Storey County Rallies to support Rhett Klinger

The Delta Saloon was the center of attention in Virginia City on Saturday, July 14, 2018. It seemed as if the entire community came out in support of Storey County Fire Captain Fritz Klinger’s son Rhett. As we reported earlier, Rhett Klinger was struck by a car while playing outside his Sparks home several months ago.

After a harrowing say in the ICU at Renown Hospital in Reno, the family transferred Rhett to Utah to a hospital specializing in pediatric neural care. After a month of treatment at the hospital, Rhett returned home. The family has made monthly visits to Utah to receive treatments and monitor his progress. Fire Department employees adjusted shifts and worked together to ease the burden on the family.

The family received welcome news recently when Rhett was cleared by doctors to return to his duties as the family’s chief in charge of six year old operations.

Storey County Shines

Although thunderclouds gathered and ultimately provided some welcome rain, the spirits of Storey County were anything but dampened.  Fire Department personnel, trucks and generous people packed the Delta Saloon and adjoining parking lot. Everyone was there donating to the medical bills that the ordeal has burdened the family with.

From 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm, a steady stream of well-wishers enjoyed live music, a spaghetti dinner and family fun in the parking lot. Rhett was all over the place; we ran into him in the bouncy house having a blast with his friends.

Storey County Fire Chief Jeff Nevin was pleased with the was the Community embraced one of its own. “What happened was such a tragic event, but Rhett showed his resilience by bouncing back from the accident. I am proud of the way our community has turned out to support one of our own.”

 

 

Gratitude and Giving Back

Rhett’s father Fritz shared Chief Nevin’s gratitude, “I am really humbled by the support from Storey County. Throughout the entire ordeal, we have been lifted by the way the entire community has responded. Today is another great example of the way that our extended Storey County family has helped us get Rhett to where he is today.”

“I have talked to the team at Renown Hospital.  We are looking at how we might be able to set up a process to get a pediatric facility here in Reno to help kids who are injured like Rhett. There are great facilities that specialize in pediatriac trauma here in the in the west, but the hardship on a family to go to the Bay Area or Utah or Colorado to get the specialized care can be devastating. It would be great to have a facility for Northern Nevada to have for local kids who are injured.” Klinger continued.

As the music played and the kids jumped in the bouncy house, we were all reminded of the many things that make this community “The Richest Place On Earth”.