In the best interests of our patients

To the editor:

The physicians of Crystal Run Healthcare recently resigned their privileges at Catskill Regional Medical Center (CRMC) because of concerns regarding patient safety and quality of care. As physicians, we feel that this step is necessary because, in our judgment, the cultural climate of CRMC does not appropriately and adequately value patient safety and quality of care.

We believe that this climate has been fostered by the lack of appropriate leadership on the part of Catskill’s Chief Executive Officer and Board of Trustees, a leadership that has attempted to take the focus away from serious patient health and safety concerns by denying that it has any quality of care concerns, making accusations about a power struggle and taking pot-shots at Hal Teitelbaum, our managing partner.

We believe that hospitalized patients deserve care that meets or exceeds appropriate care and safety standards. Should patients expect that routine and customary equipment and medications will be available upon request in a safe and orderly manner? Should patients expect timely anesthesia when they come into the hospital in labor? Should patients expect timely availability of radiology and lab reports? Should patients expect that, if they have a heart attack and need emergency care, a cardiologist will be available on call? Our answer to these questions is yes.

Unfortunately, in our experience, Catskill has too often not met our expectations. As a result, for more than two years we have tried to take reasonable and measured actions, according to CRMC’s own policies and procedures, to improve these quality of care problems at CRMC.

We believe that we can no longer practice medicine at CRMC in the safe manner that we are accustomed to in other community hospitals. Our decision is not based upon the performance of the vast majority of the nursing staff, the technical staff, and the other individual employees of Catskill, who dedicate themselves on a daily basis to provide quality care to patients. The decision to resign our privileges from CRMC was a decision of the partnership; it was not Hal Teitelbaum’s decision to make alone. The partners of Crystal Run Healthcare speak with one voice to champion quality and patient safety.

The power of unreason

To the editor:

When I was 22, my family doctor showed me a shadow on my x-ray, called it an infection, and gave me antibiotics, even though the official report read, “rule out lymphoma.” Three weeks later, a surgeon biopsied the tumor in my chest and reported good news—the tumor was “normal!” Thankfully, my employer stepped in, picked up the phone, got loud, kicked open a few doors and got me an appointment with a surgeon at Sloan-Kettering within an unheard-of three days. There, I was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin’s disease.

I required months of chemo and radiation but that was back in 1986 and I’m still here. My pushy employer was, and still is, Hal Teitelbaum, and damn right I am biased. As a Sullivan County resident, I am also concerned—because I know from personal experience that when it comes to a person’s health, “close enough” is not good enough.

George Bernard Shaw wrote that reasonable people adapt themselves to the world, and unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves; therefore, all progress depends on unreasonable people. For more than 20 years I have watched Hal Teitelbaum get unreasonable with administrators, politicians, bureaucrats, HMOs, secretaries, and fellow physicians, all in the fight for better healthcare for patients. I, for one, hope he continues to be unreasonable for years to come.

Leadership means lower taxes

To the editor:

I honestly hope Chris Cunningham and his fellow legislators do not take the community’s refusal to have any more tax hikes as a personal affront or insult. Everyone is saying the same thing: “No more taxes.” It’s our government’s job to figure out how to do it.

A politician with true courage—a politician who wants to leave a true legacy—would roll up his sleeves, find the fat, and cut it, not just this year but every year. Or else they should move on, and let someone who cares about Sullivan County’s future take the lead. Cunningham seems to be implying that his first cuts will be to the organizations that matter most to Sullivan County’s future, such as the Visitor’s Association and the Partnership. If he does this, instead of making a true analysis of wasteful spending, I think the county should immediately start planning for his successor. The county government should not be our biggest employer.

I personally feel this community action against new taxes is a turning point, where the taxpayers are finally pushed into standing up for themselves. It’s easy to raise taxes. It’s true leadership to reduce them.

Striking at the roots

To the editor:

It appears that the Sullivan County Legislature has a budget problem that requires some severe cuts. According to the information I have, there is a proposed cut of 50 percent or $240,000 contemplated for the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Sullivan County.

I would like to advise you that my wife and I, full-time residents of the Town of Callicoon, District 5, are in stringent opposition to any cuts in the Cooperative Extension budget of Sullivan County.

The Cooperative Extension of Sullivan County directly touches more individuals than any other agency in Sullivan County. The extension services individuals directly covering a very broad spectrum, from individual health to basic land stewardship.

The support of the Cooperative Extension of Sullivan County to the agricultural community is the very basis of the current expansion of the county. The well being of the agricultural community is what makes Sullivan County popular with second-home owners. The failure of even one agricultural enterprise in Sullivan County is going to make it less appealing to the second-home owner and summer resident, thereby affecting the entire economy of the county.

Farmers’ markets and community supported agriculture, whereby the summer and part-time residents become directly involved with the agricultural community, are on the increase. This trend has been supported, and in many cases initiated, by the Sullivan County Cooperative Extension. Any curtailment in their budget would affect the financial future of the county.

Our county survives on second-home owners and summer tourism, without which we would be in worse financial shape.

For the above reasons we strongly oppose any cut in the Sullivan County Cooperative Extension budget, which would strike at the financial heart of the county.

You must find other ways to cut the budget. To hurt a farmer or person interested in agriculture is cutting off the very roots that support our county. Without roots a tree will wither and die!

History and freedom

To the editor:

I am a seventh-generation resident of Sullivan County, who has grown up hearing about Sullivan County history, and believes in its preservation.

