Can’t go wrong by investing in a home

Say what you want about cookie-cutter homes, but for my money I would prefer to purchase one instead of renting.

Everyone said when Hayden Homes first came to town over 20 years ago the houses would not last and no one would buy them. Looks to me as if they are still standing and holding their value.

A home is what you make it. Most people in Redmond are not in the Bend income bracket and need something that they can be proud of and afford to live in, renter or owner. Invest in a home; you can never go wrong.

Martha Lewis

Redmond

Build a cost-effective, humane health system

How does creating a demand for highly skilled, well-paid physicians in Central Oregon become a new “health care mess.” Your April 26 editorial points out that a flood of new Medicaid patients under ACA/Obamacare is taxing the supply of primary care physicians in Central Oregon.

So, is the solution pushing these new enrollees off Medicaid, back into the shadows?

Before ACA, many of our neighbors and family members could not afford primary medical care and would wait until they were critically ill, and only then clog up our emergency rooms, where they received expensive services for serious illnesses that could have been treated at a much lower cost if caught earlier.

The hospitals were often not reimbursed for these services. This caused a huge financial drain on hospitals, state and local governments, and our communities; and it endangered all of our health, as contagious diseases in our communities went untreated.

ACA is forcing our society to face up to serious problems with our current health care system, including the lack of sufficient primary care givers in many of our rural and poor communities. Enrolling all these folks on Medicaid created more demand; the next step is more supply.

Let’s address this problem responsibly by providing answers, like increased enrollment and financial incentives for more nurse practitioners, physicians assistants and internists.

Let’s move forward to build a cost-effective and humane health care system in this country and stop burying our heads in the sands of political rhetoric.

Art Baden

Ashland

Kindness from the Bend Police Department

Recently, my neighbor called and told me there was a sick cat behind my car in the driveway. It was a little gray cat, obviously very sick. I talked to it and thought it might respond, but it didn’t.

My husband came out and stayed with it while I went back in the house to call animal control. I was told that they do not pick up cats. By this time, we had quite a few neighbors who were all very concerned. I then called the Humane Society. They told me the same thing! No cats!

Now, I know owning a dog is the “in” thing right now and dogs and their owners are high on the priority of all county and city officials. That’s just fine. But, we happen to love cats. Cats are animals, too!

Why is the welfare of a sick dog so important that it can sometimes even make the front page? Are sick cats any less important? I have nothing against the Humane Society and I know they are always short of funds, but would it be so terrible to come and put down a very sick little cat?

I had given the animal control dispatcher my information. She said she’d talk to someone and they would call me back. In a short time, a police officer drove up. I’m sorry I didn’t get his name, but he knows who he is and so do his co-workers. He was very kind and sympathetic. He put it in a box and told us he’d take it to a vet to be put down. I asked him who would pay for that, and he said the police department. And with no compensation. Just another expense.

My husband and I and all our concerned neighbors would like to thank the officer and his department for their kindness. They seemed to understand that loving a strange cat and wanting it taken care of is also humane!

Vicki Malone

Bend