LETTERS FROM READERS

Long ER wait

My son woke up and needed medical help, so we rushed over to Palmdale Regional Hospital and during check-in, the ER tech told us, “just so you know it could be up to a 14 hour wait for a doctor to see him.”

Of course I was taken back by the time he gave me. I couldn’t believe it. When I questioned him about this, he went to tell me that it used to be almost 24 hours to be seen by a doctor!

Maybe it’s understandable if we have a full ER, but the ER waiting room had under 30 people and a few of us were with our loved ones, so it’s probably less count when it comes to patients. Gustavo Cruz

Littlerock

A PSA

This is a public safety announcement. Please don’t drink or text and drive. More importantly do not vote democrat. I approved this message. Thank you.

Gerardo Hernandez Palmdale

Learn about the plans

There are nearly 20 hospitals in the City of Los

Angeles to serve its 4 million residents.

Contrast that to Antelope Valley — where we have only two hospitals to serve a growing population that currently sits at around 500,000 people. And only one of those hospitals — Antelope Valley

Hospital — is a full service, nonprofit hospital, meaning it will serve anyone who walks through the door, regardless of their ability to pay.

Unfortunately, the future of Antelope Valley Hospital is in jeopardy. The current facility does not meet new earthquake safety standards and if a new hospital is not built, Antelope Valley Hospital will be forced to close.

Imagine a half million people sharing one for-profit, non-full-service hospital that can pick and choose who it treats. Imagine you or your loved ones having to be transported all the way to Los Angeles to be treated for a trauma. That’s a long way to go when every minute counts.

Antelope Valley Hospital is working to prevent that scenario from becoming reality by building a new facility. The Antelope Valley Healthcare District Board of Directors is asking voters to fund a portion of a new hospital through a $350 million bond that will be on the March 3 ballot. Not only would this allow Antelope Valley Hospital to stay open, it would also give our region a new, state-of-the-art facility that will increase capacity and allow the hospital to meet the community’s needs for generations to come.

I encourage you to visit new.avhospital.org to learn more about plans for a new hospital and what it will mean for the community.

Don Parazo, M.D. Antelope Valley Hospital

What a shame

Just got the paper this morning and much to my chagrin, I noted that the head line read “ProTrump group disrupts forum,” as a Trump supporter, but more importantly, as an American, I’ve got to go on record and say, shame on us.

Shame on the people that disrupted the forum and shame on both sides for continuing to belittle each other.

Robert Mc Gregor

Palmdale