New facility named for employee.

Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

Sometimes it takes years before the accomplishments of worthy people are memorialized with the name of a meeting room, building, plaza or street.

Not so for Richard Sherman.

The longtime county employee - whose colleagues tout him as having "done more than any single individual to improve the care of, and awareness of the problems of, individuals with mental illness in the criminal justice system" in Lane County - soon will see his name on the county's new Defendant & Offender Management Center.

County commissioners voted earlier this month to name the new facility, which formerly housed the Lane County Psychiatric Hospital until it closed because of budget cuts, in recognition of Sherman's work to appropriately diagnose, treat and prosecute mentally ill inmates.

Sherman retired from the county earlier this year after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He will be honored at a dedication and open house at the center at 101 W. Fifth Ave. in downtown Eugene, adjacent to the Lane County Jail on Wednesdayat 11 a.m.

Local "heroes" named

for work on health clinic

The county also has bestowed honors on two individuals and a health-care coalition for bringing a Federally Qualified Health Center network to Lane County.

Board Chairman Bobby Green announced this week that "Health Care Hero" awards have gone to county physician Michael Weinstein; Steve Manela, manager of the county's human services programs; and the Latino Medical Access Coalition, a group of clinics that provide medical services to unserved and underserved populations in the county.

Weinstein has spent 30 years helping low-income people find medical services, first in Seattle and then at the Eugene-based White Bird Medical Clinic, "providing hope where there was none and inspiring others to give their best," Green said.

Most recently, Weinstein served as interim medical director until the new health center network was ready.

Landing the federal grant to establish the new health center fell to Manela, who put together one of the top three of 294 proposals nationwide to land $1.9 million in government support for the project, which will make medical care available to 5,000 people who otherwise would not receive services.

The Latino Medical Access Coalition met regularly at 7:30 a.m. for nine years in an effort to find ways to provide health care for disadvantaged people in the community, Green said. The group includes Centro LatinoAmericano, Volunteers in Medicine, White Bird, Safe & Sound Homeless Youth Clinic, Head Start, Lane County Public Health, PeaceHealth and McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center.

Official lands gigs

with two celebs

At the end of Wednesday's board meeting, Commissioner Anna Morrison proudly announced that "Saturday is the Eugene Celebration Parade, and I will be with Papa Duck," a character promoting a Rotary Club charity fund-raiser.

Of course, the dyed-in-the-wool Oregon State University supporter reaffirmed her Beaver allegiance. "It'll be the first time you've ever seen me with a duck, probably," she added.

Her other appointment? She'll be among a group of eight people who greet Vice President Cheney at the Eugene Airport today, Morrison said.

Randi Bjornstad can be reached at 338-2321 or rbjornstad@ guardnet.com.