LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
A3
Wallowa Memorial Hospital is again among the nation’s best
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — It’s an
award Wallowa Memorial
Hospital has become accus-
tomed to earning.
Earlier this month, the
hospital was included in the
nationwide list of the Top
100 Critical Access Hospi-
tals, the fi fth year in a row
and eighth time in 11 years
it has received the honor,
according to a press release.
“We would not have this
success without the contin-
ued support of the board, the
Wallowa Valley Health Care
Foundation and our commu-
nity,” hospital CEO Larry
Davy said in the release.
“Their unwavering support
ensures that we have the
equipment we need to allow
us to continue to add to, and
further develop the services
that we off er here in Wal-
lowa County.”
Three of those past four
years, the hospital has been
in the top 20, according to
WMH
Communications
Director Brooke Pace. Last
year, it had a percentile rat-
ing of 99.7, according to a
November 2020 Chieftain
article.
The Top 20 list comes
out later this year. She told
the Chieftain that of 25 crit-
ical-access hospitals in Ore-
IN BRIEF
Business planning
workshop set
ENTERPRISE — A
free six-week workshop
to help entrepreneurs and
small-business owners build
the basis for a success-
ful business called “Busi-
ness Foundations” will
take place on Wednesdays,
beginning March 31 and
running through May 5.
The classes will run from
6-8:30 p.m.
Classes are conducted
via videoconference by Lisa
Dawson, who has taught
Business Foundations for
more than 10 years. This
hands-on class covers the
basics of running a success-
ful business: overhead and
inventory costs, goal-setting
and sales projection, mar-
keting, taxes and licensing
and other considerations,
and brings it all together in
a business plan.
Register at www.neoedd.
org or call the Wallowa
County Chamber of Com-
merce at 541-426-4622.
Learn to create
a business
destination
ENTERPRISE — Two
opportunities for the mul-
tiple-session
Destination
Creation course are being
off ered by the Northeast
Oregon Economic Devel-
opment District in coming
weeks.
The courses are held from
5:30-7:30 p.m. on Mondays
and Thursdays from March
29 to April 22 or April 26 to
May 20.
Participants will learn
to use strategy and tools to
keep local customers spend-
ing money with their busi-
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Wallowa Memorial Hospital was named a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital for the fi fth year in a
row and eighth time in 11 years.
gon, only three made the top
100 nationwide list.
“The Top 100 program
continues to illuminate strat-
egies and innovation for
delivering
higher-quality
care and better outcomes
within rural communities,”
Michael Topchik, National
Leader of The Chartis Cen-
ter for Rural Health, said
in the press release. “We
are delighted to be able
to spotlight the eff orts of
these facilities through the
INDEX framework.”
Davy elaborated on the
impact of the community,
foundation and the board, as
well as praised the staff for
its eff orts.
“As far as the foundation
goes, they’ve raised seven
fi gures dollar-wise over
the years, and that’s been a
focus (directed to) equip-
ment or staff training. When
you have the most current,
best (equipment), whether
it’s a mammogram machine,
bone density machine, CAT
scan, lab equipment … that
is huge for staff to do a top-
notch job,” he said in an
interview with the Chief-
tain. “Great equipment has a
great result. Rural hospitals
really struggle with funding
and equipment.
“The foundation can’t
do its role without the com-
munity. This community
has been phenomenal for
decades … Our board has
been very committed to
investment. Just having a
fairly new hospital is a huge
undertaking, and expanding
nesses and start drawing
customers from well beyond
the immediate marketplace
in this workshop for busi-
ness owners.
Learn how to change a
business into a consumer
destination that is consis-
tently preferred by custom-
ers, helping a business cap-
ture more market share, even
when larger, better-capital-
ized competitors seemingly
have the advantage.
This series will provide
the framework for how to
think about a business, the
changes needed to pivot to
online sales and how to posi-
tion a business to become
a destination that custom-
ers will frequent during the
time of COVID and beyond.
To register, visit https://
www.neoedd.org/events.
For more information,
visit www.neoedd.org or
call the Wallowa County
Chamber of Commerce at
541-426-4622.
fi nely ground glass that is
fused to the metal using a
heat source such as a torch
or kiln. Small torches will
be used in the class.
Anyone who has a small
torch they are comfortable
with and like to use is wel-
come to bring it to class.
There will be tools available
for use in class. The class
will be working with copper
and powdered enamels.
No experience necessary.
For more information,
contact the Josephy Center
at 541-432-0505 or info@
josephy.org.
recently announced.
Suto, a graduate of
Joseph Charter School,
earned her bachelor of sci-
ence in biology from the
Catholic university.
Also,
eight
gradu-
ates of Wallowa County
high schools were recently
named to Eastern Oregon
University’s Dean’s List for
the 2020 fall term.
To make the Dean’s List,
a student must have a grade-
point average of at least
3.5 and complete a mini-
mum of 12 hours of graded
coursework.
From Enterprise, the
Dean’s List students were
Dylan
Edwards, Amy
Kiesecker and Madison
McDowell.
From Joseph, Paige
Hunting, Gracie Niezen,
Heidi Niezen and Ella
Coughlan made the Dean’s
List.
And from Wallowa,
Rylee Goller earned the
honor.
