For Erin Mackie, caring for the people of Crook County has always been a family affair.
Her mother, Kim Crofcheck, ran the Prineville Medical Clinic for 10 years — from 1997 to 2007, before it was a St. Charles facility — managing the practices of eight different doctors. And her grandfather, Thomas Matheson, was a family practice physician in town for four decades.
“I remember they used to do after-hours physicals for the community and we were always helping out with those and checking people in, giving them their paperwork, stuff like that,” Mackie said. “It was just a volunteer, small-town thing, but being there and seeing what they were doing for the community was really cool.”
When it was time for her to go off to college, Mackie thought she wanted to work in the health care industry, but she didn’t want to do clinical work. She ended up studying business management and eventually moved back to Central Oregon, where she has worked for St. Charles for the past seven years, first in operations for the health system’s professional development department and then doing policy work for the Quality team.
She lived and worked in Bend, and didn’t think she’d ever move back home. But last year, a position became available there: Manager of St. Charles’ Prineville Family Care Clinic — the same job her mom held a generation ago.
“I said, ‘OK, let’s put our house in Bend on the market and see what happens.’ It sold in 48 hours,” Mackie said. “I looked at my husband and said, ‘Maybe we’re moving to Prineville.’”
Kim Crofcheck was thrilled, of course. She moved to Prineville when she was 6 years old, attended Lewis & Clark College in Portland and managed a medical clinic in Salem for 10 years before moving back to her hometown in 1997. Community health care work runs deep in the family, she said.
“My dad’s a doctor. My mom was a lab tech who did research on childhood leukemia. My brother’s a doctor. My uncle’s a doctor. Everyone’s in medicine,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’m going to do something different.’ So I got degrees in business and Spanish.”
After leaving the Prineville clinic in 2007, Crofcheck got her teaching degree and became a Spanish instructor at Crook County High School, where she still works. These days, she’s busy building the school’s business program.
“She’s just one of those people who always wants to learn and do things, and my grandfather was all about education, too. That’s just something that has been big in our family — growing and developing,” said Mackie, whose father Dan and sister Sarah are teachers. “I didn’t think I’d ever be in a management position and back in Prineville, but I think within the context of my family, it’s important that I take this next step.”
She’s ready for the job, according to someone who should know: Her mother.
“I loved that job because every day is different. There’s always something that needs your attention and needs to be fixed,” Crofcheck said. “That’s Erin’s personality. She and I are similar that way. So I encouraged her to go after it. I told her health care and education are two places where you can make a significant difference and give back to your community. And I told her, ‘You’ll be fine.’”
Nine months after accepting the position, Mackie is more than fine, actually. She distinctly remembers how much her mom loved the job, and she’s starting to see why.
“I’m really enjoying this, and it’s nice to be back in the community,” she said. “The older you get, the more you understand that your family and the place you grew up is as important as anything else in life.”
