WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2021
HermistonHerald.com
EasternOregonMarketplace.com
Hot
dogs!
Locals line up to adopt
new pets in Hermiston
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Angela Bradshaw, Rowan Winterton, Huxyn Winterton and Katie Bradshaw spend time with a shelter dog
Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, at the Loves Pets Adoption Event in Hermiston.
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
HERMISTON — Shannon White
and her 11-year-old step-daugh-
ter, Ennelly Escobedo, were the fi rst
people in line Saturday morning,
Oct. 15, to adopt a pet at Hermis-
ton’s Pet Rescue Humane Society of
Eastern Oregon.
Pet Rescue and Harley Swain Sub-
aru teamed up for the Loves Pets
Adoption Event, which began at
11 a.m., but the mother-daughter duo
said they were waiting since before 10
a.m. for the doors to open.
Within minutes of entering the shel-
ter at 1844 N.W. Geer Road, Hermis-
ton, they walked out with a new fam-
ily member — a dog named Brownie.
This new pet, a pit bull, would join
a family that already included a bird
and a Chihuahua.
Ennelly said she was excited about
Brownie, and she knew the most
important things to do to take care of
a dog.
“You have to give them food,
water, a bed and shelter,” she said.
“You have to potty-train.”
More than 30 people in all stood in
line before the start time, all hoping to
add a new dog or cat to their families.
Pet Rescue on its Facebook page
on Oct. 16 announced there were 17
dog and 10 cat adoptions by the time
the event ended at 3 p.m.
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Katherine Lopez holds Shatner, a dog
she intended to adopt Saturday, Oct.
16, 2021, at the Loves Pets Adoption
Event in Hermiston.
Four dogs, however, were left
“looking for their forever families,”
but the “shelter was emptied on cats,”
according to the post.
Harley Swain Subaru paid all
adoption fees, the Hermiston pet
supply store Petsense distributed
coupon books. Pet Rescue on its
Facebook page stated the adoption
day “went great.”
See Pets, Page A10
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Donna Lutz walks with her new dog, Ogano, at a Hermiston pet adoption event Saturday,
Oct. 16, 2021.
Vaccine mandate goes into eff ect
throughout Umatilla, Morrow counties
By BRYCE DOLE
and ANTONIO SIERRA
EO Media Group
UMATILLA COUNTY
— More than 2 out of every
5 workers in Umatilla and
Morrow counties are subject
to the state’s vaccine mandate.
For many of them, the
clock struck midnight on Mon-
day, Oct. 18.
Large regional employ-
ers such as CHI St. Anthony
Hospital, the Pendleton School
District and the Hermiston
School District reported high
vaccination rates among their
staff , with most unvaccinated
staff granted a medical or reli-
gious exemption to stay on or
with their employer.
For state workers at one of
the region’s largest employ-
ers, the Oregon Department
INSIDE
of Corrections, the hard dead-
line to get the shot was pushed
out to the end of November.
Both prisons in the county
reported more than 89% of
their security offi cers, ranked
from correctional officers
through captains, are vacci-
nated against COVID-19. That
means 60 of the 615 offi cers
between the two prisons are
facing joblessness, accord-
ing to a spokesperson with
the Oregon Department of
Corrections.
County-wide data
Roughly 13,000 of the
30,300 jobs that comprise
Umatilla County’s work-
force are under the vaccine
mandate, according to Dallas
Fridley, a regional economist
for the Oregon Employment
Department.
And in Morrow County,
roughly 2,700 out of the 5,900
workers there are mandated,
or nearly 46%, Fridley said.
Many of those jobs are in
large fi rms, including the Ama-
zon data center in Boardman
or the many Walmart facili-
ties around Umatilla County,
Fridley said.
Statewide, roughly 57% of
all jobs fall under the mandate,
Fridley said, or less than 3 out
of every 5 employees.
In an eff ort to curb the
spread of COVID-19, Gov.
Kate Brown announced the
mandate in August as the
delta variant rocked the state’s
health care system and inun-
dated hospitals across East-
ern Oregon with unvaccinated
patients.
Since May, more than
90% of patients hospitalized
A3 Nurse explains experiences at
vaccination booths
with COVID-19 in Umatilla
County have been unvac-
cinated, according to data
from Umatilla County Pub-
lic Health. In that same time
frame, 52 county residents
who contracted the virus have
died.
Hospitals
Emily Smith, a spokesper-
son for CHI St. Anthony in
Pendleton, said in an email that
88% of the hospitals’ staff are
vaccinated. She said approx-
imately 60% of employees
who requested an exemption
got one, and some requests are
pending.
Those who are not vac-
cinated and who have not
received an exemption “will be
placed on unpaid administra-
tive leave for 90 days, during
which time they can recon-
A6 Ag awards recognize young
entrepreneurs
sider vaccination,” Smith said.
Unvaccinated employees who
get the shot later “will be eli-
gible for rehire at a later date,”
Smith added.
Smith said in an email the
mandate prompted an 18%
increase in the hospital’s vac-
cination rate. She added the
hospital is “adjusting staff so
that operations will be mini-
mally impacted.
EO Media Group sought
that information from Good
Shepherd Medical Center,
Hermiston.
Caitlin Cozad, a spokesper-
son for Good Shepherd, said in
response to questions, “Good
Shepherd is compliant with
the state mandate and fully
operational.”
The Oregon Health Author-
ity has not updated its pub-
lic dashboard showing vac-
A7 Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce celebrates new building,
new director
cine uptake among health
care workers in individual
counties since Oct. 4. But the
two-week-old data shows that
roughly 30% of all health care
workers in Umatilla County,
and 24% of health care work-
ers in Morrow County, were
unvaccinated at that time.
In all, 18% of Oregon’s
health care workers are unvac-
cinated, according to state
data.
More than 1.1 million Ore-
gonians work in jobs that are
under the mandate, or 3 out
of every 5 working residents,
Oregon Public Broadcasting
reported.
The website guidestar.org
specializes in collecting pub-
lic information about non-
profits. A 2020 tax return
See Mandate, Page A10
A8 Hermiston FFA heads to Indi-
anapolis for national competition