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Bandera County Fire Marshal Jason Rutherford addresses the countywide burn ban to commissioners during their regular Oct. 24 session.
Photo by Jessica Nohealapa’ahi
November 5, 2024
Bandera County Commissioners Court briefing
By Jessica Nohealapa’ahi
The Bandera Prophet
What started as a pilot program four years ago has now become a mandatory practice for students of the Texas A&M College of Medicine Rural Medicine Program. The problem was getting medical students to go back to their rural communities, Curtis Donaldson of Texas A&M told commissioners.
The TAMU Rural Medicine Program partners with school districts to promote careers in healthcare, with the goal of inspiring the next generation of physicians to return to their hometowns. K-12 support includes School to Scrubs camps, virtual professional interviews, and healthcare literacy at no cost.
Students see a healthy lung, and an unhealthy lung, Donaldson said. “They get exposure. It’s impactful, it’s powerful.”
Today, 44 Texas counties and 144 independent school districts have partnered with the TAMU rural medicine program. All 250 students in the TAMU medical program will complete at minimum a two-week rotation in rural Texas communities.
Donaldson said as a result of the program, about 32 graduates have electively returned to rural areas.
“We feel long-term, the medical students who will go to Bandera are the ones who are from Bandera,” Donaldson said.
For more information, go to medicine.tamu.edu.
~ In other business, it’s back to the drawing board for Phase 2 of the 1877 Courthouse and 1881 Jail project. Two bids were received in response to the county’s competitive sealed proposal request, and neither complied with the specifications, Pct. 3 Commissioner Jack Moseley said. The request required masonry experts with experience in historical preservation, and neither included that, Moseley said.
~ Bandera County Sheriff Dan Butts reported in September, deputies responded to 537 calls for service, and traveled 25,510 miles, with an average tone-to-on-scene time for priority calls of 15.35 minutes. Authorities made six felony arrests, 10 misdemeanor arrests and responded to 39 animal-related calls. The county was the primary responder to calls in the city 11 times. The county jail’s average population was 49 inmates, eight of whom are contracted from other counties. There were 47 bookings into the county jail, and 10 out-of-county transports.
~ Bandera County EMS Director Shannon Griffin reported in August, EMS responded to 281 calls and traveled 13,653 miles, with an average tone-to-response time of 3.03 minutes, and an average tone-to-on-scene time of 14.04 minutes.
“The longer response time was due to late entry dispatch service,” Griffin said, adding the delays were reviewed.
In September, EMS responded to 228 calls and traveled 11,339 miles, with an average tone-to-response time of 1.06 minutes, and an average tone-to-on-scene time of 10.29 minutes.
The TAMU Rural Medicine Program partners with school districts to promote careers in healthcare, with the goal of inspiring the next generation of physicians to return to their hometowns. K-12 support includes School to Scrubs camps, virtual professional interviews, and healthcare literacy at no cost.
Students see a healthy lung, and an unhealthy lung, Donaldson said. “They get exposure. It’s impactful, it’s powerful.”
Today, 44 Texas counties and 144 independent school districts have partnered with the TAMU rural medicine program. All 250 students in the TAMU medical program will complete at minimum a two-week rotation in rural Texas communities.
Donaldson said as a result of the program, about 32 graduates have electively returned to rural areas.
“We feel long-term, the medical students who will go to Bandera are the ones who are from Bandera,” Donaldson said.
For more information, go to medicine.tamu.edu.
~ In other business, it’s back to the drawing board for Phase 2 of the 1877 Courthouse and 1881 Jail project. Two bids were received in response to the county’s competitive sealed proposal request, and neither complied with the specifications, Pct. 3 Commissioner Jack Moseley said. The request required masonry experts with experience in historical preservation, and neither included that, Moseley said.
~ Bandera County Sheriff Dan Butts reported in September, deputies responded to 537 calls for service, and traveled 25,510 miles, with an average tone-to-on-scene time for priority calls of 15.35 minutes. Authorities made six felony arrests, 10 misdemeanor arrests and responded to 39 animal-related calls. The county was the primary responder to calls in the city 11 times. The county jail’s average population was 49 inmates, eight of whom are contracted from other counties. There were 47 bookings into the county jail, and 10 out-of-county transports.
~ Bandera County EMS Director Shannon Griffin reported in August, EMS responded to 281 calls and traveled 13,653 miles, with an average tone-to-response time of 3.03 minutes, and an average tone-to-on-scene time of 14.04 minutes.
“The longer response time was due to late entry dispatch service,” Griffin said, adding the delays were reviewed.
In September, EMS responded to 228 calls and traveled 11,339 miles, with an average tone-to-response time of 1.06 minutes, and an average tone-to-on-scene time of 10.29 minutes.