It’s always good to hear flattering words spoken about your town, your church, your organization — particularly when those words are backed up with facts solid enough to give them sincerity. Because of this, the glow that warmed the large audience at St. John’s Parish Hall Friday night when Jason Wesco spoke at the annual Thrive banquet was palpable.
Five years ago Wesco was an executive with the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas. He was hired, he said, to develop a dental health program for the region. It was a need that Thrive was also trying to fill so it was not surprising that Thrive got in contact with the Pittsburg center.
Here’s how Wesco told the story:
“ … There were several members in that original contingent from Thrive — Dr. Wolfe, Susan Lynn, Nancy Maier and Susan Raines. I was struck by their vision for helping those in need, by their commitment and, most of all, by their genuine enthusiasm for Iola and Allen County.
“ … At a time of great despair for the future of small towns, there was this glimmer of light.
“So we began an incredible journey together. A journey that took us from that initial meeting in 2006 to a full-time, fully staffed (and beautiful) dental clinic in 2008. A clinic that denied care to no one based on ability to pay. A clinic that since its inception has provided care during more than 15,000 visits. A clinic co-located with a busy medical practice and pharmacy, allowing for one-stop shopping. A clinic that has successfully recruited dentists in the face of a critical nationwide workforce shortage.
“A clinic you should all be proud of because you are the reason it has succeeded.
“THAT’S THE REASON I gave when, on more than one occasion, I was asked how a safety-net dental clinic in a town of 5,000 would ever recruit a dentist, I would say, ‘Have you been to Iola?’ Then I would go on to extol the virtues of the town: the Bowlus, the Iola Register, the magical greaseless fried green beans at Sidelines, and this visionary group that called itself Thrive.
“But Allen County didn’t need me to sell it, you all do a great job of selling yourselves. During recruiting visits, you all rolled out the red carpet. There were tours of the community, receptions, gourmet dinners, horseback rides, even the offer to build a house for one recruit. Seriously.
“What struck me was that I never heard ‘no.’ You all gave of your time and of your talents; you opened your homes and your hearts. And while you were busy recruiting a dentist, you inspired me and for that I’m grateful. Yours is a community of ‘Yes,’ a rare and precious thing.
“ … You have moved forward even despite long odds and tall challenges. Yes, southeast Kansas is an unhealthy place; yes, we are poor; yes we die younger and more violently than our peers; yes, we are less well educated.
“But you all know what occurs and you recognize the fact. And that, to me, is the measure of a community: not being afraid to acknowledge what needs changing and then creating the change necessary to make Allen County a better place to live, play, work and worship. That to my mind really gets to the crux of what Thrive is and what Thrive does.”
Wesco is deputy director of the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved. He gave the keynote address of the 2011 annual meeting of Thrive, from which this story is excerpted.
