Hermiston herald., September 25, 2019, Page 7, Image 7

LOCAL NEWS
Wednesday, september 25, 2019
HermIstOnHeraLd.COm • A7
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staff photo by Jade mcdowell
Good Shepherd Health Care System Chief Operating Officer Jim Schlenker, center left,
and CEO Dennis Burke cut the ribbon on the newly remodeled diagnostic imaging and
laboratory area at Good Shepherd.
Good Shepherd finishes
remodel of diagnostic clinic
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
P
atients of Good Shepherd Health
Care System who need an X-ray or
mammogram will have a more pri-
vate, comfortable experience after the the
hospital completed a major remodel of its
diagnostic imaging department and lab
services.
Hospital staff celebrated with a ribbon
cutting on Thursday. Chief Operating Offi-
cer Jim Schlenker said they were excited
about the change, which will help the hos-
pital better serve the community.
Eric Peterson, Good Shepherd’s interim
facilities manager, told the audience gath-
ered Thursday that the soft, inviting color
palette and overall look of the patient
staging area was “very representative of
what Good Shepherd will look like in the
future.” The design work on the project
will provide a template for future remod-
els to other parts of the hospital.
“We can’t do it all at once, but we will
over time,” he said.
Previously, patients who needed diag-
nostic imaging or a blood draw checked in
at a desk within earshot of other patients.
Now they will be able to check in in the
privacy of one of three registration offices
before being seated in a lobby.
Inside the lab, the number of draw sta-
tions was increased to three, with an area
for patients to lie down if they need to.
On the other side of the new lobby are the
rooms for diagnostic imaging such as CT
scans, X-rays, MRIs, ultrasounds, mam-
mograms and echocardiography.
The increased number of registration
stations and draw stations is expected to
significantly decrease the amount of time
it will take for patients to get blood drawn,
and the offices will also mean less wait
time for scans.
Good Shepherd has remodeled,
expanded or added several new areas to its
plaza at 620 N.W. 11th St. in the past few
years, including the addition of the Good
Shepherd Women’s Clinic.
Saturday, Sept. 28
9am-2pm
Hermiston High School
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City adopts cybersecurity policy
in the face of growing threats
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
T
he Hermiston City
Council turned its
eye toward cyberse-
curity Monday, after doz-
ens of cities had their data
held ransom by hackers
this year.
City Finance Director
Mark Krawczyk said the
25-page policy was adapted
from a template provided
by the city’s insurance
company.
“This was put together
with great care to address
a very real threat,” Kraw-
czyk said.
He displayed examples
of several recent emails
city staff and council-
ors had received, attempt-
ing to scam them into
giving hackers their infor-
mation. In one, Krawczyk
himself received an email
that appeared to be from
mayor David Drotzmann,
asking the finance direc-
tor to immediately send
a payment of $59,000 to
an account. In another,
the payroll staff received
an email appearing to be
from city manager Byron
Smith, saying he had been
having difficulty access-
ing his payroll information
and needed to update his
password.
Staff and elected offi-
cials who have fallen for
such phishing schemes in
other cities have in some
cases opened up their city
to ransomware attacks. At
least 55 jurisdictions have
been compromised so far
this year, Krawczyk said,
and some have paid hun-
dreds of thousands of dol-
lars for hackers to release
their computer systems.
Criminals feel cities
don’t have the same where-
withal as private compa-
nies to protect their data, he
said, “and they’re right.”
“They’re picking on
very small jurisdictions,”
he said.
“This was put
together with great
care to address a
very real threat.”
Mark Krawczyk,
City Finance Director
Krawczyk said the city
had upped their security
in recent years, hiring the
Intermountain Education
Service District to pro-
vide IT support, scanning
each incoming email for
malware, backing up sys-
tems on a regular basis and
generating a bright yellow
notice at the top of emails
that came from outside the
city’s network, asking staff
to stop and verify the send-
er’s email address.
The cybersecurity pol-
icy presented to the coun-
cil Monday outlines best
practices ranging from staff
trainings to safeguards on
confidential data.
Councilors
unani-
mously approved the pol-
icy, expressing their thanks
to staff and the IMESD for
their work in keeping the
city’s records safe.
On Monday Krawczyk
also presented the city’s
monthly financial report,
which drew some questions
from councilors.
During the previous fis-
cal year the city briefly
dropped below the min-
imum reserve amount in
the general fund set by
city policy. Krawczyk told
councilors Monday that in
order to avoid that happen-
ing again he had shifted the
timing of some payments
to match up with periods
of low cash flow for the
city — for example, trans-
ferring Hermiston Energy
Services’ payment in lieu of
taxes into the general fund
all at once at the beginning
of the fiscal year instead of
monthly.
Drotzmann said he was
concerned the change was
merely a “shell game”
and didn’t fix the overall
problem.
Smith said staff were
looking closely at gen-
eral fund spending and
department heads had been
good about keeping their
expenses low. Krawcyzk
said he was considering
starting to set aside an extra
$250,000 in revenue per
year during the budgeting
process to start building the
city’s cash reserves higher.
Councilor John Kirwan
said when he first joined the
council, the city’s ending
fund balance always was
more than $2 million above
the minimum reserve, so
it was never a worry. In
recent years, however, the
city has used up that cush-
ion through generous dona-
tions to projects such as
Kennison Field, the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center and the Harkenrider
Senior Activity Center.
“We don’t have that
money anymore,” he said.
“I think those were good
investments in the commu-
nity, but when people come
to us for money, we spent
that money.”
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