BUSINESS
Wallowa County Chieftain
A6
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Ambulance service answers the call for fi res, COVID
BIZZ
BUZZ
By Bill Bradshaw
E
NTERPRISE — An
ambulance service
based in Eastern Ore-
gon that often helps with
wildfi re victims has turned
its attention to the still-rag-
ing COVID-19 pandemic
that, unlike last year’s wild-
fi res, has not yet subsided.
Owned by Chris Arvid-
son, of Baker City, Med
Transport is a privately
held ambulance service that
responds to calls — in addi-
tion to Oregon — in Cali-
fornia, Texas, Maryland and
New Jersey. Arvidson said
he has a pool of 45 para-
medics and a handful of
emergency medical techni-
cians who can be deployed.
Med Transport/Contributed Photo
Med Transport does trauma admits, taking trauma patients from local Eastern Oregon ICU’s
and emergency departments to trauma centers throughout the Northwest. Reducing the cost
of rural health care one transport at a time.
“We have changed the
services off ered by our ser-
vice and have been fortu-
nate to send out the experi-
enced personnel to represent
our community and our ser-
vice throughout the coun-
try,” Arvidson said in a
press release.
In Eastern Oregon, para-
medics reside in Enterprise,
Baker City, La Grande and
Pendleton, Arvidson said.
Arvidson spoke highly
of his Enterprise para-
medic, Sean Cariss, who has
worked on fi res and disas-
ter-relief assignments with
the service.
“I spent a good part of
October on an ambulance
with him in Central Ore-
gon,” Arvidson said in the
release. “He’s a compe-
tent paramedic and is cur-
rently fi nishing up his criti-
cal-care certifi cations while
on deployments.”
While Med Transport
used to chiefl y do interfa-
cility transfers, the service
got heavily into wildfi re
relief and, last year, doing
vaccination clinics. Of late,
Cariss said, he’s been to
California and New Jersey
doing such clinics.
“They’re all over the
place,” he said. “Wherever
the federal government asks
to have resources sent.”
Med Transport is get-
ting involved with a variety
of activities to combat the
pandemic. The press release
mentioned COVID step-
down units that, Cariss said,
are fi eld hospitals where
lower-risk patients are sent
while recovering from the
virus when hospitals are at
capacity.
“We did see some pretty
sick COVID patients,
although they’re now on the
road to recovery,” he said.
There also are COVID
infusion centers, such as in
California where the state
health authority is trying
experimental medication to
help with symptoms of the
virus, he said.
Cariss said in an inter-
view that he’s only been
with Med Transport since
September 2020. He’s been
living in Enterprise since
& Skylight
Gallery
2017, primarily working as
a paramedic, but also doing
wildland fi refi ghting.
He got started with Med
Transport while working
part time in eastern Umatilla
County and Arvidson called
where he was working look-
ing for additional staff .
He said he likes the type
of work since it gives him
plenty of time off to spend
with his wife.
“It’s not guaranteed
work; it’s contract work,”
he said. “It’s hit-and-miss
stuff .”
He said it works well
since it’s just him and his
wife.
“If I had kids, it’d be
harder,” he said.
While it can be
tough work with an ele-
ment of danger, there are
advantages.
“You get to see things
you wouldn’t normally see,”
Cariss said.
In Eastern Oregon,
Med Transport has at least
three other paramedics,
the release stated. Bruce
Cheeseman is based in La
Grande, Nick Cripe is based
in Baker City, and Mark
Lewis is a recently retired
fi refi ghter paramedic from
Pendleton.
“Some of our medics
have done multiple deploy-
ments of 15-30 days and
some have been out for over
90 days,” Arvidson said in
the release.
For more information on
Med Transport, visit http://
medtransporteo.com or its
facebook page.
———
Bill Bradshaw is a
reporter for the Wallowa
County Chieftain. Have a
business tip? Contact him
at 541-398-5503 or bbrad-
shaw@wallowa.com.
Church
Directory
Finding books is
our specialty
CLUES ACROSS
1. Depilatory brand
5. “Surely you ___!”
9. Formal agreements
14. Present opening?
15. Region
16. Dole out
17. *Intergalactic makers’
studio? (hint: read each
starred answer’s middle
word twice)
20. Quick look
21. Runway display
22. New York NBA player
24. Played music at a club
26. Snowballs, in a snowball
fight
27. Actress Rowlands
28. Moderate gait
29. Long-eared animals
30. *Retaliation for overdue
wages?
