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The Power Eastern Oregon Podcast explores topics which affect small towns and rural communities in eastern Oregon and beyond. With the help of business and community partners, we will discuss the foundations of healthy communities, innovative new technologies, and challenges we all face. We’ll also explore the value of cooperatives and member-owned utilities and how Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative contributes to the health and growth of our service territory.
Paige Witham:
Welcome to the next installment of the healthcare series of Power
Eastern Oregon Podcast.
I'm your host, Paige, marketing community relations coordinator
at OTEC.
And today with us, we have –.
Jena Knowles:
Jena Knowles. I am the Blue Mountain Healthcare Foundation
director and the public relations director at Blue Mountain
Hospital District.
Paige Witham:
Awesome. We're so excited to have you here today and to hear what
highlights we can share from the John Day in the space of
healthcare. But before we get into it,
we're going to go into our safety share like we do every episode.
March is a good reset month after winter surge periods,
but beware of workplace fatigue.
Fatigue increases risks of slips,
errors and miscalculations.
So watch out for micro signs of slowed reactions,
forgetfulness,
irritability, and don't be afraid to take time to rest if you're
too fatigued to work safely.
Resting can help prevent workplace injury.
Being tired isn't a failure, it's a safety risk.
So asking for help protects patients,
coworkers, yourself.
Jena, what is one way to fight fatigue that you've tried lately?
Jena Knowles:
If I'm at work and I'm feeling fatigued,
I usually just need some fresh air.
I mean, that doesn't solve all of my problems,
but getting outside and just like making a lap around the
hospital, getting my brain off of staring at a screen and what
I've been doing just helps a ton,
so.
Paige Witham:
Absolutely.
Jena Knowles:
That's probably my favorite.
Paige Witham:
Yeah, I do that too. And I'll grab a coworker to go with me,
and we'll take that time.
And sometimes we do even working meetings and that helps a lot
with that eye strain and fatigue.
The more your body moves, the more your brains get those
endorphins and actually you can make better decisions.
Jena Knowles:
Yes. Yeah, we have a lot of departments that do walking meetings
around here too,
so.
Paige Witham:
I love that.
Jena Knowles:
Those are awesome.
Paige Witham:
I love that. So let's get into a little bit about you and the
hospital.
What is a local tradition near Blue Mountain Healthcare District
that feels like home?
Jena Knowles:
The first thing that comes to mind is probably the Grant County
Fair.
Paige Witham:
Oh, yeah.
Jena Knowles:
I'm not from here, but I grew up showing cattle.
Every time I go to the fair in the summer,
I don't know if it's like the smell of shavings or what,
but it takes me back. And it's also really cool to see the
community come together at that event.
The support this community shows for the fair,
the rodeo, those kids,
is really amazing.
Paige Witham:
Absolutely, and Grant County has an amazing fair.
Not that this is what the podcast is about,
but this year they're bringing Scotty McCreery in,
which kind of blew my mind. But yeah,
I love the fair.
I love that you can kind of see everything from your hospital by
the way.
I pulled up, and I turned around and went,
whoa.
This is pretty awesome.
Jena Knowles:
It is awesome.
Paige Witham:
Yeah. So let's talk about some community wins.
What upgrade or improvement are you most proud of,
and how has it made care easier locally?
Jena Knowles:
Since I've been here, I'd have to say the 3D mammogram machine is
probably one of the most exciting things.
So 3D mammo has been out for a while,
but those machines are not cheap,
and it's hard to justify versus a larger hospital purchasing one
because we don't get near the number of patients.
We were able to purchase one in 2021.
And having that here has been huge for our community.
We're saving patients from having to travel three hours to get a
3D mammogram,
and it's able to detect breast cancer earlier with the better
imaging,
which as we know, can save lives.
Paige Witham:
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Take this time to remind you guys
to get all of your checkups,
your routine checkups. I know it can seem like a hassle,
but it really can save your life.
Jena Knowles:
Yes.
Paige Witham:
And it's, yeah. You just hear more and more about it that people
are finding out that they had breast cancer,
and they put it off, and they didn't go because they thought they
were too young or whatever.
