Kurt Miller applauded as valued employee

POMEROY–Garfield County Hospital District is proud to announce two Employees of the Month for December, Larry Smith and Kurt Miller. This week will feature Maintenance Assistant Kurt Miller, who was nominated by his co-workers for being a valued employee. His peers were quoted saying, "He is a great asset to Garfield County Hospital District."

Kurt was born in Idaho Falls and was raised in various cities throughout Idaho including Salmon, Sandpoint, and Coeur d'Alene due to his father's employment with the State. He graduated in 1987 from Coeur d'Alene High School and worked on grass seed farms during the spring and summer months harvesting and bailing hay.

After graduating he attended Idaho State University on a football scholarship where his team won the Emerald Cup in 1988 defeating Boise State University (BSU). His interest in electronics led him to a career path in computer technology graduating from BSU, with an Associates in Electronics.

Kurt's first job in the electronics industry started with Hewlett Packard where he worked in the Disc Memory Division as a technician but unfortunately, the division shut down two years later. He joined the Air National Guard stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi studying Electronic Principles.

He was hired with Micron PC in Nampa, Idaho, a subsidiary of the prestigious Fortune 500 Company, Micron Technology in the Semiconductor Quality Department. As an Engineering Technician, he was customer support for Hewlett Packard, Facebook, IBM computers. Within a few years, Kurt was recognized for his leadership and management skills landing him a promotion as Engineer Supervisor training new employees, updating processes all employee processes. As Kurt's career continued to advance in management, Micron Technology offered him a position as the Product Quality Engineer Supervisor for New Product Introduction in the RMA Lab in Boise, Idaho. In this role, he performed failure analysis on products by troubleshooting and assessing processes overseeing the technical team and was with Micron for 25 years.

Kurt and his family made a life-changing decision to move to Pomeroy, Washington in 2019, after visiting his daughter, son-in-law and their new grandson, and having a sincere desire to live in a small town. He was hired as a Deputy Sherriff and attended the Basic Law Enforcement Academy. When an opportunity opened at the hospital for a maintenance assistant, Kurt applied and began working in September of 2021, Kurt applied and began working in September 2021 where his wife, Stephanie, is also employed as the Accounting Manager.

"He has jumped in from day one and helped out in any capacity he possibly can, including long days with snow removal. We are grateful he joined our team!" Kurt's expertise in computer technology has been a great asset to the Hospital District and was extremely beneficial in getting the servers and computers up and running during the recent power outages earlier this year. "Kurt is always offering his help and takes on challenging tasks with a smile." When asked what he likes most about his job, he responded, "I want to contribute to our community and help make our hospital more successful."

In his spare time, he enjoys spending time in outdoor activities. Kurt is an avid snowmobiler and takes advantage of every opportunity to ride in the mountains with his friends and family.

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