Bonamici visits Tillamook

United States Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici was in Tillamook for stops at Adventist Health Tillamook and the county courthouse on April 24.

At Adventist, Bonamici toured the hospital’s facilities and visited with staff about rural healthcare challenges and at the courthouse she held a meeting with county commissioners before presenting a $1 million check in support of the Three Rivers Fiber Broadband project.

“I got the message loud and clear that this is a concern in Tillamook County,” Bonamici said, referring to broadband connectivity, “and so between the bipartisan infrastructure bill that we passed and the American connectivity program, I know there’s still needs and so that’s why I put in the request.”

Bonamici’s visit started at Adventist Health Tillamook where Patient Care Executive Heather Thompson, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Paul Welch and Finance Officer Micah Smith showed her around the hospital.

The tour started in the hospital’s radiology department, which is in the midst of a $1.2 million upgrade. The group then made their way through the emergency department, surgery suite and maternity ward before sitting down for a discussion of the challenges of rural healthcare.

The most pressing issue identified by Adventist staff was the shortage of nurses that makes staffing an ongoing challenge. Smith said that the hospital currently had eight open RN positions and that finding applicants was challenging even as Adventist has increased wages to compete with those available to travel nurses.

Bonamici said that she believed the shortage was being driven by a lack of space in training programs caused by a shortage of trainers. Bonamici said that this issue was due to inadequate pay and that as a member of the nursing caucus, she was working to address the compensation shortfall.

Dr. Paul Jarrell, president of Tillamook Bay Community College, was also present at the tour and described the college’s recently started nurse training program to the congresswoman. Jarrell said that there are currently 16 students enrolled in the program’s first cohort and that with 12 coming from Tillamook County, he is hopeful that many will stay in the county after graduation.

Jarrell said that the college is working with Adventist and other local providers to coordinate clinical placements for the students and estimated that the total cost of a nursing degree from the program was around $30,000.

Bonamici also discussed the closure of the U.S. Renal Care dialysis center located in the hospital’s basement, pledging to lend her office’s support to that already being given by Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden. The group also touched on the lack of pharmacies in the county and the upcoming renovation to Adventist’s surgery suite.

After the stop at Adventist, Bonamici headed to the county courthouse where she held a private meeting with the Tillamook County board of commissioners.

Following the meeting, the congresswoman presented a ceremonial check for $1 million representing the appropriation awarded in 2024’s federal funding package for the Three Rivers Broadband Project.

The project’s second phase will be supported by the award and includes the installation of seven miles of fiber optic broadband cable in south Tillamook County. The cable will be laid on county roads off Highway 22 near Castle Rock and add connectivity to 360 homes, seven businesses and seven governmental institutions.

After the check presentation, Bonamici answered several questions from the Headlight Herald.

On the subject of infrastructure limiting development, Bonamici said that she appreciated the numerous forms that infrastructure needs could take and was working to find further supports after the passage of large funding packages in recent years.

“A lot of people thought okay, yes, we need more roads and bridges but infrastructure is a lot more than roads and bridges,” Bonamici said. “It’s ports, it’s levies, it’s broadband, it’s charging stations and it’s water systems and that’s really essential and if you can’t build more housing because of water infrastructure, if you can’t meet the needs of the community that is a problem that needs to get resolved.”

When asked about arguments in the Johnson v Grants Pass case regarding homelessness, argued before the supreme court the day before the visit, Bonamici said that she opposed criminalizing homelessness and believed more services were needed.

“For people who don’t have a place to go, to criminalize that, to fine them is just going to make things worse because then they’re going to have fines, it’s going to make it even harder for them,” Bonamici said. “So, what we need is we need a lot more shelters, accessible shelters, we need more support services, we need more behavioral health and addiction treatment workers but we don’t need to criminalize people without a home because that’s not going to solve the problem, it’s going to make it worse."