Passionate. Progressive. Persistent.
Mary Lou Hennrich
Mary Lou
Hennrich
PASSIONATE.PROGRESSIVE.PERSISTENT.
Democrat for House District 46
About Mary Lou
“I’m no longer accepting the things I
cannot change.
I’m changing the things I cannot accept.”
Angela Davis
Her passion for improving the health of individuals and communities began as a Public Health and School Nurse serving Northeast, Southeast and East Multnomah County communities. She was instrumental in organizing the Multnomah County Nurses to be represented by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) and she served as Vice-President of the Nurses Bargaining Unit for several years.
Later, in 1985, as a Deputy Director of Multnomah County Health Department, she established the first School-Based Health Center (SBHC) at north Portland’s Roosevelt High School. In the beginning, SBHC’s were very controversial, but now SBHC’s are sited in most Multnomah County High and Middle Schools, and many other schools throughout Oregon. There are currently more than 70 SBHC’s across the state providing care to thousands of students each year.
These clinics, along with eight large, geographically dispersed Multnomah County Primary Care Clinics serve 50,000+ individuals and families annually. As Primary Care Director in 1993, Mary Lou led the effort that established a partnership with Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC’s) across Oregon, founding and leading CareOregon for its first ten years of operation. CareOregon, now nearly 30 years later, is the largest Oregon Health Plan (OHP) provider serving 500,000+ low income OHP eligible individuals and families in the metro area and many other communities across the state.
