RenewLV and the League of Women Voters (Northampton County) will host a community forum tonight in an effort to build public support for the controversial Lehigh Valley Health Department and the benefits of public health services. It should be one helluva' show because Northampton County Bulldog, a bitter opponent of this proposal, plans to attend. I'm sure he'll have lots of questions and even more opinions. I'll be there, too. I hope the ambulances are on standby.Who: Session Panel:
· Alberto Cardelle, PhD, MPH - East Stroudsburg University
· John Reinhart, M.Ed. - Bangor Area School District, Superintendent, Member of the Lehigh Valley Board of Health
· David Lyon, MD, MPH - Easton Hospital, Chair, Lehigh Valley Board of Health
· Gerald Barron, MPH - Center for Public Health Practice at University of Pittsburgh, Public Health Consultant to the Lehigh Valley Board of Health
What: Informal forum, free and open to the public, to promote discourse and consideration of a Lehigh Valley Health Department. Brief presentations from each of the panelists will be followed by plenty of time for questions and discussion. Topic discussed will include discussion on how the H1N1 situation has highlighted the need for a regional public health department. Light refreshments will be provided.
When: Tuesday, December 8th, 2009, 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Where: Washington Elementary School, 381 Washington Blvd. (Rt. 191), Bangor, PA
14 comments:
This Panel has a group of individuals that has been pushing this square wheeled wagon for years. I am sure they will be pouring sugar all over this turd.
I support regional public health in thery, but the devil is in the details. I am willing to listen to what these advocated have to say. They know it is in trouble, and are reaching out. I will do my best to hear them out.
Will Morganeeli be there? Rhinehart cant be superintenidant and be on the health bureau. Send in the SWAT team John
It's not a question of IF but rather how long into the presentation will they knock one of the park with the ever popular.."But it's for the poor innocent helpless children Who will be the monster in this crowd who will deny this poor child's health ?" Of course this is far more effective if you bring a couple of young afflicted kids to the presentation.
I'm being satirical, but I do actually feel monies spent on a "health department" could be better spent by giving vouchers to actual sick kids to visir existing services already available.
That is IF the counties feel it's their responsibility in the first place. I don't believe it is. Isn't Gracedale's $'s enough for the county to deal with at the present time?
FYI Only.
A friend attended last week's meeting in Coplay and said it was very informative. Said the public was allowed to ask any question it wanted. Said the panel members were open and friendly to audience concerns.
Now, for the juicy part. Who is the Bulldog?
There is no Bulldog. Only a moron named Ron Angle who doesn't understand anything about what makes good public policy.
Thanks, Jonathan.
Jonathan Geeting, You do't make Angle, but yourself look foolish with that kind of hate. You exhibit the very behavior you condemn in him.
The Northampton County Bulldog = Ron Angle
I don't hate anybody. I just think that Angle's preoccupations on this issue rest on personal grievance and petty Fiefdom Politics that are unbecoming of a public servant. As in the case of the Iron Pigs resolution, his blinkered perspective fails to take into account the huge benefits of regional planning FOR THE REGION. He's paranoid that Allentown could get a slightly better deal than Bethlehem, which is, of course, meaningless in terms of the problems such a health board is designed to address. Think about an Outbreak scenario. Does it matter who is paying more for what if the region is adequately prepared to deal with a pandemic? No, it doesn't. Is it worth paying higher taxes for a better-coordinated public health system? Yes, it absolutely is. Too many council people like Angle are too preoccupied with maximizing their personal influence that they foolishly ignore the truth that certain problems must be addressed at the regional level to be effective. Angle appears to see the LV cities' interests as pitted against each other. Being a provocative Bulldog is not the same thing as being a good public servant
Jonathan Geeting,
You could say that w/o calling Angle a moron, engaging in the very behavior you condemn in him.
His view concerning regionalism actually reflects a consensus on NC Council. They pretty much view regionalism, as Lamont McClure himself stated, "a one way street" in which NC and LC give and Allentown takes. Contrary to your view and that of the unelectred aristocrats who make up the LV Partnership, the LV does not exist to endow A-town. NC does not exist to subsidize people who are already multimillionaires.
NC sould not give a dime to a request that comes intermixed with condescending insults, which was certainly the case in Tom Muller's email.
I have no problem with regionalism when it is a two-way street. But in the LV, all roads lead to Allentown.
Angle represents the slate belt district on NC Council. He is right to be concerned that his constituents will be subsidizing the Allentown and bethlehem health departments while they get and see nothing for years. By expressing those concerns, he is doing his job.
Calling him a moron for his views is an insult, not just to him, but to every person in is district. You might want to think twice before using that bombastic language again, especially when you sign your post. It reflects poorly on you, and you're no Ron Angle.
Angle has it exactly backwards. The slate belt areas are a net drag on the regional economy, hardly self-sufficient, and they only benefit by entering into a regional compact with the larger metros by relinquishing control over the administration of health services that their small budgets and limited staff simply don't have the capacity to provide. Regionalism in general helps grow the economic pie of the whole region by concentrating investment in the city cores where economic activity is actually centered. If the city centers become more productive, the government is able to collect more revenue and provide better services to the rural areas. In the case of the coordinated health department, I really just don't understand the contention that the rural areas aren't benefitting. They rightfully want to invest the money where the capacity exists to administer the department's functions, and that's Allentown. How would Angle structure it? The reason I think Angle is a moron is that he actually thinks his repugnant stance is somehow helpful to his constituents, when in fact he's just leaving them vulnerable to a pandemic, and standing in the way of the people laying the groundwork for the regional coordination that is badly needed on other economic development issues as well. And I surely don't mean to have implied that I think there is particularly enlightened leadership on the Democratic side of Northampton County Council either.
"That is IF the counties feel it's their responsibility in the first place. I don't believe it is."
Ron Angle asks that same question, but that shows his naivete regarding the state of affairs to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The Commonwealth is in a budget crunch and the DOH cannot fulfill it's obligations to rural Pennsylvania. The DOH has abrogated it's responsibilities to the people, like those in the Slate Belt. It is the responsibility of government, to provide these services.
The Lehigh Valley is lucky that the two municipalities have a Bureau of Health respectively. However, I believe if you combine the two city health bureaus, you would be better able to leverage state money with services. The only thing that I agree with Angle, is that we must be careful that the State does not manipulate the budget again for the Lehigh Valley Health Board.
Bullshit!
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