In response to your very recent story about our local UnityPoint hospital, I want to relate my recent experience there. After two bad nights and a day of difficulty “breathing,” at my wife’s suggestion, we went to the Urgent Care center at 55 Central Iowa Drive, on the south side of town. With no appointment needed, we were welcomed by the staff there, interviewed and then guided to an examination room. First, a nurse took my vitals in a matter of minutes. Second, a professional staff then visited with me regarding my health. Through questions and conversation she very accurately and thoroughly (to my thinking) diagnosed my problem and then made suggestions for treatment. Third, my wife and I left the center satisfied and with me feeling 100 percent better. The Times-Republican, I feel, should be commended for giving front page coverage to a topic of great concern for all of us living in Marshalltown, Marshall County and surrounding counties. We must all come together in pursuit of trust, support and use of our UnityPoint hospital and clinics.

On another matter, I want to thank the Times-Republican for its front page story telling us who the candidates were in the election on Nov. 6, what information a voter needed to qualify to vote and where to vote. As a former teacher of government and history, I’m always disappointed that 90 percent of us do not vote. Democracy is not free, as the old saying goes; it requires participation!