D. Crook
Total number of comments: 28
Recent Comments by D. Crook
No counterpoints here -- just some additional info:
I believe WWU parking is "self-support" funded -- which I believe means that it is not taxpayer-funded. (That includes lot maintenance & repair, as far as I know). Increasing parking costs has long been a contentious issue for the campus community (esp. for employees dealing with ever-increasing cost-of-living.) Sorry to hear this is also impacting NSYS. I've always been curious (if I'm not mistaken about this) how/why parking for the CTC's parking is paid for by the state. I must say though, I don't disagree completely with increasing pressure on folx to reduce SOV trips -- vastly more walk/bus/bike communiting than what we do now is needed. I sometimes wish parking fees could pay for more covered bus stops, bus passes, better county-connectors, etc. -- though I realize that SOV trips are necessary for some situations.
Ferguson has cut $18M from WWU so far. Covid recovery (enrollment, funding shifts) is another factor that is still relevant. I'm glad you mentioned adjuncts -- they are some of the best instructors sometimes (speaking as a student), while the least-paid and least job-secure. Working-class staff have certainly been impacted as well. Students most of all.
The regional universities and also K12 are public treasures -- we need to support them better than sometimes do. That needs to include a vigilant instinstance responsible stewardship of taxpayer funds; sober reflection and critique in all things, and a strong sense of inquiry into how they impact the communities they serve. Seems like renters, very generally, ought not be subject to 10x increases in a single year. I wish NSYS well as they search for a solution to this.
Peace Health...
Some years back, a family member was passing a kidney stone -- the pain set him to panicking -- and he was led into the emergency room on his hands and knees -- not treated with any dignitity at all. Eventually a doctor saw him, determined it was a kidney stone, and gave him some morphine. The stone eventually passed and he went home.
A few years later, another kidney stone. I remember him in his hospital bed, medicated again with morphine, when an administrator came-in with a doctor around 11PM, asked him if he felt better, which of course he was feeling no pain at that moment. They had him sign some papework, and discharged him. The stone had not passed yet, and the morphine wore-off before it did -- at home.
What made this second situation worse was that the hospital billed him several thousand dollars for the visit. He couldn't afford it, which they must have anticiped, because the paperwork they sent him included instructions for asking for donations from a non-profit that looked to be affiliated with the hospital. Months of bills he couldn't pay, threats of being sent to collections, and then eventually the non-profit came through.
I was told by a friend who works in the insurance industry that if he had stayed at the hospital overnight, medicaid would have covered him.
Not impressed with Peace Health!
It will be interesting to hear how your public records requests turn out. I've been curious about FOIA -- how it works, etc. -- and attended a forum earlier this year from 404 Media (https://www.404media.co/foia-forum-archive/) to learn about it. Seems like there are a lot of ways gov. can obfuscate / stonewal. And some nice tools that can help keep track / manage the iterations.