I read with dismay your Sept. 23 article, “D-H May Ask Physicians to Pick up Pace.” Henry Ford must be smiling in his grave. Finally, his system of making cars is being applied to health care. To make things really efficient, the patients should be placed on an assembly line and the worker/doctor can work on the patient for the allotted 20 minutes before the patient is moved out the door. One thing missing from this model is a union, which the worker/doctors should form immediately.
There are, however, problems with this model. First of all, patients are not standardized objects like cars or other manufactured items. Each one is unique and has unique health issues. Some may need the worker/doctor to “work” on them for only 10 minutes and others may need an hour and 10 minutes. It is telling that the entire article dealt with efficiency, productivity, cost control, etc. Primary care doctors are described as “anchoring” patients, making referrals to “high-margin services critical to hospital economics.” This could be a description of any widget-making entity. Not once was better patient care mentioned.
The other problem with this model is that patients are not inert objects and they can choose not to be processed at D-H.
Joan Sax Randolph Center
I woke up with an upsetting thought: What if I wake up Nov. 9 to a Trump presidency? I would be angry with myself for not having done everything I could to support Hillary Clinton. Why in the world are the polls even close? And I started wondering why all her false steps or transgressions of any kind stick to her like Velcro while the near-racketeering activities, anti-labor, anti-everyone but macho white men and glamorous women positions and downright rudeness of Trump fall away like Teflon? And I thought back to the despicable way in which he powered his way over moderators and Republican opponents who were trying to engage in domestic and foreign policy discussions in the year-long debate season.
Are we engaged collectively in a deep unconscious bias against smart, strong women, while favoring the gun-toting macho man? As an 88-year-old woman, I’ve witnessed and experienced plenty of patriarchal micro and macro aggressions against women in leadership positions from my generation. The generations younger are doing better, so perhaps they can save us.
Please think how you will feel Nov. 9 if you haven’t done all you can to support Hillary Clinton (third-party votes are votes for Trump, so stop being purists). Please come work in the New Hampshire Democratic field offices for Clinton and Maggie Hassan.
Ann Raynolds Pomfret
A question for columnist Chris Cillizza, (“Clinton’s Health Evasions Add to Distrust,” Sept. 13): Is it paranoia when they are actually out to get her?
This is the third decade in which the media have aided and abetted Republican lies about Hillary Clinton. The Whitewater scandal was one that had no specific accusation. Just the word Whitewater was supposed to suggest corruption. The facts were that the Clintons had invested in a real estate deal that didn’t pan out and they lost money. Republicans used smear tactics to imply that there was something nefarious.
Ken Starr was hired by the Republicans to collect evidence. Then came Vince Foster’s suicide. Some Republicans thought Hillary Clinton had murdered him. Again, Ken Starr was supposed to collect the evidence. Many million dollars later, Starr had nothing to report on either matter. He would have come up completely empty if Monica Lewinsky had not arrived in Washington.
Regarding Benghazi: The diplomats died because security was inadequate because Republicans keep cutting the State Department budget. They keep investigating Clinton hoping to come up with something, but every investigation exonerates her. Whereupon someone in the media will announce that there are still questions. It’s a farce but it’s not funny.
Most recently, Clinton went to work when she was sick, not a good idea, but a very American behavior. She would probably have managed all right if she had stayed in meetings in air-conditioned rooms instead of sitting in the hot sun. She’s a workaholic and kept working. That is a scandal?
In answer to a recent question in the Forum, “What have the Clintons sacrificed?” Several million dollars, back when they didn’t have it. Ken Starr’s vendetta was paid for by the taxpayers but the Clintons had to hire their own lawyers.
This everlasting assumption that Clinton is unreliable is a figment of Republican imagination perpetuated by the media. The lies never end. Rudy Giuliani looked ashamed when he said that Obama didn’t love America. He got away with that statement, so he raised the stakes. Now he says that there were no terrorist attacks on American soil before Obama’s presidency. But 9/11/2001 happened seven years before Obama was elected. The Republican strategy seems to be to load the airwaves with disinformation in the hope that the electorate won’t be able to keep track.
Ruth L. Stephenson Lebanon
What makes America great? It’s worth taking the time to consider what we really mean by greatness.
We could say that greatness is about military or economic power, but this is clearly not what differentiates the United States from authoritarian dictatorships. Plenty of repressive regimes have healthy economies and strong military forces. Our country is great because of its core values: respect for all individuals’ inherent equality and rights of expression, belief and opportunity. This respect for each other and for human rights is the most important thing that makes us great, and must supercede all other forms of greatness.
