Dear Editor:
It’s easy to gloss over the heart that went into Lebanon bringing a hospital to its town in the 1950’s. Many of those who donated have long since passed away. The Life Magazine article that featured the story, though, still hangs just inside the main entrance. My dad was only one of those who donated. I remember, although I was not even 8 years old yet. My dad had an eighth grade education, worked for Floyd Graham, helping to build area highways. We didn’t have quite enough money to make grocery shopping an easier event. We ALWAYS lived with a very tight budget. Dad explained that the hospital (and this town) needed his donation and we could pull the belts tighter. We did. So did hundreds of other families. Our family was proud to help and I’ve been proud that we did ever since.
I was born at the other Lebanon hospital, the one that was called the “old library.” My younger brother and sisters were born in the NEW hospital. As an adult, I’ve lived in other states, other communities, but after my first son was born in Colorado, my younger two children were born in Lebanon, although the hospital was no longer so new.
I met my best friend, Rosalee Weischedel, there. She was the delivery nurse when my second son was born, later head nurse. It’s not because she’s my friend that I write, it’s because through her and other staff, I have personally seen and learned of the work ethic maintained at Lebanon Hospital all these years! We have doctors and nurses who have led lives dedicated to quality, accessible maternity care.
We also have an incredibly strong and dedicated hospital auxiliary.
In this age where we appear to argue about just about anything in our world, the sign still stands, “Lebanon, the city that friendliness built”
Well, we’ve done a whole lot more than be friendly. We’ve welcomed the first brand new medical school west of the Mississippi to our town. We ARE the ONLY community that has community volunteers lined up, ready to GIVE the white coat and doctor bag to the students. We don’t expect them to buy their own. They’re our welcome new folks and we’re so proud to have them. WUHS, Western University of Health Sciences, has already graduated 100’s of Osteopathic Doctors into the field of medicine. Further, the administration urges their graduating students to serve rural areas on the west coast. Chapter V, PEO of Lebanon bakes hundreds of dozens of cookies each spring and delivers them to the medical school student doctors. It’s fun to see them load up their plates to take them back to their study desks!
Maybe WUHS heard about all that LBCC has been doing for so many years, featuring health science education and producing new nurses, phlebotomists and radiologists.
It’s not emotionalism that causes me to say, Don’t mess with the heart that created all this in Lebanon. Don’t take away what Linn County has worked successfully and hard for many decades to achieve. We need continued access to the quality maternity care at Samaritan Lebanon Hospital. It’s critically important to the health of families in Lebanon, Sweet Home, Foster and Cascadia.
Barbara Schafer