Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 2021)
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS | PAGE 7 GO! EASTERN OREGON MAGAZINE | INSIDE Wednesday, October 13, 2021 153rd Year • No. 41 • 16 Pages • $1.50 MyEagleNews.com Man of steel Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian Ann Marie Hardin, a hospital chaplain, pos- es for a portrait Friday, Oct. 8, in the chapel at St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton. Chaplain off ers solace in pandemic By BRYCE DOLE East Oregonian PENDLETON — The patient had been fi ghting in the intensive care unit for weeks, and the nurse had grown attached. He was younger than most COVID- 19 patients admitted to CHI St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton. It was August, and the delta variant was rag- ing through Oregon, fi lling hospitals with patients and exhausting health care workers. A record number of Umatilla County residents who contracted the virus died that month. He was one of them. Ann Marie Hardin, a hospital chap- lain, was called in to help with the next steps, telling the family and the funeral home. She turned a corner and saw the nurse, who burst into tears and fell into Hardin’s arms. “She felt that it was such a waste,” Hardin said. “The patient was young. Had the patient been vaccinated, there potentially could have been a diff erent outcome. And that was really hard to process for her. She felt that it shouldn’t have had to happen. He shouldn’t have had to die. And she looked to me as a safe place to lay some of that sadness.” Hardin did what she has done throughout the pandemic — she lis- tened. The nurse vented to Hardin about things she knew few would understand but her. “We had a conversation about how hard this was for her because she had gotten attached to the patient,” said Hardin. “And I was reminded that I do this job to try to help our nurses through these hard moments.” As one of St. Anthony’s three chap- lains, Hardin’s job is to walk around the hospital and talk to health care workers, helping them fi nd solace and make sense of what they witness. It’s a job several health care workers say has become especially critical as they endure the pandemic’s toll. See Chaplain, Page A11 Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle Bruce Ward stands in front of a steel-framed house under construction. Ward, who owns Sunrise Construction Specialties, is a longtime evangelist for the fi re-resistant construction technique. Local homebuilder touts benefi ts of steel-frame construction He said part of the reason the project’s build- ers opted for a steel frame was that termites were a signifi cant problem in Hawaii. s wildfires in Oregon become Termite resistance is “one of the side bene- fi ts” of framing with steel, he said. more frequent and destruc- “I’ve had several people I’ve built houses tive, residents in at-risk areas, for over the years say to me, ‘We don’t have any including Grant County, have bugs in our house,’ and I’ve told them, ‘Well, begun to explore ways to keep there’s nothing for them to bur- their homes safe. “I’VE HAD SEVERAL PEOPLE I’VE BUILT row into,’” Ward said. With hot, dry summers The overriding benefi t of a now a fact of life, an increas- ing number of the county’s HOUSES FOR OVER THE YEARS SAY TO ME, steel-framed home, Ward said, new homeowners have opted ‘WE DON’T HAVE ANY BUGS IN OUR HOUSE,’ is its resistance to fi res and other natural disasters. for steel-framed, fi re-resistant AND I’VE TOLD THEM, ‘WELL, THERE’S “The components in my homes. house are not going to fuel a Grant County resident NOTHING FOR THEM TO BURROW INTO.’” fi re,” Ward said. For example, Bruce Ward, who owns Sunrise Bruce Ward, owner of Sunrise Construction Specialties he told the Eagle, a faulty elec- Construction Specialties with trical box inside a wall, a com- his wife, Kimberly, has been mon cause of house fi res, would building steel-framed homes for decades. Later, Ward said, he was recruited by the not burn in a steel-framed home. Within an inte- In fact, he is somewhat of an evangelist for head of U.S. Steel and teamed up with an engi- rior wall, with fi re-resistant studs on each side, the construction technique. For fi ve years in neer from a national research center to conduct he said the fi re has nowhere to go. Indeed, Ward the early 1990s, Ward hosted seminars across weekly seminars around the country for fi ve said no home is 100% fi reproof. In addition, Ward said, he uses non-combus- the country on the benefi ts of steel houses after years and later across the globe, to Europe and tible building materials, metal roofs and roof spending the fi rst part of his career at a steel Japan. plant in Salem. Ward said he went on to work with a struc- sheathing products. Ward said he branched out on his own as tural engineer from Oregon State University to See Ward, Page A16 lumber prices shot up and people started to con- develop a steel roof truss for a project in Hawaii. By STEVEN MITCHELL Blue Mountain Eagle A sider building steel-framed homes. Ward said he started out building spec houses on the weekends and noticed that he was frequently getting calls with questions about steel-framed homes. “I was on the phone every night for hours giving away information,” he said. “I felt this could be a (trend).” Pfi zer booster shots available for eligible recipients By STEVEN MITCHELL Blue Mountain Eagle JOHN DAY — Grant County residents 65 and older and those with underlying medical conditions such as diabetes and chronic lung ailments who have received the Pfi zer-BioN- Tech vaccine against COVID-19 now qualify for booster shots to help increase their protec- tion against the worst eff ects of the disease six months after receiving their second dose. According to a news release from the Grant Count Health Department, the Western States Scientifi c Safety Workgroup reviewed the federal process and recommended Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada make the booster shots available to the following groups: • People over 65. • Those living in a long-term care facility. • People 18-64 with underlying medical conditions. • People 18-64 working in a high-risk set- ting, such as fi rst responders, educators, food and ag workers, and corrections offi cers. • People living in high-risk settings, such as correctional facilities and homeless shelters. While Grant County Health Administra- tor Kimberly Lindsay noted that the Pfi zer HOW TO GET A BOOSTER The Pfi zer-BioNTech booster is available to people over 65 and over, adults with weak- ened immune systems or those living in a long-term care facility who had their second shot at least six months ago. Eligible recipients can call the Grant County Health Department at 541-575-0429 to sched- ule an appointment. Eagle fi le photo A health care worker fi lls a syringe in the Trow- bridge Pavilion at the Grant County Fairgrounds in January. vaccine has been available locally only since June, the Food and Drug Administration plans to hold public meetings with its panel of inde- pendent vaccine experts on Thursday and Fri- day, Oct. 14 and 15, to consider booster shots for adult recipients of the Moderna and John- son & Johnson vaccines. The committee will also deliberate over whether people should get a shot from a diff er- ent vaccine than they originally received. The FDA plans to hold another public ses- sion Oct. 26 in anticipation of a request for emergency authorization of the Pfi zer-BioN- Tech vaccine for children 5 to 11. Since mid-August, people with compro- mised immune systems have been eligible to receive third shots of the Pfi zer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines 28 days after their second dose of the vaccine. See Booster, Page A16