Noble cause
EDITOR: Sonoma County is still reeling from the wild conflagration in October. Everyday, there seems to be a new revelation about the many and varied consequences that our resilient residents have to contend with.
It is wonderful to witness the generosity of all the members of our community. The folks that lost everything desperately need our help. To those of you that are already helping, bless you. For those that have yet to participate, here is a great way to do your part.
Mario Ramos, the proprietor of the very popular Mexico Lindo restaurant in Graton, is delighted and determined to do his part to help. Mario is pleased to announce that on Tuesday, Nov. 28, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, every nickel of the proceeds from lunch and dinner will be donated to help with this noble cause.
Mario says, “We will open at 10:30 am on the 28th for lunch and we will stay open until we accommodate every hungry, caring person that wants to be involved.”
Señor Ramos is well known throughout west county. He is a caring member of the Rotary Club of Sebastopol. This should be a very popular day at Mexico Lindo, so lunch or dinner reservations will be advisable. All of the receipts from this benefit will be donated to The Rotary District 5130 Fire Relief Fund. If you can’t join us for a meal, but would like to donate, please drop a check off at the restaurant, payable to the above fund and Mario will happily get your check in the right hands.
Rick Wilson
Sebastopol
Thoughts on hospital
EDITOR: Thank you for Mr. Atkinson’s informative article (“IRS penalties may force hospital reorganization”) on Palm Drive Hospital/Sonoma West Medical Center’s current issues. What comes to mind is poor Little Red Riding-Hood’s (SWMC’s beleaguered board of directors or “RRHD”) struggles to escape the giant jaws of the Big Bad Wolf (“BBW”).
For the information of readers, my experience was as both an employee (formerly in the “Intermediate Care Unit” as a staff nurse in the late 90s) and then three times as a patient in the ER for a dislocated shoulder, as a orthopedic surgical patient and finally for a colonoscopy. When I was a worker in the 1990s, HCA, a health care conglomerate, owned and operated Palm Drive. Since then I do not have any direct experience except for once volunteering on a phone bank in the initial drive to create the health care district that ultimately evolved into the SWMC.
I follow the financial trials of the more recent past primarily through the Sonoma West’s staff of able reporters and editors. The hospital first must find a way to become profitable in a sustainable, long-term manner. Hospitals in general, especially small endeavors like Palm Drive is, are almost prohibitively expensive to operate. BBW is a nasty, hungry predator loose in the health care forest. It hasn’t helped to lose the properties and taxes along the Russian River. I admire directors Gail Thomas, Jim Horn and Eira Klich-Heartt, as well as Dan Smith, for all their hard work, financial generosity, and God-blessed dedication to date. They all deserve our thanks.
Even though there are few financial safeguards and/or firewalls in place, the SWMC’s relationship with Durall Capital Holdings appears to have been a good move, especially if revenues continue to be as good as they were in September ($5.9 million). What is needed is a single hospital director, a kind of CEO, or acting czar with powers to hire and fire staff, even to dismiss ineffective board members when needed. Fear can be a potent motivator, although when I was an employee, most of us absolutely loved being employees of Palm Drive Hospital. I am sure present day employees feel the same way about it today. God bless our little hospital that could.
Frank H. Baumgardner, III
Santa Rosa
Excellent piece
EDITOR: My father would often say, “It’s impossible to do one thing,” to remind my brother and me to look beyond what we thought was “a good idea at the time” (which he never said). Good examples of why this is an important way to evaluate decisions and their consequences were explained in Amie Windsor’s excellent piece in the Nov. 2 Harvest Edition of the newspaper: ‘Next Gen’ Farming.
Jane St. Claire
Healdsburg
Let the animals live
EDITOR: Mardi Storm of Trickster Rabbits (‘Heritage’ applies to more than tomatoes, 11/2/17) says “new and modern rabbits don’t like people; they aren’t friendly and not necessarily cuddly.” The millions of house rabbit owners nationwide would strongly disagree. Rabbits are now the third most popular pet, enjoying equal companion status along with dogs and cats; they even have an organization called House Rabbit Society advocating for their protection. I live with two rescued bunnies who know their names, use litter boxes, love to be petted, do binkies (a rabbit dance of joy), cuddle on the couch and hop around the house spreading delight wherever they go.
Whole Foods Market recently recognized that bunnies are considered more valuable as companions than dinner when, after scores of protests, they stopped selling rabbit meat in their entire chain of stores across America. The owner of a popular local grocery store told me that meat sales in general have declined sharply in the past few years, and he theorized that the emergence of more exotic meat is an attempt to rekindle interest. He admitted it hasn’t taken off.
Perhaps in our current culture, people are now becoming more interested than ever in adopting a plant-based diet to reverse heart disease and diabetes, lose weight, lessen their impact on global warming, live longer and healthier and to simply let the animals live.
Diana Rousseau
Forestville
