Just Do It... with teamwork

Our page one story about the attempt to hire an athletic trainer signals good news for Weston County.  
The hospital and school district boards have been pursuing the hire for months.  While the deal is not done, it is close, and you can chalk that up to teamwork.  
We think it’s re-assuring to know teamwork is alive and well in Newcastle; we see teamwork so rarely.  
This is not the forum for listing all the near-miss losses that poor communication and failure to play well with others has cost our community. Suffice it to say we’d be better off if we thought beyond selfish need, listening more often and more compassionately to what is good and necessary for the common good.  
We think the hospital and school district leadership, Maureen Cadwell and Brad LaCroix, have listened and communicated well in their attempt to bring a well-credentialed athletic trainer to the hospital staff. The move would be a plus for all school students, not just athletes, and the hospital board of trustees believes an athletic trainer on-staff would boost the hospital’s physical therapy department.  
So, what’s the hold-up? The short answer is money. The accurate response is reluctance to take a risk with money.  
It’s hard to find fault with the hospital, embroiled as it is in paying for a multi-million-dollar renovation.  Costs are high and revenues are improving, but need for fiscal responsibility looms large. 
It’s equally difficult to point fingers at the school district. The board sacrificed some classroom grants and the teacher summer credit reimbursement program to help free-up its share of the trainer’s salary.  
The school district needs a trainer to keep its students and athletes safe and healthy. The hospital needs to pay its bills. Provide service or exercise fiscal responsibility? That’s a tough choice to make. Because, how do you say “No” to kids? 
We believe the hiring of an athletic trainer is imminent. Our optimism is fueled by our belief in the teamwork that has characterized the prospective partnership from its beginning. The players are strong, the cause is just, and both entities will tell you the hire is a service that just needs to happen.  
Let’s see if the good teamwork continues by advancing – as it should – to a fruitful negotiation phase, one that finds, raises, or receives the money needed to offer the trainer candidate a permanent staff position.