What Houston did Right

The Southern Ozarks Alliance for Rural Development (SOAR) met on November 10 in the Star Theatre Annex. The speaker was Dr. Allan Moss, the superintendent for the R-I Houston School District. According to SOAR President Wendell Bailey, Dr. Moss was present to discuss this district’s “remarkable success.”

According to information Moss presented, Houston has a population of 2,592 people, and a student body of 1,030. Over the past five years, a combination of grant funding and a bond issue passed at the polls has enabled the district to build a new gymnasium and lay the groundwork for career training programs that serve the local high school students. 

Instead of traveling to West Plains or Rolla, high school students in Houston can stay in town and study a host of practical career skills. Keeping these educational programs in town is key to skilled Tiger alumni staying and working in Houston, Moss explained. 

Phase 2 of the bond issue will result in more improvements on the R-I campus, Moss explained, but those improvements will occur under someone else’s leadership. Dr. Moss has resigned his position for family reasons. 

Next, Bailey invited Josh Reeves of Ozarks Healthcare to speak about the state of the pandemic in Howell County. The conversation turned immediately to staffing problems made worse by vaccine mandates. 

Both clinicians and support staff are leaving the industry over the federal mandate, Reeves reported. 

“Ozarks Healthcare is pro-vaccine," Reeves explained, "We think it’s safe, and we do want people to make the decision on their own.”

However, like most hospitals nationwide, he went on, OZH relies on Medicaid and Medicare payments for 75% of their profits. Disregarding their vaccine requirement is not an option. 

“When Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says vaccinate, there is no choice,” he concluded. 

Reeves described the staffing issues in the healthcare industry as a “ten-year problem.”

Dr. Robert Shaw was present at the meeting, and he agreed. 

“It’s important to make our communities inviting to professional people,” Dr. Shaw offered. He mentioned he and his wife chose Southern Missouri because they made a decision based on where they wanted to raise their children. 

Good schools and job opportunities are the key elements to making the area inviting, Shaw suggested. 

Dr. Shaw returned to the subject of staffing nursing homes. “CNAs keep nursing homes running,” he said. 

“Everyone should get their shots,” Dr. Shaw said, “but the CDC is saying things that are as offensive as things [anti-vaxxers say like] ‘you’ll be magnetized’. When they came out with a polio shot, people fought to get it. I think that would have happened if it wasn't mandated.”

SOAR meets monthly to discuss solutions in education and legislation intended to promote prosperity in the Ozarks.