Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Oklahoma newspapers:
Enid News & Eagle. Oct. 22, 2018.
- Mercy patients waging campaign to reverse decision to close oncology, hematology clinic
For most people, health care is an intensely personal subject.
That’s why we saw the reaction we did last week after it was announced Mercy Clinic would close Mercy Clinic Oncology and Hematology in Enid at the end of the year.
Matt Wright, Mercy Clinic’s Oklahoma chief operating office, said “… the economics of remaining in the community were simply not sustainable.”
The clinic, at 1220 W. Willow, will close Dec. 31.
The closure will affect eight full-time and two part-time clinic employees.
The closure also leaves patients and their families facing an uncertain future
They now face the prospect of finding a new oncologist or traveling to Oklahoma City to continue cancer treatment at the Coletta Building on the campus of Mercy Hospital.
The loss of the clinic limits options in Enid, but patients aren’t totally without care.
Integris Bass Baptist Health Center operates Integris Cancer Institute, 600 S. Monroe, which offers the services of full-time medical oncologist Dr. Sumbal Nabi and the radiation oncology services of Dr. Paul Erba, both five days a week.
St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center operates St. Mary’s Cancer Center, 305 South 5th, which has two medical oncologist/hematologists, Dr. Todd Kliewer and Dr. David Lam, who have extended their clinic from Oklahoma City to see patients in Enid.
For some Mercy patients, though, the choice of traveling to Oklahoma City for care or switching oncologists is not something they want.
So, they have decided to mount a letter-writing campaign in hopes of changing Mercy officials’ minds.
They want people to write letters to Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City and Missouri detailing how the closure will affect them.
They ask that letters be sent to Lynn Britton, President & CEO, 300 Winding Woods Dr., O’Fallon, Missouri, 63366; and Cullen Thomas, 4300 W. Memorial Rd., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73120.
We don’t know how effective the campaign will be, but we sure can’t blame people for pushing for reconsideration by Mercy.
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Tulsa World. Oct. 22, 2018.
- Tobacco trust unrolls aggressive antismoking agenda
The leadership of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust has rolled out an aggressive antismoking agenda that it says would cut the state’s adult smoking rate in half.
The plan includes raising the age to purchase tobacco to 21, prohibiting smoking in cars when children are present, banning menthol and other flavors in tobacco, increasing penalties for selling to underage people, raising the cigarette tax by $1.50 and getting rid of a provision in Oklahoma labor law that makes it illegal to discriminate against workers based on their smoking status, The Oklahoman reported.
Executive Director John Woods called the plan’s goal - cutting the state’s smoking rate from 19.6 percent to 10 percent - a “moonshot” but also noted the Oklahoma Legislature will be filled with new members.
This year, the current Legislature accomplished two-thirds of an important antismoking effort. It achieved the supermajority needed to raise the cigarette tax $1 a pack. The Tulsa World, Gov. Mary Fallin and the trust had pushed for a $1.50 increase, and we still favor the additional 50-cent tax hike.
No one has been any more outspoken about the need to reduce smoking in Oklahoma than we have been. Smoking is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the state, and our smoking rates are needlessly higher than national norms.
But we worry that the trust’s ideas, especially the $1.50 tax and the menthol ban, are too aggressive and will lead to more cigarette bootlegging and a political backlash. Those newly minted legislators will have a long list of things they need to achieve, some of which - adequate funding of education comes to mind - are more critical than raising the cigarette tax sky high.
We would prefer a more modest, achievable effort: Obtaining the 50-cent-a-pack tax increase and (finally) allowing local governments to pass more aggressive public smoking bans than are covered in state law. Both ideas have had bipartisan support among moderate lawmakers but have struggled with the army of Big Tobacco lobbyists at the Capitol.
During the space race, President Kennedy challenged the nation to go to the moon and return within a decade. It was a daring challenge, which the nation met. But he didn’t challenge us to break the speed of light and head on to Alpha Centauri. Even moonshots have to be limited by what’s achievable.
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The Oklahoman. Oct. 23, 2018.
- Laudable effort in OKC to hold domestic abusers accountable
We have written more than once about a facility in Oklahoma City called Palomar, which opened in February 2017 and provides a range of services to victims of domestic violence. Recent work by Palomar is especially noteworthy.
Officials from Palomar joined members of law enforcement last week in announcing that 121 arrests had been made in a sweep of individuals accused of domestic violence in the Oklahoma County area.
“In short,” said Kim Garrett, CEO of Palomar, “our community is leading the way and we’ve stated loudly and clearly that we will not accept domestic violence.”
It’s a message that needs to be shouted from the rooftops, because domestic violence is a big problem in Oklahoma City in particular and Oklahoma in general.
Just last month, a report by the Violence Policy Center, a national nonprofit, ranked Oklahoma No. 11 in the country in the rate of women killed by men. Thirty-one women were killed by men in Oklahoma in single-victim, single-offender incidents in 2016, the latest year for which statistics were available.
Oklahoma’s ranking worsened from a year ago, when the state ranked 15th. Oklahoma had previously spent four years ranked among the 10 worst states.
In Oklahoma City in 2016, more than 35,000 domestic violence-related calls were placed to 911. Think about that statistic for a moment - the city’s 911 dispatchers receive just under 100 such calls every day. That rate helps explain why places such as the YWCA Thelma Gaylord Emergency Shelter, which can house about 120 people, is full most of the time.
Of course, domestic violence impacts not only the spouse or partner, but the children in the home. According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 30 percent to 60 percent of domestic abusers also abuse children in the household. Nationally, about 40 percent of child abuse victims report domestic violence in the home. Among other things, kids exposed to this trauma are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, attempt suicide and become sexually active at an early age.
Just last month at a conference in Norman about domestic and sexual violence, an official with the Louisville Metro Police Department described men who choke women as “the most dangerous men on the planet.” Domestic violence counselors here regularly handle cases where choking occurred.
Garrett explained that in May, law enforcement agencies and local victim services providers found a high rate of domestic violence offenders with outstanding warrants. That should come as no surprise - any man who would raise a hand to his wife or partner isn’t likely to give much weight to legal obligations.
Palomar compiled a team that included Department of Human Services workers and local, state and federal law enforcement officers, whose work culminated with last week’s sweep.
Johnny Kuhlman, U.S. marshal for Oklahoma’s Western District, called it a “very, very successful” week but also a sad one. “It’s a reminder that domestic violence is so prevalent in our community and it doesn’t have to be that way,” he said.
Garrett described the effort as a “whole community” approach that’s unprecedented not just locally but nationwide. Congratulations and thanks are due to all those who played a role.
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