Letters to the Editor: June 9, 2022
Martin County needs affordable housing for people who work here
In Martin County, the lack of housing that is affordable for lower wage earners is at a crisis level! This was the topic of a recent meeting I attended at the Blake Library in Stuart sponsored by the Martin County, City of Stuart, and Village of Indiantown Commissioners.
In January 2022, a survey showed nearly 250 people in Martin County were homeless. Nearly 500 more were moving from friend to friend. At the meeting, various people said it is hard for businesses here to attract and keep employees. People making $15 an hour cannot afford to live here. I met a teacher making $42,000 per year who could not afford to live in Martin County.
It was heartening to hear Martin County Commissioner Ed Ciampi suggest that a board to head up a housing initiative be created and adequately funded. He said affordable, multi-family housing should be built, giving the example of the privately developed, 82-unit Blue Sky Landing housing in Fort Pierce. He also promoted the idea of individual houses on vacant lots, as well as the possibility of accessory dwelling units or tiny houses behind people’s existing houses. That would be great!
We need to write policy that will ensure the building of housing that is affordable in Martin County. It is important not just to talk, but to do something.
Louise Cunha, Stuart
A vaccine requirement for the Special Olympics was medically advisable
Just days before the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics in Orlando on June 5, Florida Health Department threatened a $27.5 million fine unless they dropped their COVID-19 vaccination requirement. It would devastate the Special Olympics to pay that huge fine.
The organization dropped the vaccination requirement even though many participants have medical conditions that leave them especially vulnerable to infectious diseases, making the vaccination requirement medically advisable. But no exception was made to the law Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in November 2021, prohibiting vaccination mandates.
Yet another monstrous authoritarian command by DeSantis after his XXX Open Carry of guns-for-everyone-everywhere-all-the-time proposal, and his destructive moves against the LGBTQ and immigrant communities, schools and women, children and families, reminds us we can never again let him be elected to any position that allows such abuses of power.
Caryl Zook, Vero Beach
As citizens returning from abroad, we were required to have a COVID-19 test
My wife and I just returned to Vero from a visit to Spain. The return process left me a bit perturbed. As U.S. citizens, we were required to have a negative COVID-19 test at least one day prior to our flight back. As a result, we had to book a hotel in Madrid for two nights prior to the flight, to ensure we would have sufficient time to get the tests and the results. It was not only time-consuming, but when hotel and food costs were considered, it was also expensive.
On the other hand, people crossing our border illegally from Mexico are allowed to enter without that requirement. Why the difference? Is it because I am a U.S. citizen or because I am law abiding? Or is it simply that being a U.S. citizen does not carry as much weight as crossing the border illegally?
Donnie Young, Vero Beach
Violence toward health care providers is nothing new
For 39 years I have been taking care of patients.
My initial experience with patient-on-caregiver violence was in 1983. I was a nursing student in a Veterans Administration hospital. A Korean war veteran brandished his gun toward me because he wanted his pain medications instantly.
In the 1990s, while working in a suburban intensive care unit, I was regularly threatened by visitors who did not want to follow the rules. The hospital was in a troubled neighborhood; our security guards had trained canines to assist with de-escalating situations.
As a nurse practitioner, in a rural primary care office in the 2000s, I was threatened by a patient who wanted a narcotic prescription; the receptionist called the police as he fled.
In 2010, a patient came into a full waiting room of a hospital-owned practice, threatening to shoot the staff if he wasn't granted a visit with his provider and a prescriptions refill. A panic button was utilized.
Another patient incident included a written request for refills decorated with pictures of guns. In person, he filmed the staff with his phone and verbally harassed them. Administration allowed us to dismiss him after our ethical obligations were met.
As the pandemic unfolded, it was common behavior for patients to refuse masking and discount immunizations, then launch into inappropriate and offensive language. I became numb.
I advocate for the safety of health care professionals. Consistent structural deterrents and safety measures in all health care locations are warranted. The public code of conduct needs to be as rigorously enforced as it is for the employed staff.
We need children safe in schools, worshipers safe in sanctuaries, and we need our health care facilities safe for all.
The public is shocked when a "Tulsa Event" occurs. I was just waiting.
Joanne Broccoli, Stuart
Sussmann was acquitted, but testimony revealed Clinton campaign's role
Democrats should definitely not be taking a victory lap over the recent acquittal of Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann for lying to the FBI. A text message clearly showed that Sussmann told the FBI that he was not representing any client, although billing records made clear that he represented Hillary Clinton’s campaign at the time. Billing records don’t lie.
Even though he was acquitted, a lot of information came out regarding the attempt by Hillary’s people to discredit Donald Trump. The connection they attempted to draw between Trump and a Russian bank was false from the start. We also learned that Hillary personally approved the leak of what she knew to be false information. The trial of Sussmann highlights the lack of integrity of this woman and those who surrounded her.
The press was eager to help spread the false dialogue and most mainstream media quickly ran with this “information.” It led to two years of the press and Democrats using it as a weapon to discredit anything that Donald Trump tried to do while in office. It also emboldened Democrats to believe that they could do anything with impunity. The sheer fact that Michael Sussmann was found not guilty tells us that it is no longer a swamp in Washington, it’s become a cesspool.
Patricia A. Perrone, Stuart
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Letters to the Editor: June 9, 2022