— Chieftain staff
Class on Adding
Color to Copper
planned
Local students
earn collegiate
academic accolades
WALLOWA COUNTY
— Johnelle Suto was
among 53 students to com-
plete degree requirements
from Mount Mary Univer-
sity in Milwaukee, Wis-
consin, following the fall
2020 semester, the school
“I would defi nitely say
the community support, and
Larry is always very mod-
est, but I would say that (it
also happens) through fan-
tastic strategic planning
and evaluation of commu-
nity needs,” she said. “We
do the community needs
assessment every two years
to see what is lacking. Stra-
tegically, that is our highest
priority.”
Davy said among the
areas the hospital is always
analyzing is how to keep
costs down, and how to
become more effi cient.
“Maybe you have a pro-
cess that takes 20 steps —
how do you reduce it to
8-10, which saves money?”
he said. “How do you sched-
ule clinics so the customer
doesn’t have to wait much?
(How do you get) them
through quicker? There’s a
lot of effi ciency things ...
“One thing businesses
have done is try to reduce
the supply they have at any
one time … The down-
side of that is COVID hit,
and we didn’t have masks.
Then you are always coun-
tered by wages, benefi ts, our
insurances going through
the roof, a lot of costs going
through the roof. I think in
summary, it’s squeezing
waste out of the system as
best we can.”
WINTER
HOURS
DINE I K N E
OR TA T
OU Taking
Wed. & Thur. 10
Fri. & Sat. 10 am am - 7 pm
- 8 pm
Sun. 10 am - 7 pm
Now
s
Reservation
TAKE OUT ORDERS • CALL 541-569-2285
NATIONAL
VIETNAM WAR
VETERANS DAY
29 MARCH
This week’s featured book
Klara and
the Sun
JOSEPH — A new art
class called Adding Color to
Copper is being off ered by
the Josephy Center for Arts
and Culture in Joseph, to be
held Saturday, April 24 from
1-4 p.m.
Those interested in par-
ticipating must register by
April 20 at https://preview.
tinyurl.com/CopperColor.
Cost for the class is $50.
Register now, as the class
size is limited to six persons.
The class will be held in
an in-person format at the
Josephy Center at 403 N.
Main St. Face masks are
required.
Under the instruction of
Dona Miller, participants
will learn the basics of add-
ing color to metal through
enameling. Enameling uses
by Kazuo Ishiguro
107 E. Main St.
Enterprise OR 541-426-3351
bookloftoregon.com • manager@bookloft.org
OF
THE
NORS
SCHOLASTIC ph H Ch O arter School,
SPACE
RESERVATION
uate of Jose
Johnelle Suto, a gr ee ad requirements from Mount Mary
completed degr kee, Wisconsin, following the fall
owa County
University in Milw r. au
ht graduates of W Ea all stern Oregon
2020 semeste Eig
to
recently named 20 fall term: EHS
high schools were an
’s List for the 20 r and Madison
De
s
’
ty
rsi
Unive
rds, Amy Kiesecke
wa
Ed
graduates Dylan JCS graduates Paige Hunting, Gracie ;
an
McDowell;
en and Ella Coughl lle
Niezen, Heidi Niez gr
Go r.
lee
Ry
udly
te
ua
ad
Pro onsore d b y
HS
and W
Sp
VISIT US
ON THE
WEB
services. What we off er peo-
ple within Wallowa County
and outside … They consis-
tently invest millions of dol-
lars a year.
“The other two factors
of that … you gotta have
terrifi c staff and providers
to take that to the next step
with the personal touch with
patients.”
The CEO said that part of
what has helped the hospi-
tal build to the level it main-
tains is a deal with interna-
tional registrar Det Norske
Veritas to be accredited
annually, rather than every
three years by the state.
“They come every single
year, and they go through
everything,” Davy said of
DNV, which is headquar-
tered in Norway. “We felt
like we wanted to make our-
selves more accountable.”
Davy, who is in his sec-
ond stint as the hospital
CEO, said it hadn’t been
accredited for about fi ve
years prior to his return in
2014.
“That’s been huge,” he
said of the contract with
DNV. “We’ve done that for,
I think, four years.”
Pace also pointed to the
community support and
eff orts of the staff as rea-
sons for the hospital consis-
tently being near the top of
the nation.
for weekly advertising is 5pm Friday
for the following week. Ad copy is
due on Monday at 10am. Ads must be
approved by Tuesday at 12pm.
To advertise call Jennifer Cooney at 541-805-9630
209 NW First St. Enterprise, OR 97828
www.wallowa.com
Spring Cometh
Wallowa.com
www.main-street-motors.com
sales@main-street-motors.com
1984 BMW
2013 FORD THOR
733 I AUTOMATIC
F53 HURRICANE MOTORCOACH
Stock # 10948
RWD
$3,885
Stock # 10972
RWD, Two slides, sleeps
eight, very nice condition
54,125 MI.
$54,900
2015 FORD
FIESTA SE
Stock # 10940B
FWD, A/C, PS, PW, Pwr
Locks 37,963 MI.
$8,950
2012 HONDA
Old Fashioned Values
Sales & Services
CIVIC EX
Stock # 10913A
FWD, A/C, PS, PW,
Pwr Locks
$6,985 541-426-2100
311 West Main St. • Enterprise