Sullivan County has a real gem in its midst, known as the Sullivan County Museum. It is in excellent condition, has grand artifacts, and has had numerous displays and exhibits showing Sullivan County history. The “Time Line” exhibit alone is a great asset to the museum. With interest in genealogy growing, the archives room alone brings in many visitors, not only in person, but by mail and e-mail, from all over the world. The Sullivan County Art Society and its exhibits bring many visitors, as does the exhibit of the great explorer Cook.

As a member and secretary of the Sullivan County Museum for at least six years, I have assisted in the archives, have typed funeral records on the computer for easier access for genealogy purposes, and have done research on various subjects, including work on a judge from Monticello for Court of Appeals Chief Judge, Honorable Judge Judith Kaye, who is compiling a history of Court of Appeals judges.

Being involved in genealogy since I was a young girl, I have traveled across New York State to various museums and to some in other parts of the country and find that the Sullivan County Museum compares well.

Museums are our keepers of history, and it is through their eyes that we can see the meaning of independence and respect for our great nation and its fight for freedom. Sullivan County history needs to continue to be shown or it will be lost to the world, even if the museum is closed for a short time. There has been too much time and effort put into this museum. For much the same reasons, I believe Fort Delaware, a working museum of history that shows the everyday experience of long ago, should also be left open.

Government by the people

To the editor:

The recent comment by Steven Blow, an attorney with the New York Public Service Commission (PSC), that he knows of no major electric transmission line project that’s been derailed because of public opinion, should steel our resolve in the fight to stop NYRI. It also raises a couple of interesting questions.

First, is the PSC simply going to go through the public hearings on NYRI’s application as a matter of form, the conclusion being already determined?

Second, does the public in fact have any say in what the PSC ultimately decides?

Comments like Attorney Blow’s are pretty scary, for they serve to highlight the apparent mindset of many of our government authorities that big money and influence prevail over the Little People, whose unfortunate happenstance is that they’re in the way of “progress.”

Well, we Little People, with our ranks and righteousness of purpose swelling every day, must impress upon the PSC and our elected representatives that we’ll not be relegated to their back burner on this issue. We insist upon exercising our right not only to be heard, but to have what we say given serious and meaningful consideration.

We can’t let those who support this “major project” bulldoze us into submission and despoil one of a few remaining places in the region where nature still prevails. Let’s not have our great-grandkids ask, “Why didn’t they do something to stop the power lines?”

Leaders need to lead

To the editor:

At a time when we need great and courageous leadership to confront the serious issues of energy, the silence of Senators Schumer and Clinton is like handing a bullhorn to officials like Steven Blow from the Public Service Commission.

Blow’s statement of knowing “of no major project of this type that has been stopped by public opposition” is the sort of sound bite that can amplify support for the NYRI proposal. Clinton and Schumer have been spouting the language of energy alternatives but seem incapable of making any statement, let alone taking a position on the NYRI project. Is this how they preen their election year feathers?

From the aftermath of Katrina to the ongoing fallout from 9/11, we are already dealing with a multitude of disasters and tragedies that are the result of failures of engagement and foresight by our elected and appointed officials. Will NYRI become part of this shameful history?

If these two “leaders” have truly been thinking about energy alternatives, then it eludes me why they need more time to think about what they can say here and now about NYRI.

What we’ve gained

To the editor:

As adults in the Sullivan West school district, we are struggling to come to a consensus about providing for our children’s education. When our thoughts go to the negative—what could have been, what should have been, what still can and/or should be—we all too easily overlook the positive.

But all we need to do is attend a musical concert or a sports event to be absolutely in awe of what our children, their teachers and coaches (and yes, we too) have accomplished since the time of our merger. I have not spoken to a child who is unhappy where he or she is, and for the most part, our test scores are good.

Let’s keep everything in perspective: probably most of us would acknowledge everything hasn’t turned out as we’d wanted, but many other things have been all we could have hoped for.

In other words, acknowledge and appreciate what is right and carefully work to improve what needs to be improved.

We must be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Pataki out of touch

To the editor:

Last week, when Governor Pataki urged the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to fast-track approval for an off-reservation, Las Vegas-style, St. Regis Mohawk casino at Monticello Raceway, he was not speaking for the majority of residents in Sullivan County, for our neighboring counties, or for the traditional Mohawks.

In fact, on the issue of Native American casinos, he is out of touch with most Americans. A nation-wide poll conducted in early February 2006, showed that 55 percent of voters oppose Indian tribes acquiring land away from their homelands to build casinos, and 80 percent said the possibility of developers and lobbyists contributing money to politicians in exchange for land recognition is of personal concern to them.

The American public recognizes what casino developers, their Native American partners, and some politicians do not: casinos don’t bring positive economic development to the community. The Seneca Niagara Casino, for example, has been open for three years, and the town of Niagara Falls—not an unknown tourist destination—is careening downhill economically. Residents report local businesses forced to close, crime rising, and services declining. Similar reports come from Atlantic City, Ledyard, Connecticut (Foxwoods) and other gambling venues.

In urging BIA to expedite approvals for an off-reservation raceway casino, Governor Pataki is doing a particular disservice to Sullivan County and its neighbors. He is asking BIA to okay, with but few updates, an environmental assessment of the site that’s nearly 10 years old, rather than require a new, more complete Environmental Impact Study, as mandated under the federal National Environmental Protection Act. Instead of urging quick approval for a shortcut, the governor should have demanded that the most comprehensive report be done. It’s the only chance we, the people, would have to review the impact a casino the size of Las Vegas’ biggest would have on us, and, most likely, our only chance to comment on a project that will drastically affect our future.

Joan Thursh
Woodbourne, NY