Peace Health
PeaceHealth, Lane County, and the Last Time I Saw My Father
The issue I had in Lane County happened at PeaceHealth, which closed in Eugene.
I was hospitalized when the hospital was moving to Springfield. I wanted to be in the hospital. That was the last time I ever saw my father alive.
My car was left at a hotel in Springfield with all my stuff and he brought the car with my purse to the hospital while I was on hold in the hospital. He came. He showed up. He didn’t know me well and now I am glad he us gone.
Why I had issues with the courts: well, in the hospital the police took my glasses and I can’t see without them. A white woman was racist towards me and I reached my hand out and I said, “I ain’t a damn fool, there is a camera in here,” and I was given strangulation charges for never touching anyone.
It went to court in the hospital. I saw my sister and my father on Zoom. I did nothing. In that hospital a white girl grabbed me by my hair, pulled me off the bench, and I got up and said, “Lord have mercy, I am going to my room.” I did nothing and I doubt she got a charge.
That hospital stay was hard on me. I was given a book about Black people and the usage of the n-word by a nurse. I actually read 6 books in that stay. When they released me to a place, I stayed there through that vicious ice storm.
After that I chose Salem and later dealt with a charge I didn’t do and it was dismissed.
PeaceHealth was chaos. Half-packed boxes. Half-moved staff. Half-truths in the charts. They saw a Black woman with a mental health history and no glasses and decided I was violent before I opened my mouth. The camera saw what I saw — nothing happened. But the paper said strangulation. The paper always wins in Lane County.
I remember my father’s face on that Zoom screen. Frail. Confused. But present. That was the last time I saw him alive. He brought my car. He brought my purse. He brought himself, even though we were strangers learning each other late.
Lane County gave me a charge for defending myself with words. Lane County gave me a nurse who thought I needed a lesson on the n-word. Lane County gave me an ice storm and a dismissal months later in Salem.
But Lane County also gave me clarity: I would never beg a system to see me again.
I was medically compliant. I was in my right mind. I was reading six books while they were writing lies in my chart. I was choosing my room over retaliation while they were charging me for breathing.
I left Eugene because Eugene doesn’t listen. I left PeaceHealth because PeaceHealth was leaving too. I left the court because the court was never mine.
Salem is where the charges got dismissed. Salem is where I got my glasses back. Salem is where I got my name back.
And my father — he’s not here to see it. But he saw me in that hospital. And I saw him. And that was enough.
Cathryn M. Murray
From Ashes | PeaceHealth Was No Peace | Cleared in Salem
Salem, Oregon | August 4, 2026
