STATE
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
A7
Guard returns to Eastern Oregon hospitals
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE — Eastern Oregon
will see a return of National Guard
members to beleaguered hospitals as
yet another wave of the COVID-19
virus sweeps through the nation.
On Wednesday, Jan. 12, Gov. Kate
Brown ordered a second relief mis-
sion in support of hospitals across the
state. Nearly 1,200 service members
across 40 hospitals were requested
by the Oregon Health Authority.
The expected deployment date is no
later than Tuesday, Jan. 18, and are
expected to remain deployed until
mid-April.
Hospitals set to receive aid from
the National Guard include Grande
Ronde Hospital, La Grande; Good
Shepherd Health Care System, Herm-
iston; Blue Mountain Hospital Dis-
trict, John Day; and Wallowa Memo-
rial Hospital, Enterprise.
“Grande Ronde Hospital and Clin-
ics is extremely grateful for the guard
members we will be receiving here to
help us with staffing shortages in sev-
eral of our key support services that
have been severely impacted by the
current labor market,” wrote Mardi
Ford, Director Communications &
Marketing, in an email. “GRH is, and
always has been, proud and support-
Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
Oregon National Guard Spc. Renay Monohan sanitizes and cleans a procedure room
Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, in the surgicenter at Grande Ronde Hospital, La Grande.
ive of our military.”
As before, the deployed soldiers
will be serving in non-clinical sup-
port roles, such as material handlers,
equipment runners, COVID testing
support, custodial services and other
logistical services.
“They (hospitals) were reporting
that they were understaffed,” said Maj.
Chris Clyne with the Oregon National
Guard. “ The nurses and doctors —
you know, the clinical care providers
— were having to take out the trash
and do these menial tasks, and it was
getting in the way of them providing
the care to patients. That way they’re
streamlined and they can just focus
100% on caring for the patients.”
According to Clyne, each hospital
in Eastern Oregon would receive an
average of five national guardsmen.
“We have been told that Blue
Mountain Hospital District is set to
receive five members of the Oregon
National Guard next week,” wrote
Derek Daly, CEO of Blue Mountain
selves in is that we serve in the com-
munities where we live. That’s one
of the efforts and priorities that lead-
ership has made is that they have that
chance to serve as close to home as
possible.”
The omicron variant has been rap-
idly spreading across Oregon and the
nation, driving record breaking infec-
tion rates and leading to shortages of
testing kits and long lines at drive thru
testing clinics. According to OHA data,
it is the prevailing variant in Oregon
as of Jan. 2, accounting for nearly all
new infections. At least one sequenced
infection has been traced to Eastern
Oregon, according to the OHA.
Data shows hospitalizations from
the new circulating variant are lower,
but the higher infection rate has led to
similar hospitalization rates to the pre-
vious delta variant.
The number of hospitalized
patients at Oregon hospitals due to
COVID-19 is 811 and climbing, as of
Jan. 14, according to OHA data. The
previous peak hospitalization num-
ber came on Sept. 1, 2021, with 1,178
patients hospitalized due to the delta
variant.
The Oregon National Guard was
called in last August to help under-
staffed hospitals during the delta vari-
ant surge. Those soldiers remained at
the hospitals until mid-December.
Hospital District. “We are thankful for
these staffing resources and the support
from the National Guard. We plan to
utilize these team members to help in
non-clinical positions, such as environ-
mental services, across our campuses.”
Caitlin Cozad, marketing and com-
munications director with Good Shep-
herd Health Care System in Hermis-
ton said that the hospital is expecting
six guardsmen to support the hospital.
But as to why the Oregon National
Guard deploys soldiers to support and
logistical assignments at the hospitals
instead of ones with medical training
has a surprising reason behind it —
Medical staff in the Oregon National
Guard often hold positions at local
hospitals for their non-military job,
according to Clyne.
“We would basically — if we did
that — we’d be robbing Peter to pay
Paul,” Clyne said of activating clini-
cal guardsmen to support hospitals,
“because we would take somebody
that’s in that position in their civil-
ian job and then just move them to
another location.”
