First in a series: The people who make Community Entry Services possible.
Dr. Eric Ridgeway, MD, long time Board Member of CES.
"The Clients of CES are special. It's hard not to love them" Dr. Eric Ridgeway
Dr. Ridgeway moved to Riverton in 1993 after years serving as a 'frontier' physician in rural Montana and serving abroad as a medical missionary helping immunize poor folk in Honduras.
As a general practice doctor, he served a wide range of patients from newborns to the elderly and everyone in between.
That's when he began seeing CES clients regularly to help with their medical needs and became familiar with one of Riverton's best kept secrets: the work of Community Entry Services.
"When I moved to Riverton for my practice we opened shop in the little log cabin downtown and worked from there for over 20 years caring for pretty much everyone in Riverton. We never really kept track of our hours - it was more about staying at work until we saw the last patient."
He still had time for hobbies - hunting, fishing, outdoor recreation and volunteering to help bring a full service Hospital to Riverton as a member of that board and cheerleader for the project.
(Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile)
"The Hospital we're finally building north of town will be the largest institution since CWC and it's been a long time in the planning stage. It's an investment that will help everyone in the whole region, not just Riverton."
Dr. Eric is most proud of his service on behalf of Community Entry Services' clients whom he served as patients over the decades. "Their sense of wonder, of gratitude, of being in the moment and taking people at face value really makes you believe in the goodness of folk."
It's the basic goodness of Wyoming residents that inspires him to keep serving and paying it forward.
Dr. Eric, a believer, sees the work of Providence in the stories of how all these people and institutions came together in Riverton. From Gary Hudson's original idea to found CES to the critically important work and innovations of Shawn Griffin, CEO of Community Entry Services for the past several decades. "I don't know where CES would be without Shawn's work, or the support of all our local businesses and generous donors."
"CES takes care of more than 100 adults with disabilities across Fremont County through job placement, transportation services, housing service, day habilitation, recycling, NEAT Repeat stores and more. We are involved in a lot of things with a lot of people but usually don't blow our own horn to honor the people who make it all possible. Still.... it's important to be thankful and allow folk in Riverton to feel proud about people like Shawn and the staff at CES who do so much for these wonderful clients of ours"
To help pay it forward for future clients of CES and their families consider a gift today https://www.ces-usa.org/donate
