Dr.’s Park in Wichita Falls has become not only a community resource but also a natural gathering place for family physicians, says Whitney Flack, the 2021-22 president of the Wichita County Medical Alliance (WCMA).
Since 2004, WCMA has planted 126 live oak trees in Dr.’s Park, which is a section of Hamilton Park, a 64-acre expanse in the middle of the city. Each of the trees represents each area physician who has retired or passed away. In 2018, WCMA built a kids’ play structure in Dr.’s Park while Sorin Pojoga was chapter president.
WCMA recently added to that legacy by building a splash pad there that is free and open to the public. The idea came when Ms. Flack’s family moved to Wichita Falls from Charleston, S.C., in 2015. She quickly noticed that Wichita Falls had no public splash pads for her four kids to play at in the spring and summer months.
“It’s so hot here, and it’s such a big community, I thought I saw a need here,” said Ms. Flack, who is the wife of pathologist Allen B. Flack, MD. “And as I talked to other people [in the alliance], they felt the same way.”
Dr.’s Park was the obvious location for the new splash pad, she says. The project’s hefty price tag of $270,000 prompted WCMA to reach out into the community to raise money, Ms. Flack says. Alliance members sold commemorative bricks and benches, did tabling at events, and set up a website where anyone interested could contribute. Also, a local hospital donated money for shade sails.
Amber Schacter served as the chapter’s president when the board voted to pursue the splash pad project in 2018, and numerous WCMA members took on the fundraising, phone calls, coordinating, grant writing, and other chores needed to make it possible, Ms. Flack says.
“Our board consists of about eight to 12 people who work very hard on all WCMA projects,” she said.
Their efforts paid off in June 2021 when the splash pad, which is accessible to people with disabilities, opened and remained crowded with wet, happy kids all summer, Ms. Flack says. As with the play structure, WCMA donated the splash pad to the city of Wichita Falls to maintain.
Some parts of Dr.’s Park remain undeveloped, and WCMA members still are discussing which steps to take next, Ms. Flack says.
“We’re trying to decide if we want to do something else at the park or use our resources in another direction,” she said.
In the past year, WCMA has held a new-physician welcome party there as well as a Christmas event where families pick up cookies and hot chocolate on their way to see Christmas lights. Each March, the alliance chapter holds a spring fling celebration on National Doctors’ Day there to honor physicians and their families.
“We’re just really proud of the park,” Ms. Flack said. “One side of it has this great space to bring people together [at the play structure and splash pad] to be active and engaging with each other and their families. And on the other side, there’s this long pass you can walk down that’s full of trees that have purpose and represent a lot of great physicians that we’ve had in our community.”