Many of the guard members will
be deployed to the communities in
which they live, according to Clyne.
“One of the efforts that we’ve been
making is to try to get (soldiers) in the
location where they live,” Clyne said.
“One of the things that we pride our-
Ranchers welcome Biden’s bid to ease processing problems
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Cattle in Bowen Valley, south of Baker City, on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022.
“Those profits have largely
gone solely to the major beef
packing companies that domi-
nate boxed beef production here
in the United States,” Sharp
said. “There’s really four mul-
tinational companies that pro-
duce 83% of the total boxed
beef for retail consumption here
in the United States.”
Martin said he believes one
way to reduce the dominance
those four companies have is
to encourage more local and
regional processing of beef.
That would also give ranch-
ers more options for marketing
their cattle, and boost consumer
choice, potentially affording
them the option of buying beef
raised, and butchered, in the
same county where they live.
Martin said there is a suf-
ficient number of beef cattle
in Eastern Oregon and West-
ern Idaho to support processing
plants with a capacity to handle
250 to 500 head per day.
But now, he said, “we have
absolutely no competition in the
Northwest. There’s no negotia-
tion. You take what is given to
you (in terms of prices).”
Martin said he’s encouraged
by Agri Beef’s construction of a
beef processing plant in Jerome,
Idaho. It’s expected to open by
the end of 2022, and will have a
capacity of about 500 head per
day.
“That’s a great thing, but I
still see the need for more com-
petition,” Martin said.
Smaller processing plants
would also benefit rural econ-
omies by creating jobs, he said.
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Truth in labeling
Mark Bennett, a Baker
County commissioner who
also owns a cattle ranch in the
southern part of the county
near Unity, agrees with Martin
and McElligott that the Biden
administration’s announcement
is promising.
“I think it’s a worthy under-
taking,” Bennett said. “Any
time you have concentration
it limits competition and the
opportunity for innovation.
This whole discussion is really
crucial.”
Bennett said one of the most
common topics that come up
in his conversations with other
ranchers is mandatory country
of origin labeling.
Although some meat sold in
the U.S., including chicken, is
required to be labeled to show
where the animal was raised,
that’s not the case with beef.
Beef can be labeled as a
product of the U.S. even if the
cattle were raised in another
country but were butchered in
the U.S.
(Retailers can also include
details about where animals
were born and raised; they’re
just not required to do so.)
Ranchers and industry
groups have been pushing for
beef, which has not been sub-
ject to mandatory country of
origin labeling since 2016, to be
reinserted into the labeling law
along with chicken and other
meats.
“American consumers want
to know where their beef comes
from,” Bennett said.
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Martin said he’s encouraged
that Attorney General Merrick
Garland also participated in the
recent virtual meeting.
Martin has been advocat-
ing for years to have the U.S.
bor, but not a single pound of
packaged hamburger unless it’s
been inspected.
McElligott said he’s encour-
aged that a draft plan for spend-
ing the $1 billion includes
$100 million to pay overtime
to USDA-certified inspectors,
which could expand indepen-
dent processing markets.
There has been some inter-
est in Congress in reinstituting
mandatory labeling for beef.
It ended after officials from
Mexico and Canada vowed
to impose tariffs on American
beef if the mandatory labeling
continued.
A group of U.S. senators
introduced legislation in Sep-
tember 2021 calling for the U.S.
Trade Representative and U.S.
Department of Agriculture to
come up with a plan to improve
beef labeling transparency.
McElligott said country of
origin labeling “really needs to
be addressed.”
He pointed out that Ameri-
cans’ demand for beef has con-
tinued to grow even with rising
retail prices.
He considers this evidence
that people recognize the value
of beef.
“If you look at everything
beef gives you from a nutri-
tional standpoint, it’s still an
economical part of your plate,”
McElligott said.
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Justice Department investigate
what he believes constitutes
“price manipulation” in the beef
industry.