33. Nonbinary possessive
34. Speech-language
pathologist’s concerns
38. *Where Fred Flintstone
goes to get away from
it all?
43. ___-full
47. Eclipse, to some
48. Mineral deposits
49. Queue
50. Texter’s “Then again ...”
51. Bread for Swiss cheese?
52. Sandal feature
54. Chest press targets,
informally
55. *Chardonnay served at
a state dinner, say?
60. Network connections
61. Like some affordable
textbooks
62. GPS calculations
63. Trains in the ring
64. Prepare for takeoff
65. Enlist again
CLUES DOWN
1. Negative replies
2. What an electric guitar
hooks up to
Joseph United
Methodist Church
Grace Lutheran
Church
3rd & Lake St. • Joseph
Pastor Cherie Dearth
Phone: 541-432-3102
409 West Main - Enterprise
Worship Online at
JosephUMC.org
Enterprise
Christian Church
Lenten Service
4:00pm Feb 24 - Mar 24
Sunday Worship
at 9am
Pastor John B. King Jr
phone (message): 541-426-4633
web: gracelutheranenterprise.com
St. Patrick’s
Episcopal Church
85035 Joseph Hwy • (541) 426-3449
We have ‘In-person worship” @ 9:00 am
(Guidelines observed)
Sunday School at 10:30
Parking Lot Radio/Facebook @ 9:00
100 NE 3rd St, Enterprise
NE 3rd & Main St
541-426-3439
Worship Service
Sunday 9:30am
David Bruce
Pastor, Enterprise Christian Church
Lostine
Presbyterian Church
Discussion Group 9:30 AM
Worship Service 11:00 AM
Childrens program during service
Blog: dancingforth.blogspot.com
CLUES DOWN
3. If all else fails
4. Puffed snack
5. Guy in a toy box?
6. Add wrong, perhaps
7. ___ shanty
8. Ball gown fabric
9. Word after “boarding” or
“touchdown”
10. Pack leaders
11. Insurance cases
12. In store
13. Shorthand pros
18. Startled cry
19. Wee bit
22. Soviet spy org.
23. Tidy
24. Like some hard cider
25. “You had one ___!”
28. Skating gold medalist Lipinski
29. Similar (to)
31. Guitar strummer
32. Extended family
35. Hot day
36. 2019 film that won Best Picture
37. “Frozen” reindeer
39. Replace, electorally
40. Dashboard Confessional genre
41. “I’m not impressed”
42. Upper-left key
43. Birthday party performers
44. Genre for Nicki Minaj
45. Upstate New York tribe
46. One often on the rebound?
50. “I’m impressed!”
51. Not many
53. Model Holliday
54. Toenail treatment, informally
56. Megan Rapinoe’s team
57. Kind of hormone
58. T, on a sorority sweatshirt
59. Sixth sense, for short
107 E. Main • Enterprise • 541-426-3351
www.bookloftoregon.com
Summit Church
Sundays at 9:30 am and 11 am
at the Cloverleaf Hall in Enterprise.
Masks are required - but made available at the door.
Pastor: David Pendleton
541.398.0597
Hwy 82, Lostine
www.summitchurchoregon.org
Stephen Kliewer, Minister
Cloverleaf Hall • 668 NW 1st St. • Enterprise, OR 97828
Wallowa
Assembly
of God
702 West Hwy 82
Wallowa, Oregon
541-886-8445
Sunday School • 9:am
Worship Service • 10:am
Pastor Tim Barton
Visit Us on
Seventh-Day Adventist
Church & School
305 Wagner (near the Cemetery)
P.O. Box N. Enterprise, OR 97828
Church 541-426-3751
School 541-426-8339
Pastor David Ballard 503-810-9886
Worship Hour
10:30 a.m. - Noon
Christ
Covenant
Christ Covenant
Church
Church
Pastor Terry Tollefson
Church Office: 541-263-0505
Family Prayer 8:30 a.m.
Sunday School 9:00 a.m.
Worship 10:00 a.m.
723 College Street, Lostine
Enterprise Community
Congregational Church
Join us at the
BIG BROWN CHURCH
Sunday Worship 11:00 am
Bible Studies:
Sundays 9:30 am &
Thursdays, 5:30 pm
Led by Lay Pastor Archie Hook
301 NE First St. • Enterprise, OR
Find us on Facebook! 541.426.3044