Letters to the editor for March 25

Give credit to Providence St. Peter

I write to thank Dr. Barton-Haas for her letter recognizing those serving mental health needs in the area. I have to say I was surprised Providence St. Peter Hospital was not mentioned.

When there is no other option, no place to send a mental health patient, or a patient is simply out of control and no one can or wants to deal with them (including the jails), they are left at St. Peter. The PSPH crisis services team deals with dozens of patients a day. Wait times are a travesty because St. Peter is the place of “last resort.”

The burnout is high as team members are verbally and physical assaulted, spit on and criticized. A significant percentage of patients are have no insurance. PSPH absorbs the costs as they treat each and every patient with the dignity, respect and compassion they deserve.

Thank you PSPH for your selfless service to the community, regardless of ability to pay. What would we do without you?

Cecilia Hall Brennan, Olympia

Support medical care for the poor

Three Planned Parenthood health clinics — in Shelton, Kent, and Seattle’s First Hill — just closed their doors because of Medicaid’s low reimbursement levels. Six more are in danger of closing. These clinics provide critical health care services to low-income patients, including family planning, cancer screening, and routine health exams.

Gov. Inslee included $5.2 million in his appropriations bill for low-income health clinics like these. If the Legislature approves this amount, the federal government will contribute an additional $10.9 million for health care for the poor in Washington.

Patients’ medical care should not depend on patients’ financial resources. If Washington doesn’t support the cost of health care at the front end, through screenings and exams, it will pay for it at the back end in expensive medical care for those suffering from untreated medical conditions.

I call on the representatives of the 35th Legislative District, Sen. Tim Sheldon, Rep. Drew MacEwen, and Rep. Dan Griffey, to support the governor’s legislative appropriation which, again, guarantees the federal infusion of an additional $10.9 million for needed health care for low-income patients.

Anne Hall, Olympia

Ranked choice voting gives voters better options

Ranked choice voting is a system that gives everybody a chance to vote for the candidate they think is the best.

Some years ago when I lived in Minnesota, there was an election for governor where people weren’t satisfied with either the Democratic or Republican candidate. So a new party was being formed. It included very good people that were dissatisfied with both of the major parties. This new party chose an excellent candidate to run for governor and had an outstanding platform.

When it came time to vote for governor, many of the voters were afraid they would waste their vote if they voted for the third-party candidate. As a result, the new third party didn’t get many votes. So Minnesota lost a chance to get a very outstanding person for governor. If they had ranked choice voting at the time, the voters could have voted for the candidate they really thought was the best.

Rodney Hanson, Lacey