Letters for Dec. 9, 2022

Honoring home health clinicians

As a former home health manager, my heart sank reading about the shooting death of Douglas Brant while he was on a home visit. Gun access looms large in Douglas’ murder. But I digress. I write to honor Douglas and the Providence clinicians who bravely visit patients in their homes.

Dedicated caregivers face unknown situations daily and are trained to assess safety for themselves, patients and families. Clinicians (nurses, therapists, home health aides and social workers) travel alone through all kinds of inclement conditions to patients’ homes; assessing complex medical, mental health, social and financial situations; and demonstrating education, experience and judgment to develop treatments/interventions helping patients stay healthy at home. Unique living situations and family culture dictate care provided, making optimal interventions complex and adapted to each patient’s circumstances and goals. Not a job for the faint of heart.

Walking into a stranger’s home, interacting with families, pets and difficult physical environments requires courage and compassion. No one should underestimate how hard this work is, nor the dedication of health care professionals who provide it, nor the difference it can make in quality of life for homebound people.

I extend my deepest sympathy to Douglas’ family and Providence’s home health family as they grieve his loss and gather their courage to knock on the next unknown patient’s door. And I thank each of you for doing this work.

Mary Ann Gibson

Spokane

Camp Hope

Reading the article about the cold, caved in tents and the struggle to just keep warm and alive at Camp Hope got me wondering. It seems like for months I keep reading the same stories: keeping cool, keeping warm, moving out, nowhere to go, etc., and seeing the can kicked down the road. The mayor to the sheriff, get them moved by (chose a date), we have plenty of beds, we don’t have enough beds and why they should move vs. why they can’t. My wondering led me to several more questions: How much has the city, county, DOT and various charities spent? I’ll bet it’s been enough to build at least a couple of tiny house neighborhoods for the homeless.

Come on folks, we can and must do better!

Diane Newcomer

Clark Fork, Idaho

Solutions are obvious, but ignored

Another $5 million to hide the homeless? That doesn’t solve the problem, it just warehouses some of the homeless. The real solution is clear: better mental assistance programs and building actual housing for lower income individuals.

Apple Health is good, but it needs to be stronger. Meanwhile, the county needs to demand, using tax rates as an incentive, that cities build real housing. In my Spokane Valley, they’ve stopped the building of in-fill apartments, only allowing high-priced townhouses. For instance, right next to the Valley Transit Center, there should be low-income housing for those people who use mass transit. Instead, fancy townhouses having driveways crowded with gas guzzlers take that space. Major apartment complexes are built elsewhere, but for the upper middle class.

Conservatives have neither empathy nor the understanding that the problems of the poor work their way up the economic ladder. We’re also not building enough starter homes, so people can buy houses and the landlords who still control the area get to increase rent by enormous amounts, further increasing homelessness while shrinking the middle class.

For many reasons, this region is going to grow. Sadly, the insular nature of power here continues to refuse to plan for the region and that includes the lack of planning for helping the poorest among us, the homeless.

David Teich

Spokane Valley

Got shovel?

More than 72 hours after the last snowfall many members of our community have yet to do their part, helping neighbors. I’m talking about your responsibility to clear your sidewalks fronting public ways (roads). Consider the sidewalk users: children walking to/from school, postal/delivery workers, dog walkers and strollers, etc. The city and school departments have done their part, and many small businesses have as well. Please do yours and help make Spokane and Spokane Valley more safely walkable this and every winter, a child, parent or worker will thank you.

William Alcorn

Spokane

‘Climate change’

I haven’t heard anyone claim the latest winter storm is a result of “man made climate change” yet, but I’m sure it’s coming! I have lived in the Spokane area for over 45 years and this is nothing new. We have winters like this every 10 years or so. The next will likely also be severe and will tend to get less for another eight years and then, WHAM, we’ll get hit again. Those wishing to convince us “climate change” is real, either want to sell us something we don’t want to buy like windmills, solar panels or electric cars or they wish to control our movements and grant the government more power. One way to do this is to claim fossil fuels a huge threat to humanity and the only solution is to eliminate and replace it with less appealing more expensive alternatives.

Always follow the money! What better way to convince we the people that oil is bad than to label it a threat? Fear is a huge motivator. The free flow of oil at fair market prices gives the people almost limitless freedom to go and do whatever we choose. Some don’t wish us that luxury but will never limit themselves. Almost all the big names who are pushing it ignore their own directives, live in huge mansions and travel the world in private jets. Those same people always say the only way to fix problems they claim to be true, is to limit we the people.

Rob Leach

Mica

Defend the constitution

Cathy McMorris Rodgers took her oath of office in 2021 (and in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019).

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

The threat to overthrow the Constitution by the former president is precisely the sort of threat I expect my congressperson to stand up to.

I fail to understand why this is so difficult for Rep. McMorris Rodgers. Constituents deserve a response as to why we shouldn’t consider her silence as a violation of her oath, our trust and an act of sedition.

Karen Latch

Springdale, Washington

Moonstone bank and FTX

Just a short letter of appreciation for one recent article in the Spokesman-Review. I admit to being somewhat of a serial skimmer, but I read with interest every word in the fascinating article about how Moonstone, the tiny bank subsidiary in Washington state, became part of the FTX cryptocurrency failure.

The story also provides a brief intro into the banking industry and regulatory system. Who knew?

Susan King

Spokane