Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tom Becker
President and CEO
Pacific Retirement Services, Inc.
(541) 857-7211
PRS Board Chairman Appointed Chairman of Oregon Health Fund Board
(Medford, Oregon) October 15, 2007 – Pacific Retirement Services, Inc. (PRS), a nationally recognized not-for-profit senior housing development and marketing organization, announced today that its chairman of the board, William D. Thorndike, Jr., has been appointed chairman of the Oregon Health Fund Board by Gov. Ted Kulongoski. The seven-member Fund Board was created from the Healthy Oregon Act (SB 329), which was approved by the Legislature this year to reform Oregon’s health care system and offer health insurance to all Oregon residents, including the approximately 615,000 who are currently uninsured.
A third-generation southern Oregon resident and well-known philanthropist, Mr. Thorndike is President and Chairman of Medford Fabrication/CSC, Inc.; serves as Treasurer of the Port of Portland Commission; is a director on the Federal Reserve Board - Portland Branch; and was appointed in 2006 to the Senate Commission on Education Excellence. He has been Chairman of the PRS Board since Oct. 2006, and served as Treasurer from 1996 to 2006. He is also Chair of the Oregon Business Council, Treasurer of Asante Health System, and serves on the board of Oregon Children’s Foundation, The Nature Conservancy in Oregon, the Regence BlueCross Blue Shield of Oregon Community Board, the KeyBank N.A. Advisory Board, the Jackson County SMART Business Program Advisory Council, and the Northwest Area Foundation headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Mr. Thorndike and the Fund Board will oversee the development of a plan to finance affordable health insurance using a pool of health care dollars from employers and individuals. The Board’s first step will be to select members for five subcommittees that will help define specifics of the plan using data submitted by state agencies, with the goal of submitting a final plan to the Governor’s office by October 1, 2008. Bills will be drafted from this plan and presented to the 2009 Legislature for consideration. Per the Healthy Oregon Act, the Board will also propose ways to contain health care costs and improve quality, with a focus on primary and preventive care, and it will create a committee to examine Medicare policies that contribute to lower physician pay rates.
“Mr. Thorndike was appointed Chairman of the Oregon Health Fund Board for the same reason he was elected to the Board of PRS—because of his breadth of experience and expertise and his ability to produce results through leadership,” says Tom Becker, President and CEO of PRS. “His fundamental strength is his commitment to philanthropy, which makes him a perfect candidate to usher in a new health care system on behalf of the uninsured. Our congratulations go out to him and to the people of Oregon.”
About Pacific Retirement Services, Inc.
Pacific Retirement Services, Inc., is a not-for-profit corporation that develops, operates, manages, and markets a family of 50 retirement communities and service organizations. It has approximately 1,600 employees and provides housing and services to more than 4,000 seniors through its many affiliated organizations, including seven Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs), two managed retirement communities, and twenty-five affordable housing communities. Other CCRCs by PRS include Mirabella Seattle; Holladay Park Plaza in Portland, Oregon; Cascade Manor in Eugene, Oregon; Rogue Valley Manor in Medford, Oregon; University Retirement Community in Davis, California; and Trinity Terrace in Fort Worth, Texas. For more information about PRS, its communities, affiliates, and services, call (888) 724-6424 or visit www.retirement.org.
# # #