And it's really important that you go for all of your routine
checkups.
And so, I love that you guys have that machine.
Let's talk a little bit about your teamwork.
Do you have a teamwork story that comes to mind from this past
year that you'd like to celebrate?
Jena Knowles:
I have a hard time narrowing that down because teamwork is at the
heart of every single thing we do in healthcare.
Caring for patients takes a lot of coordination between
departments.
There's a lot of overlap and communication and problem solving
between all of our teams.
And our leaders are really good at,
you know, when we identify a problem trying to find a solution
and getting creative. Sometimes in rural healthcare,
unique problems require unique solutions.
And we have a lot of great leadership that think outside the box
and find ways to solve problems so that we can better care for
our community.
Paige Witham:
I love that. Yeah, having that teamwork mindset and a strong
leadership,
that pairing together is just magic.
And it's super important, like you said in healthcare
specifically because you do have one patient can have six
different doctors or six different problems.
And so being able to coordinate that care is super,
super important.
Jena Knowles:
Definitely.
Paige Witham:
Let's talk about a moment when the hospital and the community
supported each other.
We were talking a little bit before we started rolling here about
the banquet.
Jena Knowles:
Yeah, that's probably the first thing that comes to mind for me
too.
So we just had our 21st Annual Blue Mountain Healthcare
Foundation Fundraiser Dinner and Auction this past weekend.
And I'm just blown away by the way the community showed up.
We had one of our most successful fundraisers to date,
and we've been raising money to purchase a new C-arm imaging
device for the Blue Mountain Hospital radiology department.
On the other side of things, the hospital does a lot to support
the community,
whether that be offering a free stop the bleed course.
We've done that here in the community or go out to schools in the
outer lying parts of the county and teach students
and teachers, those kinds of things.
We also pick up trash on the side of the highway,
and we deliver Meals on Wheels and support local sports teams
or events like the fair or the free summer lunch program or food
banks,
you name it. The community shows up for us in so many ways,
and we give it right back whenever we have the opportunity.
It's one of the things that I love most about being in a small
town.
Paige Witham:
Yeah, yeah. That's amazing. You know,
it's the stop the bleed courses too.
What brings to mind we, especially in John Day,
have access to so many beautiful hiking
trails and ways to get outdoors.
Hunting is huge. And so knowing how if an accident occurs to stop
the bleed so that you can get into healthcare –
Jena Knowles:
Yes.
Paige Witham:
– is so, so important because it's not very likely that you're
going to have cell service when you're out on Strawberry.
Jena Knowles:
Right.
Paige Witham:
So, being able to have that knowledge before you ever go out is
so cool.
Jena Knowles:
Definitely.
Paige Witham:
Let's talk about some innovation.
Do you have an innovation that you're most excited about?
Jena Knowles:
Yeah. So we haven't really talked a ton about this yet because we
just signed an agreement.
So it's not even up and running yet,
but it will be soon.
So we just signed an agreement with Saint Charles for telestroke
support.
So that'll be huge for our small community.
Oftentimes when a patient has stroke symptoms here,
the only option is to fly them out to a bigger hospital.
But having telestroke could mean keeping a patient here,
connecting virtually to a stroke specialist,
or even flying a specialist to us if needed,
depending on the case.
And it's never easy when a family member gets flown out of town.
So we're hoping that having that service here can save a lot of
stress on families and the patients as well.
Paige Witham:
That's incredible.
Jena Knowles:
Yeah.
Paige Witham:
Yeah, I'd never heard of such a thing and –
Jena Knowles:
I hadn't either actually. So I'm very excited about that.
Paige Witham:
Yeah. Yeah. Anything that we can do to keep care local is pretty
huge.
Jena Knowles:
Definitely.
Paige Witham:
That's awesome. Let's talk a little bit about how tools open
career paths or training opportunities for your staff here.
Jena Knowles:
Yeah. So healthcare is always evolving,
and there's a number of ways that new healthcare tools can open
up new career paths and training opportunities for our staff.
So a few years ago, we started using a new electronic health
record system,
and it was a very involved process.
