A Time for Rebirth, Renewal!

Hi my friend, neighbors, and faithful listeners :0),

Sorry that I haven't updated my blog lately but, following a long bout with illness this winter, I am just getting back into the swing of things as spring in all its youthful splendor blossoms into its beautiful fullness as the season of rebirth and renewal. That's what I feel is happening in my personal life as spring renews my spirit and inspires me to live my life to its fullest.

As the host of "The Great Day in the Morning Show" for the past 10 years, I have been absorbed to a great degree in my work and community activities often neglecting to take care of myself and to get the proper rest. However, I have been inspired this spring to make some positive lifestyle changes that will hopefully make me a happier, healthier, and more well-rounded and likeable person. I have been working out for the past month and trying to watch my diet, although I must say I still splurge occasionally, well, o.k., I admit it, often. I have also at least started to make an attempt to get more rest, one of the most important and most often neglected keys to healthier living.

As part of my quest for overall self-improvement, I am focusing added attention on developing new personal friendships and relationships and renewing some longstanding ones. After all, among the most important parts of our physical and emotional well-being are the people who grace our lives. Our loved ones and friends bring true happiness and joy to our lives, and we should strive to show them our love and appreciation and to avoid taking them for granted. Although I struggle daily as a naturally sinful human being, I realize that it is most important to work to develop one's spiritual self as well as your physical and emotional well-being, placing only God above others and self (in that order). I have a long way to go in the spiritual realm of my life, but I continue, feebly at times, it seems, as the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:14, to "press toward the mark."

As a result of these efforts at personal self-improvement, I feel much better about myself, and I have developed a renewed desire to get the most out of every moment of this precious blessing of life. Simply put, I strive to be a +positive person+! Please keep me in your prayers as I try to personally follow Spring's example of rebirth and renewal in my own life. I pray that you too are feeling spring's youthful influence in a positive way in your life and that you too will experience the renewal of the spring...carried forth season after season....

Love,
~+Richard :0)

A Personal "Thank You"

As I recuperate from a bout with an upper respiratory infection, pneumonia, and a generally "run down" body and prepare to return to work, I want to take this opportunity to personally thank you all for your concerns about my health and well-being. Since I have been out of work, I have received many cards, emails, phone calls, gifts, food, and other acts of thoughtfulness and genuine kindness. Most meaningful of all have been the many prayers that have been directed to Heaven on my behalf. My humble words can not express how much I deeply appreciate all of these expressions of love and support. May God bless each of you richly for your priceless care in my time of illness and need.

Although I am still weak and short of being back up to full strength, I have gotten some badly needed rest in recent days, physical and mental. I have also decided, at the urging of many of you, to take better care of myself in the future. In addition to getting a little bit more daily rest, I am watching my diet more carefully trying to eat healthier foods and to do so in moderation, drinking more water, and exercising regularly. I am working out every other day (3-4 times a week) in the public exercise room at the Patrick County Community Center at DeHart Park in Stuart. This facility offers an amazing array of exercise equipment free of charge to the citizens of our community. Lockers and shower facilities are also available. I would like to call your attention to this valuable community resource and urge everyone who is able to do so to use it. I have renewed some old friendships and made some new ones interacting with the many people who use these first-class facilities regularly. I am determined to stick to this program motivated by the fact I am building a stronger, healthier, and more attractive body (miracles are possible, you know)! Taking care of one's body also helps to build self-confidence and self-esteem. Maybe I'll see you in the exercise room. Attitude is everything so I am going to try to think positively as I allow God to take greater control of my life. The Lord knows that I stumble and fall when I try to take charge. Please keep me in your prayers and I'll be praying for you, my fellow citizens, listeners, neighbors, friends, and loved ones.

I have truly missed my faithful listeners during this illness, and I look forward to returning to the air during this week leading up to Easter. Let's all be reminded this Easter season of the rebirth that we as sinners experience by simple faith in Jesus Christ and the hope of eternal life that Christians can freely enjoy as we share in our Savior's Resurrection and Christ's victory over death and the ultimate triumph of good over evil! So be joyful this Easter and always, and...

Be blessed,
Richard

Skilled Care Crisis Unites County!

Although it had been rumored for weeks, last week's breaking news that the private owners of the R.J. Reynolds Patrick County Memorial Hospital are seeking to sell the hospital's 25 skilled care nursing beds to Chatham Rehabilitation Center at a gain of over $1.8-million set off a large scale public protest by irate Patrick County citizens, taxpayers, and government officials. The plan to close the local hospital's skilled care unit was met with a thundering public outcry that probably hasn't reverberated through these scenic hills since the natural gas pipeline issue several years ago. Having debated such divisive issues as the Patrick Springs Water and Sewer Project, the new county jail and courthouse, and the school renovation plan in recent months, this is one critical issue that has apparently united our county in a concerted effort to save the hospital, one of our community's most valuable resources.

A representative of the R.J. Reynolds Patrick County Memorial Hospital is scheduled to appear before the Patrick County Board of Supervisors to discuss the issue on Monday, Mar. 10, 2008, at a public meeting that will begin at 6 p.m. in the Patrick County Veteran's Memorial Building. I urge all concerned citizens in the county who can do so to attend to get the facts about this issue and to show your opposition to what appears to be a very irresponsible move and one that could doom the hospital and further devastate an economy already crippled by heavy job losses resulting from the collapse of furniture and textile industries. If possible, I also urge concerned citizens to attend the Tuesday, Mar. 11, 2008, 1 p.m. public hearing on the relocation of the 25 skilled nursing beds at the Chatham Volunteer Fire Department.

