Helping an asset to our community (05/17/07)

To the editor:

We have been very fortunate to have the excellent quality of medical services that exist here in Portland. Jay County Hospital is a tremendous facility with a caring and professional nursing and support staff, a progressive and visionary administrative staff, and the availability of more than adequate diagnostic technology for both emergency and chronic care.

The physicians in the communities of Jay County that service the hospital are of the highest quality and integrity, and are supplemented by specialists available to us regularly.

And all of the above treat chaplains and clergy as an integral part of the medical team, recognizing the spiritual dimension of medical care as an essential part of the healing process. Such is not always the case in many communities, even today, as clergy are frequently treated as an inconvenient appendage to tolerate.

Having served churches in counties with larger county seats than Portland (Adams, Wabash, Kosciusko, and Steuben), I can honestly and proudly say that Jay County Hospital is second to none of the hospitals in these communities.

With the recent announcement of the Jay County Hospital Foundation's "Neighbors Helping Neighbors Campaign," and the accompanying introduction of the Campaign Cabinet, opportunities will be forthcoming for the entire Jay County community to invest in the future of medical services for ourselves, our neighbors, our loved ones, and subsequent generations.

The creation of an endowment will under gird the capability of Jay County Hospital to provide state-of-the-art medical care to the community well into the future. Gifts large and small will help insure the quality of life in Jay County for generations to come.

I am not a part of the campaign. Nor was I recruited to write on behalf of the campaign. I am simply an interested resident of the community, a clergyperson who has visited in many hospitals over the years, an eager participant in the financial requests to come, and a cheerleader from the sidelines to encourage the community's generous support of this invaluable campaign.

The Rev. Greg E. Rittenhouse

Asbury United

Methodist Church

Lost art?

To the editor:

After recently reading that students are woefully lacking in writing skills today, I concluded that not using the practice is no doubt part of the problem.

I have always considered a hand-written letter to be a treasure. Receiving a reply from shared words in the mailbox remains one of life's greatest joys. However, it seems to happen less as time goes by.

Some folks would rather respond with a phone call. Those efforts are quickly forgotten. A letter is something one can save, cherish and refer to even years from now.

Unfortunately, the majority do not reply at all. When a recipient of a letter sees the writer three weeks later in a crowded Wal-Mart and wants to discuss the correspondence there, that seems totally inappropriate.

Writing can be a humbling experience. Several years ago, in a journalism class at Ball State University, the professor assigned the class to write an obituary. I was "raked over the coals" for using the word "graveyard."

For what seemed like an eternity, I was told that my word choice was very insensitive and a flowery term should have been selected. My fellow pupils seemed to delight in the attention I had drawn.

With cell phones around, perhaps the recent survey regarding student writing skills is not too much to be concerned about.

Jerry Sullivan

Portland[[In-content Ad]]