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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 2021)
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2021 BAKER CITY HERALD — A5 LOCAL & REGION Shortage of employees leads to altered business models across Oregon. Nearly all res- taurants saw a huge uptick in customers. But where demand reached new heights, a new challenge appeared — staffi ng the restaurants which have balanced narrow margins and threats of closure over 2020. In order to keep employees from burning out, Millar cut operating hours and closed down the brewery on Tues- days to keep what employees she has from becoming over- By DAVIS CARBAUGH and whelmed in an industry well ALEX WITTWER known for its high turnover EO Media Group rate and low wages. LA GRANDE — Enter- “I think we’ve reached the prise isn’t the largest town mindset of ‘we have what we in Eastern Oregon, with a have,’ ” she said. “We’ll keep population of 2,052. But it’s just a few miles from the ever hiring as much as possible, but we need to understand popular town of Joseph and its vistas across Wallowa Lake that we’ve got to adjust with to the peaks of the Eagle Cap what the situation is instead of waiting for the situation to Wilderness. adjust itself.” In a normal summer, Terminal Gravity Brewing in Enterprise would be busy all Not much change days of the week serving local, Millar is not alone. Several handcrafted beers to patrons restaurants across the region and traditional brewpub fare. have reported challenges with But due to a labor shortage hiring workers over the sum- this summer the company had mer. Some blamed expanded to cut hours during its lunch federal unemployment ben- rush, and close altogether on efi ts as the culprit for lower Tuesdays. workforce participation, even though the region has seen Natalie Millar, chief ex- ecutive offi cer of the Wallowa lower unemployment benefi ts County brewery, says that it’s claims now than it had before the pandemic started. Others an inevitability that they’ll recognized the high cost of have to close for even more days as their skeleton crew of living, taxes and low supply of housing which has made rents cooks, servers and hostesses return to school — high school, and home prices balloon. Millar explained that while to be exact. “Heading into fall it is look- business picked up consider- ably over the summer, the lack ing like we’re going to have of staffi ng and overburdened to cut an additional day and probably cut lunches,” Millar industry has a cascading effect with other restaurants, caus- said. “It is pretty brutal.” ing a feedback loop of demand Demand for restaurant and short supply. As one busi- meals soared over the sum- ness cuts its hours, patrons mer as restrictions lifted able. Bruce and his daughter, Harvey, own both Timber’s Feedery in Elgin and Local Harvest in La Grande. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unimaginable challenges in staffi ng for both restaurants. With the short- age of workers and revolving mandates for public dining, the owners have adjusted to rolling with the punches. “This far into it and with what we’ve seen, the rules have changed and the rules are different and will change again,” Bruce Rogers said. “We’re just chameleons at this Alex Wittwer/The (La Grande) Observer point. We just change and go with the fl ow while doing our Mariah Davis pours out an IPA for a fl ight of beers best to remain a profi table for customers at Terminal Gravity Brewery and Pub business.” on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. Terminal Gravity recently On top of the shortage of closed down operations on Tuesdays following a staff workers, Timber’s Feedery shortage. Many of the kitchen staff are high school is facing a hurdle as Harvey students, who have returned to school, leaving the Rogers takes maternity leave. brewpub further short staffed. She said she typically works open on Main Street so we’re open to close every day, and look elsewhere for a meal. extremely busy, but extremely her absence has forced Tim- “It’s a funny, weird thing short staffed,” said Jessica ber’s to limit orders to takeout where I think we would all and outdoor dining for the be excited if there were three Eastland, manager at Main more restaurants because we Event Sports Bar and Eatery. time being. Closing indoor dining is just need more places to send “If we had an adequate staff, it would be a very profi table a technique that the owners people to eat so it’s a unique time for us but that’s the used on both restaurants situation over here,” Millar thing — we’ve got people to save costs with a limited said. staff during the early part of Earlier this summer, Baker who are working overtime the pandemic. The Rogerses City’s Main Event Sports Bar hours when we could have