A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
LOCAL
WEDNESDAy, JuLy 31, 2019
Daniel Buck to be first doctor at Hermiston School District’s Clinic
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
Dr. Daniel Buck has a
history in Hermiston and it’s
going to continue for a while
longer.
The Hermiston School
District has partnered with
Good Shepherd Health Care
System to provide the HSD
Wellness Clinic for the
upcoming school year. Buck
is the first doctor to serve
the clinic, which opened its
doors Monday.
“It’s a small town com-
munity,” he said. “And what
I mean by that is that people
know who you are. It’s good
to be recognized by other
people. In big cities, you
don’t get that.”
Buck moved to the west-
ern Umatilla County com-
munity from Las Vegas at the
age of 5, attending Highland
Hills Elementary School and
later Armand Larive Middle
School.
Buck looks back fondly at
his lifeguarding experience
during the summers in high
school. He still remembers
when Kyle Kennison was
the track coach, and the track
was made of cinder.
“I was there when we
raised the funds and first put
in a rubberized track,” he
recalled.
Today, that same track is
named Kennison Field for
Contributed photo from Good Shepherd Health Care System
Starting Monday, Daniel Buck will be serving at Hermiston School District’s Wellness Clinic.
the late coach.
“I had lots of fun growing
up around here,” he said.
Buck graduated from
Hermiston High School in
1992 and earned his associ-
ate’s degree at Blue Moun-
tain Community College.
He later got his bache-
lor’s degree in biology with
a minor in chemistry at the
University of Utah, where he
also attended medical school.
Utah was the place of choice,
he said, because it was close
to his wife’s family.
It wasn’t until 2016, after
he completed his medical res-
idency in Edgewood, Ken-
tucky, that Buck came back
to his hometown of Hermis-
ton to work as an emergency
room doctor for Good Shep-
herd Medical Center.
Today, he works at the
hospital’s urgent care clinic,
seeing patients of all ages
and varieties.
When he’s not busy at the
Good Shepherd Urgent Care,
Buck enjoys fishing at Hat
Rock and Warehouse Beach
on his boat.
He’s wanted to be a doc-
tor since childhood, and his
passion has yet to waver.
“There’s so much we still
don’t understand about how
the human body works. I like
being able to help people,
even with simple things that
improve their lives,” Buck
said.
He said it’s important
to provide early interven-
tion for injuries, and that a
school-based clinic like the
district’s will help with that.
“From what I’ve seen, it’s
great to provide medical help
to sports injuries that happen
Review committee maintains
Umatilla County needs a manager
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
The Umatilla County
Charter Review Committee
continued to advocate for a
manager to oversee county
government. Review com-
mittee chair Michele Gra-
ble said that move is about
recognizing the needs of the
future.
Grable addressed the
committee’s final report
with the county board of
commissioners during its
public meeting last Wednes-
day at the county courthouse
in Pendleton. She said the
committee eliminated its
recommendation to change
the board from three full-
time commissioners to five
part-timers “strictly based
upon the input” from com-
missioners Bill Elfering and
John Shafer during a May
29 work session.
“We decided that upon
your recommendation that
moving to a five-mem-
ber board of commission-
ers would not be advisable,”
she said. “That it would be
a very hard sell to the pub-
lic. Change is difficult. And
it would not be in the best
interest of the county to pur-
sue an election that was not
likely to succeed.”
She also said she could
see how the board could
consider the change threat-
ening because it took away
power and reduced salaries.
Still, she said, the commit-
tee considers the county at
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Michele Grable, chair of the Umatilla County Charter Review
Committee, addresses the county board of commissioners
Wednesday morning in Pendleton concerning the committee’s
recommendation to hire a county manager.
some point would be better
off with five part-time com-
missioners plus a full-time
county manager.
“We did stick with — and
have recommended very
strongly — that a county
manager be appointed,” she
said.
