Conejo founded Gallup’s first Day of Giving in November, 2019.

 

T’was the night before Hospital Community Care in New Mexico, when across the state,

not a resident was stirring, was the idea of hospital community giving too late?

 

Patients were all nestled, snug in their beds;

while the concept of community care danced in their heads.

 

In hospitals, patients were all treated with kindness and care;

but know knowing that when they were discharged, the community would be there!

 

CEOs with medical masks, and CMOs with caps;

all looked forward to these new healthcare community apps.

 

Across New Mexico, the idea arose with such clatter;

healthcare execs had to check on funding for the matter.

 

Away to hospital windows, managers flew like a flash;

they tore open the shutters; and flung out some of Ebenezer Scrooge’s old cash.

 

But it wasn’t mere money, that would make this concept run; it was the love

for their community and neighbors, mixed with some pride and a bit of fun.

 

Hospital alone could not do the trick, they enlisted food pantry’s, shelters, Rotarians, stewards of good

will and good cheer; fireman and police, life saving pros, all united to help the local effort grow.

 

Often in the distance, on the new-fallen snow;

care givers organized the first community gathering, making resident hearts’ glow.

 

The local hospitals gathered food, clothing and stuff;

care leaders loaded it onto a sleigh, pulled by eight trucks.

 

Of the residents who attended, some were down and some sick;

but the hospital’s community cheer, made them feel good pretty quick.

 

At the homeless shelter, not too far away;

hot meals, coats and shoes were served, from the hospital’s giving sleigh.

 

People began wondering, the well and the sick;

could providers really be like St. Nick?

 

As the hospital’s embrace of community care began to take hold;

caregivers pondered it, some considered it bold. The New Mexico Hospital Association even announced it was sold!

 

The idea spread, from Santa Fe and Albuquerque, up north to McKinley County and Gallup;

the concept of hospital community care giving took off with a wallop.

From hospital outreach by RMCHCS’s Day of Giving, to events by Presbyterian and Lovelace;

health neighbors’ generosity spread, giving was winning all over the place.

 

Now with their eight sleight trucks ready to fly; the hospital community heroes added some hopeful messages to the caravan and decorate the pink and purple New Mexican sky.

 

Hospital diversity, more rural care, environmental and education rights; incarceration diversion, homeless solutions, less ICE abuse and an end to ER gun violence visit nights.

 

To the top of the hospital! To the top of the mall! Now bring hospital community care giving to the large and the small!

 

Merry Christmas to all hospitals, and to New Mexican’s a good night; may 2020 be the year, we make community care giving very bright!

 

By Rehoboth McKinley Christian HealthCare Services CEO; President of the New Mexico Rural Health Network; Board Member of the New Mexico Hospital Association; Chairman of the Community Hospital Insurance Coalition; Behavioral Health Visionary and McKinley County Healthcare Community Leader.