Advocating for Elders

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals editor

Stephanie King has been dedicated to helping Elders since she was a teenager and has built an entire career around that passion.

“I’ve always had a caregiver kind of aspect about me,” she said. “It started when I was 16 and my grandma was sick with cancer and I did some caregiving for her. When I was 17, I got my CNA (certified nursing assistant) through Chemeketa Community College while I was still in high school.”

Now 34, King serves as the Tribe’s Elder Justice Coordinator, a position she began in July 2024.

She first began working for the Grand Ronde Tribe in 2010 in Adult Foster Care until 2019 when she transferred over to Community Health.

“I was a driver/wellness assistant and then when COVID hit, I ended up becoming the COVID relief aide, and did that for a while,” King said. “If a Tribal member called and said they had COVID in order to keep them home, I would get a list from them of their needs, groceries and how many people were in their household so I could go do a big grocery haul and deliver it to them so they could stay at home.”

After the pandemic subsided, King became a health promotion specialist before becoming the Elder Justice Coordinator.

“When the position became available, I had been kind of thinking on it already and it seemed like the type of thing that I had done in the past, just maybe not to that extent,” she said.  

So far, her favorite part of the job is getting to help the Elders and the most challenging part is the subject matter she helps them with.

“I very much enjoy going and talking to Elders and listening,” she said. “A lot of times they just need somebody to listen and to know that they were heard.”

In addition to the Tribe, King has worked at a care facility in McMinnville and has done private, in-home care.

King is 2009 Willamina High School graduate and lives there with her husband and two dogs. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family and riding through the sand dunes. She said a little-known fact about her life is that she was raised in a remote logging camp in Alaska.

“You really only lived there if you worked there and I think we had 10 kids at my school,” she said.

King can be reached through the Community Health main line at 503-879-2078. To make a confidential report, call 503-879-SAFE.