In my years of living in this community there have been six times when I needed immediate care; I was blessed to have it available. A couple of weeks ago I sat in a wheelchair waiting for an orderly to take me from my hospital room to our waiting car. Memories flooded to those times of need and the special people I met here. I have needed heart repair, help for life threatening injuries, help for pneumonia and other events.

As we slowly made our way downstairs, the fact that this hospital will not be here in its present form, began to hit home. Years of memories sifted through my mind. Some of my hospital need was immediate and what better testimony to Marshalltown’s health care than the fact that this hospital first began as an extension of the church. People who were compassionate and tender in their care, started the first one here.

Health care really started on the battlefields of the Civil War. Clara Barton hopped off the pages of history and began the first nationwide patient/care after that war. Scripture teaches that we should care for those who can’t care for themselves. This hospital is successful because God is the giver of all manner of compassion. I have been so blessed to have had excellent nurses and doctors who actually cared about their jobs.

It is obvious that health care in Marshalltown is changing drastically. We don’t know how everything will eventually shape up, but my prayer would be that the keepers of our community remember that people will always need great health care. As you plan for our future hospital needs, don’t forget those people of compassion who work in your present location. I have found them to be people who care, even when I am a little grumpy. I thank them for their experience and their ability to make me comfortable in times of need.