Business
AgLife
Wallowa
Memorial
again on
top 20 list
In
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — For the ﬁ fth time in
the past six years, Wallowa Memorial Hos-
pital has been ranked among the top 20 crit-
ical access hospitals for overall performance
in the country and the only hospital to make
the esteemed list in all of Oregon, according
to a press release.
The top 20 hospitals scored best as deter-
mined by the Chartis Center for Rural
Health for Overall Performance. The rank-
ings were recently announced by the
National Rural Health Association. In Sep-
tember an awards ceremony will be held
during NRHA’s Critical Access Hospital
Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.
The top 20 CAHs have achieved success
in overall performance based on a com-
posite rating from eight indices of strength:
inpatient market share, outpatient market
share, quality, outcomes, patient perspec-
tive, cost, charge and ﬁ nance. This group
was selected from the Chartis Center for
Rural Health’s 2022 top 100 CAH list,
which was released earlier this year.
The top 20 CAH best-practice recipients
have achieved success in one of two key
areas of performance:
• Quality index: A rating of hospital
performance based on the percentile
rank across rural-relevant process of care
measures.
• Patient perspective index: A rating
of hospital performance based on the
percentile rank across all 10 HCAHPS
domains.
“Wallowa Memorial is proud of the
eﬀ orts of our hardworking physicians and
staﬀ who have contributed to our hospital
achieving this designation,” said Larry
Davy, hospital CEO. “The support of our
community is also a signiﬁ cant part of this
success. It has allowed us to add several
desired services that are often not oﬀ ered in
rural communities. These services include
but are not limited to orthopedics, exten-
sive rehabilitation services and outpatient
therapy for cancer patients. Our results as
an overall top performer means our commu-
nity can count on us to deliver the services
they need now and in the future.”
Wallowa Memorial Hospital is a 25-bed
Critical Access Hospital and Level IV
Trauma Center. The current hospital was
built in 2007 and serves the residents and
visitors of Wallowa County.
B
Thursday, May 12, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
bloom
Merrigan’s Fresh Cut Flowers is
starting with help of Imbler High
School’s FFA chapter
•
By DICK MASON
The Observer
I
MBLER — Stacey Merrigan
does not have a greenhouse
but she is blessed with a
green thumb.
Anybody who has seen the eye-
catching bouquets she makes from the
ﬂ owers she raises would agree.
The Imbler resident’s gift for
growing plants will undoubtedly serve
her well as she launches her new busi-
ness, Merrigan’s Fresh Cut Flowers, on
a small parcel of land at her home.
The new business is one of many
similar ones blooming on small pieces
of land in the United States.
“There is a ﬂ ower movement,” Mer-
rigan said.
The demand for locally grown
fresh-cut ﬂ owers increased during the
COVID-19 pandemic, Merrigan said.
She explained that it takes longer to
receive ﬂ owers ordered from outside
Northeastern Oregon because of supply
chain issues caused by the pandemic.
Imported ﬂ owers are in transit longer
and as a result will be in bloom for less
time after arriving.
“Fresh-cut ﬂ owers have a longer vase
life than imported ones,” she said.
The Imbler resident grows tulips,
sunﬂ owers, peonies, zinnias, snap-
dragons and more ﬂ owers at her home
but does not plan to have a shop with
regular business hours. Instead, when
See, Flowers/Page B2
Dick Mason/The Observer
Stacey Merrigan examines
some of the ﬂ owers grown for
her new business, Merrigan’s
Fresh Cut Flowers, on Monday,
May 9, 2022, in Imbler.
Eastern Oregon operation a ‘family farm’
Cunningham Sheep
Co. one of Oregon’s
largest and oldest
family-run farms
ly-run farms, with thou-
sands of sheep plus cattle,
timber, wheat and hunting
grounds.
Those familiar with the
farm say its success was
built on more than just land
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
and capital; it was also
Capital Press
forged through ﬁ ve gen-
erations of family mem-
PENDLETON — Inside
bers, each contributing to
the Pendleton Woolen
the farm in diﬀ erent ways
Mills retail store, shoppers
through a highly orches-
oohed and aahed while ﬁ n-
trated business structure.
gering vibrantly col-
“We are truly a
ored clothing and
family ranch with
blankets.
almost a 100-year
“I love people’s
history in the same
reactions. That’s the
family, and to me,
most gratifying thing
that’s the most
about this work,” said
important thing, not
John Bishop, pres-
so much how much
Corey
ident of Pendleton
sagebrush we’ve
Woolen Mills.
got,” said Steve
In the adjoining
Corey, 75, himself a
mill — run by gen-
member of the family
erations of the same
farm.
family since 1909
Corey, former
— skilled artisans
longtime chair and
worked alongside
secretary-treasurer
Krebs
roaring machinery.
of the farm’s board,
Wool was carded,
acted as spokes-
aligned into roving,
person for the family
wound onto spools,
business and gave the
stretched and twisted
Capital Press a tour
into yarn on spin-
of the farm.
ning frames and sent
Five generations
to looms to be woven
Swannack
According to
into cloth.
Some of this wool came
family records, the sheep
from the Cunningham
business was founded by
Sheep Co., one of Oregon’s
Charles Cunningham in
largest and oldest fami-
1873.
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Leah Swannack, a Washington State University veterinary student, left, with Glen Krebs, lead sheepherder
at Cunningham Sheep Co., right, check the health of a newborn lamb.
In 1933, Mac Hoke and
his business partner, Don
Cameron, acquired it. Cam-
eron later sold to Hoke’s
family, in whose hands the
farm has remained ever
since.
Hoke and his wife,
Carrie, the ﬁ rst genera-
tion, had two daughters:
Joan and Helen, the second
generation.
Joan married a Corey
and Helen married a Levy.
Joan Hoke Corey had
three children and Helen
Hoke Levy had six — the
third generation.
In the fourth generation,
there are six Coreys and 17
Levys.
The ﬁ fth generation is
composed of around 30
children.
About 75% of the family
has stayed in Eastern
Oregon, and most family
members — including the
children — spend some
time on the farm.
Everyone has a voice
Industry leaders and
community members say
the farm’s success is partly
attributable to its structure,
which strategically incorpo-
rates generations of family
members.
Direct lineal descendants
inherit interest in the com-
pany, but non-owners also
play a role.
The family has two enti-
ties that contribute to the
business: a family board
and a family council.
The board includes eight
family members and one
independent director. Board
members vote on busi-
ness decisions. The current
board has seven fourth-gen-
eration family members
and one third-generation
member. Older generations
are transitioning out.
The family council is
separate, existing to give
everyone a voice. Spouses
of lineal descendants are
allowed to participate.
Although council members
don’t get to vote on business
decisions, the council keeps
the family connected and
is a “breeding ground for
ideas,” Steve Corey said.
On some family farms,
only those who actually
work the ground get an
ownership stake and a say
in how the farm is run,
but that’s not the case with
Cunningham Sheep Co.
This family encourages
each generation to pursue
their own career interests,
on or oﬀ the farm, but to be
part of the farm either way.
Some family mem-
bers have chosen farm life,
including Dick Levy, who
manages cattle, and Bob
Levy, who oversees sheep.
Others have chosen oﬀ -
farm occupations, including
Steve Corey, who worked
in the farm’s wheat ﬁ elds
when he was young, studied
history at Yale Univer-
sity and law at Stanford
See, Sheep/Page B2