INSIDE
DOVE DECOYS ENHANCE THE HUNT |
OUTDOORS & REC, B1
WEEKEND EDITION
August 21, 2021
COVID-19
BAKER COUNTY
Carrying
on the
name
Rural Baker
County town is
gone, but namesake
store remains
BY LISA BRITTON
Baker City Herald
PONDOSA — Bob
Bennett is just three years
older than the Pondosa
Store, where he’s been
selling cold drinks and ice
cream since 1983.
Bob, 98, was born in
1923.
The store was built in
1926 to serve Pondosa, a
mill town about 36 miles
southeast of La Grande
on state Highway 203, a
couple miles from Medical
Springs.
Pondosa as a town no
longer exists. But Bob is
happy to share the story
with anyone who happens
by his remote store.
Although Pondosa was
home to 500 people at one
time, it was wholly depen-
dent on a lumber mill.
The mill closed in 1959
— the same year the area
was named the geographic
center of the United States
with the addition of Alaska
and Hawaii.
“They were going to
name it Centerville, USA,
but the town closed up,”
said Lori Brock, Bob’s
daughter who moved to
Pondosa several years ago.
Lester Gaddy, brother
to Bob’s wife, Jean, saw
an advertisement in the
Eugene Register-Guard.
“The whole town. For
sale,” Lori said.
Lester, she said, “traded
three city blocks for the
whole town.”
Lester died in 1982, and
left his property to Jean,
his only sister.
Jean and Bob Bennett
faced a decision: sell the
Pondosa property, or sell
their Eugene home and
move to Eastern Oregon.
“I had a debate on it,”
Bob remembers.
He’d lived in Eugene
all of his life, and had
recently retired from
Georgia-Pacifi c, a timber
company.
But he was tired of the
rain west of the Cascades.
$1.50
‘We’re in this together’
Grande Ronde Hospital, local officials tackle capacity concerns during COVID-19 surge
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Beds and
staff . Those are the two things
hospitals are short on during
the pandemic.
Grande Ronde Hospital is
no diff erent.
Hospital staff addressed
those concerns during a virtual
public forum on Wednesday,
Aug. 18. Doctors, hospital staff
and public offi cials outlined
the current status of the hos-
pital and how it plans to navi-
gate through the recent rise in
COVID-19 cases.
“We must band
together against
this unrelenting
pandemic and the
variants we’re
facing if we want
to reclaim the
Davis
way of life that
we enjoy in Eastern Oregon,”
Grande Ronde Hospital Pres-
ident and Chief Executive
Offi cer Jeremy Davis said.
Davis spoke at the virtual
meeting alongside several doc-
tors from the hospital as well
as La Grande Mayor Steve
Clements, Center for Human
Development Public Health
Administrator Carrie Brogoitti,
La Grande School District
Superintendent George Men-
doza and Union County Com-
missioner Matt Scarfo.
Davis emphasized
the increasing statewide
COVID-19 numbers in August
and noted staff fatigue and
shortages are weighing heavily
on the hospital. According to
Davis, there were only two
available ICU beds in Eastern
Oregon at one point earlier this
month. To his knowledge, there
are currently none available in
Eastern Oregon.
As of Aug. 18, Union
County had recorded 328
COVID-19 cases, setting a
record high for monthly cases,
and the county’s seven-day
average for positive tests was
Mardi Ford/Grande Ronde Hospital
Only fi ve beds remained empty at Grande Ronde Hospital on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021. Increased hospitalizations from
COVID-19-positive patients from the virus’s recent surge in Oregon is aff ecting hospitals everywhere.
just over 20 per day.
Davis also stated approx-
imately 10% of ICU beds in
Oregon are currently avail-
able for new patients. The ICU
at Grande Ronde Hospital
has six beds, operating with
a maximum of three to four
COVID-19 patients at once.
Grande Ronde Hospital has
25 total beds, but that number
can be increased in the case of
a mass infl ux of patients. On
Aug. 19, fi ve beds remained
empty at the hospital, but that
number fl uctuates daily. In
the case of a large increase of
patients, alternative care sites
in the area can be utilized to
create extra space. Grande
Ronde Hospital is not currently
utilizing the GRH Pavilion for
additional space.
Davis said staffi ng issues
are more pertinent right now.
From overall fatigue due to
the pandemic to the large
amount of labor and equipment
required to work in the ICU,
the staff has been pushed to
new limits by COVID-19.
“We’re struggling because
of a staffi ng issue, but there are
beds available,” he said.
Nationwide issue
The hospital capacity
stretches across the region and
the entire country.
GRH would typically
transfer patients to medical
facilities in Boise, Walla Walla
or the Tri-Cities, but many of
the larger hospitals are cur-
rently unable to take patients.
Davis mentioned an instance
of a patient being transferred
to Montana and a patient who
required more than 40 phone
calls to fi nd a bed for.
“It’s hard to transfer
patients, and it’s hard to get
them admitted to our hos-
pital because we’re low on
beds at times,” said Dr. Ste-
phen McIlmoil, an emergency
medicine doctor
at Grande Ronde
Hospital.
McIlmoil noted
that the emer-
gency room at the
McIlmoil
hospital is packed
with patients
beyond just those dealing with
COVID-19.
The hospital staff reported
there has been a 200% increase
in emergency room visits in
See, Surge/Page A5
Brown orders a double dose
no current plans for earlier
actions, such as restoring
pandemic restrictions on
businesses and gather-
ings, or curbing big events
upcoming events such as
the Oregon State Fair, the
Pendleton Round-Up or
Oregon Ducks football
games.
“Everything is on the
table,” Brown said, using a
frequently invoked phrase
to leave open options if
the pandemic trends shift
again.
Teachers, health
care workers must
get COVID-19
vaccine by Oct. 18
See, Pondosa/Page A5
By GARY WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Facing a
sharp surge in COVID-19
infections that threatens to
swamp Oregon hospitals,
Gov. Kate Brown ordered
a double dose Thursday,
Aug. 19, of mandatory
vaccination mandates.
All K-12 educators,
school staff and volun-
teers must be vaccinated
no later than Oct. 18, or
six weeks after the Food
and Drug Administration
approves a vaccine.
“COVID-19 poses a
threat to our kids, and our
kids need to be protected
and they need to be in
Problem will only get
worse
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
La Grande High School teacher James Akers leads a class at Freshman Academy on Wednesday, Aug. 11,
2021. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Thursday, Aug. 19, that all health care workers and teachers
will be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine by Oct. 18, or six weeks after the Food and Drug Administra-
tion gives fi nal approval to the vaccines.
school,” Brown said.
A second mandate with
the same deadline would
apply to doctors, nurses,
INDEX
Classified ...............B2
Comics ....................B5
Crossword .............B2
Dear Abby .............B6
emergency medical teams
and other health care
workers.
The mandates have a
WEATHER
Horoscope .............B2
Lottery ....................A2
Obituaries ..............A3
Opinion ..................A4
TUESDAY
Outdoors & Rec ...B1
Records ..................A3
Sports .....................A6
Sudoku ...................B5
deadline far beyond the
projected Sept. 3 peak of
the current spike in cases.
Brown said there were
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Friday
52 LOW
79/51
Mainly clear
Partly sunny
LOCAL REACTION TO VACCINE MANDATE
State health offi cials
know they have an explo-
sion of COVID-19 cases
with a likelihood that the
problem will only grow
over the next two weeks.
Daily infections have
exploded in the past six
See, Vaccine/Page A5
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 98
2 sections, 12 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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