Weiss POM
Commissioner
candidate
50¢
VOL. 140
NO. 17
8 Pages
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Search for health provider reaches dead
end, says MCHD CEO
Ryan Fowler, Morrow
County Health District
CEO, told the MCHD
board in a memo prior to
the regular board meeting
Monday night in Lexing-
ton, that the search for an
additional full-time pro-
vider for the district has
reached a dead end. “Un-
fortunately at this time
we have no providers in
the pipeline,” said Fowler.
“The few that we had have
opted out regarding con-
cerns about the remoteness
of the community, limited
medical staff support or
focusing their search geo-
graphically in areas that do
not include our communi-
ty.” “We continue to work
with Pacific Companies
and multiple contingen-
cy firms to complete this
search,” he added. Fowl-
er was not present at the
Monday night meeting.
It was earlier reported that
Dr. Emily Jack (Thomp-
son) has officially signed
on as a physician for the
district beginning in Sep-
tember of 2022.
Concerning recent per-
sonnel issues, following a
lengthy executive session,
the board approved a mo-
tion to “direct our com-
pliance officer to move
forward in the process
regarding personnel mat-
ters.” The specific person-
nel issues were not dis-
cussed outside executive
session.
In other personnel mat-
ters, the district has hired
Kathleen Greenup, R.N.,
Heppner, as chief nursing
officer to replace Jamie
Houck, R.N., CNO, who
has accepted the position
of informatics analyst with
the district via telecommu-
nications. Houck has re-
signed as CNO and will be
moving out of the district.
One registered nurse,
Sean Adrasik, started full
time with Pioneer Memo-
rial Hospital on March 17
and another R.N., Shanan
Carter, will start full-time
in July. Two other R.N.s,
Jennifer Nobles and Kim-
berly Steele, have joined
the nursing staff as per
diem nurses. Other new
hires include Michael
Metzler, MD, a temporary
emergency room techni-
cian, Mary Duchek, a lab
tech, and Mark Kerns, a ra-
diology tech who will pro-
vide Xray and Ultrasound
services at the Irrigon
Medical Clinic, in addition
to providing Ultrasound
services at PMH one day a
week and filling in there as
needed.
In other personnel
moves, Donna Sherman
has been promoted to the
general laboratory manag-
er and Cynthia Johnson,
was hired as the dietary
director at PMH. Several
people, Barb Coiner, Min-
dy Coster, Lori Jones, Lau-
ra Huizar, Jazmin Haak
and Jennier Ohlde, have all
passed their CNA-2 class,
“which will allow them
to have a larger scope of
practice.”
Houck told the board
that as of April 16, 3,596
Morrow county residents
have been vaccinated
against COVID 19, with
2,855 fully vaccinated and
741 who have received the
first dose of a two-dose se-
ries. She said that “MCHD
PPE (personal protective
equipment) and testing
supplies remain adequate.”
The board learned that Pi-
oneer Memorial Hospital
will participate in a “sim-
ulation resource team de-
velopment event” which
is a live hands-one trauma
training event May 17-19.
With this event, MCHD
will team with the Morrow
County Sheriff’s Office,
Emergency Services, hos-
pital staff and Life Flight
to “work through a trauma
scenario as a team from
start to finish.”
In other business, the
board:
-established an 11-step
physician assistant pay
scale as follows for clinics
only, based on years in the
profession, from $48 an
hour for zero years in the
profession to $58 an hour
for 20 years in the profes-
sion.
-earlier received com-
munication from Rusty Es-
tes with EMS of his “frus-
Kathleen Greenup, RN
Jamie Houck, RN
tration with the ongoing
challenges in regards to
the ambulance service area
and challenges presented
by the Boardman Rural
Fire and Rescue.”
-approved the purchase
of a flexible nasopharyn-
goscope, a scope for exam-
ining the nasal and throat
passages for $28,750.
