As caregivers and McKenzie Valley Wellness board members look on, East Lane County Commissioner Heather Buch cuts a ribbon to the entrance of the new McKenzie River Clinic in Blue River on Oct. 25, 2024.
Tiffany Eckert / KLCC
Four years after it was destroyed in the Holiday Farm fire, the McKenzie River Clinic has been rebuilt on its original site in Blue River.
As community members cheered, East Lane County Commissioner Heather Buch cut the ribbon to the entrance of the new clinic on Oct. 25, 2024. The 3,350-square-foot health facility cost $2 million. The clinic features a community meeting space and a medical wing with exam rooms, labs, and a behavioral health section.
McKenzie Valley Wellness Board president Val Rapp offered a quick tour. The secure medical wing features an airy and open space with lots of natural light pouring in. Rapp said that’s what they wanted.
“A clinic, that just of itself, would provide a healing and calming atmosphere,” Rapp said. “So many people here have been traumatized. Really, you have a population that has traumatic stress disorder of one degree or another.”
Orchid Health manages the medical practice at McKenzie River Clinic, which serves 700 patients.
The newly built clinic has exam rooms like this one as well as labs and a behavioral health section.
Tiffany Eckert / KLCC
This clinic has had a few incarnations after it was destroyed on Sept. 7, 2020. Right after the fire, Orchid Health clinic staff used a van as a mobile clinic for emergency response and wellness checks. Then, the team moved into a quilt shop located just up Highway 126 from Blue River, in Rainbow. The converted shop became a makeshift clinic where hundreds of McKenzie River residents were treated.
Now, the new state of the art clinic is built on the site where the old clinic burned, something Rapp called “cathartic.”
Rapp has been on the McKenzie Valley Wellness Board for 16 years. To get the new clinic built, she helped manage insurance payouts and a state grant from the Fire Relief Act.
While addressing the small crowd outside the new clinic, Buch pointed to the new Blue River Fire Station right next door and the new library and community center just down the way, then added, “The work to rebuild Blue River is not over.” She noted the need for road and sidewalk upgrades. The street in front of the clinic is currently rutty gravel.
Also addressing the attendees, Orchid Health co-founder Orion Falvey credited the medical staff of McKenzie River Clinic for their dedication and care for the people of the rural community.
The McKenzie River Clinic will be open four days a week.
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Correction: In the original version of this story, Heather Buch’s name was misspelled.