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Shirley and Bob Schmerbeck
Shirley and Bob Schmerbeck
Bob and Shirley Schmerbeck—Counting Their Blessings

Bob and Shirley Schmerbeck never blinked when asked to co-chair the capital campaign for construction of the Peterson Regional Medical Center, though they knew it would be a task of enormous magnitude. The couple felt deeply about the project due in part to their own brush with calamity a few years earlier, when Shirley had experienced a major heart attack. "She pulled through only because of the outstanding medical care she received," says Bob, "and we wanted to show our appreciation for that gift by doing everything we could to make the new hospital a reality."

Of course, the Schmerbecks were already veterans when it came to hard work and community involvement. The two had assisted with the missions of various Kerrville area organizations such as the Museum of Western Art, Schreiner University, and First Presbyterian Church. But heading up the capital campaign for the Peterson Regional Medical Center was an entirely new challenge. Explains Bob, "The Hal and Charlie Peterson Foundation had offered a challenge grant of five million dollars for the new medical center, provided we could raise another ten million for a total fifteen million. They stipulated however that we had one year to get it done. So the pressure was on."

With the assistance of a steering committee, hospital and foundation board members, and a dedicated hospital and development leadership team, fundraising got off to a healthy start when the members bought into the hospital project, with generous donations. Next, a host of hospital employees stepped up and pledged their support as "Hospital Heroes." Says Shirley, "When I saw our local nurses so willing to promise part of their paycheck every month, before they even paid their own bills, I was deeply moved."

With such backing, the Schmerbecks knew it was time to carry the banner into the broader Kerrville area in what became known as the "Family, Friends, and Neighbors" campaign." Says Bob, "We knew our neighbors were generous. They had already built schools, churches, and even a performing arts center. But they had never been asked to build a new hospital from the ground up. So as we went out and visited with various groups our message was simple: ‘It is time! It's time for the community's to come together to build a community hospital.'"

The case for the new hospital couldn't have been more real. The old hospital facility had been built in the 1940's and was essentially landlocked in an older part of Kerrville, with no room to grow. After numerous remodels, visitors sometimes felt lost in a maze of hallways that took them to all sorts of unexpected places. The plans for the new medical center, on the other hand, were efficient in design and offered room to grow. Explains Shirley, "In the old Sid Peterson Hospital, they had once literally taken the roof off to bring in major piece of new equipment. However, if a new MRI machine was ever needed at the new hospital, a moveable wall was incorporated so the old machine could come out and the new one could be brought in."

As the one-year deadline approached, the case for the new facility began yielding results, though not without some anxious moments for the Schmerbecks. With the clock ticking, Bob and Shirley spent virtually every night at the kitchen table reviewing names of potential donors, talking on the phone and passionately making their point. "There were nights I wanted to cry," says Shirley, "because I was afraid we wouldn't make the deadline." Recalls Bob with emotion, "Finally, in the days leading up to Thanksgiving of 2006 and most memorably on Thanksgiving Eve, we started receiving phone calls from folks who had been deliberating about their gift and who had made their decision. Those calls put us over the ten million mark - and just in time. I simply can't tell you how happy we felt. With the help of so many in the community, it had been accomplished!"

Of course, among those who had given so generously, were the Schmerbecks themselves, whose own donation was specifically set aside toward funding the Nurses Lounge near the new hospital's Emergency Room – in solid recognition no doubt, of Shirley's own night in the emergency room and her step back from the brink.

Encouraging ongoing support of the facility, the Schmerbecks remind others that the Peterson Regional Medical Center is not owned by a mega-corporation. Says Bob, "It is a community resource and it will continue to need community support. Everyone in the area has a stake in it, whether they realize it or not. Health care is something that we all eventually need and it relates directly to our quality of life in Kerr County."

And even though the Schmerbecks gave thousands of hours of their personal time to make the dream of a new hospital a reality – they maintain that they received so much more in return. "This project was one of the greatest pleasures of our life," says Bob. "In the end, Shirley and I discovered that being involved in it wasn't a job at all. It was a blessing!"


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