Citing
Commissioner
George Murdock, chair
of the county board, Gra-
ble said 27 of Oregon’s 36
counties have a manager.
County tax assessor Paul
Chalmers told the commit-
tee that previous commis-
sioners and boards sunk
employee morale and cre-
ated a negative workplace.
Chalmers also described
Murdock as the de facto
county manager, she said,
which other county depart-
ment heads echoed.
A county manager would
come with a cost, Grable
said, but Robert Pahl, the
county’s chief finance offi-
cer, confirmed the money
for such a position would be
available in the budget.
The county adopted the
charter in 1994, when the
county population was about
59,000 and the county bud-
get was $18 million. Now,
the county has more than
80,000 residents and the
total budget is north of $90
million. She added a man-
ager also would allow the
commissioners to be more
responsive to the public and
spend more time advocating
in Salem and Washington,
D.C., for the county.
Committee member Dan
Dorran, building on that
point, told the board the
city of Bend received $60.7
million in federal highway
funds for an interchange.
Achieving that grant took
one city councilor and a
county commissioner work-
ing in D.C. for 21 days. That
advocacy work is critical, he
said.
The second proposal
from the committee would
simplify elections. If no
more than two candidates
seek the office, there would
be no May primary election
and the candidates would
advance to the November
general. If more than two
run, the two who win the
most votes in the primary
face off in the general. Mur-
dock said he was not excited
about five part-time com-
missioners and appreciated
the committee’s change in
direction. He also added
the county in the past had a
quasi-administrator.
“In many eyes that did
not go well,” he said, “but I
don’t know if that would be
a basis for not having admin-
istration in the future.”
He concluded he remains
committed to the integrity
of the review committee’s
proposals and should con-
sider at the Aug. 7 meeting
whether or not to put them
on the ballot.
“This has gone on for 18
months,” he said. “I see no
value in fussing around any
longer.”
Commissioner
Shafer
made the motion to that end,
Elfering gave the second
and the trio voted in favor of
the plan.
at the school. Things in P.E.
classes, things that happen
with sports. Concussions are
a very common thing now on
people’s minds,” Buck said.
Another clinic was previ-
ously run by Family Health
Associates, which opened
in the winter of 2016. It was
then that HSD saw other dis-
tricts’ success with providing
on-site health care, accord-
ing to HSD communications
officer Maria Duron.
Good Shepherd partnered
with the district earlier this
year. Duron said the district’s
goal is to improve student
attendance. Staff members,
students and immediate fam-
ily can have walk-in appoint-
ments during class, lunch, or
prep time.
In the past, the Wellness
Clinic had seen 10 patients
or so a day, according to
Duron.
The clinic will be offering
free sports physicals Thurs-
day and Friday, which are
required every two years for
student athletes. After Aug.
2, sports physicals will be
available for $45 at the clinic
or at Good Shepherd.
The Wellness Clinic will
also offer vaccinations, phys-
ical exams, treatment and ill-
ness evaluation, and even
small stitches and sutures.
Students under 18 must have
a signed parent consent form
and a medical history from
a parent or legal guardian.
If the student has insurance,
it will be billed. The clinic’s
rates are the same as those at
Good Shepherd.
Urgent Care practice
manager Natasha Ellwanger
said that the clinic will rotate
doctors as the year pro-
gresses, and that there will
always be a three-person
staff at the clinic, consist-
ing of one nurse or medi-
cal assistant, one reception-
ist, and one care provider, all
from Good Shepherd Urgent
Care.
Ellwanger said she has
noticed in the past that
Urgent Care can get quite
busy during after-school
hours, and hopes the clinic
will help alleviate flow at
Good Shepherd.
“I see it as being a bene-
fit for the district. And, hope-
fully, as it picks up and if it
does become a busy thing
we can open more days,” she
said.
Open hours
The Wellness clinic will
be open on Mondays
from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
and Wednesdays from
12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Students and parents can
reach the Wellness Clinic
at 541-667-6199.
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