Letters To The Editor

Tue., April 25, 1995

HEALTH CARE AND PUBLIC POLICY

Beware the almighty profit motive

Seldom do I agree with (business columnist) Frank Bartel, but this time (“Doctors losing battle against giant insurers,” April 23), he’s right on the money - being the billions of dollars of excess cash accumulated by managed care systems and so-called health maintenance organizations.

Those should be more aptly called “profit maintenance organizations,” where corporate executives and boards of directors dictate medical care.

These huge profits made in the name of cost-effective medicine are at the expense of both patients and providers. Neither eventuality is good for your health.

Any system that puts money first has quality last.

One of the founders of the world famous Mayo Clinic (a name synonymous with quality medicine and optimal patient care), Dr. William J. Mayo, said in 1910, “The best interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered.” That is just as true today as it was 85 years ago.

I’ve watched this transformation develop over the past quarter century and will say both patients and physicians alike have largely themselves to blame. Patients often join these organizations without realizing what sacrifices in freedom and quality they make, or knowingly to save a few dollars; and physicians contract with them out of fear if they lose out, they will go under. Without patient and provider participation, these profit-oriented health care organizations would cease to exist.

However, there is help. The American Association of Physicians and Surgeons is dedicated to the preservation of private practice fee for service medicine - the only way to assure quality. Thomas M. Ryan, M.D. Spokane

Important services getting the ax

As Eastern State Hospital braces to close yet another adult psychiatric unit, I can only shake my head at the state’s gradual erosion of services being offered to the Divisions of Mental Health and the Department of Developmental Disabilities.

Recent budgetary cutbacks have resulted in the downsizing of Lakeland Village, ESH and the closure of Interlake School. Too numerous to count are the other state-funded programs in our communities that are being negatively affected.

The newest cost-effective push by our state leaders is to force as many people with physical and/or mental handicaps into the community as they can. There is little regard for what is in the best interest of those involved.

Having had a brother-in-law as a resident of Lakeland Village for several years, I can attest to how important it was for him to live in a structured, supportive environment that allowed him to maximize his potential with friends and staff who truly cared about him. Since being forced into the community, the mental and physical deterioration has been profound.

Sadly, many people with a debilitating mental illness cannot make it for extended periods of time in the community. Symptoms are not allowed to be treated with normal progression and many residents are pushed back into intolerable living conditions with little or no effective treatment.

In the past, if a premature discharge took place at ESH I always felt comfortable with our open-door policy; if things go bad, we’ll always be here. Well, friends, the doors are closing, slowly, inevitably. Gary Puntney Greenacres

THE ENVIRONMENT

Conserve on procreation

On the 25th anniversary of the first Earth Day, I have a new idea to offer: Stop recycling and increase consumption.

If everyone would drive more we could increase the use of fossil fuels, both in consuming those fuels as well as in the refining process needed to make them.

Likewise, stop recycling, especially plastics that are also made from oil. Paper is another product that should not be recycled. Not only can we use more energy making paper from trees, the paper we do not recycle can be burned in our waste-to-energy plant, along with the plastic bottles we no longer recycle.

The possibilities for increased use of fossil fuels and trees are boundless!

If everyone would follow my suggestion, we could increase the atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide another 25 percent. The result may only be increased employment in energy, paper and other related industries - jobs our growing population could sorely use.

However, if various hypotheses about the greenhouse effect are remotely accurate, we could advance the arrival of global warming by decades through our efforts. This would allow us to see greater effects than the current weather extremes that few yet blame on our warming weather engines, the oceans.

If we could raise the sea level enough to require dikes around Seattle and Manhattan, maybe we humans could be persuaded to do something to control our population before we eliminate most of our fellow species on this finite planet. David F. Cooper Spokane

Speak up for environment now

The GOP’s Contract with America is environmentally devastating to this country. It was evident at Earth Day ‘95 in Riverfront Park that many people are upset with the new legislative attempt to dismantle 30 years of environmental laws and programs.

Where were these people, however, at Rep. George Nethercutt’s recent town hall meeting, at which environmental support was extremely scant? We cannot continue to share our concerns amongst ourselves.

Those who would like to stop this environmental assault face an unprecedented hostile political challenge with the new leadership in Congress. Now, more than ever before, we need to make our voices heard - at town hall meetings, in person, through letters, faxes and phone calls to our elected officials. They need to hear how important environmental issues such as the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and National Forest Management Act are to their constituents.

It’s the only chance we have to preserve our natural heritage. Roxanna Buege Spokane

Time to get the sand out of your eyes

If environmentalists are the Chicken Littles of society, then conservative editorial writers are the ostriches. While Chicken Littles point out the dangers of a failing environment, the ostriches bury their heads and deny any problems exist.

Ostrich editor D.F. Oliveria listed what he believes were a lot of unnecessary, costly measures designed to restore and protect the environment (Opinion, April 21).

Contrary to his claims, asbestos was a danger to school children and the money spent to remove it before it lodged in young lungs was well spent. Many mill closures in the Northwest were not due to the endangered spotted owl but to the export of raw logs to Japan and mill automation.

The North American Free Trade Agreement was opposed by many environmentalists because it allows an international tribunal to sit in judgment of American environmental laws. And yes, acid rain and overcutting are still killing our forests, and PCBs, dioxin, alar and hundreds of other toxins still threaten our health.

