NV grad runs rural medical clinic in Idaho
Mark Reimers
Tribune reporter
Lynda Kuwahara
IDAHO CITY, Idaho -- Lynda Kuwahara liked working with people. That is why she pursued nursing after graduating from Nooksack Valley High School in 1969.
But she didn’t stop there. Lynda, a daughter of Ted and Dolores Maricle of Everson, was one of the first nurses in the nation to follow up her nursing degree at the University of Washington in 1973 with an MBA from Boise State University in 1984.
Kuwahara went to school with the idea that she would open her own clinic and be an independent nurse provider -- a forward-thinking notion at the time.
The clinic did not come right away, though. Before she opened Basin Community Health Center in Idaho City in 1997, Kuwahara received her nursing master’s degree from University of Wyoming in 1995. She also was elected the Boise County Coroner in 1986, a 25-month job she described as interesting since the county is mostly public land.
“People come here to do themselves in,” Kuwahara said. “They don’t make appointments either.”
Growing up outside Everson gave Kuwahara a taste for rural living, which has only been reinforced by living in Idaho.
During some of her school years in Washington, she worked various summer jobs in nursing homes or even in local berry fields.
Boise County, with a population of just 7,641 on a vast 2,000 square miles, far outdoes rural Whatcom County, she said. Living with a far-flung population, it makes sense for Kuwahara to have a practice that is flexible and can be close to the people who live there.
“The people that I treat may have a doctor in Boise,” she said, “but they come to me when they are sick or injured.”
Working with people equals more than just working with the sick, though.
Kuwahara serves as a vice chair for the West Central Highlands Resource Conservation & Development Council. She serves as the director of the local senior citizens’ board and also works with the Idaho City Community Club.
Lynda and her husband David will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary next month.
E-mail Mark Reimers at reporter@lyndentribune.com.
