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Show I 'I P iBoten tel mm m wMMM mmllmm I Leavitt says unaware of legislation The Governor's Advisory Countil for Comprehensive ftalth Planning was told last Thursday in Cedar City that the people of Southern Utah are tired of welfare abuse, TV Jingles to promote more food stamp sales, and being asked to compromise their principles, and give up their constitutional rights to re-ceive re-ceive certain health services. ser-vices. One young lady from New Castle, with babe in arms said, "I'd rather see my children die of the plague, than to sign away one of my rights under the constitution." constitu-tion." A second generation American, she had been asked to help the FCAG District Dis-trict Health Council to get a nurse practitioner for the town of New Castle. She was told there were no strings attached, but found the town would give up their rights under the sixth amendment under the agreement. agree-ment. She added, "My grandparents grand-parents did not come to this country for a handout, but because they had certain rights under the constitution." constitu-tion." Governor Rampton did not attend the public session Thursday, but was scheduled to address the executive session ses-sion on Friday. Wesley P. Larsen, Ph.D., a member of the Governor's Advisory Council, chaired the meeting which included about 30 members of the Council, ten staff members, and staff from the FCAG and the District Health Dept. He introduced Sen. Dixie Leavitt who made the keynote key-note address to the approximately approxi-mately 125 present. Sen. Leavitt espoused the- .yirtues of the FCAG, the 5-County Health District and the necessity of the advisory advis-ory council to plan social welfare and health programs. The tempo of the meeting chaneed when Iron Countv (Continued on Page 2) cal school tised Dr. t2 W ' a pi' , Pressure the 2 ture t0 rlteS tog doctors trJS H tice suits. He le ls a doct0UP.i and must he cnrJ H The meeting c' another hour 2 1, cratlc bunglm, istic trends. "H, velopment" which f (This law replaces the comprehensive health planning', plan-ning', 'regional medical program', pro-gram', and 'Hill Burton Authority'. Au-thority'. She then asked Lea-vitt Lea-vitt if this was not one of the topics of discussion for the executive session the next day. Leavitt again replied, he didn't know. At this time the Chairman Chair-man of the Advisory Council Coun-cil Dr. James O. Mason, stated that the lady was correct. cor-rect. He said, "that when the agenda for the meeting was planned, they expected to have the regulations of the new law. However, the regulations regu-lations were still not available. avail-able. They had been advised by the Governor to continue as before". He said he did not know if the law would completely eliminate the advisory ad-visory council, the local health district or incorporate incorp-orate them into the federal program in some capacity. Sen. Leavitt was asked what effect another federal bill would have on Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid Medi-caid by a member of the audience. au-dience. Again he replied he had no knowledge of the bill. Ife stated, he "had a difficult diffi-cult enough time keeping up with state legislation and could not keep up with how federal legislation affected the state." The meeting was scheduled sche-duled to end at 9:30 p.m., but when Dr. Larsen attemp- ted to adjourn, one young lady insisted that many had driven many miles to have their questions answered. She asked that those who wanted be allowed to go, but that the panel stay and answer an-swer other questions. A Cedar City chiropractor chiroprac-tor chastised the Council for lack of representation from the chiropractic and other medical fields. A local Cedar City dentist charged the Health District with infringing upon local dentists who have for years provided instruction, education edu-cation and check-ups in lo- HERE'S MORE ABOUT Leavitt Commission Chairman G. D. MacDonald faced the crowd and told them the ills of present and past health and welfare legislation, and what could and should lie done to correct some of these ills. The importance of his thinking, and the soundness of this advice cannot be cap-sulized. cap-sulized. His entire speech is printed elsewhere in this issue. The crowd, including many members of the Advisory Council, with the possible exception of some die-hard socialists, continued to applaud ap-plaud MacDonald until he rose and acknowledged their applause. Truman Bowler, chairman of the Washington County Commission who was scheduled sche-duled to speak, was absent, and Neil Christen sen, executive execu-tive director of FCAG, filled the void, followed by Dr. W. D. Trafton, director of the Southwestern District Health Dept., who told what the district dis-trict had done and what it planned to do. (BeaverCounty (BeaverCoun-ty has withdrawn from the District Health Dept. effective effec-tive Dec. 31, 1975).Dr. Latimer Lati-mer spoke on the cost of malpractice insurance and the effect it could have on the local medical situation. The meeting was opened to questions and answers. One lady, with bill in hand, asked Sen. Leavitt about the effect PL 93-641 would have on the Advisory Council and all this health planning. Leavitt replied he "knew nothing." She then read from Pub-' Pub-' lie Law 93-641 titled, "Summary "Sum-mary of National Health Planning and Resources De- |