Emotions run hot over
ambulance debate at
county commission
meeting
50¢
VOL. 143
NO. 17 12 Pages
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
In your community: Nurses provide care
and compassion
By Andrea Di Salvo
Kathleen Greenup be-
gins her day at Pioneer
Memorial in Heppner by
making her rounds with her
patients. The 41-year-old
registered nurse says good
morning, takes vitals and
does a “head to toe” assess-
ment. Then she discusses
the plan of care with each
patient, gets patient input
and makes sure any ques-
tions are answered before
moving on.
“And coffee. Always
coffee,” she says.
It’s the beginning of
a typical nursing shift in
a profession and a place
where, says Greenup, noth-
ing is typical.
“In Heppner, nothing is
typical,” she says. “We’re
unlike any other organiza-
tion anywhere else in Ore-
gon. We’re the only frontier
hospital. We serve our long-
term care residents, and
we serve our critical care
patients.”
Greenup says out-
patient procedures at the
hospital are scheduled in
Greenup gets emergency room equipment up and going at
Pioneer Memorial in Heppner. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
advance, and those are pret-
ty routine. Otherwise, the
schedule depends on what
the day brings.
“Most of our day is
spent prioritizing—the
most sick versus the most
stable patients. If you have
an ER patient come in, that
takes priority,” she says. “It
changes every day, all day
long.”
Greenup wasn’t always
a nurse, but she does have
a long history with the hos-
pital, having been born at
Pioneer Memorial. She was
raised in Heppner and grad-
uated from Heppner High
School in 1999. After that,
she lived in Portland for 10
years, where she worked as
a legal assistant.
The direction of her life
changed in 2004.
“I was in a four-wheel-
er accident and suffered
some pretty serious inju-
ries,” she said, adding that
she spent some time at
Oregon Health and Science
University in Portland after
the accident. “I had some
pretty awesome nurses and
some who were horrific.
“I knew right then that
I wanted to be one of those
nurses who was remem-
bered for being awesome.”
Her career as a nurse
didn’t start immediately. A
certain number of pre-req-
uisite credits are required to
even be eligible for nursing
school. Greenup opted to
take care of those over a
span of three years while
still working as a legal
assistant.
Once she was eligible,
she went to nursing school
for two years, graduating
with an associate’s degree
in nursing. Nursing degrees
vary, she says, and range all
the way from a two-year
degree up to a doctorate in
nursing.
“Someday I’ll go back
and get my bachelor’s,”
she adds.
The Greenups moved
back to Heppner when their
oldest son was born, and
she went to work at PMH.
Pioneer Memorial has
nine full-time nurses on
staff, covering 12-hour day
-Continued to PAGE EIGHT
Local charity receives surprise donation from a friend
Heppner man and national rodeo celebrity Butch Knowles chose to donate his fantasy rodeo
charity winnings to Friends Helping Friends. Knowles, center, is pictured with FHF committee
members (L-R) Kathi Dickenson, Shelley McCabe, Susan Hisler, Janelle Ellis, Patty Matheny,
Peggy Fishburn and Kirsten Harrison. Not pictured are committee members Mary Haguewood,
Sandy Matthews and Jacque Wilson. -Photo by Andrea Di Salvo
Local charity Friends
helping Friends recently
received a surprise donation
from the world of rodeo,
courtesy of Heppner cow-
boy Butch Knowles.
Knowles was presented
with the opportunity to give
back to his community by
Teton Ridge Pro Fantasy
Rodeo in conjunction with
the National Finals Ro-
deo (NFR) in Las Vegas.
Knowles won the 2022
contest and selected local
charity Friends Helping
Friends to be the recipient
of the $6500 in charity
funds.
“When I received a
phone call from Mary
Knowles that Butch had
won the rodeo celebrity
fantasy contest and he had
chosen to gift the charitable
money to our Friends Help-
ing Friends committee, I
was so surprised, somewhat
shocked, that he would
think of us!” said Friends
Helping Friends committee
member Susan Hisler.
The Teton Ridge Pro
Fantasy Rodeo contest is
offered to all rodeo fans
across the country. In ad-
dition to the main fantasy
rodeo event, there is also
a separate charity league
consisting of NFR rodeo
announcers, television
commentators and other
contract personnel.
Each person selects a
contestant from each rodeo
event to comprise a fantasy
team. The winner is the per-
son who selected a “team”
that wins the most accumu-
lated dollars through the
NFR’s entire 10 go-rounds
and the average.
The winner of the Pro
Fantasy Rodeo Celebrity
Charity League is rewarded
by being able to present the
winning funds to a charity
of their choice. Knowles
had won the fantasy rodeo
charity previously but said
this time he wanted the
funds to go to a local cause.
“We feel blessed and
honored to receive this
money. It will be used and
go back to our community
to make a difference,” said
Hisler. “He could have
given this to many different
charitable organizations.
We will use it wisely.”
Ione awarded funding for wastewater system
The City of Ione re-
ceived confirmation from
the U. S. Dept. of Agricul-
ture Rural Development
(USDA RD) that it was
awarded a $1,981,000 grant
and $1,815,000 loan for
the installation of a new
wastewater system, the city
announced last week.
