Two events designed to bring high school students to the Chadron State College campus to learn more about what the college has to offer have joined forces this year.

Health Professions Day…in which high school students visit the campus to learn the next steps in seeking a career in the health sciences…and the Eagle Open House…aimed specifically at getting students to come to CSC…are being held together on Monday.

Jill Mack, CSC director of health professions, and Seth Hulquist, CSC campus visit coordinator, says the merging of the Eagle Open House and the new Health Professions Showcase made sense.

Hulquist says this is the fifth year for the Open House program, which brings in students once in the fall and once in the springs. Attendance has been modest, but not this time.

LISTEN:

Hulquist 12 Open House-1

Mack says the Health Professions Showcase has been changed just a bit with the merger with the Open House, with a greater emphasis on what Chadron State has to offer those interested in a career in a health profession than on the range of careers possible.

LISTEN:

Jill Mack Open House-1

There was a deadline of yesterday for interested students to register to take part in Monday’s visits, but Hulquist says that was more to help plan logistics than anything else with late registrations still accepts…although those wanting to come for the Health Professions Showcase might be out of luck.

LISTEN:

Seth Hulquist Open House-2

Students who want to sign up should go to the college website at csc.edu and click on the “Eagle Open House” image.

Dawes County is looking for a new Veterans Service Officer for the second time this year.

Mike Kohler, who in May filled the vacancy created by the January death of Jeff Fankhauser is leaving a week from Monday to take a position at Ellsworth Air Force Base just east of Rapid City.

Kohler says family considerations led to his decision to take the Rapid City job even though they love Chadron and his short time as VSO has been enjoyable.

Kohler’s duties at Ellsworth will involving transition….helping airmen who’ve been deployed overseas transition back to being home, and families who are moving from the military back to civilian life

Kohler says he understands both types of transitions…being an Army veteran who deployed overseas 3 times…including once to Iraq.

Kohler says the Dawes County Commissioners are starting the search for his successor, but that the bulk of the work will be done by the County Veterans Advisory Committee…whose chairman, Alan Connell, served as the de facto VSO in the month’s after Fankhauser’s death.

Dawes County eventually worked out an interlocal agreement with Sheridan County to use its VSO…Gary Sones…on a limited basis, but Connell says a repeat is unlikely…although Sones will continue to help out informally.

One of the key requirements for a Veterans Service Officer in Nebraska is that the individual must be a veteran.

A 26-year old city of Chadron dump truck was destroyed Thursday afternoon about 4:00 by an engine fire while in an open area next to the city street shop.

Chadron Public Works Director Milo Rust says the fire was apparently caused by a carburetor malfunction.

Street department workers tried unsuccessfully to put it out with an ABC fire extinguisher, but did limit the fire to the truck.

A 1986 GMC used to spread sand and plow streets, Rust says the truck was valued at $3,500 but is now considered totaled.

Nearly the entire South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming Congressionals delegation have sent a joint letter to U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, asking him to come to Hot Springs for a meeting on a VA proposal to close its medical center there.

Senators Tim Johnson and John Thune of South Dakota, Mike Enzi and John Barrasso of Wyoming, and Mike Johanns of Nebraska and Representatives Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, and Adrian Smith of Nebraska also want the Save the VA Committee included in the meeting.

They expressed in the letter their “frustration and disappointment” on the unwillingness of regional VA officials to consider alternatives to closure offered by the Save the VA group…which had been promised by VA Black Hills Health Care System director Steve DiStasio that its alternatives would be considered.

Talks between the two sides broke down last month after DiStasio and VA regional officials said they were not in a position to negotiate from their initial plan. The letter from the Congressional delegations tells Shinseki that it’s important he hear first-hand from veterans, Hot Springs residents, and other stakeholders directly affected by the VA plan.

Save the VA Executive Committee member Pat Russell…speaking on behalf of the group…says the letter shows that the Congressional delegations are committed to the men and women who’ve served their country. Russell also says his group is looking forward to an “open and honest discussion” with the delegations and Shinseki on making decisions that “are in the best interests of all our veterans, urban and rural.”

A cost analysis done for the VA showed it would cost much less to close the Hot Springs center and replace it with a new domiciliary in Rapid City, a walk-in clinic in Hot Springs, and more contracting for services from hospitals and others in the region than to remodel or renovate the existing complex.

Save the VA crafted a plan it says is not only cheaper still but would provide better care for veterans. It would have Hot Springs host a national demonstration project focused on finding the best treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and related problems.

The centerpiece would be a new a for-profit manufacturing company that would use domicillary patients and other veterans to make as-yet undetermined products. 75% of net profits would go to the VA to offset treatment and related costs, with the rest going to community development.