Your letters for April 12, 2024

By NewsPress Now

Your letters for April 12, 2024

Harrison County Community Hospital

I was born in Ridgeway, and other than a 10 or so year period when my parents rented a farm in Albany, Missouri, I have lived in Harrison County all of my life. In 1989, the residents of Harrison County were asked to approve a tax that would support the Bethany Hospital as a new Hospital District. When they asked us to vote for this tax, we were told that if the district was created, nobody could be turned away, and since the county residents were paying the tax to support the hospital, if we couldn’t afford the services, we would be given a chance to pay as we could. I voted in favor of the tax because it sounded like a good deal for the community.

How is it that the hospital can now put people’s names in the paper suing them for bills when we are supporting them with taxes? They are ruining these people’s reputations. If they are anything like most of us, they are living paycheck to paycheck and doing their best to pay their bills.

Now we hear that the hospital is going to spend $70 million plus to build a new hospital building on land they bought at a premium by the interstate. What is wrong with the current hospital building that they spent millions of dollars renovating over the past few years? How are they going to pay the cost of building the new hospital that are not covered by the grants? When the hospital has to make these new big loan payments, will that just mean higher bills for the patients and more lawsuits suing the Harrison County residents trying to get blood from a turnip?

I haven’t heard anything that suggests spending $70 million plus on a new building will add any additional services or bring in any new doctors or specialists. Severe injuries and trauma patients will still be sent to bigger facilities in the city just like they are now. Serious stroke and heart procedures will still be done in the city. There won’t be any real change in the services available or offered — the only new thing will be the Harrison County residents paying a big bill for a shiny new building.

One of my biggest concerns is whether this new hospital building and increased number of court cases where the hospital is suing the residents of Harrison County is a sign that they are getting ready to be bought by or taken over by a big hospital like Mosaic. When we voted on the tax back in 1989, they said we needed to pass the tax because if the hospital was sold to a private hospital, the private hospital could turn people away.

It seems to me that a small group of people want a shiny new building because other communities around us got new hospital buildings (Trenton and Chillicothe.) There is nothing wrong with the current facility. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Pauline Preston

Bethany, Missouri



Remember how the problem started

I’m really tired of people complaining about the US mail service. I understand that it is a serious issue for many people, and one that needs to be addressed, but please remember how the problem started and why.

Former President Trump set out to destroy/eliminate the postal service, primarily because it was another method of interfering with mail-in voting. He put DeJoy in as the head of the post office, and boy, did he do the job he was assigned! I don’t know how many automatic sorting machines he had removed across the country and dismantled, so everything reverted to being hand processed! Then, has no one else noticed that neighborhood mailboxes, which used to be plentiful and visible, have gradually disappeared? Now, good luck finding one without have to travel some distance to reach it, and good luck also if you have the transportation to get to it.

I do blame President Biden to the extent that he promised to replace DeJoy and reverse the damage he had caused, but to the best of my knowledge, DeJoy is still calling the shots, and we’re too close to a national election for changes to be very helpful.

I’m not so sure about this part, but it was my understanding that the reason the postal service is so financially strapped is because they are required to fund their pension system for a ridiculous number of years into the future. Remove that requirement, and stop letting elected, well-paid representatives start paying their own campaign/propaganda postage. Then see how long it takes the postal service start to turn around financially.

Sandra Jacobs

St. Joseph