I love Thanksgiving, for all the reasons you might guess: Good food. Spending time with family. Taking some time to reflect on all the things we have to be thankful for.
It’s one of my favorite days of the year.
I’m very much looking forward to what comes after Thanksgiving, too, and not just for the leftovers. While Mt. Bachelor isn't able to open on the day after the holiday this year, the mountain will open as soon as the snow flies, which means our new St. Charles Mountain Clinic will also be open soon in the ski patrol building near the West Village area.
This is our first year providing medical services at Mt. Bachelor, a partnership we announced back in July. Since then, teams from both organizations have been working hard to get the clinic up and running by the time skiers and snowboarders arrive. The plan is for providers from St. Charles Urgent Care clinics to staff it Fridays through Sundays and during holidays throughout the season.
I want to take a moment to thank all the St. Charles caregivers and Mt. Bachelor staffers who have worked closely together in recent months to bring the Mountain Clinic to life. Their efforts — and the clinic itself — are reflections of our shared values of collaboration, and of our shared history as pillars of the Central Oregon community.
Over the past few years, St. Charles has moved with great pace to preserve critical health care services across the region by launching new services, expanding existing programs and stepping in to fill growing gaps where needed.
The new Mountain Clinic is yet another example of this, and it’s a particularly meaningful one for me. As you may or may not know, I am a lifelong skier. I raised my family — in part, at least — on snowy slopes across Oregon, including many family trips to Mt. Bachelor over the years. Some of my fondest memories of days gone by are set on the resort’s soaring chair lifts and tree-lined runs. Even now, I get a little misty-eyed thinking about those times and how much Mt. Bachelor has meant to me and my family.
That doesn’t mean I want to be a patron of the clinic, of course. No one does. But I do feel a strong sense of pride knowing that when visitors to Mt. Bachelor find themselves unexpectedly in need of care, St. Charles will be there for them — just as we are in all the communities we serve.
See you on the slopes!
Sincerely,
Steve