LaDonn McElligott,
Area Specialist of the La-
Grande USDA RD office,
submitted Ione’s appli-
cation to the USDA on
April 7. Over the last sev-
eral months, McElligott
had guided the City of Ione
along with the contracted
engineering firm, Anderson
Perry & Associates (AP),
throughout the submission
process.
The next step is for the
city to apply to the Dept.
of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) for interim funding.
The city is working in part-
nership with AP engineer
Dane Maben in completing
this application, and it will
be submitted shortly.
The engineering con-
tract was awarded to AP
at the March 14 council
meeting. At the request of
the USDA, Maben present-
ed an amended contract to
include the Build America
Buy America clause. The
amended contract was ap-
proved at the at the April 18
city council meeting.
The contract includes
preliminary and final de-
sign, cultural resources
monitoring, bidding, con-
struction engineering and
observation of the proj-
ect, and the preparation
of an operation manual.
Ione Mayor Mike Skow
extended appreciation to
Maben and AP President
Brad Baird and for their
hard work in the design and
funding processes.
“Anderson Perry has
had the privilege of work-
ing with the City of Ione
on the wastewater project
since the initial study in
2014. The project design
is wrapping up and the
city will get underway this
summer with construction.
We are very excited to see
this project finally come to
fruition and are glad to be
a part of such an important
project for the city,” said
Baird.
-Continued to PAGE THREE
By Andrea Di Salvo
It was a contentious
opening to the board of
commissioners meeting
April 19 in Heppner, when
several Morrow County
residents stepped to the
mic to make their feelings
known concerning ambu-
lance services in the county.
While the conflict be-
tween Morrow County
Health District (MCHD)
and Boardman Fire Rescue
over ambulance services
in Boardman has been on-
going for months, tempers
flared higher earlier this
month when the Morrow
County Board of Commis-
sioners voted unanimously
to recraft the 1998 Ambu-
lance Service Area (ASA)
plan and voted 2-1 to pro-
vide a letter of support to
Boardman Fire to seek am-
bulance licensing from the
Oregon Health Authority.
The decision to revisit
the ASA plan was made af-
ter consulting with attorney
Bob Blackmore, whom the
county engaged to help nav-
igate the complicated legal-
ities of Morrow County am-
bulance services, although
Blackmore had advised
against the letter of support.
The board of com-
missioners faced back-
lash over those decisions,
-Continued to PAGE TEN
Lexington airport to
receive funds for
runway improvements
The Morrow County Airport in Lexington is slated to receive
more than $200,000 in Dept. of Transportation infrastructure
grants for runway improvements. -Contributed photo
Morrow County Air-
port in Lexington is one of
two rural Oregon airports
slated to receive funds for
runway improvements from
the U. S. Dept. of Transpor-
tation, U.S. Senators Ron
Wyden and Jeff Merkley
announced last Thursday.
“We appreciate the ef-
forts of senators Wyden and
Merkley in securing this
funding for these important
improvements to our local
airport in Lexington,” said
Morrow County Board of
Commissioners Chair Da-
vid Sykes. “This facility is
very important to the people
and economy of our rural
county.”
The Lexington air-
port will receive $223,000
in Airport Infrastructure
Grants to support recon-
struction of Taxiway D
and reconstruction of the
southeast apron pavement.
Corvallis Municipal Airport
will receive $65,500 to
support the design phase of
sealing two taxiways.
“Small airports in rural
areas help drive our state’s
economy,” Wyden said. “I
am gratified to see these
dollars go toward improv-
ing crucial runway infra-
structure that will allow
for safer and more regular
air service.
“Investing in airport
infrastructure lays the
groundwork for airports in
Benton and Morrow coun-
ties to continue to support
our state’s economy mov-
ing forward,” he added.
“Whether flying for
recreation, business or agri-
cultural operations, having
access to safe and reliable
airport infrastructure is vital
to drive Oregon’s econo-
my,” said Merkley. “These
federal investments to sup-
port critical runway infra-
structure at the Corvallis
Municipal Airport and the
Morrow County Lexington
Airport will allow these
hubs to continue to support
local businesses and econ-
omies for years to come.”
Irrigon seeks grant for
new business incubator
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Irrigon City Coun-
cil moved a step closer to
creating a new business in-
cubator last Tuesday when it
voted to move forward with
an application for a grant
from the U.S. Small Busi-
ness Administration (SBA).
The purpose of the in-
cubator would be to help
small businesses get started
with minimal startup costs
until they could expand out
on their own.
“It would probably be
three to five years average
for anybody. It might be up
to seven,” said Irrigon City
manager Aaron Palmquist.
“It takes at least a minimum
of three years for someone
to get established.”
The facility is planned
to be 5,000 to 7,000 square
feet and will also include a
licensed kitchen that any-
one in the community will
be able to use. It will be
built on land already owned
by the city.
The $1 million grant
was already awarded to the
city through Congressio-
nally Directed Spending
obtained by Oregon sena-
tors Jeff Merkley and Ron
-Continued to PAGE ELEVEN
CALL
541-989-8221
ext 204
for more
information