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Baker Boyer is pleased to announce the promotion of Rosendo Guizar to Chief Credit Officer.

“Rosendo’s dedication to small family businesses throughout our region makes him uniquely qualified to work with clients to find solutions for their business. We at Baker Boyer feel fortunate to have someone with such integrity and dedication represent us in our communities,” remarked Mark Kajita, Baker Boyer President and CEO.

Guizar is responsible for the Bank’s entire commercial and consumer lending portfolio. He will use his lending experience to assess and manage credit risk for the Bank and its clients, ensuring client success. Guizar began his career with Baker Boyer Bank in 1996. During his 22 years at the Bank, he has worked in all facets of lending, ranging from operational to direct lending responsibilities in both the consumer and commercial areas. He has held positions as a Commercial Loan Assistant and Loan Officer, Business Advisor, culminating in his most recent role as a Credit Administrator. Guizar has been instrumental in helping Baker Boyer serve and guide clients through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) with the rollout of $44 million in loans to businesses in Eastern Washington.

Guizar is a graduate of Whitman College with a degree in biochemistry. In 2003, he graduated from the University of Colorado School of Banking. Prior to working at Baker Boyer, he held several entrepreneurial roles, which were instrumental in providing a well-rounded banking and financing background. His understanding of the challenges facing the self-employed is an asset for Baker Boyer’s entrepreneurial customers.
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He is proud to call Walla Walla home and feels fortunate to have been able to raise his two daughters in Walla Walla’s great community. Rosendo enjoys giving back to the community through his involvement in various organizations. He has served as President of the Sunrise Rotary Club, Walla Walla Community Hospice Board President, member of the Workforce Development Council, and a member of the Walla Walla Community College Accounting Advisory Committee.

Heartlinks Hospice & Palliative Care has announced the addition of a new nurse practitioner, Christopher Monk, ARNP, in order to further expand its Palliative Care program in the Tri-Cities. The expansion follows the discontinuation of Chaplaincy Health Care’s palliative care program at the end of 2020. Heartlinks has provided palliative care to the community since 2007, and has increased their patient load by 35% since Chaplaincy discontinued their program in December. 
 
Heartlinks Palliative Care program is designed to enhance the quality of life and to help ease the difficulties associated with the disease process that is progressively worsening. Heartlinks is working closely with a broader coalition of community health providers to further expand its palliative care program to fit community need.
 
Patients who think palliative care would be helpful should discuss this with their primary care doctor. Patients remain under the care of their own physicians. Palliative care professionals can recommend ways to manage physical symptoms, discuss “next steps” and offer access to other professionals to address emotional and spiritual symptoms that can be a part of chronic and often life-limiting illnesses.
 
Medicare, Medicaid, Private Insurance, and Veteran’s Benefits mostly reimburse palliative care services, and the remaining amount is covered by community support and donations. As the only active provider of this service locally, donations are encouraged as they continue to provide this critical care for our communities. To learn more about palliative care, please visit: www.heartlinkshospice.org

Trios Health is pleased to announce that Christopher Ravage, MD, has joined Trios as a Cardiologist.

Dr. Ravage will see patients at the Trios Care Center at Southridge 4th floor clinic, located at 3730 Plaza Way in Kennewick. He treats patients for a variety of conditions, including cardiac catheterization, intercoronary stents and angioplasty, cardiac pacemaker implantation and management, heart disease assessment and prevention, valvular heart disease, hypertension, heart rhythm treatment, echocardiography, electrocardiography, and more.

“We are pleased to bring Dr. Ravage on board with Trios Medical Group full-time,” said Lorie Orozco, Director of Trios Medical Group Operations. “His expertise, experience and knowledge of the local healthcare landscape are of great value and worth to our patients and our community.”

