Unlike most commuters, Bud Bender gets a kick out of his very long drive to work. He cruises from Tualatin in Washington County to Wheeler, where he is administrator of the Nehalem Valley Care Center.

“I love the drive over here. I love the area. I’m just not in a position to move right now,” Bender said. “For me, it’s like coming on a vacation every week because I love the beach.”

He doesn’t commute daily; he rents in Nehalem during the week.

He’s quite fond of the residents he works with at the care center.

“I thoroughly enjoy spending my day with senior citizens. There are just many rewards to be gained from our seniors, their wisdom and their insights and their humor. It’s just been a very rewarding career for me,” he said.

“There’s an uplifting to be found everyday by the people I work with,” Bender said.

What started as a three-month interim job in January of 2006, ultimately developed into a more permanent position at Nehalem Valley Care Center.

Bender oversees an intermediate and skilled care facility that has 50 beds and 42 staff. The position brings it own particular challenges.

“Nursing homes are more regulated than the nuclear power world, so we have a lot of agencies that we are directly responsible to,” he said.

He has at least one ace in hand: he worked as a state nursing home surveyor for two years. He’s been in the business since 1981, including running an assisted living center in Portland for a year.

Staffing in the area of nursing is an ongoing issue, because of the nationwide shortage of nurses and issues in caregiving, he said.

Bender oversees the departments and managers of nursing, dietary, maintenance, laundry, housekeeping, activities and social services in the care center, which opened in the early 1980s.

Infinity Health Care conducts physical, occupational and speech therapy sessions in the center. The center also provides outpatient therapy.

Bender, who was born in Salem, lives in Tualatin with his wife, Jan. who is a chiropractor. They have a 24-year-old daughter, Chelsea.

Bender graduated from Oregon State University with a bachelor of science degree in community health.

Amid his busy schedule, he tries to steal away sometime during the week to the sand.

“If I’m creative, I can get on the beach,” he said.