Stork makes Thanksgiving Day delivery
at Heppner’s Pioneer Memorial Hospital
First birth at the hospital since m id-8 Os
by April Sykes
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Librarv
University of Oregon
^
Eugene, OR 97403
Pioneer Memorial
Hospital had an unexpected
delivery from the stork on
Thanksgiving Day-the first
baby bom at the hospital
since the mid-1980s.
A llie May S till­
man, at 6.02 pounds and
HEPPNER
imes
VOL. 129
NO. 47
8 Pages
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Spicerkuhn joins family business
Phillip Spicerkuhn
recently jo in ed the law
firm o f Kuhn & Spicer.
Spicerkuhn is the son of
Bill Kuhn and Ann Spicer.
His parents, who have been
attorneys for the past 30-35
years, have offices in Hep­
pner and Hermiston.
Though law is the
family business, Spicerkuhn
had not always planned
to join. The 1996 Hepp­
ner High School graduate
was born in H erm iston
and raised in Heppner. “I
had no idea what I wanted
to do (when I started col­
lege),” said Spicerkuhn. At
Oregon State University
he began studying for a
degree in engineering, but
later switched his major to
general science. He gradu­
ated from OSU in ¿001 with
his general science degree.
It was during his last year
at OSU that Spicerkuhn
decided to jum p into the
family business and study
law. He enrolled at the
University of Oregon and
in 2004 graduated with a
doctorate of jurisprudence.
A f te r c o l l e g e
Spicerkuhn moved to Spo­
kane where he has worked
mainly as a public defender
for the past six years. He
Pictured is Phillip Spicerkuhn (right) with his father, Bill
Kuhn, at the Kuhn & Spicer law office in Heppner. -Photo by
Autumn Morgan
began by primarily practic­
ing criminal law and then
moved to juvenile law. He
joined Kuhn & Spicer on
November 1.
P h il M a h o n e y
started the Heppner law
office in the 1930s and
Kuhn and Spicer bought
the practice from Mahoney
in 1977. Spicer, who was
the Morrow County District
Attorney in the early 1980s,
was recently elected Mor­
row County Justice of the
Peace.
“I’m excited about
working with my parents in
the firm,” said Spicerkuhn.
“They are a little more
diverse than what I was do­
ing up there (in Spokane).
I’ll just take things as they
come.” He possibly will
work primarily with family
law since his mother has
been elected Justice of the
Peace.
Spicerkuhn and his
wife, Melissa Naff, are tem­
porarily living in Heppner.
Naff, who is from Reardon,
WA, is working part-time at
Good Shepherd Hospital in
Hermiston and part-time at
St. Anthony’s in Pendleton.
She is a dietician and dia­
betes educator. The couple
met while in school at Or­
egon State University.
17 inches long, made her
appearance on Thursday,
November 25, at 7:05 p.m.
Parents are Amy and Heath
Stillman, Lexington,
The Stillmans said
they had planned for Amy
to give birth at home with
a midwife—she had given
birth to their two boys at
home in water births, the
oldest in a birthing pool and
the youngest in the bathtub,
but concern that this baby
was premature led them to
Pioneer Memorial Hospital
for delivery. They said that
Amy was in actual labor
for around an hour and a
half. Needless to say, the
Stillmans were not able to
partake in Thanksgiving
dinner.
Heath told the Ga­
zette that they thought that
Allie was going to be bom
seven to eight weeks early,
but he said that Dr. Betsy
Anderson, the attending
physician, estimated that
the baby was only two to
three weeks early. Heath
said that another of their ba­
bies was bom three weeks
before the due date. The
S tillm ans’ two boys are
Clayton Lane, 3-1/2, and
Emmett Matthew, who will
turn two years old on De­
cember 2nd.
Heath and his fa­
ther, Beryl Stillman, said
that he thought that Heath’s
brother, Thomas Stillman,
25, was one of the last ba­
bies bom at PMH.
