New hospital
I wish to express my support for building a new hospital at the proposed location at Interstate 90 and Highway 18.
Understandably, there may be some apprehension from some people, given the history of the hospital. However, that is simply that — history.
A March 22 story in the Seattle Times titled “Code-Red situation has local hospitals diverting patients” tells the sad story of other hospitals closing their doors for hours, sometimes days at a time, to emergency room patients. This often has the effect of local fire department and ambulance personnel having to sometimes circle the block, or re-directing patients to hospitals that are not their choice, and even more importantly much further away from their family and loved ones.
Snoqualmie Valley residents deserve much better than to be “diverted.” Snoqualmie Valley Hospital is part of the solution of preventing diversion. More importantly, the new location will be much more convenient to a larger number of people than it currently is, and fire and EMS personnel can more rapidly return to service.
I encourage you to stop by Snoqualmie Valley Hospital sometime for a tour.
Chris Caviezel
Commissioner, Snoqualmie Pass Fire and Rescue
Hospital support
I am a gastroenterologist practicing on the Eastside since 1986. As a member of Overlake Internal Medicine Associates (OIMA), the oldest Eastside multi-speciality clinic, I have seen the dramatic growth and development of the Eastside community and medical services. OIMA is a more-than-30-member multi-speciality clinic based primarily in Bellevue. We recognize the need to extend our services ever eastward along the I-90 corridor. We have already established a satellite office in Issaquah, and with the help of Snoqualmie Valley Hospital, we have further expanded our presence in Snoqualmie.
It is our intent to provide up-to-date and top-flight services to all our patients no matter where they reside, including those who live in the east King County medical district. This not only means providing outpatient care as we are presently doing, but hopefully with a rejuvenated and growing hospital facility in Snoqualmie, inpatient services as well, locally without having our patients travel long distances to Bellevue and beyond.
As part of any comprehensive medical care, every citizen desires and should have available locally a hospital with easy access, and the most up-to-date technical equipment. This will attract additional medical specialists of all disciplines to establish a home base in the Snoqualmie Valley area.
I urge the Snoqualmie Valley Record and all its readers to stand behind the efforts of Roger McCollum, Snoqualmie Valley Hospital CEO, and the hospital board of directors in the development and construction of a new hospital and associated outpatient ancillary services.
Kalle Kang, M.D.
Overlake Internal Medicine Associates
American pride
Normally, I read but don’t respond to letters to the editor in this publication. However, Dave Humphrey’s misguided assault on this country in the April 30 edition begs for one.
I don’t know which history books he’s been reading, but I certainly hope that they’re not the ones taught in this Valley’s school district. He makes a blanket characterization of our country’s citizenry as homicidal and opportunistic, and then throws in oppressive for good measure merely because there are those that would resist sacrificing an entire day of education to the “Day of Silence.”
There are very few countries in the world as open and tolerant as the United States, and I would invite him to step outside our nation’s borders as I have to witness that. He would find widespread oppression of women across all of Asia and the Middle East. He would find open denial of the existence of homosexuality in Arab countries (and when they’re found out, they are murdered). He would find poverty beyond imagination in Africa — poverty which no one helps more to alleviate than the people of the United States of America.
We have invented more vaccines, created more technological breakthroughs and done more for the planet’s economy than the rest of the world combined.
That being said, I’ll agree with Mr. Humphrey that we have a few warts. But I’ve never witnessed a society more determined than ours to remove them. Perhaps he prefers the preachings of Reverend Jeremiah Wright over those of Reverend Hutcherson. But what we really need in this country is a more moderate discourse that emphasizes the values that most of us share, rather than the wild extremes that most of us don’t. I have no doubt that Mr. Humphrey and I share most of those same values.
Whenever I hear someone bashing the United States indiscriminately, I often think of the slogan seen on a T-shirt in a mob of anti-American protesters in Venezuela. It read “Yankee go home… and take me with you!” Excellent perspective from someone on the outside looking in.
Eric Yotz
North Bend
Reading story
I’ve been wanting to thank you for the wonderful article on our Reading Rotation Program at Cascade View Elementary School. It was accurate, thoughtful and written with a positive message about the leadership of our kids. They felt very special when interviewed [by reporter Denise Miller] — you are good at that. I appreciated it a lot.
We love that the kids can get publicity for the hard work they are doing. So much is going right in these times of risk for young people. It’s important to get that word out. Again, many thanks for your sensitive work on this story.
Sandra Smelser
Cascade View Elementary school counselor
