Good morning and welcome to Montrose Fresh, from The Montrose Daily Press. It’s Wednesday January 6th and we’re here with local news, events, announcements, and more that matter to us here in Western Colorado.
Today -- we’re taking a look back at 2020 and reflecting on the challenges that our community faced.
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Before we begin, congratulations to Joanna and Shane Daly - the proud parents of the first baby born at Montrose Memorial Hospital in 2021. Daphne, who weighed 6 pounds and 14 ounces was born on January 1st at 1:33 p.m.
Daphne is the first biological daughter for Joanna and Shane. Through foster care, the couple adopted daughters Selena and Audrey.
The two described the moment when Daphne arrived as “magical” as anticipation grew for the couple, aware the baby could arrive either late in 2020 or in the morning hours of the new year.
Now, our feature story.
2020 was a year of upheaval in Montrose, the state, the nation and the world.
In late 2019, Montrose County was more concerned with the annual flu than with a new strain of the coronavirus that had cropped up elsewhere in the world. That quickly changed.
Montrose Memorial Hospital has been on the front lines of fighting the pandemic.
The hospital had to suspend its elective surgeries for a period of time to keep resources available. This was a heavy hit to the hospital’s already slim bottom line. Montrose Memorial also implemented pay cuts, put visitor restrictions in place, and created a COVID unit.
Montrose County Public Health and its partners, including the City of Montrose, took the lead in emergency response. They established a call center, a website, and test-coordination efforts.
The county also added Dr. Joe Adragna as a temporary pandemic specialist.
County commissioners and city leaders established restrictions to slow the spread of Covid-19. Early during the pandemic restrictions, several locals took to the streets to protest what they condemned as violations of their rights.
The state’s mask mandate also remained a point of contention. The mandate fell hard on local businesses. When they enforced it, they risked losing customers. When they did not, they risked the virus spreading.
Montrose Regional Airport’s traffic, which had been growing year after year, plunged. There were more travel restrictions and fewer people making trips. But the airport was able to secure about $2 million in federal funds. It also notched successes like the addition of Southwest and JetBlue airlines.
Law enforcement agencies had to take extra steps to protect officers and staff members. They also reduced the number of non-violent misdemeanor arrests. Instead, they issued more court summonses in order to keep the jail population down.
Courts in Montrose had to close to in-person business. Trials were pushed forward indefinitely at first, then were allowed to resume. And then they were suspended again as another wave hit. Courts even began using technology like Zoom to conduct virtual hearings.
The entertainment landscape — from movies, to theater and fundraisers — dropped from the calendar. Even The Montrose County Fair was radically different this year, with many events — including the rodeo and parade — canceled.
The cancelation of fundraisers in particular hit Montrose nonprofits hard. But many got creative and developed virtual or meal-delivery fundraisers.
Finally, vaccine shipments from Moderna began to arrive at the end of December. Montrose County is now using a phased priority system to distribute it.
Not everything associated with the pandemic was bad news. The Montrose community — individuals and businesses alike — worked hard to help others.
Companies donated PPE or even began manufacturing it, individuals and nonprofits stepped up to provide assistance, and the city and Montrose County School District continued to supply students with school lunches, even when in-person learning was canceled.
Thanks for listening, finally, we’d like to take a moment today to remember the life of Anna Dorene Carkhuff. Dorene met her husband, Delbert, in 1962 when she was a telephone switchboard operator, and he was a telephone lineman. They were soon married. Together they raised their children in Nevada, and retired in Montrose.
Dorene was an avid Bible reader, enjoyed playing the piano and watching old-time cowboy shows. She was well known in the area as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, sharing her faith and love of Jehovah with as many as she could.
Dorene is survived by her four children, Keith, Kathy, Betsy and Paul; her son-in-law, Mark; and her grandson, Caleb. Thank you for taking a moment today to remember and celebrate Dorene’s life.
That’s all for today, thank you for listening! For more information on any of these stories visit us at montrosepress.com.
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