Two women awarded top honors

One has devoted her career to the success of a local institution, the other just started a new business last year to fill a local need and fulfill a longtime ambition.

Solveig Chaffee's Voltage Coffee House was named business of the year, and hospital CEO Ramona Hicks was honored as achiever of the year at the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce annual awards banquet Thursday at Pepper Jack's Bar and Grille.

"Thank you for bringing a new business to the community ... putting in your own time and money to support the community," said Garrett Jess, handing Chaffee a plaque. Jess was last year's winner for Jess Ford.

"Well, I want to say thank you to this group," Chaffee said. "Starting something brand new that I don't have experience in, it's been really nice to have the support and everyone has chipped in with advice or references."

Chaffee opened the coffee house in April of 2018 on Spokane Way in a building with history. Where her patrons now order quiche and cappuccinos was once a union hall for carpenters.

She redesigned the interior, opening it up with new windows and high ceiling and repurposed items she found in the process to add to the decor.

Kelly Buche, last year's achiever of the year, recounted Hicks' history of experience in leadership at what is now Coulee Medical Center but was Coulee Community Hospital when she started as a licensed practical nurse in 1993.

She earned her registered nurse degree with a promise to stay for five years in return for help with educational costs from the Coulee Medical Foundation.

Since then Hicks served at the hospital in capacities as diverse as surgical nurse to chaplain to risk manager. She was tapped by hospital district commissioners to take an interim chief executive officer position in 2017 when the then-CEO resigned. The board dropped the "interim" in 2018.

"Under Ramona's leadership at CMC, she has turned a $4.2 million deficit into what looks like to be over $1 million profit," Buche said.

Buche said a previous account manger with the federal Housing and Urban Development agency, which financed the construction of the new hospital, said he'd never seen a turnaround like that in his 40-year career.

Buche ended by quoting this writer, who had been asked for background on Hicks:

"Her biggest asset is knowing whom to trust, including her staff and doctors. Because she does and empowers those with a passion for the hospital, today CMC, quite unlike most rural hospitals, is a place that is building a waiting list of doctors who would like to be a part of its team."