• Great performance • Why fight for smokers’ rights? • Smokers’ guilt • Flexibility at Wilcox? • Hail, unsung heroes Great performance We recently had the opportunity to attend Island School’s production “The Belle of Amherst” starring Nola Ann Conn.
• Great performance
• Why fight for smokers’ rights?
• Smokers’ guilt
• Flexibility at Wilcox?
• Hail, unsung heroes
Great performance
We recently had the opportunity to attend Island School’s production “The Belle of Amherst” starring Nola Ann Conn. We were delighted to have seen a professional performance that carried the entire audience into the world of Emily Dickinson, one of our favorite poets. Nola Conn’s one-woman show went beyond time and space. Conn’s portrayal of Emily brings to life the spirit and love that motivated a truly great American poet. Our hats are off to you, Nola Ann Conn.
Dave and Caelica Covel
Kilauea
Why fight for smokers’ rights?
This is in response to “Smoking bill goes too far” by David Crowley, Hawaii Smoker Alliance, in the Letters section, Feb. 4.
First, I cannot, for the life of me, understand why anyone would choose to smoke in this day and age when study after study shows that it causes diseases and other detrimental effects. But for someone like David Crowley to condemn our government for banning smoking in public housing is absolutely absurd. The definition of “public housing” is “a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority.” Therefore if it is owned and operated by the government (and in the end paid for by the taxpayers), they have every right to decide what people can and cannot do. Also, I find it interesting that the people in public housing can afford to buy cigarettes, but for some reason can’t seem to find enough money to pay the rent. Someone buying a carton of cigarettes every week would have an extra $2,600 per year to go toward housing (that’s $217 per month). Smoking is not a necessity in life. Housing, clothing and food are. I wish people like Crowley would fight for things that are actually important to life, instead of those things that only cause death and disease.
Smokers’ guilt
I have to admit that the smell of smoke really bothers me. However, my main reason for being a fairly vocal advocate for people to stop smoking is that I have known too many who have died from or suffered with lung cancer.
It is a nasty way to die.
My mother is a lung cancer survivor and part of her treatment was to have part of a lung removed. She will have a hard time breathing for the rest of her life.
I know that many smokers do not believe that second-hand smoke really hurts anyone. I personally believe they tell themselves that because they do not want the guilt of knowing they are hurting anyone. Since second-hand smoke hurting others is not an argument they will agree with I thought of a different approach that seems to sink in.
I just say, “What if I sat here passing gas all night? You know it is not going to kill you but you don’t want to smell it, do you?”
Bruce Lenores
Kapa‘a
Flexibility at Wilcox?
As I read the article “Healthy Partnerships” in the Business section of the Feb. 4 The Garden Island, it made me wonder what Wilcox Hospital’s Orthopedic Department is thinking taking on patients from Maui and the Big Island when they can’t even handle the patients they have here. The comment made by Dr. Rovinsky was icing on the cake. He says in his interview that Wilcox Hospital is able to run its orthopedic surgery unit 24/7 because his entire staff is hired with flexibility as a prerequisite. I personally have experienced something quite different. After being seen by one of Dr. Rovinsky’s orthopedic doctors in the ER I was told I would have to wait until the next week to have my broken bone repaired with surgery. I was told there is only one operating room on the weekends, and the anesthesiologist would be very upset if he/she had to do another surgery that day. Not to mention the staph infection I got in my incision after the surgery which almost required me to be hospitalized and many other issues which I won’t go into here. I have also personally seen this happen to my neighbor and a family member. They were told they would have to wait for surgery because no one was available. And now Dr. Rovinsky is so proud of the fact that Wilcox Hospital/Kauai Medical Group is able to take on Maui and The Big Island’s overflow? I just don’t get it. Is it just me or do you see something wrong with this picture? And this is the reason I go to O‘ahu for all my medical treatment now.
Anne Brookstone
Kapa‘a
Hail, unsung heroes
I’d like to wish a happy PeriAnesthesia Nurses Week to the perianesthesia nurses of Kaua‘i. Perianesthesia nursing focuses on the care of patients undergoing surgery and procedures that require sedation, analgesia, and anesthesia.
This years theme is “Advocacy PeriAnesthesia Nurses: Be the voice.” As nursing advocates we are committed to provide safe, quality care to our patients and encouragement to our nursing colleagues.
Joan Kutzer, RN
Kilauea
