There are those in our state, specifically those who live west and south of Raleigh, who really have very little appreciation for all that we have here, Down East.

The full scope of medical services in and radiating out from Greenville to so many smaller communities is, quite simply, amazing.

Just the hospital there is beyond impressive. Then consider the Medical School, the Dental School, the Heart Center, and the soon to be realized Cancer Center, and the vast numbers of physicians in the area who are specialists. It’s almost beyond comprehension, especially when looking back to those not so very long ago days when healthcare opportunities were so limited, and in some places nonexistent.

That which seems almost incredible to me is that almost all of this progress has taken place in my lifetime, often in the face of little or no support — and sometimes downright opposition — from legislators to the west of us.

Add in the growth of East Carolina University, and it isn’t a stretch to see it as the “Miracle of the East.”

And then there’s our hospital right here in Beaufort County, one of the poorest tiers of counties in our state.

Not that even a full two-weeks stay in our hospital — Feb. 24–March 10 — qualifies me as an expert in hospital care, but, well, I now have a more informed perspective.

Just those healthcare professionals allowed me to realize how lucky, how blessed, we are.

They are workers, they are informed, they are caring. This includes the doctors (hospitalists), nurses, respiratory therapists, nurses aides (and all the professionals in the various labs and other task-specific areas).

The good people with whom I interacted on 3 East have my deepest gratitude, and that of my Incomparable First Wife.

Day in, and day out; night in, night out; 24/7, week after week they go about their duties, their responsibilities. They are kind, caring, patient.

They serve their fellow man.

How lucky, how very fortunate, we who live here are, in what was once an approximation of the hinterlands.

How very grateful we should be.