Dr. Ravage has worked on a contract-basis with Trios since 2014 through CardioSolution. He has also been in private practice in Richland for more than 20 years. Prior to going into private practice, Dr. Ravage worked with Mid-Columbia Heart Institute. Over the last several years, he has also been affiliated with Trios Health, Lourdes Health, Kadlec Regional Medical Center, and Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Cardiovascular Disease and Internal Medicine.
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“We are excited to have Dr. Ravage join our team full-time. We have already had the privilege of working with him through CardioSolution and are thrilled that he is with Trios Medical Group now,” said Cristal Trevino, clinic manager. “We have been impressed with Dr. Ravage’s approach to patient care and are looking forward to helping him continue to grow his practice here while serving our patients and community.”

Trios Health is pleased to announce that online scheduling is now available for Trios Primary Care Providers. 

Primary Care Providers include Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pediatric providers. Patients are able to utilize the online tool to schedule as an existing patient for follow up, sick visits, wellness visits, or well-child check-ups. New patients may also utilize the tool to schedule their appointments. 

“We are excited to launch this tool and looking forward to the convenience and accessibility it will add for our patients,” said Lorie Orozco, Director of Trios Medical Group Operations. “We are additionally looking forward to expanding it later this year beyond our primary care base and will keep our community informed of when online scheduling will be more broadly available.”

Patients wishing to schedule appointments online should go to trioshealth.org/find-a-doctor. On that page, providers who have online scheduling available will show with a “schedule online” icon below their name and location. Following the link in a provider’s portal will take patients to an external page, which will allow them to schedule with that specific provider.

HAPO Community Credit Union is proud to announce its partnership with Communities In Schools of Benton-Franklin (CISBF) and Tri City Diversity and Inclusion Council (TCD&IC) to help provide essential items, food, gift cards, and PPE to families struggling with homelessness in our area.

Each year, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., the United States observes MLK Day as a designated national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities.  

HAPO, along with other community partners will volunteer to give out food and winter essentials to people who have found themselves facing homelessness on MLK Day. 

From December 28, 2020-January 11, 2021, all Tri-Cities HAPO locations will be collecting non-perishable food items to give out on MLK Day.  Donations can be dropped off in the “Building A Dream” boxes located inside the lobby at each branch.

In addition to non-perishable food donations, monetary donations can be made at all Tri-Cities HAPO locations. Our community partners, The Links Tri Cities Chapter, AACCES, Chicago Title Insurance Company, WA Build Back Black Alliance, and TCD&IC will match all donations up to $7500 to help purchase additional items to hand out on MLK Day. Ask a HAPO representative how to make a donation! 

“As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, Life's most persistent and urgent question is,  what are you doing for others?  TCD&IC is dedicated to supporting marginalized communities. Homeless youth are our most vulnerable population and we urge our community to join us in service, in building a dream to fight hunger and homelessness”  said Naima Chambers-Smith, Founder and CEO of Tri Cities Diversity and Inclusion Council.

“There are roughly 17,000 youth in Benton and Franklin Counties that are living in poverty and struggling with the added barriers of the pandemic.  Our hope is for the community to help us build this dream into reality to ensure youth and families have the resources and support they need to be safe, healthy and successful” said Lupe Mares, Executive Director of Communities In Schools Benton Franklin.

Thank you to community partner Century 21 Tri Cities and The Children’s Reading Foundation of the Mid Columbia for their generous support of this program.  To learn more about how you can support this program by making a donation, please contact Meaghan Brooks, Mobile Branch Coordinator, at meaghan.brooks@hapo.org.

Communities in Schools of Benton-Franklin is dedicated to empowering students to stay in school and on a path to a brighter future.  Working directly inside 25 schools in Benton and Franklin Counties, they connect kids to caring adults and community resources designed to help them succeed.  To donate to or learn about CISBF more please visit www.bentonfranklin.ciswa.org.

Tri Cities Diversity and Inclusion Council is dedicated to fostering a unified community, embracing cultures, and celebrating diversity through education, advocacy, and the promotion of cultural competence and compassion.

HAPO Community Credit Union serves over 170,000 members and has 19 locations throughout Washington, and Umatilla, Morrow, and Clackamas Counties in Oregon.

We are deeply saddened to learn that Ed Allen, 2008 Board Chair, has passed.

