By Dr. Jeff Bird—
MUNCIE, IN—After an incredibly challenging yet wonderful and rewarding 40 plus years in healthcare as a practicing Family Physician, teacher of aspiring family doctors and administrator at Indiana University Health Ball Memorial Hospital, this new phase has taken effort to get my arms around.
I am hoping to stay busy with purposeful work as I embark on this new journey. I’m pleased to start a new endeavor highlighting Muncie and Delaware County with a new forum, writing for MuncieJournal.com and hosting a new radio show titled: Taking Flight: Chapter 2 on WMUN radio every Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. in collaboration with Woof Boom radio.
I am indebted to J Chapman, Steve Lindell, and Mike Rhodes, who are taking a chance on me. I am deeply grateful to them for this opportunity and hope I can join them in making a difference in the community I love and serve.
It’s quite a departure from what I have been doing the last 40 years. I pray my education at Northside High School and my liberal arts degree from my alma mater; DePauw University will serve me well. The idea is daunting to say the least and I enter this with an admitted bit of trepidation, but mostly with hope. I hope that my words and my voice in these writings might stimulate thought and discussion about our town—my hometown.
Everything about Muncie is open for exploration. I hope to use my contacts to highlight the great things happening around us, while balancing the significant challenges we face.
I’ll be focusing on people and places, economic development, education and quality of place, and the people who are driving programs intended to positively affect our community.
I’ll explore the role of government, philanthropy, business both for profit and nonprofit, and their collective impact in moving Muncie forward.
I’m bullish on Muncie, always have been, and unapologetic to hold that feeling. Sometimes maybe too optimistic, so I’ll self-reflect each time to maintain a balance in my words. I firmly believe each of us have an opportunity, indeed even a responsibility to work together to improve our community and support each other.
I hope to recognize and elevate those people and places who are having a positive impact in this work.
I see this as an incredible opportunity for me personally and I pray I can make a difference with the reader and listener as partners.
Please come along with me on this journey!
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