I currently serve as Chair of the Cook-Orr Area Hospital District Board of Directors.  I visited a Greenwood Board meeting in February 2014, along with Al Vogt and other representatives of the hospital district. We came to encourage the township to join the hospital district.  

Greenwood residents are patients at the hospital, employees of the hospital, participants in the many rehab programs at the hospital, residents in the nursing home attached to the hospital, and generally beneficiaries of the hospital’s existence. Whether it is four-wheeler/snowmobile accidents, fish hooks in the face from resort customers, strokes and heart attacks, or lab, X-ray, or infusion services close to home, Greenwood residents already experience those benefits. It’s time to do the right thing, do the fair thing - join the district and help ensure the hospital’s future and the well-being of our communities.

Tom Aro concluded an essay in a recent Vermilion Sportsman newsletter, “As we all know far too well, in life’s travels nothing is free.” The Cook Hospital and Nursing Home is a precious resource for our communities, but it is not “free.”  We need your help. I firmly believe that if the town board voted to join the district, board members might take a little flack temporarily (less than they might imagine) but they would all survive that. As elected officials, they are familiar with controversy. Why not make this one about something worthwhile - supporting the hospital that township residents already use regularly.  

Every year our 14 board members report to our respective cities and annual township meetings as the elected representatives to the hospital district board of directors.  We have not received any complaints about our levies. Everyone knows how important a 24-7 critical access hospital is!

I used to keep a poster in my classroom and in my office as a guide to students that said, “What’s right is not always popular; what’s popular is not always right.”  How can we expect young people to do the right thing if we don’t set the example?

Please do the right thing!  Vote as a board to join the hospital district!  Thanks for your consideration.

Judy Pearson

Cook, Minn.