​Ed served on the board for many years, however, 2008 was an especially pivotal year as the Chamber formed a partnership with TRIDEC and Visit Tri-Cites and built the Tri-Cities Business & Visitor Center. Also, in 2008, Ed led the Chamber through a leadership change; hiring Lori Mattson as President/CEO.

​Ed’s larger than life personality and business acumen made for an exceptional community leader. He will be greatly missed! We offer our condolences to Ed’s wife, Celeste, and family in their time of mourning.

We are pleased to announce that the Regional Chamber’s Awards and Recognition committee has chosen the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton & Franklin Counties as the December Member of the Month. 

Since May, the committee has chosen to recognize members who have gone above and beyond to help our community during these trying times and the Boys & Girls Club is no exception. 

The Boys & Girls Club has been an active member of the Regional Chamber for many years and a great asset to the Tri-Cities community and our youth. During the pandemic, the Boys & Girls Club has been providing childcare for essential workers, academic support and mentoring for vulnerable youth, and virtual programming to the community at large. The virtual programming features craft tutorials, cooking classes, art demonstrations, break-dancing how-to’s, and more. They have distributed meals, offered a drive-through Halloween celebration, and shared important information with the families they serve.

​In response to unprecedented need, STCU significantly increased its year-end giving, surprising more than 20 community organizations with checks ranging from $10,000 to $32,000 to assist with their work of providing basic needs and helping keep youth connected.
 
In addition, the Spokane-based credit union is writing checks ranging from $25 to $1,000 to 103 organizations where employees volunteered in 2020.

The Season of Giving surprise donations of more than $400,000 are being delivered via Zoom meetings to non-profit organizations in Eastern Washington, Tri-Cities and North Idaho. They ranged from the maker space Gizmo CDA, to youth centers, to organizations helping college students stay in school. (See attached list.)  

“We’ve always appreciated the vital services these organizations provide to individuals and families, helping make our community stronger and more equitable,” said Ezra Eckhardt, STCU President and CEO. “In a year with so many challenges, they need our support more than ever.”

While the Season of Giving is a favorite with credit union staff, STCU contributes to community organizations year around. Because 2020 has been particularly difficult for many, the credit union augmented its giving. When events were canceled, STCU asked the organizations to shift its sponsorship money to providing critical needs.

A few examples of STCU’s 2020 efforts:  

• Helping Idaho Business for Education raise more than $400,000 and collect 1,200 devices for K-12 students through the Close the Divide technology campaign. 
• Buying hundreds of gift cards from local businesses to distribute to struggling STCU members and organizations.
• Supporting STCU business members through the administration of more than 1,200 Paycheck Protection Program loans, and helping smaller credit unions do the same.
• Working with KREM-2 on its “Love Local” campaign and the Inlander on its “Back to Business” special sections – both significant efforts to support local businesses.
• Providing critical financial and volunteer support for Spokane Food Fighters, which distributed 120,000 meals directly to doorsteps.
• STCU employees have logged more than 6,000 volunteer hours, including distributing PPE at the Spokane County Fairgrounds, passing out Bite 2 Go meals, and assembling and distributing food boxes for Spokane Valley Partners, along with dozens of other efforts. 
• Providing critical support and 0% interest loans to wildfire victims.
• Using its advertising space to celebrate frontline workers, and support a community effort to honor the class of 2020.

Eckhardt said that certain expectations come from being a not-for-profit financial cooperative founded during the Great Depression.
 
“STCU members have made clear time and again that they want their credit union to assist always, and particularly during challenging times,” he said. “Our board and our employees wouldn’t have it any other way.”

In addition, STCU employees who served at least 12 volunteer hours at any single organization this year were invited to apply for a Volunteers Count grant on behalf of that organization. STCU will deliver 19 of those $1,000 grants by year’s end, along with checks of $25, $50 and $100 to an additional 84 organizations where employees volunteered.  

STCU’s Volunteers Count program offers employees 16 hours of paid time each year for volunteerism. The credit union encourages further volunteer activity by providing flexible schedules, leadership training at all levels, and other support to help them make a community impact.