Asher Community Health Center welcomes new staff

Fossil, OR — Asher Community Health Center (ACHC) introduces new staff to better assist our patient population at all levels of medical and dental need. In recent months there has been a flurry of activity within our local health center as long-time staff have left the organization and new staff have joined.

Early summer saw the departure of long-time Chief Organizational Officer (COO) and Clinical Supervisor (CS), Susan Moore, after 21 years of service to the clinic and the community. Joan Field, Community Health Worker (CHW) and Marketing/PR support for the clinic for seven years, left the organization as well. These departures left a huge void within ACHC and have taken some time to fill. As of this month (September), ACHC has added many new staff members to their team and would like to introduce them to the community now.

The beginning of 2024 saw the addition of Grace Lickteig to Asher’s dental team as a Dental Assistant. Lickteig received her dental assistant degree in December of 2023 and plans to work toward her hygienist license in the future. Lickteig has been a wonderful addition to the dental team at ACHC.

Late June saw the addition of CJ Canady to the clinic as a new Medical Assistant (MA). Canady is rejoining the clinic after getting her MA training in other areas of the state post high school graduation. Canady had previously worked at Asher’s front desk while attending high school.

ACHC welcomed Jacob Goodman to the clinic to fill our CHW position in early July. Goodman has lived in the community for two years and is passionate about helping others. Goodman’s CHW training and certification will officially be completed by mid-December at which time he will begin assisting patients more directly.

Asher decided to split the previously held dual position of COO and CS into two roles. To fill the Clinical Supervisor position within the clinic, Hannah Sharp, CMA was hired in mid-July. A previous member of the ACHC Board of Directors, Sharp’s addition to the team has been invaluable.

Filling out the other half of the open position by Moore’s departure is Reneé Heidy. Heidy was hired as a Medical Assistant in October of 2023 and was promoted to the position of Quality Improvement/Compliance Manager in July of this year. Heidy’s previous experience as the Director of Frontier Regional 911 makes her a great fit for this quality and compliance role.

New Clinical Provider, Sarah Peterson, DNP, FNP-C joined ACHC in August and brings with her a full résumé of education, experience, and specialties to offer as in-house services to patients. Working in healthcare for 15+ years treating all ages, Peterson not only performs complete Medicare/Medicaid exams and complete female wellness exams, she also provides dermatology services and can diagnose and treat most things right in office, including most minor surgical procedures. Having worked in rural health for over five years, Peterson has vast knowledge in critical care, gastroenterology, pain clinic, wound care, medication management, and more.

In the past year Asher has seen many changes to their staff and their offerings including a newly remodeled Spray location that can now service dental as well as medical needs. Expansion into Christmas Valley by taking over administration of North Lake Health District’s local clinic by hiring back many of the previously displaced workers when La Pine Community Health Center decided to vacate the administrative role. This included the much-adored provider, Denise Griffiths, FNP, whom many Wheeler County residents got to know and love when she assisted patients locally earlier this year.

Additional rehired staff to Christmas Valley includes Kelly McCord in front desk coordination and Amy Mitchem as medical assistant. Two new staff members were just hired to assist in the growing patient population in Christmas Valley. They are Josune’ Jaca as a Medical Assistant and Alissa Hucke as a part-time Receptionist.

ACHC’s current provider list includes:

(Wheeler County)

Medical — Irina Vesolowski-Martin, FNP; Sarah Peterson, DNP, FNP-C; John Ross, MD (part-time); Silvia Grant (telehealth), MSN, AGPCNP-BC, BC-ADM

Physical Therapy —Brian Schaudt, (Fossil only) PT, DPT, MS

Behavioral Health —

Courtney Smith (telehealth), LCSW; Dental — Dennis Simonsen, DMD; Andrew Pham, DMD

(Christmas Valley)

Medical — Denise Griffiths, FNP; Behavioral Health —

Courtney Smith (telehealth), LCSW

As Asher continues to change and grow their focus remains the same, to build the strength of their communities through preventive medicine and other outreach programs allowing all individuals to reach their full potential and live healthy lives. Please join ACHC in working toward this goal by giving them the opportunity to serve you. Call 541-763-2725 to schedule your appointment within any of their services areas.