Heath and three of
his oldest siblings, Ben, Isa­
iah and Thomas, were bom
at PMH to parents Susie and
Beryl. Heath’s five younger
siblings, Isaac, Sarah, Mi-
cah, Joel and Joshua, were
all bom at home in Lexing­
ton. One was delivered by
Top Photo: The Stillman family (left to right): dad Heath hold­
ing son Clayton, mom Amy, baby Allie and son Emmett. Bottom
Photo: Mom Amy with baby Allie. -Photos by April Sykes
Beryl, when the midwife
did not arrive in time. Heath
said he had grown up “since
the age of four” watching
babies bom, so he was used
to the process.
The elder Stillman
family also includes two
other siblings, Jason and
Chris.
Susie Stillman said
when she was pregnant with
Isaac in 1987 her physician
in Heppner at that time, Dr.
Clare Koznek, told her mid­
way through her pregnancy
that the hospital would no
longer be able to deliver
babies, so they opted to
have him at home rather
than travel to Hermiston or
Pendleton.
Michael Blauer,
Morrow County Health
District CEO told the Ga­
zette-Times that the last
baby was bom at the hos-
pital on February 14, 1986.
The G azette-Tim es has
confirmed that the baby was
Courtney Nelson, daughter
of Chuck and Lisa Nelson
o f Lexington. The GT
also learned that Chuck
Nelson was one of the first
babies bom at the hospital
at that location on August
8, 1950, and Justin Nelson,
Chuck and Lisa’s son and
current Morrow County
District Attorney, was also
born there. According to
G-T archives, the next to
the last baby bom at PMH
on February 12, 1986, was
Carl Miller, son of Debbie
and Ray Miller.
In the mid-80s con­
cerns arose over liability
and other issues, such as the
ability to provide anesthesi­
ology and perform surger­
ies, and obstetric services
were discontinued.
Customer Appreciation Day is December 2
On Thursday, De­
cember 2, local merchants
will hold special customer
appreciation activities and
offering extended hours
to kick off the Christmas
holiday season.
The merchants are
planning activities to thank
the community for shopping
local. Hair Expressions will
be having service specials,
discounts on products, door
prizes and refreshments
from 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. John’s
Place will be having a draw­
ing for a free lunch and
dinner. M urray’s will be
having hourly door prizes,
the wish list treasure hunt
will start (with the winner
being announced during
the December 16 Christmas
event) and from 4-7 p.m.
there will be a mini wine
tasting. Sally Anne’s will
be serving cider and sweets
while offering “half-price”
tables, many unique stock­
ing stuffers and lots of items
to check out. Sweet Produc­
tions will be offering soup
for $2 and pie for $1 and
the Victorian Rose will be
serving cider and cookies
all day and have plenty of
merchandise for browsing.
The Video Store will be giv­
ing out free popcorn with
every video rental. Cookies
and punch will be served
at Bank of Eastern Oregon
and Community Bank (door
prize and announcement of
winner of the float contest
at 6:00 p.m.).
At 5:30 p.m., out­
side the Post Office, Hep­
pner Day Care and Heppner
Elementary School children
will hang their homemade
Christmas ornaments.
Plan on staying
dow ntow n to eat (food
merchants will be ready to
serve you), shop at all of our
local merchants, and enjoy
the sounds and sights of
Christmas. And don’t forget
to ask for your rewards card
with every purchase.
Health district receives $90 thousand grant for new CT scanner
by April Sykes
M o rro w C o u n ­
ty H ealth D istrict CEO
M ichael Blauer told the
MCHD Board at their regu­
lar meeting Monday night
in Heppner that the district
has received a $90,000
grant to purchase a new CT
scanner for Pioneer Memo­
rial Hospital.
Blauer said that the
new 16-slice scanner will
be a significant upgrade
from the current one-slice
scanner.
The Murdock Trust
grant was obtained through
the Rural Economic De­
velopment Program with
Columbia Basin Electric
Cooperative as the interme­
diary. Blauer said that the
district’s financial contribu­
tion toward purchase of the
scanner was $41,000.
