After 22 years of living in Monroe, my husband and I have somehow leaped from newcomer to old-timer status. As the town has grown by over 200 percent in the past decade, we know that we have helped in the increase by doubling our family size.
Life brings you the unimaginable. I imagined I would deliver my second child in a matter of hours; instead, he barreled into the world in a matter of minutes. Valley General Hospital was a few blocks away and I was not stuck on the trestle. Our doctor and his wife raced in from feeding their sheep just in time to welcome our son. Thank you, Hans and Martha!
As the years have gone by, the hospital has loomed large in our lives through life-threatening events, illness, accidents and unbelievable trauma. We know that our family could not have survived without the proximity and capacity of the hospital, and the decision-making of the caregivers on staff. The longer we live, the more likely it is we will need hospital services. We cannot ensure that we will not become ill or experience a traumatic event.
What we can do is ensure that the Monroe area is equipped with accessible, high-quality emergency care. Vote “yes” on Sept. 17 for the Valley General expansion bond. Vote “yes” for our region’s fourth largest employer, so that jobs are created in a broad range of skill areas; so that hands-on education can occur with emerging technology; so that life and death decisions are made with the finest technicians.
Vote “yes” so that a safety net grows along with the needs of the uninsured, elderly and most vulnerable among us. Vote “yes” to prepare our hospital for our children’s children, the future old-timers of the valley.
Monroe
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