By Julie Dockstader Heaps
SVI Media

Long hours and hard work are no strangers to Clint Erickson. As a young man working for his dad’s timber business, he hauled timber out of Greys River. The job had to be done.

One late August day, he drove the timber truck up Corral Creek — thinking since it was summer in Star Valley, he didn’t need a coat or gloves. He ended up loading logs in sleet and snow.

“I’d load up some logs, and when I couldn’t move my fingers, I’d get in the truck to warm up, and then finish up,” Erickson recalled “It’s not like I’m a naturally gifted, intelligent individual; I just knew how to work hard. Hard work has carried me through everything I’ve ever done.”

That work ethic will serve well the newest member of the Star Valley Health Board of Trustees. Erickson was sworn in Feb. 28 at a meeting of the Board of Trustees for what is also known as the North Lincoln County Hospital District.

“Honored and humbled” was how he described his feelings at being named the most recent board member of a hospital system that thrives while many rural hospital systems are struggling.

“We are thrilled that Clint is part of Star Valley Health’s Board of Trustees,” said Star Valley Health CEO Dan Ordyna. “He brings a valuable background to this role with his experience as a chiropractor, healthcare small business owner, and his volunteerism with Search and Rescue. Clint has a very good pulse on the needs of the community and will serve as a great resource to the organization.”

SVI Media spoke with Erickson last week about his recent appointment and his years of experience with Star Valley Search and Rescue — about teamwork. “No one individual is bigger than the mission,” Erickson said, explaining the functioning of a team, whether that be on the hospital board of trustees or taking part in a rescue.

A member of Star Valley Search and Rescue since 2016, Erickson related how late one night they received a locator beacon alert up Adams Creek — in the far reaches of Lincoln County. “It was an area where none of us were familiar. All we had was a GPS to go on,” he recalled.

But search and rescue in helicopter, and on motorcycles, horses and hikers teamed up “trying to get into him. It was an all-nighter.”

The recreationist, Erickson said, was seriously ill and unresponsive, so a helicopter — unable to land in the terrain — dropped medical supplies to rescuers, who administered IV on site. The patient was finally lifted out and survived. “It was just a great team effort by our members,” Erickson said.

It is such teamwork that makes for an efficient functioning of a board of trustees, Erickson explaining. “There are lot of people involved in the efficient functioning of a hospital. And there are a lot of patients that utilize our hospital. There’s seven board of trustees members, the other hospital board and everyone else. You need everyone’s input; then assimilate that and make a wise decision.”

When asked why Star Valley Health thrives when other rural hospitals are struggling and even closing, Erickson responded that Star Valley Health is “community oriented. [There’s] commitment on the part of the board of trustees and the leadership of the hospital. They realize it’s a community hospital as opposed to working for a for-profit hospital where shareholders are getting a cut. We’re not that.

“There’s a sense of keeping it viable because the community needs it, not because shareholders need a check.”

The newest member of the Star Valley Board of Trustees lives in Osmond with his wife, Becca, and their three boys. Together, the Ericksons own and operate Star Valley Medical Supply in Afton. Erickson is also a licensed chiropractor.