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Show The with departments should be adversarial about anything? Let’s hope not. Meanwhile, the national search for a new City Chief continues apace. This effort, if it Nutshell Steve FROM RUSSELL... Russell & Jim produces a new Chief with a contract commensurate with a national search, will almost certainly have the effect of foreclosing any consideration of consolidation in the foreseeable future. Incidentally, rumor has it that the plum will go to a local, but not interim Chief Mike Navarre. While the Nutshell heartily endorses innuendo, rumor falls below our exacting standards. If the rumor turns out to be true however, we'll be back once again to examine why things are the way they are. Stiles ° Allen Memorial Hospital: An Idéntity Crisis The Hospital is kind of a mess, but what else is new? About four years ago, the County realized it was ill equipped to run a hospital and turned the reins over to Rural Health In the Bart Simpson D’oh Category: The April 6, 2000 issue of The Times-Independent carried a story that a "new study" found a 100% death rate of endangered fish and everything else below the Atlas tailings pile. D’oh. Let’s see a show of hands for anyone who honestly believed the crap leaking from the pile wasn’t dangerous to any non-mutant life forms. Oh sure, there is always the no-conclusive-proof crowd who also know very well, but who live in dwellings without mirrors and feel perfectly comfortable lying in our face. They’re happy to get away with it because we're within our comfort zone letting them get away with it. Them endangered whatevers ain’t even good eatin’ anyhow. Still, these test results have to be taken in context. It is to be expected that there will be a higher than normal fatality rate for fish trapped in cages at the discharge pipe, but that is hardly Atlas’ saving grace. The stuff kills. The point is not to wait until the entire river registers high enough concentrations to do the deed. The standard for mining waste and tailings piles should be presumed dangerous until conclusively proved safe. Otherwise the perpetrators will continue to find safe havens in bankruptcy or bailouts when the rape and pillage profits dwindle, whereupon Uncle Sam (read that, working people who actually pay taxes), will be forced to pick up the tab. That might not be so bad in a case like Atlas. The Feds should pay the tab for the fallout from - the Cold War nuclear arms race. In the future though, it would be nice for the responsible parties to step up to the plate before extinctions, massive die-offs or constituent cancer clusters force the issue. Or better yet, for mining companies, utilities and ‘heavy industry to do their dirty (but oh-so necessary for the American lifestyle!) business in such a way as to minimize the downstream risk. Yes, stuff will be more expensive in a responsible world, but yes, we should be willing to pay for it. Either that, or quit complaining and buy your fish from...good question, where will you buy your fish? Management. RHM had and has a track record of successfully running small hospitals in Utah, and it only makes sense to let health care professionals run a health care facility. The deal was advantageous for both. RHM was basically given the hospital, and Grand County solicited assurances that its residents would continue to have a hospital available and receive at least the level of health care the County had been able to provide. So what happened? Well, the initial projections of RHM about growth in Moab and the demand for hospital services may have been overly optimistic. There was a time in recent memory when the query, "Is there a doctor in the house?" was legitimate. Since RHM took over, there has been no shortage of physicians, sometimes as many as a half-dozen or more. Strangely though, while it’s relatively easy to see a doc in private practice, the willing availability of doctors on-call at and making referrals to the hospital is a different and more difficult kettle of fish. K At the heart of its problems, Allen Memorial seems to be mired in perpetual financial crisis. It has had trouble both in efficiently billing and collecting its receivables (Moab does have its fair share of folks who can’t or won't pay), and has at times seemed bereft of a sound financial plan. In fairness, the Hospital has a new CFO, and getting its economic ship afloat is now the number one priority of AMH administration. Most disturbing though, may be the answer to these questions: How many people do you know that go out of town for | medical procedures available here? Why have they done so? Lack of community confidence may be the biggest hurdle Allen Memorial faces. The identity crisis revolves around the basic issue of what kind of hospital Allen Memorial should be. RHM may well have envisioned a full service tertiary facility, however, Moab simply can’t support one. (If the big boom ever hits and the money is here, the medical industry will come.) On the other hand, it is beyond question that our community must have an adequate hospital available, both for the community and the large influx of visitors who tend to get cut, burned, and broken and who regularly fall off things. What to do? Happy Valley (Not); Why Things Are The Way They Are: (Part I, in a perpetual series) From a enforcement strictly practical standpoint, the notion of Moab City/Grand County law consolidation makes enough sense to at least merit honest and serious consideration. Grand County is hardly a megalopolis, and yet we have a plethora of separate law enforcement agencies swarming all over the Valley. (City, County, Highway Patrol and several flavors of Park and Public lands cops.) Would City/County consolidation be efficient and save money? Does the Pope have guilt issues? Unfortunately, there weren’t enough individuals in our multi-tiered governmental structure (strangely mirroring the law enforcement structure) willing to seriously consider the issue. The County and Sheriff Nyland didn’t want to blacken any toenails, the City force rather desperately clung to its turf and, with no one willing to assume a leadership role, no tough decisions were confronted and no feelings got bruised. Too bad. For what it’s worth, the opinion du jour is that there should be one central dispatch, one community cop administration, and a "City" force of two or three per shift on foot and bikes, sans guns and wrap-around sunglasses with a mandate to help people nea ste through their day, and blow the whistle on speeding or semiphore blowing truckers to their comrades on patrol. The lack of serious consideration of an obviously important public issue points to a disease process with dire implications for our little community. The disease, characterized by a severe decrease in independent thought and irrational elevation in the perceived importance of one’s elected or appointed position, is known as bureaucratic mind degeneration. Sometimes the exercise of public service should require cut-backs in the public sector. One of the first priorities in the back of the mind of any official dependent on the taxpayers’ teat should be, how can this job be eliminated without adverse consequences toward my constituents? The implication that the mere consideration of police force consolidation would necessarily cause a rift between the departments speaks volumes about a state of affairs where the maintenance of turf is seen as more important than the best interests of the community--and that observation applies across the board. Can anyone offer one good reason, even if you believe separate City and County police forces are necessary, that the | 1. Recruit a medical company or consortium willing to build, or publicly fund a modern, well-equipped critical care facility to triage and treat the basics. (RHM should have the initial opportunity to build and manage the facility) 2. Develop and/or strengthen the relationship with nearby tertiary hospitals in Salt Lake and Grand Junction--maybe invest in a helicopter. 3. Build and staff a good OB-GYN & birthing center. 4, Convert the existing hospital to an extended care and day care facility for seniors: Perhaps the existing Hospital could be sold to the private sector for the extended care facility, and that money made available for new medical facilities. Not to long ago, a $20,000 "study" concluded that Moab needs more extended care services, and probably a separate extended care facility. As usual, the study simply confirmed what most people already knew, and as usual nothing has been done. Presently, Grand County is seriously considering spending another $40,000 of our money on an audit to determine what is wrong with the Hospital. Rather than wasting money on an audit one hopes that someone will actually take some action to change or improve the current situation. The Good Stuff: By all accounts the recent 6th annual Moab Film Festival was a huge success. Record entries, record crowds and good flicks. Hopefully, Moab’s version will remain minor league, casual and easily accessible. Look out if you start to see black clothed partisans talking into several cell phones at once. On the bright side for Allen Memorial, the hospital was recently audited by the State licensing people who found, among other things, that our facility is among the cleanest rural hospitals in the State and that the staff functions well as a team providing quality patient care. The She and He Red Devil high school ballplayers are tearing up Division 2-A this year. Both have a good shot at State championships and they’re fun to watch. Go check ‘em out. 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