Ark City's Identity Crisis

I attended today's local hospital board meeting and was glad to hear from Dr. Bob Yoachim that the doctors of this town have a vision for a new hospital. Presumably, this vision will be communicated to the public between now and the November election.

Arkansas City voters who participate in the November election may be doing more than just electing a new President and making choices on others running for office. They may also vote "yes" or "no" on whether to fund a new hospital with a half-cent sales tax. That's where hospital officials, doctors and staff come in. They will hold public meetings to explain the plan to build a hospital 2 miles north of town. And they will be backed by city officials because South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center is basically a city hospital. Or is it?

The current hospital's name indicates it's a regional hospital and that's a worthy goal. I'm not sure we've reached it yet; hence, the doctors push to help make the vision a reality by building a new hospital out of town, so we can draw other patients besides Ark City residents from other parts of the county.

It all sounds nice and I may even choose to pay a half-cent sales tax to support the project. But something's missing.

I feel disconnected from this project just as I have from several other community projects over the past 30 years or so. All of them have names indicating something other — or beyond Ark City — like the current hospital's long name. Same thing with some of the institutions in town that have the word "Area" added to "Arkansas City."

All of this to me indicates a lack of pride in our town as a town, not just as a part of a county or a region.

The fact that most people responding to the Traveler's current on-line poll on the proposed new hospital location are against it being placed out near Strother Field shows I am not the only one who feels disconnnected. Many people do. The medical officials and city officials of town may all be on the same page but the citizens aren't there with them.

Disconnection can lead to alienation and alienation indicates a serious problem, in my opinion. If citizens of this town feel disaffected or aliented, that means it's going to be hard to unify on a common goal or vision for the town — and I'm talking about a larger picture than just a new hospital. Some of our city leaders may be unified but without the backing of the people, how far are we going to get as a town?

The word on the street is that people are leaving Ark City to go live in Winfield or elsewhere. For the first time in the history of the county we've lost our number one position as having the biggest population. (I'm pretty certain I'm right on this — at least it's been that way over the past 61 years I've been around.)

It seems to me we need to unify if we're going to get anywhere as a town. I suggested to one Ark City businessman recently that the entire town needs to take a sabbatical year — yes, I know that's not realistic, but it's a sort of "vision" like the doctors' vision. Everyone in town could gather for talks and meals together in the W.S. Scott Audiorium, and discuss what we want to do as a town, how we want to grow, what kind of life we want to provide for our children and grandchildren.

Problem is, the old Auditorium-Gymnasium no longer is a community gathering place as in the old days; it now belongs to Cowley College. But Cowley is a good citizen and does a great job in educating young people. Maybe the college would let us use the gym, or maybe we could all chip in and pay to use it.

Would we get the job done in a year? It might take longer, like the hospital deal, but who knows we might grow closer as a community.