Letters to the Editors

Help manatees, but don't forget about the elderly

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 1, 2000

Re: A stand for the manatee, July 26.

While we totally agree with Gov. Jeb Bush on taking a stand for the manatee, consider the plight of the two-legged mammals, i.e., the senior citizens of Hernando County who will be left without HMO coverage come the end of the year.

How are we to afford life-prolonging medical services and prescriptions? Many of the thousands of people 65 and over simply do not have the funds to purchase medicines needed to make life tolerable as we age.

Gov. Bush, would you please take a stand for the seniors of Hernando County to keep our HMOs?
-- Mr. and Mrs. Robert Condon, Brooksville

Prescription drug coverage needed

Re: Prescription drug coverage under Medicare.

It is a national disgrace that the most blessed nation on Earth doesn't have prescription drug coverage under Medicare. I believe in keeping the plan privatized, but it should be much more generous. Recently there was found $1-trillion more surplus in the federal budget over the next 10 years.

I have been an active supporter of the Republicans, but if they don't give the impression they are trying to help everyone with tax code adjustments and prescription drug coverage instead of the super-rich, they will be voted out of the majority in Congress for possibly another 40 years, as they were before in the '50s.

Start prescription drug coverage in fiscal year 2001 -- not 2002 or 2003. People are ill and dying because they cannot afford prescription drug coverage.
-- John F. Pitt, disabled veteran, Spring Hill

Epilepsy treatment should be covered

Re: Treating epilepsy: State won't cover seizure treatment, by Christopher Goffard, July 11.

I have to wonder, who's minding the store?

Our Medicaid system will not fund the implantation of the Vagus Nerve Stimulation unit that has been called a standard treatment since 1997. Forty-four state Medicare systems approve it. Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed separate funding for the procedure, and his aide Justin Sayfie said, "It would not be a good practice to have this kind of separate appropriation for this kind of Medicaid treatment." I agree. Medicaid should be funding it now. Who's in charge? If a treatment is FDA-approved, why does our system not cover it?

People can die from seizures. They can also be brain-damaged and crippled, retarded, unable to work.

If the bottom line is money, analyze the economics of this treatment ($15,000 to $18,000) compared with the approved and more expensive brain surgery, which runs the risk of damaging parts of the brain. Compare the Vagus Nerve Stimulation treatment to supporting hundreds of epileptics on welfare.

However, if the bottom line is people and what good Florida can do with its revenue, there's no decision to make at all.
-- Rhonda Stavis Foster, Seminole

Health care can be provided

Re: Bush's vetoes have hurt needed health centers, letter, June 9.

I am a registered nurse and have been in the field of nursing for 29 years. I am a master's student in a family nurse practitioner program. A laissez-faire attitude toward the right to health care exposes the underprivileged to the cruel chance of injury, disease and the burden of illness.

Recently Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed funding for health care centers that serve 430,000 uninsured Floridians. Florida has no state program to provide health care access to these individuals. Everyone has a stake in the well-being of the underprivileged in this country. The future of their health and that of the rest of society are inextricably intertwined. Society has moral obligations that go beyond what can be legally enforced to ensure the right of health care access to all.

Subsequent to the failure of President Clinton's 1993 health care reform, health care initiatives have been left to the states. In an effort to control spiraling Medicaid costs and increase health care access to the chronically uninsured, Tennessee has become one of several states to appropriate Medicaid funds to meet these needs. TennCare was established in 1994, and has successfully slowed Medicaid spending to enable it to cover 800,000 Tennesseans. Another 400,000 uninsurable or uninsured individuals have received health care coverage, within the budgetary constraints of the Medicaid system.

The impact on health care behavior has been positive, with more recipients seeking care at clinics, and fewer at hospitals. TennCare has controlled costs by appointing nurse practitioners to the role of primary care provider. Nurse practitioners have documented 20 years' of effectiveness studies. In 1986 the Office of Technology Assessment reported superior patient satisfaction regarding shared control of health care decisions, a reduction of the professional mystique and quality educational information.

I respectfully submit to Gov. Bush and Florida's legislators that health care access can be acquired within the constraints of Medicaid appropriations, with nurse practitioners providing primary care to your uninsured constituents. A caring imperative is not simply a hallmark of a civilized society. It is the basis of a commitment to a political philosophy for social justice.
-- Christine Scirica RN, BSN, Clearwater

Nursing shortage is about money

Re: Addressing the nursing shortage, letter, July 25.

