A Different Angle – Welcome to PeRxSpectives
Welcome to the new website that better reflects the direction we're going. After 1 year of Zach's Take, it was time to open up to more voices than just my own.
I’m Running for the Salem Hospital Board: Here’s why you should vote for me.
In short, I believe I am the most qualified candidate for the Board of Directors position at Salem Memorial Hospital in District 6. My many years of management experience in pharmacy and public health, including nearly 5 years as Director of Pharmacy at SMH, give me a strong experiential background for this position. My goal is to make sure Salem always has a hospital that is a benefit to its patients and residents. If you're in southern Dent County or northern Shannon County, I humbly ask for your vote on April 2nd, 2024.
Why Healthcare is Hard (And Rural Hospitals are at Risk)
It's tough for healthcare organizations to make it right now, especially in communities like Salem, Missouri, that have a large population of Medicaid and Medicare patients. Salem Memorial Hospital (SMH)…
Who has been making your bed?
First, I must admit, I like Olivia Rodrigo's music. The Driver's License singer recently released a new album titled GUTS, a follow up to her debut album SOUR. In my…
Dead Batteries
Winter has a way of draining the life from everything
The leaves fall from the trees
and the color fades from every living thing
including many human beings.
This winter just won't yield to spring.
Still no buzzing of the bees.
No crickets chirping or birds to sing.
A world without many meanings.
Even the inanimate fears what winter brings.
Gasoline sours and batteries freeze
The silence of stalled engines is all that rings.
The mechanical marvels brought to their knees.
During this six months of torture
I feel hopeless and lost
Dead batteries and a dead soul
just waiting to be tossed.
Common Sense: Chapter 1
Drip. Drip. Drip. The bright red pool of blood grew larger at his feet. He was awake now. No, now unconscious again. Drip. Drip. The rhythm of the sanguine dripping…
Six New Strings Sing
I grabbed my guitar this evening, to pluck and strum some sounds. I started with a check for tuning, and picked each string from top to down. It’s been a…
Salem, the City of Railroads?
Did you know that there was a railroad through the middle of Cedar Grove Cemetery in Salem? Or that there was a railroad that ran parallel to P highway? How about the railroad that ran across the back of the pond at Bonebrake? Did you know that Dent County was once covered with miles and miles of railroad tracks?
Creepin’ In
I feel the darkness creeping in as the Sun grows lazier in the sky. Without its heat and light I begin to feel compressed, as if I wear an invisible…
How Would You Like to Die?
Note: I was looking through some old documents when I came across this one, originally written in Spring 2009 as a college writing assignment. I think I'm a better writer…
COVID Finally Got Me
Well... it finally happened. After 27 months of the pandemic, COVID finally caught up with me and my family. My wife and daughter got it first. I quarantined away from…