Community amenities vital for progress

Dear Editor,

I tell the story often of our decision to move three children from Lincoln to McCook in 2003. My wife and I were so impressed with the people we met during our recruiting visit and the town in general. Sure, the job was a great opportunity but this needed to be our forever home. We did not want to move our children more than this one time. McCook has a great culture and we could feel it then.

The story is not perfect though. When telling the story I also mention at times the concern I felt about our decision to make this move when I experienced a few things after our arrival. This includes the deficient and non-compliant public safety center, the unsafe-to-drink city water, and the hospital I work for was in disrepair and we had no funds to fix it.

The story about the next few months, unfortunately, does not improve. One morning, North Ward Elementary called us to come to get our son because he fell on the playground and the field of stickers, we called a playground, glued his jeans to his legs. Later that school year we were excited to watch our daughter’s dance recital at the high school auditorium. It was at least 120 degrees in that theater. I asked myself, how was there no air conditioning in a high school in the 21st century?

Enough negatively. This was and still is a great place to live. These were all fixable problems and over the following few years so much was accomplished. We proved we could have strong leadership and be as progressive as any community. You can drink the water today and our city building is beautiful. When touring prospective employees and physicians, we bring them by it. They always comment on how impressive it is for a town our size. We show them our schools. McCook Elementary is now an asset in recruitment and retention and not just because the stickers are gone.

Our schools all have air conditioning now and that theater must be a better venue today and smell a lot better from the entry doors in the back. I may be biased but do believe our hospital is one of the best facilities in rural America for healthcare today. It has been an asset in recruitment for years and will be for many years to come. I am proud to have been a part of that amazing turnaround and proud of our entire community for making the investments necessary to move us forward.

Unfortunately, regarding many community amenities today, we are back to that same place. Once again, we are trying to hide or avoid the discussion with prospective doctors and staff about certain community amenities and resources. How do you tell a specialist or family practice doctor looking to raise a family in McCook that we don’t have a pool and you may have to drive a few miles east of town to practice softball? How do you do that when you know almost all communities in Nebraska similar to our size have these amenities and many are new or improved in recent years? Simply put, you can’t.

We are at that point again when we can choose to ignore what needs to be done. You can point fingers at others and expect them to solve this problem for you. Or, we can all own up to the obvious needs of this community, be leaders, and say yes to this investment in our future. If we don’t, our future will be decided for us and I sincerely believe we won’t like what we get. Vote yes on the recreational bond and local option sales tax. You won’t regret it. Visit McCookonthemove.com.

Troy Bruntz,

President and CEO

Community Hospital