The Editor:
The 4th of July parade is something that I have been going to since I was a little girl, standing on the sidelines and enjoying candy being thrown. I enjoyed it with my family through my teenage years and in my twenties. Now with a family of my own, we still attend the parade every year. As of recent years, a major highlight has been the local landscape business that has sprayed water overhead to cool everyone off.
This year, however, much to the sadness of many people I have spoken to, they did not allow either candy throwing or water spraying. The people who think this is unsafe and do not enjoy it are greatly outnumbered by the crowds of people and kids who enjoy it. We had even heard some families say the highlight of the parade was getting cooled off by the water.
Interaction between parade attendees and participants is key to our enjoyment, and I think, along with many, that this should not be taken away from this great yearly event!
Victoria Waldner
Blaine
The Editor:
During a long, rewarding career in healthcare, I witnessed the heartbreak, stress, guilt and burdensome costs imposed when patients and families had not expressed preferences for what care they’d want if a crisis occurred and they could no longer communicate themselves.
There are burgeoning efforts in Whatcom County to increase awareness about the importance of advance care planning. However, with the recent closure of Whatcom Alliance for Health Advancement (WAHA), we need more community partners to support initiatives and programs to keep this critically important message in the public’s view. WAHA provided myriad services, including advance directive facilitation, which will hopefully land in new homes soon. Advance care planning leads to more appropriate care, with improved symptom relief and greater patient and family satisfaction, at a lower cost.
PeaceHealth supported the “I’ve Got Mine!” campaign for National Healthcare Decisions Day 2019 that encouraged healthcare providers, patients, caregivers and community members to complete their advance directive. This initiative must grow for wider participation. Will it languish? It’s up to us to make certain it doesn’t. I challenge Whatcom County to get involved in “I’ve Got Mine!” by displaying posters, flyers and billboards to encourage completion of advance directives – in clinics, libraries, credit unions, faith-based venues, college campuses, restaurants, service clubs, high-risk places of employment, city halls, high school health classes and anywhere people gather.
I encourage you to make an appointment with your primary care provider to discuss your values, goals and healthcare preferences before a crisis develops. Also, ask your provider, “Do you have yours?”
Thank you to Dewey Griffin Subaru! The dealership is leading by example, displaying “I’ve Got Mine!” messages on their electronic community billboard on Iowa Street – a valuable community partnership!
Barbara Aiken, M.A.
Bellingham
The Editor:
I am battling scleroderma, a very painful autoimmune condition affecting the skin, joints and internal organs. I became disabled at the age of 33, and it ended the self-sufficient life I knew. I joined Medicare and am reliant on this coverage to access the medications I need to be able to function at all.
As grateful as I am to have Medicare, Congress must work to improve and modernize the program. I don’t think prescription drugs and biologics were as important when Medicare was first developed, so they weren’t taken into account as much as they should have been. Today, even with a prescription drug plan, out-of-pocket costs can get very high. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is considering a rebate rule, which would pass on prescription drug discounts to patients. This would be very helpful to someone like me, who has to get by on a limited income.
The other thing that’s important to me is making progress on medical research. No one should have to see their whole life change in an instant when they are diagnosed with a disease like this. I hope for new treatments that will improve my life and cures that will prevent other patients from having to undergo the same ordeal I have. I hope Congress will consider adding new medical research funding to the federal budget and doing other things to enable companies to develop new treatments and cures.
Jamie Gerity
Blaine
The Editor:
Let me begin by saying I am no longer a Bernie Sanders supporter. But I do give him credit for moving the national conversation into areas we need to discuss and consider. One of the areas is reducing the obstacles to attending college. Although everyone may not need to attend, the experience of college and/or trade schools can be eye-opening and consciousness-expanding.
The far, far right calls the media “liberal.” Well, yeah, reporters and photographers have been around the world, doing their jobs, and have seen how other cultures live and operate successfully. So their horizons have been expanded by that. When I was in Europe, several decades ago now, I met two women, twins from North Carolina, who had never been out of their county! Needless to say, they were petrified of their surroundings, the customs and the different lifestyles they encountered while in Europe. And no doubt their eyes are more open now, and their understanding greater.
By instituting some way of making college or trade schools more attractive and affordable, perhaps those who now look down on those of us who took the steps to broaden our horizons could broaden theirs. Our understanding of each other could improve, and we could, once again, become a nation of common goals, instead of a nation of enemies who cannot communicate. More educated, open-minded citizens could also help prevent us from falling behind the other nations of the world. If all this may be possible, it would behoove us all to find and support a presidential candidate who has such a vision.
Gary Meader
Everson
The Editor:
This letter writer supports Natalie McClendon for the fifth district seat on the Whatcom County Council. Many who live west of I-5, north of Bellingham in Lummi, Ferndale, Birch Bay and Blaine don’t know they are in this new coastal district and know less about the candidates.
My wife and I have known Natalie McClendon since we worked in the first Obama campaign and she was chair of the Whatcom Democrats. Since then she has been an activist and source of information for other activists. She is now in her second term on the county planning commission, where her awareness of voter needs has been intensified.
To learn more, go to her website nataliemcclendon.com. Note particularly her thoughts about building strong communities, support for resilient families and the benefits of a clean energy economy.
We have been in her home and she in ours. Most memorable is the twinkle in her eyes.
Al Krause
Birch Bay
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