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)