Also at the meet­
ing, Blauer told the board
that he has scheduled a
meeting with staff at Or­
egon Health Sciences Uni­
versity concerning possibly
coordinating cardiac care
services at PMH. He said
that Dr. Hanlon, who had
previously provided cardiac
care at Pioneer Memorial
when he was affiliated with
a Bend hospital, is now
affiliated with OHSU and
may be interested in offer­
ing some services locally.
In other business,
the board:
- le a r n e d fro m
Blauer that a baby was bom
at PMH on Thanksgiving
Day, the first since the mid-
80s (see story, page 1);
-to u red P ioneer
Memorial Hospital’s labo­
ratory with Betty Hicker-
son, lab supervisor.
-heard from Blauer
that the district will be­
gin sending out a periodic
newsletter;
-met David Bums
from Irrigon who said that
he was interested in fill­
ing a board position now
held by Linda LaRue, lone,
who, according to board
Chair Larry Mills, has in­
dicated that she does not
plan to continue on the
board. Bums, currently the
mayor of Irrigon, attended
the meeting with his wife,
Paola. Bums said that one
of his big concerns is do­
mestic abuse and volun­
teers his time campaigning
against domestic violence.
-held an executive
session concerning Dr. Ed
Berretta’s contract with the
district and subsequently
approved a new three-year
contract with Dr.Berretta.
-received the Oc­
tober profit/loss statement
from Chief Financial Offi­
cer Nicole Mahoney which
showed a $35,651 loss for
the month. Gross patient
revenue for the month was
$565,876 with $100,268
in revenue deductions,
$94,733 in tax revenue,
$3,310 in other operating
revenue for $563,651 in
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
M ONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
total operating revenue,
$609,657 in total operating
expenses and a $10,354
non-operating gain. The
average monthly year-to-
date loss is $29,476.
-received the fol­
lowing report: Pioneer Me­
morial Hospital had seven
admissions, two swing bed
admissions, two deaths, 14
admitted for observation,
one swing nursing facility
admission, 541 total outpa­
tients, 81 total emergency
room encounters, 1396 lab
tests, 100 x-ray procedures,
21 CT scans, 18 EKG tests,
two treadmill procedures,
three colonoscopy proce­
dures, one colon/endoscopy
procedure, 44 respiratory
therapy procedures; Home
H ealth had 151 patient
visits; Hospice had two
ad m issio n s; P harm acy
G E T
had 1428 drug doses for
$76,101 in drug revenue;
Pioneer Memorial Clinic
had 433 patient visits with
31 new patients, 75 seen by
a nurse and 10 no-shows;
Irrigon Medical Clinic had
164 patient visits with 23
new patients, 79 seen by
a nurse and 18 no-shows;
Heppner Ambulance had
18 total page-outs with 13
transports for $16,168 in
revenue; Boardman Ambu­
lance had 29 page-outs with
20 transports for $24,472
in revenue; Irrigon Ambu­
lance had 16 page-outs with
nine transports for $9,023
in revenue; there were three
flights.
-reviewed the 2011
board meeting calendar.
The next meeting will be
held on December 27 in
Irrigon. Meetings for the
YOUR REWARDS CARDS HERE!
C hristmas trees
now IN STOCK
G ood
G
year are as follows: Janu­
ary 31-Ione Community
Church; February 28-Sand
Hollow Room, Port of Mor­
row, Boardm an; March
28-Home Health Office,
Heppner; April 25-M or­
row County School District
Office, Lexington; May
23-Home Health Office,
Heppner; June 27-Morrow
County Annex, Irrigon;
July 25-Ione Community
Church; August 29-Home
Health Office, Heppner;
September 26-Sand Hol­
low Room, Port of Mor­
row, Boardman; October
31 -Morrow County School
District Office, Lexington;
November 28-Home Health
Office, Heppner; December
meeting date pending. Mor­
row County Annex, Irrigon.
All meetings are held at 7
p.m.
s e l e c t io n o f
rand
N oble ,
& D o u g l a s F ir
H oliday Hours:
M onday - Friday-
8:00am - 5:30pm
Saturday-
8:00am - 4:00pm
M o rro w C o u n ty G rain G ro w e rs
Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396