-approved the expenditure
of $12,945 for the remov-
al of a heat pump and air
handler at the Boardman
Clinic and installation of
a new heat pump and air
handler for Thews Sheet
Metal-Heating, Air & Me-
chanical
-received the following
profit and loss statement
for March from Chief Fi-
nancial Officer Nicole Ma-
honey: gross patient reve-
nue-$1,278,369, $83,904
in revenue deductions,
$185,460 in tax reve-
nue and $14,607 in oth-
er operating revenue for
$1,394,532 in total oper-
ating revenue; $1,361,998
in total operating expenses
and a $41,203 non-oper-
ating gain for a $73,737
gain for the month and a
$201,643 average monthly
year-to-date gain.
Mahoney earlier reported
that the district is overall
“financially stable for the
year, largely due to the
influx of COVID money
from the CARES act.”
-received input from
Kris Jones, chief operating
officer, that Centriq, the
district’s current computer
system, is being phased out
and the district will likely
be moved to an updated
version, CPSI Thrive, in
the fall of 2022. The dis-
trict is also examining al-
ternatives.
-approved policy on Com-
pliance Program Oversight
and Oregon Consumer In-
formation Protection Act
Compliance.
-received the following
Pioneer Memorial Hos-
pital statistics: five in-pa-
tient admissions in March,
six swing bed admissions,
seven admissions for ob-
servation, 765 out-patient
admissions, 73 emergency
room encounters, 2,014
lab tests, 111 x-ray/ultra-
sound tests, 36 CT scans,
five MRI scans, 21 EKG
tests, two lower endoscopy
procedures, 45 respiratory
therapy encounters.
-received the follow-
ing clinic reports: Pioneer
Memorial Clinic in Hep-
pner-436 patient visits with
five new patients, 28 seen
by a nurse, 16 no-shows
and 29 cancellations; Ir-
rigon Medical Clinic-460
patient visits with 14 new
patients; Ione Community
Clinic-57 patient visits, 27
seen by a nurse and zero
no-shows.
-received the following
reports: Home Health-206
patient
visits;
Hos-
pice-three admissions, two
deaths; Pharmacy-2,366
drug doses for $89,184 in
revenue.
-received the following
ambulance reports: Hep-
pner-25 total page outs
with 18 transports for
$26,891 in revenue; Board-
man-44 page-outs with 27
transports for $53,307 in
revenue; Irrigon-44 page-
outs with 23 transports for
$38,152 in revenue; Ione-
no transports; four life
flights.
Port candidates discuss issues at forum
Topics include cooperation, transparency and Port accomplishments
By David Sykes
Candidates for the up-
coming Port of Morrow
Commission election at-
tended a candidates’ forum
last week and expressed
their opinions on a wide
range of issues from per-
ceived secrecy at the Port,
to better cooperation and
communication with the
public.
The forum was spon-
sored by the Heppner
Chamber of Commerce
and was broadcast live
over facebook. Five of the
seven candidates for open
Port positions participated
in the forum. Running for
position one are Jonathan
Tallman, Rick Stokoe and
John Kilkenny; for posi-
tion two is Joe Taylor who
is unopposed and did not
attend the forum; and po-
sition three are Rick Weiss,
Jerry Healy and Chandler
Schaak. Schaak also did
not attend the forum.
Local attorney Bill
Kuhn moderated the forum
and read a series of ques-
tions which the candidates
answered. Following are
the questions and the can-
didate answers:
Question: What was the
primary reason you are
running for port com-
missioner and if elected
what will be your first
priority?
John Kilkenny: I like
the growth and diversifica-
tion at the port area, but the
port could do a better job
with the other government
agencies.” The county and
cities must work together.
Sometimes I think the port
does things among them-
selves and doesn’t involve
the other people. I have an
issue about Army Depot
and CDA (Columbia De-
velopment Authority) de-
cision to turn the land over
to the Port. They made the
decision so quickly without
involving the other people
at all. That is not how I like
to see things done.
Rick Stokoe: I am
running again.(he is an in-
cumbent) to give public
service and get outside the
law enforcement commu-
nity (he is the Boardman
Chief of Police). I want to
give back in other ways.
There is a lot to learn with
infrastructure and trans-
portation.
