Mailbag: Hospital workers deserve better from profit-oriented healthcare corporations

Re: Caregivers at Fountain Valley Regional authorize strike as Tenet reports revenue growth, Daily Pilot, July 22:
Healthcare has long been viewed as a business endeavor by business people — that is until they encounter a health crisis of their own. As with fire services, police departments, the military and public education we must change our perspective on healthcare. It is a right not a privilege. Developed countries around the world provide healthcare services to their populations. Why don’t we?

I am convinced that none of the employees at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital prefer striking to working and providing services for the ill and comfort to the recovering. The work they do is vital. They know it, as do those who are rolling in the profits of this hospital corporation. Compensation must be fair for a fair day’s service. In a profit-making system the profits must be shared, for as Dr. Martin Luther King so famously said, without justice there can be no peace.

Ben Miles
Huntington Beach

Bolton does the right thing

Here’s a big shout-out and way-to-go to Huntington Beach Councilwoman Barbara Delgleize for doing the right thing by joining three other council members in voting to appoint Rhonda Bolton to the City Council to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Tito Ortiz.

When Ortiz unexpectedly resigned only a few months after getting elected, it created a vacancy. Under the terms of the City Charter, the remaining six council members could either appoint a replacement or call a special election to fill the empty seat. The cost of conducting a special election was estimated to be 1 million dollars.

To me, the best approach was to appoint a new council member and save the taxpayers from incurring a huge expense. Surely the city must have better things to do with its limited resources than spend a large amount of money on an unnecessary election, and yet at least two council members were prepared to do just that. The problem was that when it came time to appoint a new member, the council was deadlocked with a 3-3 vote on who to appoint. The deadlock was broken when Councilwoman Delgleize cast the critical fourth vote needed to appoint Rhonda Bolton. With her vote, in one fell swoop she saved the taxpayers of Huntington Beach a cool 1 million dollars. Thank you, Barbara! It was the right thing to do!

State Sen. Tom Harman (Ret.)
Huntington Beach

Kudos to Councilwoman Barbara Delgleize for saving Huntington Beach twice from civic turmoil — first for assuming the mayor pro tem role in the wake of Tito Ortiz stepping down and second for assuring stability and progress on the City Council by going with Rhonda Bolton to fill the council vacancy. She also singlehandedly saved the city the potential seven-figure expenditure of a special election that would have brought further turmoil to the city for the rest of 2021.

Delgleize had to weather a raucous crowd of rude and boisterous Gracey Van Der Mark supporters who crammed the council chambers for the meeting. These supporters demonstrated how troublesome and problematic the appointment of a Tito 2.0 figure would have been for the city. I am sure Delgleize would have regretted being on the council with a loose cannon like Van Der Mark. It is ironic that Barbara’s council terms and long record of service will be dwarfed and defined by this one heroic act of civic selflessness. That is sometimes what leadership is all about.

Tim Geddes
Huntington Beach

To mask or not to mask?

Although the vaccination rates in Orange County hover around 70%, herd immunity has not yet been achieved. As a county we have done as well or better than most surrounding counties. Much of the information that we have about COVID-19 however, is based on the variant that was most prevalent when the county opened in mid-June, the Alpha variant, and needs to be adjusted for the more contagious Delta variant, which has taken over as the dominant strain.

Beach cities such as Newport Beach and Huntington Beach need to be particularly vigilant about Delta variant transmission (as does Anaheim) because of the crowds of tourists that descend upon these tourist meccas, particularly in the summer and early fall.

Because of the chaos that exists now in the state as to whether or not masks are required, one special piece of information needs to be seriously considered in light of the dominance of the highly infectious variant. As the school year approaches we need to focus on one fact: Children under 12 remain ineligible for vaccinations. That means all the information handed down in the spring about where to place desks and whether masks should be required within schools has become mostly obsolete because it was based on the dominant strain at that time.

Whereas much of the concern in the past was based on older adults, the new area of concern should be our children. Even if some people in our population are still reticent about getting vaccinated themselves, surely there must be concern for children under 12 who do not have that option. Based on information today in a Los Angeles Times op-ed, “... nearly 500 children have died [from COVID-19], 150,000 to 240,000 have likely been hospitalized, and more than 4,000 have developed multisystem inflammatory syndrome.” At the same time, only one child has died of the flu, the op-ed states, making COVID-19, 400 times more deadly than the flu.

With most Americans now going maskless indoors and with safety measures lifted, protecting our children should be our number one concern. For the most part, they can’t speak for themselves, so as responsible adults, we need to speak up for them.

Lynn Lorenz
Newport Beach

In response to Tim Geddes letter (Daily Pilot Mailbag: Readers explain people whose views differ from their own). I believe what Huntington Beach needs is fewer angry people like himself. Mr. Geddes felt compelled to insult, criticize and belittle anyone who does not share his views. Regarding those who choose not to wear masks, it is their choice. If people are comfortable wearing masks then that is fine. What is not OK is someone dictating to another person what they should or should not do, especially when we have gotten conflicting reports from Dr. Anthony Fauci and the World Health Organization regarding masks.

Mask research: Negative health effects begin to occur in humans who inhale more than 10,000 parts per million of carbon dioxide in eight hours, and the effects of too much CO2 become more deleterious as levels increase, according to the USDA. With a mask on, in three minutes, a child inhales up to 25,000 parts per million, according to Tucker Carlson, who cited a recent study from German and Polish scientists published in JAMA Pediatrics. If Mr. Geddes is interested, he can look up all the side affects. He will not find this information on CNN or MSNBC.

From the National Institute of Health: Medical masks (surgical and N95 masks) are not able to completely block the transmission of virus droplets, even when sealed.

Simple good hygiene, social distancing and staying home if you are sick are clearly effective measures to take from keeping you safe from any virus.

I find it amazing, in today’s environment, and according to the far left, the only acceptable “choice” (when it comes to our body) is if we want to get an abortion.

Perhaps if Mr. Geddes removed his mask and got some fresh air, his outlook might improve.

Juli Hayden
Newport Beach

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