Thank you Dolores and EJ for your informative and insightful article about this critical "public resource," our only local hospital. 

You make several points that are symptoms of an underlying cause of the continued lowering quality of life for our shared community, i.e. privatization. Privatization of public spaces means money is the goal, not care. Greed and fear can lead us down a delusional path. Public good is not a result of and cannot come from selfishness and a desire to maximize financial profits. How can people hell bent on "making a killing" prioritize saving lives in an emergency room? 

I imagine many people who read Northwest Citizen participate in the world of stocks, and Blackstone is one example of that world. There was a time I understood stocks to be a way to invest in good growth and make reasonable financial gains for future security (and some people still practice that), but now I know this world of stocks has mostly become a heartless, irresponsible, near white collar criminal industry. It is destructive in every way imaginable. It cares nothing for environmental degredation. It cares nothing for employee safety or quality of life. It cares nothing for the safety and prosperity of communities. It cares nothing for the balance, unity, and wholesome growth of the individuals partaking of this monsterous greed machine. It cares nothing whatsoever for future generations. 

The solution to this crisis is not only transparency; we need to acknowledge that the worship of bloated bank accounts and extreme individual wealth is not healthy, not at all to be desired or encouraged. Public good comes from public funds (taxes), a desire to serve, absolute transparency, and ethical oversight. 

I am responding to this excellent article on Memorial Day, so I am also thinking of our veterans. My father's cousin and best friend, Marion Franklin Rodgers, gave his young life at 1pm, April 7, 1945 fighting authoritarian, racist regimes when the B17 in which he was a tail gunner was  shot down over Kaltenkirchen, north of Hanover Germany; all nine men were killed. My two uncles gave up their youths, one suffered from WWII wounds for his entire life, the other fought in WWII, Koria, and Vietnam- they were fighting for democracy and all that it stands for.

Racial profiling is a classic authoritarian practice greatly threatening our current , fragile democracy. Let us recognise it and eliminate it in every way we can.

Thank you for this valuable information, Dolores. It would be great to have the questions you posed answered. Because of your article, I did a little research and found that there has been a long concern over emergency room care issues called er boarding. There was even a bipartisan study but the current regime closed it and ignored their recommendations.

Of course, single payer health care, eliminating "middle agents" would be the best plan with more public financial support. However, considing that this regime is increasing our national debt by trillions for uncalled for wars, costly tariffs, costly prosecutions that are more like persecutions, unnecessary renaming, frivolous and expensive "redecorating," golfing, traveling and filling their mouths with extravagant meals footed by the taxpayers who are borrowing to feed their families and canceling their vacation travel plans, we will have coffers too empty to help us when we finally see their backsides exiting our public spaces. 

Thank you, Jon, for your work on our behalf. When I read your articles, I wish that the COB would hire you as a consultant instead of forcing you to make records requests. And thank you for going the extra mile for our environment (

It is critical that we get the support people need to fill out these papers. This is an "information gathering tool...answering the human, social, cultural and economic pieces of what to do about a climate change watershed." It also will help generate funding to protect and enhance vulnerable areas.We do not want to shortchange all of the future stakeholders by following what Council Member Elenbaas is suggesting, i.e. a settlement. 

How can we support getting help for folks to fill out the paperwork?

When the objective is to increase profits over delivering the best service, process, or product, we as consumers can assume we will have less value and be valued less as individuals; we may even be considered disposable by the insurers (not by our doctors).

We should encourage our Representatives to get this bill to the floor and pass:

Seniors Deserve SMARTER Care Act of 2025

Section 2 of this bill prohibits implementation of the Wiser model.

Thank you so much for providing solutions and links to your succinct note on another vital concern for our County, Enoch. I agree we cannot afford to wait. It is a shame we cannot get some money from the industries responsible for a lot of our planetary warming:

"Fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – are by far the largest contributor to global climate change, accounting for around 68 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions."