had other employees working looked at new ideas in order and Eatery was experienc- ing severe worker burnout in those hours so that we weren’t to stay afl oat during unstable paying more in wages. Our times. June due to staffi ng short- wages right now are through “When you couldn’t have ages which led to closing the the roof because we have so inside dining, we switched restaurant on Tuesdays. many employees that are over to to-go and delivery The situation there has working overtime every single only,” Bruce Rogers said. “We changed little. While the sports bar is open seven days week because we are so short had to start up a delivery staffed.” service to remain competitive a week, they’ve had to cut at that point, but when we evening hours, close earlier and open later throughout the Rolling with the punches opened back up again we shut the delivery off.” week. For Bruce Rogers, CO- Both Timber’s Feedery “We’re very, very busy. On VID-19 has presented the Sundays and Mondays we’re challenge of keeping not one, and Local Harvest changed hours from seven days a one of the only restaurants but two businesses profi t- week to fi ve days a week, and both close an hour ear- lier than they used to. One advantage to owning two restaurants is the ability to rotate staff from one location to another if one restaurant is short. “We have several employ- ees that are able to work at both places, mostly our top three people are very ver- satile for us,” Bruce Rogers said. “They fi ll in everywhere for us.” Older, younger helping fi ll gaps With pandemic-related federal unemployment programs ending on or before Monday, Sept. 6, Bruce Rog- ers is expecting an increase in prospective employees. In addition, students returning to attend Eastern Oregon University in the fall are promising for fi lling positions. To cope with employ- ment challenges, the owners have adjusted the scope of employees compared to who they would typically hire in the past. “The demographics have changed,” Bruce Rogers said. “We’ve started hiring young- er people and we’ve started hiring older people. When we fi nd people that are qualifi ed, we try to snatch them up.” Bruce Rogers noted that both restaurants have been hiring both younger and older employees than in the past. The restaurant hired two 16-year-olds in the sum- mer and had a family friend who is a retired teacher come work for the restaurants. “We’ve leaned on friends and family to help us through this time as well,” he said. Idaho patients in hospital halls amid COVID rationed care By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE — Amid the Idaho coronavirus surge that prompted offi cials to autho- rize hospitals to ration health care, Army soldiers sent to one hospital have traded their fatigues for personal protective equipment to help treat a fl ood of infected patients. The conference center at Kootenai Health hospital in Coeur d’Alene has been con- verted into a fi eld hospital of sorts — with some of its class- rooms fi lled with hospital beds where patients receive oxygen or get monoclonal antibody treatment, hospital offi cials said. At the nearby main hospital building in the city of about 50,000, some emer- gency room patients receive care in a converted lobby and others get it in hallways. Ur- gent surgeries have been put on hold and some patients in critical condition are facing long waits for intensive care beds. The hospital is licensed for 200 regular medical beds — not including the ones designed for children, women giving birth and people experiencing a mental health crisis — and on Wednesday had 218 “med surge” patients, said Jeremy Evans, the hospital’s COVID-19 incident commander. Meanwhile, about 500 of its roughly 3,600 clinical and staff positions are empty, he said, forcing managers to ask administrative staffers and others to take on additional work like cleaning hospital rooms. The overwhelmed hospital is at the epicenter of a corona- virus crisis for the northern part of the state — and where state offi cials this week au- thorized “crisis standards of care” status. That allowed Kootenai Health, where an entire fl oor has been turned into a make- shift COVID-19 unit, and other hospitals in the region to ration health care during the surge. Public health offi cials are warning the health care rationing could soon spread statewide, forcing already traumatized doctors and nurses to make gut-wrench- ing decisions about who will get life-saving care. Newly confi rmed corona- virus infection cases in Idaho are surging and the state is now averaging more than 950 new cases every day, accord- ing Johns Hopkins University — an increase of more than 41% over the past two weeks. Idaho is also last among U.S. states with only about 45% of residents having received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Just