News

The Refuge/Olney Christian Community Center held an Aug. 27 barbecue dinner served by board members and staff to thank patrons for their generosity and apprise them of the center’s work in the community over the past year. The Refuge served more than 1,200 meals as part of its Summer Feeding Program and served 30-60 students daily during its after-school enrichment program, Director Rodney Nantz told the group. Mr. Nantz said it was “an honor” and “a great privilege” to teach the gospel and help support the community’s churches. He was especially moved by the opportunity to teach the word of God to a little girl who attended The Refuge’s summer programs but had never heard the name of Jesus Christ.

The Olney school district has partnered with state and local groups to offer students new mental health and social services on campus this year, Madison Ickert, director of OISD Social Services, said at the board of trustees Aug. 29 meeting. The school district signed an agreement with Texas Tech University to access the TCHATT (Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine) program that provides several West Texas schools with licensed counselors, therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, she said. “[The program] provided every campus with the medical equipment they would need for intake, to prescribe medication, and with an iPad to be able to have those counseling sessions with a licensed counselor,” Mrs. Ickert said. OISD partnered with Helen Farabee Centers to host a substance abuse group on campus on Thursdays. The district is working on logistics to soon allow Graham Psychological Associates to use a building across the street from Olney High School to see students who require counseling, she said. “Counseling is a big need. I’ve already worked with six individual students this year for self-harm. I’ve already had three suicidal students. It’s the third week of school,” Mrs. Ickert said. “Right now a student is missing half a day to go to counseling in Graham or Wichita Falls. This keeps them in class.” Teachers and staff suffering from burnout and low morale have access as well, she said.

Olney Hamilton Hospital and Graham Hospital asked county commissioners for a combined $600,000 from federal COVID funds to start needed construction projects, hospital officials said. OHH Administrator Michael Huff and Graham Regional Medical Center Chief Executive Shane Kernell. The hospital administrators asked the county to dip into the $2.74 million remaining from the American Rescue Plan of Act of 2021, which provided emergency funding for local governments during the COVID epidemic. Mr. Huff said the OHH board had instructed him to hire architects to advise whether to replace or renovate the existing 114-year-old hospital or to do a combination of both. The hospital construction costs could reach $20 million, funded by an annual $2 million in tax revenues from a new wind farm and hydrogen plant. Since OHH will not start receiving those funds until next year, Mr. Huff asked the commissioners for $250,000 in working capital to pay the architects to get started. Similarly, Graham Hospital wants to begin a $4.5 million addition and needs money for architectural fees, Mr. Kernell said. The commissioners asked County Auditor Cheryl Roberts to investigate whether ARPA funds could be spent in this way. They also cautioned that repairs to the 90-year-old Young County Courthouse needed funding. “We need to fix our place here and when we do that, we will start talking about the other stuff,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Matt Pruitt said. “We need to worry about our building. We need our wiring fixed, our internet fixed. We have to make this functional for us and the county.”