Candidacy announcement
Dear Editor:
I would like to announce my decision to run for a seat on the Pioneers Medical Center Board of Directors. I believe Pioneers has great potential to provide extensive patient care in a number of different areas and I would like to have the opportunity to be a part of making Pioneers Medical the best environment for both patients and employees.
I have lived in Rio Blanco County my entire life where I worked as an RN in many capacities at Pioneers Medical Center for over 20 years. During my career as a nurse, while continuing to live in RBC, I also had the opportunity to work at St. Mary’s Hospital in the Emergency Department as well as working at Grand River Health in Rifle, also in the Emergency Department.
Prior to obtaining my nursing degree I was and EMT and served as a member of the Meeker Ambulance Service.
I also served two terms (eight years) on the Board of Directors for Rio Blanco Fire Protection District.
Having worked at two additional facilities has given me the opportunity to experience different types of management strategies as well as the cultural differences that exist within different facilities.
Having the opportunity to serve on the Board for the Fire Protection District has given me with a very good understanding of the rules regarding the operation of Special Districts in Colorado as well as the responsibilities of each and every Board Member.
I believe my extensive medical background as well as my experience serving on the Board of Directors for the Fire Protection district, provides a high level of experience that would be an asset to the PMC Board of Directors.
Thank you for your consideration. I would be very appreciative of your vote at the upcoming election.
Sherri Halandras
Meeker
On productive inquiry
Dear Editor:
Plato shared in his “Republic” a story about several men imprisoned in a cave. They were restrained so restrictively they could only see what was immediately in front of them. Shadows are cast upon the wall in front of them by a distant fire, and the men, having only ever lived in the cave, could only construe these shadows as reality. For the men, the sounds they heard and aromas they inhaled could truly only come from the shadows. Their reality, to us as outside observers, was constrained. That was until some of the men were miraculously freed and ventured out of the cave.
Plato speculated that some of the men would be so startled by the sun, they would immediately retreat back into the cave in fear. Others, however, may slowly open their eyes to the sunlight and gradually begin to see how those shadows themselves are created by other real things. Bewildered, some of the men enlightened by this “new” world return to the cave to tell the others of the wonders they’ve witnessed. In a classical Platonic twist, the enlightened men were blinded by the cave’s darkness, as they’d become so accustomed to the outside light. This startled the other prisoners, and thus they vowed to never leave the cave if they were ever also freed.
The Allegory of the Cave is Plato’s invitation to us to critically consider our own caves and external realities – our social media, home and work life, or perhaps our internal monologues. We live in perpetual naivety to what we don’t know. It’s almost certainly an impossible task, and it is even more daunting, to venture beyond what is familiar. To that end, Plato could argue that we don’t know what really is familiar until we also know what is unfamiliar. As we each venture on into tomorrow and the days thereafter, I cordially extend Plato’s invitation to you, the reader, to venture beyond your caves. What is it that you don’t know?
Brandon Lozano
Meeker High School Alum
Thank you to the Meeker community
Dear Editor:
A huge thank you to HopeWest, PEO, White River Methodist Church all all our Meeker friends who came out for Sunday’s farewell reception.
We enjoyed shared memories, laughter, gifts of tears and cards. What will we miss? Here’s what:
Each night the lit cross atop the China wall casts an area of Christ’s love over Meeker.
Each day, Meekerites reflecting that love cowboy up to lasso hearts and pull us close and bond us forever in friendship.
We will miss you all.
Bev and Rich Meyer
and David Steinman
Meeker
