Thirty years, a snowstorm unlike anything anyone on the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau had ever seen, and a momentous celebration to commemorate both.
That’s what Highlands-Cashiers Hospital supporters, staff and administrators gathered for last Wednesday, and during their event, they shared stories about the harrowing Blizzard of 1993 and looked back on three decades of care in the community.
That the hospital has endured for 30 years in its current location is a testament to a lot of hard work.
Peter Pavarini, the hospital’s Board of Trustees chairman, stepped up to the podium and gave the room a sobering reminder. Highlands-Cashiers Hospital is an exception to the norm, in which hundreds of local hospitals have been shuttered since the 1980s.
Conversely, HCH has continued to grow in the past 40-plus years.
Because of that, Pavarini said the community needs to do what it can to make the hospital the priority in the minds of residents. That way, they don’t have to travel for hours to get to Atlanta, Greenville, or Asheville to seek services.
Finally, what do a 25-year-old generator, a homemade pizza with parmesan cheese and ketchup, and siphoning gas from a Highlands police vehicle all have in common?
Each of them kept hospital staff members going in the face of the infamous “Blizzard of 1993,” which struck the plateau just days before the current hospital location was set to open.
If it wasn’t for the tenacious efforts of the community in getting patients and medical equipment moved in, the hospital may not have gotten up and running on schedule.
Staff members talked about their experiences with the storm, and those in attendance at the celebration shared laughs and memories about how even the storm of the century could not foil the opening of the facility.
It’s no doubt that the Highlands-Cashiers Hospital has been a vital part of the community for the past three decades, providing care to those in need from people who treat you like family.
Hats off to the hospital leaders, staff members, board members, and every single community member that has kept HCH thriving all these years.