Unfortunately, Donald Trump does not see the respect of individual rights as the primary measure of greatness. When speaking of the communist Chinese government’s massacre of protesters in Tiananmen Square, Trump spoke favorably of China’s show of strength. He has praised the leadership skills of Vladimir Putin, who has restricted freedom of expression in Russia. Trump also praised Saddam Hussein’s efficiency in killing terrorists, noting with approval that Hussein’s regime did not bother with legal procedures.
Totalitarian regimes use brute strength at the expense of the free exchange of ideas. To pretend to separate the actions from the repressive philosophy behind them is an affront to the principles that truly make our nation great. Freedom of expression, respect for individuals and equal protection under the law are not optional to the American concept of greatness. Rather, they are the most vital elements of our national identity. Without them, we might be rich; we might be tough; but we certainly wouldn’t be great.
Abigail Fleming Bradford, Vt.
Quoting a recent Forum letter: “It is time to call out the truly big lies being told in this campaign season.”
Yes, it is time, starting with Hillary Clinton, who said, “We were dead broke, in fact we were in debt, when we left the White House.” Now only 15 years later, the Clintons are personally worth over $100 million dollars.
Why would a big bank or a Wall Street firm pay Hillary Clinton $325,000 for a 40-minute talk? What could she possibly say to warrant that much money? (Now she is touting how she will be tough on big banks and Wall Street)
I am not a Trump supporter, but if one wants to call out truly big lies, let’s start with Hillary Clinton!
Marcella Logue Enfield
When it comes to elections, there is one thing that we all know in the Upper Valley, showing up and speaking directly with voters is what matters most. The WDEV debate at the Tunbridge World’s Fair is a cherished Vermont tradition and a rare opportunity to give rural Vermonters the chance to meet and hear from local and statewide candidates.
I was deeply disappointed when Phil Scott did not give rural Vermonters the opportunity to hear his thoughts on how he plans to address the challenges facing our state. He claims he didn’t attend because the third-party candidate was not invited. Now, let’s get our facts straight: When Scott debated at the Tunbridge Fair in each of his three campaigns for lieutenant governor, no-third party candidates were invited.
I applaud Sue Minter for taking the time to come to the Tunbridge Fair and have a serious discussion on how she would tackle our biggest challenges: growing livable-wage jobs, supporting our farmers and taking on climate change.
Sue Minter has shown that she understands the challenges that face rural Vermont communities and that she will show up and stand up for us as governor.
Marie Ricketts South Strafford
The writer is the Democratic Party Orange County Chair.
The VA system was recently in the news because a 76-year-old vet committed suicide in a VA hospital parking lot on Long Island, apparently because he couldn’t see an ER physician about his mental health. Some think the VA system is rife with careless workers or not enough doctors. Consider: the VA has over 160 hospitals and much more than a thousand outpatient sites, serving almost 9 million vets every year.
I know something about the White River VA hospital. In 2001, after I was diagnosed with intermediate prostate cancer, I went to that VA and was told to schedule an appointment in six weeks. But when the nurse learned I had prostate cancer, she had me in front of an intake nurse within minutes. She took my vitals, Social Security, etc. Before she was finished, someone from “admin” knocked to tell me he had looked me up, confirmed my time and locations in Vietnam, that Agent Orange was deployed then and there, and said, “whatever you decide to do, we’ve got you covered.” After all options were explained to me, I opted for the “gold” standard — a radical prostatectomy — and went under the knife shortly thereafter. Because they didn’t quite get it all, arrangements were made for me to get six weeks of radiation treatments at the Albany, N.Y., VA, putting me up at its Fisher House. (Think Marriott Residence Inn for vets, only better.)
The VA’s ongoing, frequent care ever since, with various injected and oral medications, has been state of the art. (I know, because I’ve Googled it.) Every VA physician and nurse, from same-day surgery, radiology, primary care, urology, oncology, fusion and even the eye clinic, has given me excellent care. Once, I ran out of a prescription while on the road; they air-shipped a refill to me! It’s no wonder the White River VA is rated one of the top 10 in the country. And why today, 15 years since my initial “introduction,” I can truly say, my VA is not only caring and compassionate, but also effective.
Ronald Court Essex Junction, Vt.