still doing promotions. I’m
thrilled.”
Guerrero-Randall
enthusiastically sang the
entire Oscar Mayer song,
took a picture with the
cardboard cutout and got
Derken’s autograph.
She soaked in the nos-
talgia of Oscar Mayer and
Blockbuster, where she still
has a membership card to
rent movies.
“It’s nostalgic in a really
good way,” Guerrero-Ran-
dall said. “It’s that positive
nostalgia. The endorphins
are fl owing.”
and state voting rights
laws won’t arrive until
late August or September,
up to six months behind
schedule. Census offi -
cials said the COVID-19
pandemic delayed the
counting of the popu-
lation and the ability
of staff to compile the
numbers.
The Oregon Supreme
Court ruled April 9 the
Legislature will have until
Sept. 27 to submit maps
for the state House and
Senate seats, as well as
congressional districts.
If they cannot agree on
new districts, Secretary of
State Shemia Fagan will
draw the legislative dis-
tricts while a special judi-
cial panel determines con-
gressional seats. If Fagan’s
maps are found wanting
under legal review, the
Oregon Supreme Court
would draw the lines.
Bend had the largest
population growth in
Oregon — about 25% —
over the past decade.
The other largest con-
centration of growth was
the ring of suburbs around
Portland, with Gresham,
Troutdale and Sandy in
the east showing strong
population increases
and less dense popula-
tion growth in the south-
east toward Estacada. On
the west side, smaller but
dense clusters of growth
are in Beaverton, New-
berg, Tigard and, to the
northeast, St. Helens.
Congressional candi-
dates do not have to be
residents of the district
they represent and reap-
portionment has led to
“district shopping” for
congressional seats.
One name to take
out of the mix for Ore-
gon’s new congressional
seat is Gov. Kate Brown,
according to her long-
time political consul-
tant Thomas Wheatley.
He said after the census
announcement that Brown
is not interested in run-
ning for the seat.
“I don’t even see a
crack” of interest from
Brown, Wheatley said.
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