Paige Witham:
I bet.
Jena Knowles:
It took about a year to get everything up and running,
get everyone trained on it,
and it's kind of an ongoing process of learning because there's
always updates or new features that get rolled out.
So, we have staff that that's their main role is to,
you know, if we get a new
doctor, we have a team member that will train the doctor on the
health record system.
We have team members that now really just focus on analytics.
So that has created new job opportunities for a number of our
employees.
So that's pretty cool.
Paige Witham:
That's awesome.
Jena Knowles:
Yeah.
Paige Witham:
Yeah. And like you say, technology is always evolving,
and I feel like we're always getting new opportunities to learn
and grow in our roles. And who knows what tomorrow's innovation
is going to bring.
But I think it's pretty cool that you guys are embracing the tech
that you can here,
and it's really cool.
Jena Knowles:
Definitely.
Paige Witham:
Well, a hard road to switch from one to another.
Jena Knowles:
Oh yes.
Paige Witham:
But important and valuable down the line,
for sure.
Jena Knowles:
For sure.
Paige Witham:
Let's talk about partnerships. What partnership has made a
meaningful difference in your mind,
one that sticks out?
Jena Knowles:
We have a lot of different partnerships throughout the community
or with other hospitals or things like that,
but one that pops into my head is our partnership with the Grant
County Education Service District on their backpack program.
Paige Witham:
Oh, yeah.
Jena Knowles:
So our teams fill backpacks with nonperishable food items,
and those get delivered to schools in Grant County so that
students that may not be getting enough food at home can take
some food items home on the weekends.
Paige Witham:
Yeah.
Jena Knowles:
And then we also partner with Meals on Wheels.
So our staff delivers meals each month around Grant County to
folks that can't get out of their house to pick those up.
Paige Witham:
Yeah. That's awesome. Awesome.
Jena Knowles:
Yeah.
Paige Witham:
And let's talk about investing in local healthcare careers.
Be that training or in personal development or otherwise.
Why is investing in local healthcare careers essential to you?
Jena Knowles:
Because it keeps people here.
Paige Witham:
Yeah.
Jena Knowles:
Which is what we need the most. As I'm sure everyone listening
that lives in a small community knows,
recruiting anyone from out of town is always difficult,
whether it's a teacher or a doctor.
No one loves the community like the people that grew up here or
raise their families here.
So if we can provide opportunities for people to get into
healthcare,
then we don't have to worry about them leaving because they
already love it here.
Paige Witham:
Right.
Jena Knowles:
Which is why we started our CNA program.
We've also partnered with a university to provide a nursing
program locally too.
Paige Witham:
I love that.
Jena Knowles:
So aside from that local community member focus,
we also have opportunities for medical students to come here for
their residency, which gives them an opportunity to learn here,
make friends here,
fall in love with our community,
and then hopefully they come back here once they are doctors.
Paige Witham:
Yeah. That's great.
Jena Knowles:
Yeah.
Paige Witham:
That's great. And I love that you touched on how it helps build
the community that already loves it here.
Jena Knowles:
Yeah.
Paige Witham:
I'm not local. I'm not born and raised local to Baker City,
but absolutely fell in love with it there.
And what I'm finding is that the more career opportunities that
exist there,
the more people that my husband went to high school are coming
back to the community to raise their families because they know
it's a wonderful place to live and raise their families. And I
know the same is true for Grant County.
So it's really exciting that you guys are partnering in that way.
Thank you again for taking time with us today.
Is there anything that we didn't touch on this interview that you
would like to let our listeners know about?
Jena Knowles:
Not that I can think of. I think we covered just about
everything.
Paige Witham:
That's awesome. And there's, you say that,
and we've touched the surface on a lot of the programs that you
have to offer. So if you guys want more information,
you can find information about the foundation and the hospital on
your website?
Jena Knowles:
Bluemountainhospital.org.
Paige Witham:
Awesome.
Jena Knowles:
Yeah.
Paige Witham:
Thank you again so much for the time you've taken today.
And for our listeners, we will talk to you next time on the Power
Eastern Oregon podcast.