under 40% of residents are fully vaccinated, making Idaho 48th the na- tion compared to other states and Washington, D.C. “For the rest of the state, we remain dangerously close to crisis standards of care,” Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen warned Tuesday, when there were just nine available intensive care unit beds in the entire state. The crush of patients has forced Kootenai Health into “doing things that were not normal — way outside of normal — at times,” said hos- pital chief of staff Dr. Robert Scoggins. “Almost every day at this point we are having cardiac arrest from patients when their oxygen levels dip too low and we can’t supply them with enough oxygen,” he said. Kootenai Health recently installed a larger oxygen tank in an effort to treat all the patients. If the hospital’s caseload grows, Scoggins said, the hospital’s oxygen delivery infrastructure — the actual pipes that run through the walls — may not be able to handle the demand. While many of northern Idaho’s smaller, rural hospi- tals have not been forced to ration health care, they fre- quently have no place to send their critically ill patients who would normally be trans- ferred to Kootenai Health. Hospitals in neighbor- ing Washington state would normally help with the over- fl ow, but they are also full of patients, Jeppesen said. Peter Mundt, the spokes- man for Gritman Medical Center in the Idaho city of Moscow said the institution is struggling to fi nd hospi- tal destinations to transfer patients with serious heart problems and other condi- tions unrelated to COVID-19. “Our ability to accommo- date non-COVID patients is very strained at this point,” Mundt said. “Even though we’re all different hospitals, we normally work together as collaborative colleagues and peers. We need it to work as a giant system and that system is just under severe strain right now.” In Lewiston, St. Joseph Regional Medical Center is also operating “at the very edge of our capacity,” spokes- woman Sam Skinner said. “Our current situation is worse than it’s ever been,” Skinner said. “As we continue to see the COVID-19 surge in our community, the impact on one hospital can quickly have this rippling effect. Our low community vaccination rates are putting an incredible burden on our community.” The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare moved northern and north-central Idaho into the crisis designa- tion Monday evening, giving hospitals a legal and ethical template to use while ration- ing care. The designation will re- main in effect until there are enough resources — includ- ing staffi ng, hospital beds and equipment or a drop in the number of patients — to provide normal levels of treat- ment to all patients. Under the guidelines, patients are given priority scores based on a number of factors that impact their like- lihood of surviving a health crisis. Those deemed most in need of care and most likely to benefi t from it are put on priority lists for scarce resources like ICU beds. Others in dire need but with lower chances of surviv- ing will be given “comfort care” to help keep them pain- free whether they succumb to their illnesses or recover. Other patients with seri- ous but not life-threatening medical problems will face delays in receiving care until resources are available. Jeppesen stressed Tues- day that vaccines are the best way to reduce the demand on hospitals. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that full vaccination with any of the currently available coro- navirus vaccines dramatically reduces the risk of requiring hospitalization for a coronavi- rus infection. State health offi cials have also asked people to not go to emergency rooms for asymp- tomatic coronavirus tests or other matters that can be handled in doctor’s offi ces, but said no one should hold off emergency room visits for potentially serious conditions. They warned people people to be prepared to wait for care. Idaho’s hospitals have struggled to fi ll empty nurs- ing, housekeeping and other health care positions, in part because some staffers have left because they are burned out by the strain of the pandemic and because oth- ers have been quarantined because they were exposed to COVID-19. Late last month, Idaho Gov. Brad Little called in 220 medical workers available through federal programs and mobilized 150 Idaho Na- tional Guard soldiers to help hospitals cope with the surge. Veteran's Appreciation Day! VETERAN SERVICES & INFO WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE CLUBHOUSE. Sunday, September 12, 2021 PARTICIPANTS ARE 9am ENCOURAGED TO CALL AHEAD FOR TEE to 3pm TIMES (9AM TO 2PM). PLEASE CALL 541-523-2358. CURRENT STATE COVID GUIDELINES WILL BE FOLLOWED. Sunday, 12, 2021 2021 Sunday, September September 12, 9am to to 3pm 3pm 9am