Step into a rewarding CRNA role at Good Shepherd Health Care System, where you'll become an integral member of a cohesive nine-person all-CRNA anesthesia team serving the largest and fastest-growing city in Eastern Oregon. This is a replacement position following the planned departure of a colleague relocating closer to home in December—a testament to the fact that practitioners leave this team only for personal life circumstances, not professional dissatisfaction. The stability of this group speaks volumes: you'll be joining a team where collegiality and work-life balance aren't just promised in the interview—they're lived daily, evidenced by multiple team members who've chosen to build their careers here for over a decade.
You'll work in a true CRNA-led practice model, a structure that genuinely values your clinical autonomy, professional judgment, and advanced practice expertise. This isn't a physician-dominated environment where CRNAs are relegated to following orders; rather, you'll function with the independence your training and certification warrant, making real-time clinical decisions and managing your own cases from pre-op assessment through emergence and recovery. Reporting to Darren Ernst, Chief of Anesthesia, you'll find leadership that empowers rather than micromanages—a chief who understands that excellent patient outcomes flow from supporting skilled practitioners rather than second-guessing every clinical choice. The physician oversight exists as it should: as backup support and collaborative consultation when you need it, not as bureaucratic interference in your daily practice.
Good Shepherd Health Care System stands as the essential healthcare anchor for Eastern Oregon, serving as a critical access hospital that provides the full spectrum of surgical and procedural services to a rapidly growing region. The hospital serves the Hermiston-Pendleton micropolitan area with a combined population exceeding 92,000 residents, but its reach extends far beyond these city limits. Patients travel from across Umatilla County and neighboring rural areas—sometimes driving an hour or more—because Good Shepherd offers sophisticated care they simply can't access closer to home.
As Hermiston's population has surged past 20,000—making it officially Eastern Oregon's largest city—the demand for skilled anesthesia providers has intensified proportionally. The community's expansion is driven by strategic location, thriving agriculture, growing food processing and data center industries, and an influx of young families attracted by affordability and quality of life. This growth translates directly to surgical volume: more births requiring epidurals, more orthopedic cases, more general surgery, and more emergent airways that simply didn't exist when the population was smaller.
This community genuinely needs CRNAs like you: practitioners who can handle diverse cases with clinical confidence, adapt seamlessly across specialties, and bring both technical excellence and compassion to a patient population that reflects America's heartland. You'll see the direct, meaningful impact of your expertise on real people—you'll recognize patients at the grocery store, wave to families at community events, and experience the satisfaction of knowing your skills enable people to remain in their home community for care rather than traveling to distant cities.
What truly distinguishes this position is the rare combination of clinical variety, genuine autonomy, collegial culture, and lifestyle balance that practitioners in metropolitan settings spend their entire careers seeking but rarely find. You'll practice the full scope of your CRNA training, functioning as the anesthesia expert across all service lines. The team structure ensures you're never isolated; with nine CRNAs rotating through ten ORs daily plus procedural areas, you'll always have colleagues nearby for support.
The medical staff voting membership isn't ceremonial—it represents genuine professional respect and meaningful participation in shaping department culture, protocols, and future direction. You'll attend medical staff meetings alongside physicians, surgeons, and hospital leadership, contributing your perspective to decisions that affect patient care and practice conditions.
This isn't just another CRNA position offering "competitive compensation and benefits"—this is an opportunity to practice the full scope of your training in a supportive environment where your clinical skills are valued, your schedule allows for life outside the OR, and your work directly impacts your community. Here, access to quality anesthesia care literally changes lives.
For CRNAs weary of the metropolitan grind—the traffic, the politics, the volume pressure—this represents something rare: the chance to practice meaningful medicine in a place where you're genuinely valued, and where work-life balance isn't just a slogan but an operational reality.