Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 31, 2008)
Swanson retires from Wheatland Insurance in lone By Autumn Morgan Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Librar) University of Oregon Eugene, OK ^7403 VOL. 127 NO. 53 8 Pages Wednesday, December 31,2008 After 29 years work ing in the insurance business in lone Jim Swanson has retired. O r ig in a lly fro m lone, Swanson graduated in 1969 from lone School. He later graduated from Oregon State University in 1974. He and his wife Monica were married in 1974 and then took over the family farm in lone. They quickly realized that the few acres that they w ere farm ing w ould not support the family any more. Morrow County, Heppner. Oregon Goodbye snow No extra land was available to expand because many other farming families were having the same problems and expanding their farms. It was at this time, in 1979, that Jim and Monica were approached by Char lie O'Conner o f O ’Conner Insurance with a proposal o f working in insurance. The in su ran ce co m p an y happened to have been pur chased by O ’Conner from Swanson’s father in the mid 4 0 ’s. After many years in the business, O ’Conner had decided he wanted out and came to the Sw ansons to see if they were interested in taking over the company. The Swansons origi- nally th o u g h t th e ir new business, w hich they named Swanson Insurance after it was purchased in 1980, would be a tiny business that they had on the side. They couple ran both the farm and the insurance company for approximately five years before leasing the farm out so they could run the insur ance agency. S w an so n q u ic k ly realized that it w ould be difficult to keep a small in surance business in a small town afloat with all o f the competition from the large insurance corporations. In 1983, Swanson and three other insurance agencies in Pendleton joined together to form Wheatland. “ When 1 started Swanson Insurance, I saw that not only insurance, but the gas statio n s and grocery stores were hard to keep as mom and pop opera tions,’’ said Swanson. “ If I had not joined Wheatland 1 would have to sell. I would Pictured is Jim Swanson in his Wheatland insureance office in lone. -Photo by David Sykes not have been able to keep the (insurance) business. Sw anson’s first in surance office was located in C ollier's Market where the pop m achine is now'. Swanson and Loyal Burns built the current Wheatland building in 2002. T h r o u g h o u t th e years, Swanson has brought in approximately 20 students to work in the office through the work study program . “ T rem en d o u s kids have worked (here) part-tim e,’’ said Swanson. “Some have gone on and began careers in the insurance business.” A c o n stan t in the Swanson’s office has been the cereal draw er he has always kept available for children. Swanson said that when someone came into the office with a child, the child would im m ediately run to the cereal drawer for a snack. “Now those kids are bringing in their kids and they now know about the cereal drawer.’’ Over the years Sw an- son has been able to insure multiple generations in dif ferent families. Most all of the families with Swanson have been insured through two generations. One family has even been insured four generations. B ecause he was a farm er him self, Swanson said “1 can’t begin to explain the value o f the customers, especially the farmers. They have had lousy years but we have been able to pay them on the loss.” Though Swan son gave up full ownership to become a partial owner o f the Wheatland Corporation, he gives credit to Wheatland because through them he was able to keep the insur ance agency in town. Though he is retiring from the business, Swanson stresses that nothing will change. “ 1 have had tremen dous people work here over the years,” said Swanson. Stacie M iller and Karen Padberg w ill be running the office and it will be "busi ness as usual.” There will be no new “owner" coming in. Swanson has simply sold his stock back to Wheatland. He and Burns still own the building that houses Wheat- land. Because of his back- -Continued on Page TWO Health district to begin seeking new CEO By April Sykes Icicles like these have disappeared from Heppner as the city has thawed over the last week. I his month Heppner saw one of its largest snow falls in recent years. Please see Page Three for a look back at 2007. Photo by David Sykes M orrow C ounty H ealth D istrict to go tob acco-free M o rro w C o u n ty H ealth D istrict recen tly announced the adoption of policy prohibiting the use o f tobacco products on all o f its properties, including Pioneer Memorial Hospital, Pioneer Memorial Clinic, home health and hospice services in Heppner as well as Irrigon Medical Clinic and emergency medical ser vices throughout the county. The policy will become ef fective January 5, 2009, and w ill apply to the entire cam pus o f each o f these facili ties