Cartoon unfair ADVERTISING Cartoon unfair I stared at your editorial comic published on June 8 in disbelief. It depicted staff going to surgery with a saw and hammer. I then realized that the Tribune-Herald is like the tabloids — if
Cartoon unfair
I stared at your editorial comic published on June 8 in disbelief. It depicted staff going to surgery with a saw and hammer. I then realized that the Tribune-Herald is like the tabloids — if it shocks it sells. I was going to leave it at that, but then I realized the Tribune is part of cause of why Hilo Medical Center has some of the reputation that it has.
I have worked for Hilo Medical Center for over 30 years and have seen our ups and downs. I’ve also worked at other mainland big name facilities in Florida and California, and I can tell you that ALL hospitals have their issues.
What you have done is perpetuate the perception that we have nothing better to offer than a handyman with a saw and a hammer. You, sir, are part of the problem in your depiction, not part of the health care solution.
Does Hilo Medical Center have issues? Of course we do. Do patients expect and demand perfection? Of course; that is in our nature. Are we perfect? No, and to be blunt, as human beings, we will never be perfect 100 percent of the time. Do we need to say we are deeply sorry to the community for not meeting our patients’ expectations?
I cannot speak for anyone at the hospital except myself, but I want to publicly apologize to each and every one of you that I may not have served with my very best or in some way did not meet your needs over the years. WE need you. I ask only that when you need health care that you consider giving Hilo Medical Center a try. I think that you will see many hardworking people (just like you) trying to make OUR (yours and mine) hospital the best in the state. If you want to see the health care services in Hilo that you seek, help us by keeping your health care dollars in the community, instead of sending them to Honolulu.
Don’t get me wrong, Honolulu has many great hospitals, but we also have a great facility right here in Hilo with some physicians that, in my opinion, are the best in the nation.
Tell us when we fail so we can change. Tell your friends and neighbors when we do well.
With your cartoon, you have succeeded in your goal, but in the process you may have driven some in our community away from the one facility that will do everything in its power to serve our community and perhaps one day be the place that will save your life.
Damage is done, but I ask you to please consider your impact on this community in the future by acting responsibly.
Stephen Palmore
Mountain View
Got food?
GMO or non-GMO, pesticide or pesticide free, organic or non-organic, caged animals or free-range animals. We don’t care. We are hungry. Just show us the food!
Rick LaMontagne
Volcano
Protect the duck
Hawaii’s native species need and deserve protection, regardless of Sydney Ross Singer’s notions (Tribune-Herald, Your Views). Our native wildlife is a large part of what makes Hawaii the uniquely wonderful place it is; dismissing those marvelous plants and animals as “unsuccessful” is wrong.
Hawaii’s native species evolved in and adapted to conditions in these islands. When Westerners invaded, they brought other invaders too: mosquitos, sleeping vine, house sparrows and dozens of others. Our native species did not cope well with the invaders.
That’s not their fault; it’s ours. We have lost more than half the marvelous birds here when Capt. Cook first visited. Shall we just shrug our shoulders and say, “Oh, well, it’s fine to have mynas and house finches; why bother to save palila, ‘akepa, or ‘akohekohe?” Or should we be the best possible stewards of the land possible, and save what remains of the original Hawaiian plants and animals?
It’s easy to make excuses for exterminating the last of Hawaii’s native creatures and plants. It takes work to restore habitat for our natives, including the koloa maoli. Do not be misled by Mr. Singer’s foolishness: the koloa maoli is not unsuccessful when given a chance to exist without invasive competition. On Kauai, where there are no Mallards, the koloa maoli do well. That can happen on Hawaii Island, too, if they are given the chance.
If Mr. Singer is so in love with Mallards, coqui, and other introduced species, let him visit them in their native habitats. Let us preserve Hawaii for Hawaii’s own species.
Dan Lindsay
Hilo
