Op-Ed: Don Coram’s Stance on Rural Health Wins Physician Support

Opinions expressed in letters and op-eds published in The Chieftain are the views of the writers, not this publication.

In the 3rd Congressional District Republican primary there is only one candidate with a comprehensive, smart strategy for reversing the dangerous deterioration of rural health conditions in Western Colorado: State Senator Don Coram.

Our district is massive: 27 counties covering one-half of our state’s land mass, most defined as either “frontier” (six or fewer residents per square mile) or “rural” (no community population over 50,000). The challenge to restoring and assuring timely and continuous medical care is daunting.

We face staffing shortages that are severe at almost every level of care, and may soon be approaching collapse in some of these communities. The math is straightforward: Without help, sustaining some health care facilities and the health care teams who work there will not be possible. But when a hospital or rural clinic closes or limits capacity, the care that is subsequently diverted and delayed or even denied will end up miles, even counties away in another Emergency Department, almost always in worse condition. Some will simply not make it there.

Rural health is across the board worse than urban Colorado; higher rates of teen pregnancy, higher rates of drug dependence and alcoholism, higher rates of untreated or undertreated chronic diseases, higher rates of preventable illnesses and deaths. Many of our patients tend to be older, sicker, and without everyday resources to get better.

Rural Colorado cannot survive, much less prosper, without reasonable support for their health care communities. Senator Coram’s health care plan will direct federal resources to workforce support, starting with loan forgiveness and other incentives to recruit physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals to our underserved communities. His plan supports Medicare and Medicaid reforms that assure quality and continuity of care and economically viable, safe facilities, especially for our elderly and veteran populations.

As our Congressman, Don Coram will take his thoughtful, principled approach to problem solving from his tenure in the Colorado General Assembly to Washington, where they could benefit from a healthy dose of evidence-based, civil debate and professionalism.

We respectfully urge you to be sure to vote on or before June 28. And if health care matters to you, vote for the only choice that has a rational, workable plan. Don Coram.

— Physicians For Coram

Adam Baker, MD, Facial Plastic Surgery, Grand Junction, CO

Gayle A. Frazzetta, MD, Family Medicine, Montrose

Enno Heuscher, MD, Family Medicine, Cedaredge, CO

Sarah Judkins, MD, General Surgery, Montrose, CO

Timothy R. Judkins, MD, Orthopedic Surgery, Montrose, CO

Albert Krueger, MD, Family Medicine, Meeker, CO

Katie Mckee-Cole, MD, Otolaryngology, Grand Junction, CO

Mindy Miller, MD, Family Medicine, Montrose, CO

Jeffrey Oster, DPM, Alamosa, CO

Ellen Price, DO, Rehabilitative Medicine, Fruita, CO

Collin Sharp, MD, General Surgery, Montrose, CO

Vineet Singh, MD, Orthopedic Surgery, Montrose

Robert Tonsing, MD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Pueblo, CO

Mary Vader, DO, Pediatrics, Montrose, CO

William Weathers, MD, Radiology, Glenwood Springs, CO

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Op-Ed: Don Coram’s Stance on Rural Health Wins Physician Support