Letters to the Editor 2-11-16

Thanks, Dr. Maack
Editor: Usually when one of the doctors of Healdsburg who has been here a long time retires, the community knows about it, and may give him or her a retirement party, or some kind of recognition. But recently Dr. Walter Maack retired, and since he is an emergency doctor and thus had no large patient following, there was no public recognition. But in his 37 years in the Healdsburg ER, he almost certainly touched and cared for someone in every family in the Healdsburg area.
Dr. Maack began serving our community and Healdsburg Hospital in 1978. He was beloved by the medical staff and nursing staff members at our little hospital, as he was bright, competent and cared. He was an excellent listener, an excellent physician.
So here are some personal memories of how Walt Maack helped my patients and family. These are only three of many. Probably every physician in town has their own list.
It was June 26, 1986. A 26-year-old man was in a horrific accident, where his motorcycle was going south on Old Redwood Highway and was hit by a pickup truck. He broke his pelvis and two bones in his leg, and had substantial burns to his leg. This was Loren, brother of my medical assistant Kathie. He was brought to Healdsburg ER, where Dr. Maack quickly saw him, saw the obvious fractures and the burn. He had no obvious chest injuries, or anything above his waist, but Walt took a chest x-ray and that is what saved this man’s life. Walt saw that his aorta was separating from his heart. He did the right thing, got him quickly to SR Memorial, where two cardiac surgeons, Drs. Marchbanks and Cress reattached his aorta. The anesthesiologist was Healdsburg’s own Dr. Don Laurie.
My nurse Kathie thanked Dr. Marchbanks for saving her brother’s life, and Dr. Marchbanks said “No, Dr. Maack saved his life.” He even mentioned that in his dictation.
About 1989, a 16-year-old young lady was hit in the head with a shot put. She was brought to Healdsburg ER, where Dr. Maack saw her quickly. She seemed OK, but had about a two-inch laceration on her forehead.  Dr Maack reassured her father that she didn’t have a skull fracture, by opening up the wound and showing him the skull. The father of course was me, and I was looking at my daughter’s skull. I almost fainted.
Being thorough, Dr. Maack said we should do a CAT scan of her brain. My 14-year-old son said “You’d better check for dogs in their too.” So Dr Maack did, and found none. Dr Evans, Healdsburg radiologist, stayed late at the hospital to read the scan.
About 1992, I got a call from Dr. Maack and he said: “Dave, I have one of your patients here, and I wonder if she might have tetanus.” And as much as I respected Dr Maack, I said “Walt, come on, you are kidding me, no one gets tetanus anymore.”
Well, as it turns out, she was born in Russia before WWII, and we could not find any records in her chart that she had ever been vaccinated. Dr. Maack was correct. He had never seen a case of tetanus before, but recognized it in her. She was sent down to a hospital in San Francisco that had treated a few, and she survived, thanks to Dr. Maack.
Dave Anderson, MD
Geyserville
Housing costs and rental rates
Editor: As a community we need housing for the people who work here, including our nurses, teachers, policemen and others who work here.
No-growth policies pushed on us by outsiders, including Mr. Winston and Conservation Action, have backfired and are a big part of the problem. Realtors in some cases have pushed prices well over the market prices to maximize commissions. City policies, which in the past have been creative, have not of late.
An example of the creative city policies of the past: When areas A and D development agreements were entered into the development included: (1) A Burbank senior housing project with affordable rents; (2) A Burbank sweat equity project where prospective buyers met their down payment with contributed labor; (3) a segment designed for housing teachers and government employees so those that serve us live here; and (4) market rate middle income housing for a majority of the units as well as some upper end housing, all of which worked together economically. Shame Area C was not done the same way.
City fees for new housing should be consistent with the state development fee law, which I helped draft, and they are not. Processing of projects should be timely and reasonable, not overly bureaucratic as sometimes is the case.
The city however, which has hired a lot of high priced consultants, who sometimes don’t know what they are talking about, but not sought the advice of the county’s largest nonprofit affordable housing developer (Burbank) might have erred seriously.
They might also consult the League of California Cities on successful inclusionary housing policies that have worked elsewhere in high cost markets. The council should begin drafting an Initiative to undo most, if not all, of its no-growth ordinance. The Planning Commission should begin a review of the city General Plan Housing Element, starting with an inventory of all developable and redevelopable sites and develop new policies based on an appropriate housing mix that is economically feasible as well.
For current rental housing, the city needs to assure tenants their housing is safe and properly maintained. If the building inspectors are not up to it, let the fire department enforce the fire code as they did in the past when we were engaged in redevelopment of the downtown. We don’t need rental controls but those using AirBnB should have the proper preapprovals from the city and pay Transient Occupancy Taxes or risk being cited and fined for tax evasion. Property managers should not encourage outrageous rents just to increase property management fees.
The city should return to a balanced housing-jobs mix instead of throwing all its eggs in the tourism basket.
Kurt Hahn
Healdsburg
Good theater
Editor: My wife and I just spent a delightful afternoon at the Raven Theater enjoying the Neil Simon play “Brighton Beach Memoirs.” The Raven Players are one of Healdsburg’s artistic gems. For many seasons they have produced exceptionally good theater. This production was right on the mark. We were treated to a wonderfully creative and colorful set and outstanding acting.
We found the play poignant, funny and an insightful look at family dynamics. It takes place in 1937, but is relevant today. If you have not seen it, we encourage you to treat yourself this weekend. It plays Friday, Feb. 12, Saturday, Feb. 13 and ends on Sunday, Feb. 14.
Lew and Elaine Sbrana
Healdsburg