Jonathan Tallman:
There is conflict of in-
terest on the Port. This
has to be exposed and
addressed. There is also
a housing shortage in
Boardman. There needs
to be affordable housing
not $300 to $400 thousand
homes. There was a water
bond passed (by the city
-See CANDIDATE
FORUM/PAGE 7
Rick Weiss
Rick Weiss is a candi-
date for the Port of Mor-
row Commission, Position
#3. He is the pastor of the
First Baptist Church in
Boardman.
Rick, his wife, Shara,
and their three children
moved to Boardman in
November of 2019 from
Gresham, Oregon. In ad-
dition to their work for the
church, Rick and Shara
have been freelance inter-
net specialists. Rick does
web development and
Shara has done social me-
dia marketing. Both have
spent most of their lives
in Oregon but met in Ari-
zona.
Rick is a graduate of
Arizona State Universi-
ty with a degree in po-
litical science. While at
ASU he served as student
body president, activi-
ties vice-president and as
a student senator. He re-
ceived his master’s at Full-
er Theological Seminary
in Pasadena, California.
For several years he also
worked in public policy as
a part of a lobbying group
for state and county issues
in the greater Phoenix area.
Serving the community is
considered a significant
part of how Rick sees his
work. Shara and Rick were
fully involved in getting
the Boardman Food Pantry
started at the beginning of
the pandemic lockdowns.
They spent hours each day
(sometimes seven days a
week), delivering boxes
of food, gathering donated
items and organizing vol-
unteers. They continue to
serve on the Pantry Board
and volunteer each Mon-
day morning. Shara is the
communications director
for the Pantry. Rick also
serves on the Board of the
Boardman Senior Center.
“My primary reason for
running is to continue
to seek ways in which I
can serve the communi-
ty. The Port of Morrow
makes such an impact on
the whole community, it
seemed right to want to
be a part of the process of
advancing the great work
that the POM does,” Rick
said.
Since deciding to run,
Pastor Weiss has also
“realized how important
it would be for a com-
missioner like him to be
a part of the board.” He
recognizes that the com-
mission makes decisions
that impact the Port as
well as businesses with-
in the county. “When the
commissioners are also
business owners, the po-
tential for conflicts of in-
terest are always present.
Even though they regular-
ly recuse themselves when
votes are taken the poten-
tial for conflict is still pres-
ent,” says Weiss. “Most of
the hard work of negotiat-
ing and planning is done
before the vote is taken at
the board meeting. If the
commissioner is involved
in that early process, the
potential for conflict is
still present,” says Weiss.
“While I don’t know that
this has been the case, it
seems wise for the com-
mission to have people on
the board who are without
potential conflict of inter-
est.”
Another concern that
Weiss recognizes is how
communication is made
with the community when
there is a potential impact
on the property of those
not involved in the Port.
He says that there appear
to be some decisions made
that affect neighboring
properties, but the proper-
ty owners are not aware of
the changes until decisions
have already been made.
For example, if a per-
son invests significant
funds into their property,
not knowing POM plans
will affect the value of
their property, it seems like
a very unfortunate chain
of events. The Port keeps
those decisions private un-
til the deal is done. “Some-
thing needs to be done to
protect the interests of af-
fected neighbors.”
“One way of doing this,
and a way it can be done
before negotiations require
privacy, is to let the public
know what the long-term
plans are for a POM prop-
erty. Even if the Commis-
sion is only at the initial
stage of planning, it would
help the trust level of the
POM with the communi-
ty if these potential plans
are discussed and made
known,” he says.
One of the requirements
of the POM Commissioner
is to seek public opinion
in order to serve the entire
citizenship of the district.”
Weiss says he has not ob-
served that this is being
done effectively. “Our role
is not only to advance the
Port’s development. The
role of the POM is to en-
hance the entire district –
seeking ways to build eco-
nomic development and
quality of life throughout
the area we cover.” Weiss
says it is important to de-
velop a broad focus when
looking at each potential
new business. “The is-
sues are more than what a
particular business brings
to the table, but how that
business relates to the
overall plan for the region
and how it impacts other
businesses and the quality
of life for Morrow County
citizens.”