Letters to the editor: On health care (or lack thereof) in Las Cruces
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These letters published in the Dec. 18, 2022 print edition of the Las Cruces Sun-News.
'Dying to see the doctor'
Need a health care specialist? Hurry up and wait Las Cruces. Long wait times or zero availability for appointments have Las Crucians heading to El Paso, Albuquerque, or Mexico to get urgent procedures done.
New Mexico ranks 39th when it comes to health care and is the leading state in older physicians, with an estimated 33% preparing to retire in the next ten years. Some have left due to the Medical Malpractice Act (HB75) passage that raised the amount a physician can be sued for punitive damages to $4 million, making it difficult for doctors to get insurance companies to cover them. This might explain part of New Mexico's low retention rate of 38%. New Mexicans deserve better and have a right to receive health care on time.
If we want to keep physicians in Las Cruces, it is time to address low wages, unsafe staffing shortages, and burnout. New Mexico needs to offer incentives to keep graduating medical students in the state by helping to pay off student debt and lowering insurance costs. New Mexicans need to welcome new doctors with unconventional recruitment packages that offer childcare subsidies, a down payment for housing, and repayment for moving expenses. If we do not care for our doctors, they will not care for us. Ignoring this issue will give new meaning to the expression "dying to see the doctor."
Joy Monge, Las Cruces
Lack of mental health care persists
I knew the pandemic was going to disproportionately affect our student population here in Doña Ana County, because of socio-economics, ignorance and the usual problems associated with most first-generation and EOL students. Now, just when we thought it was over, and see infections increasing like before and hospitals filling up.
But especially troubling is the fact that there are not enough mental health professionals or providers in the area. I can't find a qualified psychiatrist or prescribing-psychologist who is accepting new patients. Getting a mental health counselor for my daughter has been a challenge, also.
We are in a crucial time when mental health providers aren't accepting new patients. Most that are here, are not accepting new patients. It shouldn't be like this, especially for someone who is employed, educated, and willing to see these specialist. I can only imagine how bad it is for those less fortunate in our communities.
Governor, department secretaries, county and city governments throughout the state need to prioritize mental health on all of their strategic plans and annual funding!
Jose Aranda, Las Cruces
Praise for Rocky
I read the recent front page article of Rocky Burke, and his statement that "I love what I do." The article described Rocky's local, national and international accomplishments in the ring of boxing. Another great aspect of Rocky is the man, the person. Those of us who know him personally all will say that he is the epitome of gentlemanliness, kindness, courtesy and respect. He is a model for all men for these qualities. My recently deceased wife, Carol, and I adore him.
Rocky was inducted into the New Mexico Boxing Hall of Fame last month in Roswell. I attended. This was an impressively high attended event of nearly 200 boxers, judges, referees, and aficionados from around the state and beyond. The event was All-American. We sang America the Beautiful, and pledged allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
Gerald Carson, Las Cruces
Biden's insensitive remark on border
While Joe Biden was visiting Phoenix recently, he was asked by a reporter if he planned to visit the near-by border. The president answered, “There are more important things going on.”
The very next day a Border Patrol agent was killed when he crashed his all-terrain vehicle into a gate late at night while in a high speed pursuit of migrants near Mission, Texas.
This agent, along with the many other Border Patrol agents, believed that the border was important enough for them to risk their lives.
Perhaps the president can atone for his tone deaf remark by attending the funeral for this heroic Border Patrol agent; that is, unless there is something more important going on.
Paul Hoylen, Deming
NMSU should take care of graduate student workers
The graduate student stipend at NMSU is indeed an old problem. I worked at NMSU for 28 years, so I know what talking about. I do support the efforts of the graduate students to receive a stipend that will allow them to live below the poverty line.
As a former department head at NMSU, I can say that the stipend offered by NMSU for graduate students was one of the biggest headaches I had, making a competitive offer to prospective students that they could accept and come to NMSU. Without graduate students, not a single graduate program would prosper.
The University of New Mexico have been able to solve the problem of tuition for graduate students through progressive thinking, something that is lacking at NMSU. When there is a will, there is a solution, but the upper administration of NMSU have never had a will to solve this problem, it falls to department heads to solve the problem and many of us were able to do it for a long time.
Since I am retired from NMSU now, I cannot say what is going on for sure, but I do know that department heads and faculty at NMSU are doing the best they can to address this problem.
My experience at NMSU tells me that when the upper administration wants a problem solved, they find a way to do it, if it a pet project. Platitudes and saying that you understand the problem are not enough.
Without graduate students willing to attend to NMSU, many graduate programs will wither and the vaunted RO1 status of NMSU will go away. Perhaps I will be ignored, since I have many detractors at NMSU for stating facts as I see them, but no matter.
NMSU's chancellor Dan Arvizu and others can disregard it, as it is their right.
William Quintana, Las Cruces
Thank you Lynn Ellins
This year, like every year, new elected officials have been elected and others step down. This year we will be losing a true icon when County Commissioner Lynn Ellins leaves office.
In the summer of 2013 Mr. Ellins, Doña Ana County Clerk at the time, and an attorney and former Colorado state legislator, came to believe that the refusal of New Mexico county clerks to grant marriage licenses to same sex couples was a violation of the state constitution.
On Aug. 21, he posted a notice on the county’s Facebook page that his office would no longer deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Within an hour or two there was a long line outside the clerk’s office of people waiting for their own licenses and opportunity to marry. Over the next several months, Mr. Ellins was sued in a case that went all the way to the New Mexico Supreme Court before his action was upheld in December of that year. During the entire time the county clerk’s office continued to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and has continued to do so to this day.
After being termed out of the county clerk’s office, Mr. Ellins ran successfully for the county commission, where, as Commission chair his customarily gruff and no-nonsense manner helped chart a steady course through turbulent times. He was a person of consistent integrity, fair minded and helpful to the people of this county. Though they have come to be a rarity in our current political culture, he deserves our gratitude and appreciation for his service and the example he set.
Don Kurtz, Las Cruces
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This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Letters to the editor: On health care (or lack thereof) in Las Cruces
