Local sign company donates to hospitals

MEADOW HOMES — Seana Stong, owner of local sign design company Image360, has been busy lately installing signs that read “Heroes Work Here” outside of hospitals in the Pacific Northwest. Initially the signs were being installed outside of some Clark County hospitals, then extended as far south as Cottage Grove, Ore., and as far north as Alaska. It began when Stong was contacted by PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, which wanted to emulate a sign seen at a hospital in Texas. Many hospital workers in the nation are stretched thin as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. “After that, the CEO of PeaceHealth called me and said he wanted to install one up in Longview. He said he wanted to pay, and I said I don’t feel comfortable with that,” Stong said in a phone call, adding that they split it. Stong made a 12-hour round-trip car ride with her daughter to install the signs in Springfield, Ore. “We were pounding them into the ground. They’re pretty big. People were driving by and honking and giving us the thumbs-up. I turned to look at her because I was starting to cry. Here are these people going out every single day totally exposing themselves. To me it’s just a little thing we can do to show our gratitude,” Stong said.