The letter writer talked about the drive to attract new nurses into the system by exposing high school students to nursing through various "shadow a nurse" programs sponsored by the Florida Nurses Association and the American Nurses Association. But these programs are not fully accurate in their portrayal of what life as a nurse is like. These programs may be considered somewhat unethical in that the economics of nursing are not being fully disclosed to a group of easily influenced and unsophisticated young people searching for career direction.

While the reasons behind the nursing shortage are far too complex to be addressed briefly, the bottom line is money.

Nurses are valued little monetarily in this society based on the Times' recent survey of what people are paid in this area. Sanitation truck drivers and welders with little education or responsibility, as compared to that of an acute care registered nurse, are just two examples of jobs whose earnings equal or exceed the compensation of a critical care RN employed in a staff position with benefits at any hospital in this area.

The solution to attracting quality educated people into this industry is money. Smart people see through the "hiring bonus" strategy. Starting salaries for new graduates with BSN degrees should average $40,000 to $45,000 with benefits, with retention ensured by a top-end staff position compensated at $60,000 to $70,000 in today's dollars. This will never happen, of course. Today the loyal staff RN newly hired at $26,000 to $28,000 per year can expect to top out at about $42,000 after 20 years of service. Does that look like a winning move economically?

What will happen is that increasing numbers of licensed practical nurses and medical assistants will be found at the bedside supervised by a remotely located, stretched-thin, poorly compensated, lesser prepared brand of registered nurse.

You cannot hope to attract the cream of the crop by asking them to invest their lives in a career with such woeful economic prospects.
John T. Russell, BSN, RN, MBA, Dade City

Don't put off that mammogram

Re: A medicine that no one wants to swallow, by Mary Jo Melone, July 27.

Mary Jo Melone should know that she is not alone! The anxiety she wrote about sets in for me several weeks prior to my appointment. When I reach the door, it feels as though my legs will not get me to the X-ray department. Waiting for the results takes only a few minutes, but it is a lifetime of fear!

As I wait in the X-ray room, I pace, I pray, and I just know that bad news is sure to come in the door. As the technician comes back in the room, a million things are going through my mind. Is the doctor right behind her with bad news? Will the technician tell me, as she has for the last seven years, that everything is okay? It is as if I cannot breathe while waiting for the results. I am a seven-year cancer survivor, and it does not get any easier. I truly do not know how my family puts up with me during that time of the year. But they do, and I am so grateful for their patience.

Don't let Mary Jo Melone's message -- and mine -- keep you from your first mammogram. Pick up the phone and make an appointment now! Early detection is so important! It can save your life.
-- Judy Lavaron, St. Petersburg

Be an organ donor

I happened to be at the driver's license office recently and overheard the following conversation.

Clerk: "Do you want to be an organ donor?"

Customer: "No."

There was no thought given to the decision, no discussion as to what to do, just a flat, unemotional "no."

I was unable to control myself and said, "Sure you do. At least you would if it was your kid on the organ transplant waiting list."

The customer and his wife glanced at me and then glanced away.

Just because the technology exists to save people's lives through organ transplantation doesn't mean that all those in need of organs are saved. Last year in the United States, 7,000 people died waiting just for livers. What possible good does a person's organs do in a coffin? They just rot.

Each and every one of us has the opportunity to save lives, restore vision and stop the suffering of the sick and their families. What good reason is there not to?

If you haven't already declared yourself an organ donor, why not do so today? If it were your kid on the transplant list, what would you want people to do?

There's a sign at the Jackson Memorial Hospital's Transplant Unit in Miami that reads: "Don't take your organs to heaven with you. God knows we need them here."
-- Sue Dinenno, Vero Beach

Interesting tax-cut timing

Let me try to figure this out. After eight years of controlling the Congress and doing nothing but trying to get rid of the president, the Republicans are suddenly going tax-cut crazy! Gee, I wonder if the convention and the election have anything to do with this?

Instead of simply pandering to us ordinary folk (and lining the pockets of the rich), how about a little national debt reduction? Then tax rates can fall so fast you won't be able to get out of the way! As the "right wing wackos" so aptly put it: Wake up America!
-- Paul Wilsbach, Palm Harbor

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