Thursday, April 25, 1946
John F Lang did more than pledge $1000 to the Davis County Memorial Hospital Tuesday morning. He outlined a plan that shows such sound common sense it should have wide appeal.
In effect, Mr Lang promises to give $1000 if 99 other individuals or groups of individuals will contribute like amounts during the current year. By putting contributions in escrow until the full sum is raised, both the hospital's interest and donors are protected. After all, what could be fairer?
The idea of getting a fixed goal of $100,000 is far better than any haphazard scheme to raise an undetermined sum of money. And the plan of issuing one hundred, $1000 "shares" is much wiser than staging the usual type of contribution campaign. The elasticity of the proposal should meet with wide spread approval. One individual or firm may assume responsibility for a share or several. On the other hand, if an organization or various members of a family do not feel equal to contributing the entire $1000 as individuals they may form any of a number of combinations and "purchase" shares.
One distinct advantage of the plan can be easily illustrated. Let us say that throughout Davis County there are half a dozen closely related members of the Jones clan. No one unit feels it can stand a $1000 contribution. Still, all would like to have the family name represented on the contributor's list. Heads of the various branches can talk matters over and decide on preportion of gifts. Under the family name the $1000 'share' is pledged.
Several trustees, enthusiastic about Mr Lang's plan, have already proposed issuance of certificates, printed on the same impressive paper as that issued to investors in corporations. The essential difference will be that contributors to the fund will understand clearly that they have given $1000 to a worthy cause instead of Buying an actual interest in the hospital. Nonetheless, the certificates can be treasured as tangible and lasting evidence that the family has donated generously.
Mr Lang's plan has not been officially approved by the board of Trustees. Perhaps trustees will suggest alterations. One detail might considered. When each $1000 certificate is issued it could bear the names of each individual in the group or family who has helped make the gift possible. Mr Lang wisely stipulated that he and the 99 other contributors will pledge their gifts even though additional gifts are obtained by other means. Thus, the Lang proposition will in no way interfere with a possible decision of trustees to raise more than $100,000.
It will be interesting to watch the list of "stockholders" grow. We have a hunch investors will respond rapidly. No Davis countyan could put his money to better use. It will be a truly safe investment and "dividends" will be reaped in the form of rich satisfaction.
The more we contemplate what the Gilfillan brothers have given Bloomfield and Davis county, the more our imagination has stirred. It seems generally understood that their clinic, which will be opened here soon, will be a boon to the county hospital. More important, the clinic will offer everyone for miles around access to medical facilities rarely found in rural areas. All this is but part of what the Gilfillans have laid in Bloomfield's lap. Their high standing as medical men will not only attract more excellent doctors but, undoubtedly, will draw patients from near and fat. Think what this means!
Within a month, four brothers, all outstanding doctors, will open their clinic in temporary quarters but with good assistants and modern equipment that will enable them to offer the best in diagnostic service from the very beginning. Within six months the four brothers will be joined by two more good doctors and, with an augmented technical staff and even more equipment, will practice in a thirty room establishment. The $55,000 clinic will be housed in beautiful building which, in itself will be a real asset to Bloomfield. But the chances seem good that, as time passes, the physical plant will be expanded to provide needed offices and laboratories as more specialists join the organization.
Will Bloomfield and Davis County take advantage of the opportunities the Gilfillan Clinic offers? Will Bloomfield show the same courage the four young Gilfillan brothers have shown? If the city fails to appreciate its good fortune and neglects to take full advantage of opportunities offered, bother the Gilfillans and the community will be losers.
For purely selfish reasons, therefore, Bloomfield should exert itself. Much must be done before the town will be regarded as the proper setting for a health center. Strangers will realize this even if false local pride encourages some of the more conservative residents to be satisfied with Bloomfield as it is.
Outsiders who have formed casual first impressions have given Bloomfield the reputation of being content to drift along. Do we want outsiders who are attracted to the clinic and Davis County hospital to be equally unimpressed? Whatever the explanation or excuse in the past for being regarded as an ultra conservative, little county town the excuse no longer exists. Through its chance to become widely known as a health center on the order of Rochester, Bloomfield has a greater incentive than ever before to step forward briskly.
Many problems rise as challenges. Only the most blindly loyal could regard much of the cities pavements as suitable for a thriving community. For numerous reasons scores of blocks should be paved or re-paved at the earliest moment. Something must be wrong with a sewer system that fails to drain streets properly after rains. Surely, it is no cause for pride that within a few blocks of the Square, sewage facilities are so lacking that waste is permitted to flow across vacant land. To date, the garbage and trash disposal problem has been permitted drift along unsolved. Even ordinances will not correct this unless conscientiously enforce. So this, too, may be regarded as unfinished business Bloomfield should complete in a hurry.
So far the city has had no zoning ordinances of consequence. Bloomfield's chance to become an attractive community will claim the respect of those who seek health at the Gilfillan clinic will remain dim until adequate zoning laws are evolved. As time passes need will arise for a larger hotel that will be invitingly attractive to visitors who will be drawn here by the town's reputation as a health center. There will come a need for more good nursing homes, more good restaurants, more places of entertainment. Demand for new homes will increase. Probably, there will be need for attractive cottages which can serve as temporary homes for patients who must remain here several weeks or for their relatives.
These and other projects must be undertaken before Bloomfield can relax. Some may be permitted to wait and come about through natural pressures. But there is so much to be done and the sooner action begins the sooner the city will live up to its responsibilities- and reap the blessings of its opportunities.
Nineteen-hundred and forty-six is a year of destiny for Bloomfield. Money is on hand to pay for improvements. A progressive spirit is stirring. A great incentive to move forward has come. Let us start--Now!
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