On January 19^th, 2016 twenty-two of Lincoln Counties’ leaders met at the Public Safety building on Jeffers Street to learn about the healthcare and emergency system in Lincoln County. As a relatively new member in the community I was proud to learn about these vital services. Growing up in rural Northwest Kansas where the medical community is underserved, it is a relief knowing that Lincoln county has so much to offer not only the communities in Lincoln county but, also to our neighboring counties.
The morning started off by touring the 911 dispatch center. I was amazed at how busy the center stays; the dispatchers last year alone received over 96,000 calls. The dispatchers work with several communities and have some of the most sophisticated technology that helps them serve our community and also helps provide law enforcement additional support. Following the tour we heard from Michelle, the director of the American Red Cross in our region. She stated that the Red Cross has 5 main services that it provides to communities throughout the world: Disaster Services, Blood Services, Armed Forces Services, International Services, and First Aid and CPR training. Michelle talked about the importance of each of these services that are provided. Currently the Red Cross has a Home Fire campaign going on, and their goal is to reduce deaths and injuries related to home fires by 20% by 2020. If you or someone you know needs or would like smoke detectors please contact the American Red Cross to learn more. The American Red Cross to date has helped over 20.8 million people. After learning that every 60 seconds 44 people are assisted by the American Red Cross, Brandon Meyers, Director of the Lincoln County Emergency Management Services talked about how he is the “resource guy” for Lincoln County.  I believe everyone in the room that day was amazed at the responsibilities that Brandon handles and the amount of resources he has available to help the citizens of Lincoln County if the need ever arises. With Bailey Yard in Lincoln County this adds another level of “uniqueness” to Brandon’s job. He stated that the workers of the UPRR are top notch and that we are fortunate that they are in our community. Rounding out our morning was Fire Chief Dennis Thompson. Chief Thompson shared with us that the fire department has a primary coverage over 369 square miles with secondary responsibilities of over 4,400 square miles. The department stays busy, in fact, just last year they helped respond to over 3,000 ambulance calls and over 900 fires. We learned that our fire department is one of the most highly trained units in the state. They are just one of nine Haz-Mat response teams in the state of Nebraska, and that gave me an added level of confidence knowing that the residents of Lincoln County have the finest group of professional response teams available to them if the need ever arises.
Lunch was provided by Great Plains Health and the group had the privilege of hearing from Mel McNea, the CEO, of Great Plains Health. He emphasized that their mission was to inspire health and healing by putting patients first – ALWAYS! The hospital is one of the community’s greatest assets and provides services to over 22,500 patients each month. This newly renovated facility has a great deal of pride in what it offers and this is evident by the quality of staff and the cleanliness of the facility. After receiving a tour of the hospital, it was very clear that the patient was always the top priority when designing and building this great asset to our community. The hospital delivers over 500 babies a year, has specialists in just about every major health care area, a cancer center, and a state of the art surgery unit. I was excited to live in North Platte, but after learning about our Health Care capabilities in Lincoln County I am prouder than ever to say that I am a Lincoln County Resident!
 
Chance Schilling grew up on a farm and ranch operation in Northwest Kansas where he graduated high school from Goodland High. He attended Colby Community College and received his Associates of Science in Animal Science. After graduating from CCC he attended Oklahoma State University and received his Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness with a management option. Chance moved back to the family farm where he was a loan officer for a community bank in Northwest Kansas for about 2 years. Chance’s passion for agriculture led him back to the family farm full time for several years. In 2013 Chance took a position in Springfield, MO as the co- manager of the show and sale cattle for Pinegar Limousine, one of the nation’s largest purebred Limousine operations. In October of 2014 he accepted a position with First National Bank in North Platte as an analyst and is now a Commercial and Agribusiness Banker. Chance is active on the Lincoln County Ag Society and participates and helps with several events in Lincoln County throughout the year.