including the buildings, parking lots and grounds. The to b a c c o -fre e policy aligns with the Dis tric t’s mission to provide care for the community. By going tobacco-free. M or row County Health District leadership hopes to not only create a healthier environ- ment for staff and patients, but to also serve as a model for area businesses consider ing similar policies. In con junction with the tobacco policy, the Morrow County Health District is providing tobacco cessation w o rk shops and w ill pay cessation therapy costs for any o f its 78 employees for up to six -Continued on Page TWO Lexington mayor hospitalized after stroke According to Dee Burch at Lexington City Hall, Lexington Mayor Val Doherty is currently in Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, WA after suffering a “major" stroke last week. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 RM.__ The Morrow County Health D istrict Board, at th eir reg u lar m eeting in Irrigon Monday night, be gan work to find a replace ment for current CEO Victor Vander Does. Vander Does, who came on board with the dis trict in September o f 1999, is credited for bringing the district out of a dire situation into a viable, progressive health care system. When he came on board in 1999, the district’s financial outlook was bleak and the district was near closure. V ander Does said that he will rem ain with the district until after the Fourth of July to ensure a smooth transition to a new' CEO. The district plans to undertake the CEO search internally, rather than hiring a recruiter, and has outlined a six -m em b er screen in g co m m ittee c o n sistin g o f one board m em ber, one provider (physician/physi- cian’s assistant/nurse prac titio n er), the d ire c to r o f nursing. Home Health and Hospice, one member o f the administrative team, the hu man resources director and a citizen at large. Vander Does and the board set a February 15 closing day for applica tions with the final selection to be made by the end o f April, so that Vander Does can have sufficient time w ith the new administrator. The district now in cludes a 21-bed hospital, which includes a new long term care facility, a 16-unit assisted living center and two primary care clinics-one in Heppner and one in Irri gon. MCHD also provides Home Health and Hospice care throughout the county and o p erates am bulance service in each com m u nity in the county, Board- man, Irrigon. Heppner, lone and Lexington. The district also contributes financially to Columbia River Health Care, a federally funded clinic in Boardman, Also at the meeting the board gave their support to a radio taxing district which will enable county entities, such as hospital and ambulance, fire, sher iff and police departments to communicate via radio. Currently these entities can not coordinate their radio systems. The district will en co m p ass M orrow and Umatilla counties. The is sue o f establishing such a district is to come before the voters as will a tax rate to support the district. In other business, the district: -approved an x-ray maintenance contract. -h e a rd c o n c e rn s from Vander Does about “ life safety” issues result ing from roads becoming impassable because o f bad weather. -learned that the dis trict lost S I65,048 in No vember with a year-to-date loss o f $120,930 for the year, resulting in an average monthly year-to-date loss o f $24,186. Gross patient revenue was $440,201 for the month with $104,032 in total revenue deductions for bad debt and contractual adjustments (Medicare and Medicaid deductions) and $52,878 in tax revenue. Total operating revenue w as $391,547. Last month the district showed $588,569 in gross patient revenue and only $37,681 in bad debt and contractual adjust ments. -received the fo l lowing report: the Irrigon Clinic had 190 patient vis its with 35 new patients, 94 seen by a nurse and 13 no-shows; Pioneer Memo rial Clinic had 422 patient visits with 27 new patients, 97 seen by a nurse and eight no-shows; Pioneer Memo rial Hospital had six admis sions, two swing bed admis sions, seven adm itted for observation, 452 outpatients with 61 em ergency room encounters, 1398 lab tests. 74 x-ray procedures, 21 CT scans, 13 EKG tests, one treadmill procedure, three colonoscopy procedures, four endoscopy procedures. 18 respiratory therapy pro cedures; Boardman Ambu lance had 19 page-outs w ith 13 transports for $ 14.225 in revenue; Irrigon Ambulance had 13 page-outs with II transports for $10.064 in revenue; Heppner A m bu lance had 12 page-outs w ith 12 transports for $ 13.63 I in revenue; Home Health had 134 patient \ isits; Hospice had two adm issions; and Pharmacy had 1305 drug doses for $46.956 in drug revenue. AT MCGG GREEN FEED & SEED IN HEPPNER: ■ On O f f ALL IMI EXCLVmC OO tf CAT f OO ALL VARI ETI ES M orrow C ounty Grain G rowers G reen F eed A S eed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office)
