A4 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
Buck returns to his home range
Hermiston High
grad returns
as an emergency
room physician
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
A Hermiston native, re-
turning home to work as an
emergency room physician,
is just what the state is hop-
ing for as it looks to combat a
shortage of rural doctors, den-
tists and nurse practitioners.
Daniel Buck, M.D., grad-
uated from Hermiston High
School. And after completing
his family medical residency in
Edgewood, Kentucky, he has
returned to his hometown to
become Good Shepherd Med-
ical Center’s newest ER doctor.
According to a news re-
lease from Good Shepherd,
Buck moved to Hermiston
with his family, which in-
cludes eight children ages
seven to 22.
“My parents still live in
the same house that I grew
up in,” Buck said in the re-
lease. “Hermiston is still pret-
ty much how I remember it
— friendly and welcoming,
though there are a lot more
housing developments and
new shopping centers than I
remember as a kid, and I think
that is great for our communi-
ty to be actively wanting to
grow.”
Buck comes to Good
Shepherd Health Care Sys-
tem with “a lot of extensive
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY GOOD
SHEPHERD HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
Daniel Buck, M.D. is a
graduate of Hermiston High
School and has returned to
his hometown as the newest
physician in Good Shepherd
Medical Center’s emergency
room. Buck is an example of a
doctor willing to return to rural
Oregon after medical school.
training,” according to the
release. That includes an in-
ternship in surgery, caring for
patients on the burn unit of a
Level I trauma center, time as
an EMT in the Oregon Army
National Guard, work as a
certifi ed anesthesia technician
and “hundreds of intubations
and other invasive proce-
dures.
“I have a very diverse set
of skills, and I believe that all
of the training that I have has
prepared me to care for this
community,” Buck said.
Shortages of medical prac-
titioners in rural areas has been
a concern across the nation, in-
cluding in Oregon. To combat
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016
COMMUNITY NEWS
the problem the state legislature
created Scholars for a Healthy
Oregon in 2013. The program
provides full tuition scholar-
ships to Oregon Health and
Science University for a limited
number of students each year in
return for a commitment from
them to work at least fi ve years
in an underserved rural area
in Oregon after graduation. It
covers doctors, dentists, physi-
cians’ assistants and a master’s
in nursing.
Buck was not a Scholars
for a Healthy Oregon partic-
ipant, but the program hopes
to foster more stories like his
of students who left their rural
Oregon hometown for medi-
cal school and returned later
to practice medicine there.
Winding Waters Clinic
in Enterprise and OHSU are
celebrating the 25-year anni-
versary this weekend of a “ru-
ral training” program where
doctors completing their res-
idency program spend three
months in Enterprise or John
Day to gain experience in a
rural setting.
Other programs available
to potential rural doctors are
the loan forgiveness programs
administered by the Oregon
Offi ce of Rural Health. The
Oregon Medicaid Primary
Care Loan Repayment Pro-
gram, for example, provides
up to $105,000 in loan for-
giveness for providers that
work at least three years serv-
ing Medicaid patients in un-
derserved rural areas.
Robert Duehmig, deputy
director of the Oregon Offi ce
of Rural Health, said those
types of programs have “ab-
solutely” helped rural hos-
pitals and clinics hire more
medical practitioners.
“Providers come out (of
school) with a lot of debt,”
he said. “That kind of loan
repayment really helps them
start a practice without having
to worry about that.”
Duehmig said it tends to
be harder to make money as
a doctor, dentist, or other pro-
vider away from the big cit-
ies because there tends to be
fewer patients available and
more on Medicaid. Doctors
have to practice a wider range
of medicine when there ar-
en’t specialists down the hall,
and less backup means more
hours at work and on call.
He said sometimes doc-
tors also don’t want to move
to a rural area because their
spouse working in a different
fi eld might have “limited pro-
fessional opportunities” in a
small town.
“It’s important for practice
sites to remember they’re not
just recruiting doctors, they’re
recruiting their families,” he
said.
Programs like loan for-
giveness or scholarships can
at least guarantee a hospital or
clinic a provider for three to
fi ve years that they might not
otherwise have had, Duehmig
said. And some providers end
up spending most of their ca-
reer in the same town. He said
as a result, OHSU looks for
applicants who are from rural
Oregon to begin with.
“They’re the most likely to
come back and stay,” he said.
ANNIVERSARY
Frank and Lois (Hage-
man) Myrick of Umatilla
are celebrating their 65th
anniversary. They were mar-
ried in Hermiston in 1951.
They raised their four
children in Hermiston.
Frank and Lois retired
from Myrick Chrysler
Dodge in 1993, and moved
to Umatilla in 1996. They
enjoyed their many camping
trips, cruises and adventures
with family and friends.
Joining in celebrating
their milestone are their chil-
dren Susan Keesy of Corne-
lius, Ore., Karen Sligar of
Twin Falls, Idaho, Steven
Myrick of The Dalles and
Lori Myrick. They also have
seven grandchildren and 16
great-grandchildren.
Lois Myrick in 1951
Lois and Frank Myrick in
2016
Printed on
recycled
newsprint
VOLUME 110 ● NUMBER 29
Gary L. West | Editor • gwest@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4532
Tammy Malgesini | Community Editor • tmalgesini@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4539
Alexa Lougee | Reporter • alougee@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4534
Jade McDowell | Reporter • jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4536
Jeanne Jewett | Multi-Media consultant • jjewett@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4531
Shannon Paxton | Offi ce coordinator • spaxton@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4530
Audra Workman | Multi-Media consultant • aworkman@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4538
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