Environmentalists may sometimes be a bit extreme in their zeal to protect the environment that nourishes us all. But this zeal has reduced the air pollution in many of our cities, cleaned up hundreds of lakes and rivers, and brought the bald eagle back from near extinction.

These achievements, and many more, were all accomplished while the ostriches denied the glaring problems all around them and fought every environmental safeguard.

All they want to do us bury their heads in the sand and say, “See, things aren’t really so bad.” Russ Moritz< Sandpoint

SPOKANE MATTERS

Unwilling to work? Not so

Spokane County Commissioner Steve Hasson, in defending his appointment of Mark Sterk to replace Mike Padden, stated, “I support candidates who are willing to work for a position rather than have it handed to them” (April 23).

In my quest for this position, which I was urged to seek by legislators, Republican leaders and many in the community, I worked extremely hard as I always have in every political campaign that I have been involved in during my 32 years as an active Republican.

Hasson’s charge that I was not serious and was unwilling to work is insulting, unfounded and untrue. I have never retreated from being willing to work for a cause. No excuse that Hasson gives can defend the fact that he decided the precinct committee officers - the foundation of the American political system - were incapable of making an informed decision and were not worthy of his “rubber stamp.” Simply being contrary, subjective and self-serving does not mean he did his job.

When Commissioner Hasson asked me if I would run in a primary if I wasn’t chosen, I said, “I take things one step at a time.” I would prefer to make a thoughtful and informed decision. I was reluctant to divide the party and run against a candidate I support and consider a friend.

My disagreement with Commissioner Hasson in no way reflects on Mark Sterk. I have high regard for Mark and supported him enthusiastically when he ran for sheriff in 1994. This letter is in defense of my integrity and resolve to help this county and state in any way I can, and a plea to Commissioner Hasson to make future decisions that are thoughtful, informed and selfless. Lynn Schindler Otis Orchards

Redevelopments not all alike

Business columnist Frank Bartel’s April 17 column, which drew a contrast between redevelopment of the old Commercial Hotel and the redevelopments done by Ron and Julie Wells, gave the mistaken impression that both projects involved the same type of redevelopment.

The Wells’ work in apartment development should be applauded. They do a wonderful job of restoring old buildings and they particularly deserve recognition for their efforts in turning around the West First area. However, to compare their efforts with those involved in developing affordable housing for low-income residents is comparing apples to oranges.

The Wells’ buildings help provide quality housing and improve their neighborhoods. They don’t provide housing affordable to Spokane’s low-income residents, nor do they provide services to their residents beyond mere shelter. One cannot overestimate the impact those differences have on the development process.

Affordable housing development has all the normal challenges associated with development plus the difficulty of being able to service very little debt with lower-thanmarket rental income. This necessitates a need for other than conventional financing and typically must involve multiple sources of below-market loans and grants.

All involved in commercial building redevelopment should be applauded for fighting through the maze of partial funding sources to develop a building which will rent at a fraction of the Wells’ buildings’ rents. Imagine the complexity of involving so many funding sources, each with its own rules and timelines, in one project. Any affordable-housing developer would much rather do it another way.

Unfortunately, there currently is no other way. Shannon Kapek, vice president Goodale & Barbieri Cos.

RELIGION

None are so blind …

In response to “Terrify a kid for Jesus - not” (Letters, April 20) by George Thomas:

Mr. Thomas, as a child I was exposed to the realities of hell and heaven in my Sunday school class, and it did not terrify me. I believe your perspective was a wee bit off when you said that the terrifying tales of hell as you so describe kept you from making a choice. Obviously, you haven’t made a choice as yet, and you still have the freedom to choose.

The facts are that even the secular, unbelieving world believes in hell. Listen to them tell each other to go there in such a derogatory way. Though in mockery or in sincere wishful thinking, I think you, too, realize the reality of heaven and hell.

Every day we rely on such things we cannot see or feel: gravity, the effects of wind, etc.

And as for your view of the world as a magical kingdom, what a false illusion to give to our children when our own world sees the ravages of sin each day.

Wake up, Mr. Thomas. See reality for what it really is. You still have a choice; you can choose life or death. I’ll be praying for you. Vanda Hoecher Spokane

Remember, it’s about love of God

My heart went out to George Thomas (“Terrify a kid for Jesus - not,” Letters, April 20). How many of us, I wonder, have a church “horror story” to tell? In an abusive community, quoted scripture becomes a weapon to justify and rationalize secret sins while shaming, dismissing and disqualifying those who would question. What could or should have been a place of shelter from the storms of life becomes a place of performance.

Pleasing others takes priority over pleasing God. The result is tired, wounded people who can’t do it right. We often feel either unspiritual or crazy, and have major problems relating to God from the heart. There is a common tendency among those who discover they have been victimized by spiritual abuse to throw the baby out with the bath water. No more Bible, no more God, no more Jesus - it’s all a lie!

As adult survivors, we must remember that God is not the monster here. He is not dysfunctional and not a party to any type of abuse, religious or otherwise. In fact, Jesus instructed us to “take what you need and leave the rest,” throwing out hypocrisy as we continue to observe the truth (Matthew, 23:3).

Recovery begins and continues with staying focused on God, what he has done and who we are because of that. His invitation is still, “Come to me.” Kim Ensworth Spokane