I commend the Patrick County Board of Supervisors for its prompt response to this crisis when it authorized the drafting of a letter in opposition to the sale of the 25 skilled nursing home beds by the hospital and strongly recommending the Health Planning Agency of Southwest Virginia , Inc. and the Health Commissioner disapprove the proposed sale. The letter signed by board chairman Jonathan Large and county administrator Craig Teller, states that the sale would create a shortage of skilled nursing home beds in the county that would require patients to compete for nursing home beds in distant localities, forcing their families to travel great distances, and having both economic and quality of life impacts on Patrick County families. In addition to the impact on health care in Patrick County, the proposed sale would have a significant adverse economic impact. "Our Patrick County government is strongly united in its opposition to this proposed sale," the letter states. Let's hope that state and regional regulatory authorities heed this strongly-worded message.

Also to be commended are groups and citizens such as Scott Eutsler who have spearheaded a petition drive to protest the relocation of the 25 skilled care beds at the local hospital that are now "fully utilized." I urge concerned citizens throughout the county to make your opposition to this proposal known by signing one of these petitions which are available at WHEO's Wayside Rd., Stuart offices, Wanda's Jewelry in Stuart, E-Z Stop in Dry Pond, Ararat Grocery, Crossroads Store on Rt. 103, and other businesses. I was happy to sign my name to one of these documents.

I have invited Bob Blake, the new interim CEO of the hospital and his management team, to appear as my guests on my Fri., Mar. 14, 2008, "Communty Conversation" show, and I am still awaiting a firm reply. Mr. Blake, who spoke to the Stuart Rotary Club last Monday night, appears to be a very competent community-oriented administrator who has the expertise to turn the local hospital around. But there are widespread questions in the commuity as to whether the hospital's owners have the hospital's and the community's best interests at heart. We need answers to our questons about their intentions and plans for this hospital.

While the hospital is privately owned, it is important to remember that the citizens of this county have a great stake and an investment in the hospital that they can ill affort to lose. When this rural hospital was founded 46 years ago, it is my understanding that many citizens in our community donated a significant portion of their hard-earned dollars through payroll deductions at work so that this outstanding heal care facility could become a reality. Patrick County needs its hospital! It is an absolute must that we maintain this local health care resource and restore its fianancial viability. Let's make sure that this message is heard loudly and clearly!

Personal note: As I update this blogg on Sunday afternoon, Mar. 9th at 3:30 p.m., I am suffering from a severe case of laryngitis and probably will be unable to do my 6-10 a.m. air shift on "The Great Day in the Morning Show" tomorrow, Mon., Mar. 11th and possibly beyond into next week. I plan to go back to the doctor Monday to see if I can get some sort of relief from a general flu-cold-sinus type condition that has plagued me and countless others in our community for most of this year. Please pray for me that my voice and my health will be restored and that I will be able to return to work soon. Above all, please pray for the many other citizens in our community who are so much more worse off than me in terms of illness, disease, and personal problems. God bless Patrick County!

Until next time, may God bless you with a "great day."

Your radio friend and community supporter,
Richard

Welcome to New Hospital Management Team!

I would like to personally welcome Mr. Bob Blake, the new interim CEO of the R.J. Reynolds Patrick County Memorial Hosptial to Patrick County. Blake is part of a team of four new management officials who have begun the task of correcting the problems that have long plagued our hospital. The quartet has combined experience of 100 years in the health care industry.

Mr. Blake visited the Stuart Rotary Club regular meeting Monday evening to introduce himself and to inform the public about plans that are now underway to restore the hospital's financial viability. Mr. Blake...who described himself as the "cheerleader" for the local hospital and the community...comes with an impressive resume in his 23 year career in the health care industry. After listening to Mr. Blake's presentation, many of the attentive Rotarians felt a sense of relief that the hospital is now in the hands of highly competent people who have the 46-year-old hospital's and our commuity's best interests at heart.

"It's got to prosper, it can't just survive," Blake told the Rotarians. He said the answer to restoring the hospital to black ink and profitability is to recruit surgeons who would come here to perform outpatient surgeries at the hospital, suregons that everyone would want to go to." "We have to do outpatient surgery," Blake said. In patients services are important to the hospital's future too, he added.

He said the goal is to create a "positive force" in the hospital and to rebuild its image in the community.

Blake said that logically the hospital's billing, now outsourced to a company in Alabama, should be brought back to the local hospital but not before problems associated with the billing procedures are corrected.

Blake praised the hospital's department heads and said he thinks the hospital staff is quite competent to provide continued high quality medical care for which the hospital has long been noted.

Blake said the hospital is not far from the break even point now, noting that much hard word lies ahead. He warned, however, "we all have our hand on the bomb. All of us have to work together to difuse the bomb," he confidently added.

A proposal to hold a public hearing in Pittsylvania County on the proposed transfer of the hospital's skilled care beds is uncertain at this time, Blake said.

Blake said an advisory committe of citizens in the community will be formed to offer input in the effort to rescue the hospital. Blake said he will remain as interim CEO until the job is done. "I work for the community, the doctors, etc.," said Blake.

In an effort to keep the community informed, Blake and his management team have consented to appear in a live interview on WHEO's "Community Conversation" tentatively scheduled for late next week. Stay tuned for details on "The Great Day in the Morning Show."

Let's keep the new interim management team in our prayers as they endeavor to reinvigorate a community resource that we can not afford to do without, the R.J. Reynolds Patrick County Memorial Hospital.