Matt McElligott, who raises
cattle between Haines and
North Powder, said he’s glad
that issues in the beef industry
are being acknowledged at the
federal level.
“The good thing is that it is
being talked about,” said McEl-
ligott, who is chairman of the
public lands committee for the
Oregon Cattlemen’s Associ-
ation and its president-elect.
“It’s something we in the indus-
try have been talking about for
a long time, the need to have a
more vibrant and competitive
industry.”
McElligott said that although
details of the Biden administra-
tion’s $1 billion campaign have
yet to be determined, a prelim-
inary draft called for spending
$375 million, over two phases,
to “jumpstart independent pro-
cessing” for beef and other
meat.
The first phase could include
$150 million earmarked for 15
specific local processing proj-
ects, which could potentially
help ranchers market beef to
local consumers, McElligott
said. Prospective processors
would compete for the dollars
under the proposal.
The second phase would
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BAKER CITY — Curtis
Martin doesn’t expect a prob-
lem that was decades in the
making to be solved by a single
announcement from the White
House, even one that comes
with a billion-dollar pledge.
But Martin, a North Pow-
der cattle rancher and past
president of the Oregon Cat-
tlemen’s Association, is none-
theless encouraged by the
Biden administration’s effort
to increase competition in
the meatpacking industry,
which is dominated by four
corporations.
“I think it’s wonderful,”
Martin said of the administra-
tion’s recent announcement that
it would divert $1 billion from
the 2021 American Rescue Plan
Act to address problems in the
meat processing system and try
to encourage the construction of
smaller, regional meat process-
ing operations and, potentially,
curb a recent rise in beef, pork
and poultry prices at the retail
level.
“It’s really a positive report,
and I think the best thing ranch-
ers can do is engage in it and
help Tom Vilsack,” Martin said.
Vilsack is the U.S. agricul-
ture secretary, and one of the
federal officials who met with
Biden recently in a virtual meet-
ing to discuss the situation.
The resulting plan, which
was announced on Jan. 3, has
among its goals enforcing exist-
ing competition laws and mak-
ing the machinations of the cat-
tle markets more transparent.
That new federal focus is
welcome news for Martin, who
has been concerned for many
years about what he considers
an unfair manipulation of beef
markets by the four companies
that control about 85% of the
country’s cattle processing —
Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS, and
National Beef Packing.
While retail beef prices have
risen by 21% over the past year,
according to the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture, that trend
hasn’t been reflected in what
ranchers are receiving for their
cattle, Martin said.
Tom Sharp, the Oregon Cat-
tlemen’s most recent president,
addressed the rise in beef prices
in an October 2021 interview
with the Pacific Northwest Ag
Network.
designate the remaining $225
million to expand the capac-
ity at existing processing plants
across the nation, he said.
McElligott said boosting
independent processing, and
thus reducing the dominance
of the four leading process-
ing companies, would be ben-
eficial to both ranchers and
consumers.
“The more processing you
have the more opportunities we
have for different markets for
the cow-calf producer,” he said.
“That gives producers more
options and it gives consumers
more options.”
Now, only about 5% of the
beef cattle born in Oregon are
actually butchered here, McEl-
ligott said.
Both he and Martin pointed
out that building a processing
plant is no small undertaking.
“To say it’s complex is an
understatement for sure,” Mar-
tin said.
Complying with federal
food safety rules and other reg-
ulations is neither simple nor
inexpensive, and Martin said
he hopes the Biden administra-
tion’s $1 billion campaign will
also include resources to help
potential entrepreneurs negoti-
ate the regulatory labyrinth.
Among other things, he
advocates for the federal gov-
ernment to eliminate or stream-
line regulations that deter peo-
ple from pursuing regional or
local processing plants, and to
assign a coordinator to work
with prospective owners to help
them with all aspects of the
endeavor, including financing.
McElligott said a signifi-
cant obstacle in the industry for
ranchers who want to sell beef
directly to local customers is
that packaged products must
be inspected by someone certi-
fied by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
He said he can sell a half of
beef “on the hoof” to a neigh-
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