In our City and County, we are witnessing a cruel and unsurprising human response to generations of increasing poverty and lack of opportunity. Studies show that childhood trauma, abuse, and neglect greatly increase the likelihood of drug and alcohol abuse, often in an attempt to cope with mental health disorders. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3051362/) These individuals (and all of us living in communities with them) are the "collateral damage" of an economic war that began with "Reaganomics." (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7725949/) 

We also know that once a person is addicted, the battle to break free is incredibly, overwhelmingly challenging. We need more, not less, evidence based public programs designed to prevent addiction like those recommended by WHO:

"Characteristics of prenatal and infancy visit programmes deemed to be associated with efficacy and/or effectiveness based on expert consultation: 

✔ They are delivered by trained health workers.

✔ Regular visits are made until the child’s second birthday: at first, every two weeks, then every month, and less frequently towards the end of the period.

✔ They provide basic parenting skills.

✔ They support mothers to address a range of socioeconomic issues (health, housing, employment, legal, etc.)..."

Growing adolescents' "healthy attitudes and social normative beliefs related to psychoactive substance ... Good social skills, and resilient mental and emotional health remain key protective factors throughout adolescence.

Characteristics of programmes for prevention education based on social competence and influence deemed to be associated with efficacy and/or effectiveness based on expert consultation

✔ They use interactive methods.

✔ They are delivered through a series of structured sessions (typically 10–15 sessions), taking place once a week, often providing booster sessions over multiple years.

✔ They are delivered by a trained facilitator (also including trained peers).

✔ They provide an opportunity to practise and learn a wide array of personal and social skills, in particular, coping, decision-making and resistance skills, especially in relation to substance use.

✔ They change perceptions of the risks associated with substance use, emphasizing the immediate consequences.

✔ They dispel misconceptions regarding the normative nature and the expectations linked to substance use. (https://www.unodc.org/documents/prevention/UNODC-WHO_2018_prevention_standards_E.pdf)

What do you think will be the result of making birth control, healthcare, and education more expensive and unobtainable in the coming years thanks to the current regime?

We cannot look at this as an isolated problem - and cannot look to our current federal government, with a president that pardons monumental drug traffiker for help- so we need to work with our Pacific Northwest regional allies.

I am sorry for the plight of all concerned. I hope we can set aside judgement and each understand there but for luck (or grace of God) go I. Preventative measures are best - knowing that young people that have exited "caregiver" settings have "increased risk for mental health problems, substance abuse difficulties, and death by suicide than the broader care-experienced population," should be on our radar, but that will not help us in the current, immediate predicament. 

We can force people to move out of public spaces and we could monitor with security cameras, but where do they go? Nonprofit, patchwork services cannot support the need for complete coverage of housing, monitoring for safety, and supplying needed medical access. "Housing first" has been tried in various ways with degrees of success for addicts and others.

Since our current federal government prefers to run away with our funds and create problems rather than helping us solve existing problems like this, perhaps we can make another Pacific alliance like our West Coast Health Alliance, pulling funds and expertise to help our three-state coastal region cope with this issue together. As Steve James mentioned the EU has found some solutions and housing first with a three-pronged approach -ACT (Assertive Community Treatment), ICM (Intensive Case Management), and CTI (Critical Time Intervention) helps reduce these challenges. Our cities and states need to follow the same program to prevent just pushing people with their problems to other cities and states. 

We need to raise awareness of the problems and solutions along with public funds (taxes) to provide public care.

Richard, I am using taxing with both of its meanings. Taxing the very rich relives the taxing burdens that fall to the rest of us when they are not paying what they owe to keep society sustainable. Read: https://www.moralambition.org/stories/tax-fairness-explainer

As far as the middle class goes, stagnating wages and higher costs (especially for housing) are shrinking the size of that group:

The cost of the MQL [Minimal Quality of Life] rose 8.6% in 2023, marking the highest annual increase, driven by increases in housing and transportation costs. Achieving even a basic quality of life  in 2023 was significantly more difficult compared to 2001, with the MQL rising by a staggering 99.5% over that period

https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63ba0d84fe573c7513595d6e/68213a6dd9b89340782e1f76_MQL%20White%20Paper.pdf