Letters to the Editor - The Lakeville Journal - 11-11-21

Gratitude from nurses and staff

On behalf of the Nurses and Staff at the Birthing Suites of Sharon Hospital, we want to sincerely thank the moms, dads, and families of the Save Sharon Hospital Group. On Oct. 26 they surprised us by dropping off a beautiful bouquet of flowers, delicious pastries, and most significantly, two 5’ x 3’ posters adorned with each family’s pictures and testimonials of their birth stories.  (Special thanks to the four-year-old former patient, who did a great job writing each of our names on the hearts that bordered the posters!)

It is hard to put into words how much this means to us.  Working in the Birthing Suites these past few years, especially since the first announcement of a potential closure, has been an emotional roller coaster. Not knowing how long we will have this job, or if we will be able to continue with maternal-child nursing is incredibly sad and stressful. However, we’ve stayed despite the uncertainty because our unit is a very special place.

Our patients’ rooms have large plate glass windows that overlook the rolling hills and farmland of Northwest Connecticut. There is something about looking out at that peaceful landscape that sets the tone for what we do, how we do it, and for whom we do it. We take pride in knowing our roles, working together, and caring for our families. It’s a very special privilege to be present for the birth of a baby, and it’s a great responsibility to support a family dealing with a loss.  We are all keenly aware of how fortunate we are to work in such a capacity in service to this community.

Reading the birth stories on these posters brought back great memories! To receive this loving tribute from our moms and their families has been a bright spot during these difficult times, and a reminder of why we all chose this profession and specialty. So, thank you, Save Sharon Hospital!  No matter what the future holds, we are truly grateful for the opportunity we have had to serve you, and the families of this community.

Kim Beres, RN

On behalf of the nurses and staff at the Birthing Suites

Sharon

Such an important issue for all of us

I have been reading about the proposed changes at the Sharon Hospital. It is worrisome to say the least and getting worse. I am not optimistic.  Somewhere along the way the purpose of a hospital has been lost in the aim to make a lot of money for someone. Patients don’t matter anymore.

Nuvance Health System feels it is too expensive to maintain the maternity department.  From what I’ve read it is overstaffed. All of those individuals don’t need to be there for each delivery. All that is really needed is a midwife/nurse and a doctor in case of a complication. I don’t know the history of complicated births at the hospital, but assume there are specialists on call.

My experience with child birth was some years ago at a Naval Air Station hospital.  There was one OB-GYN who I saw on visits, but he might not be on duty at the time of delivery. I accepted whoever was in the ER at the time. I could not gain more than 20 pounds or I’d have to go to a civilian doctor. I had to bring a package of disposable diapers as the Navy didn’t stock those. I paid only for food.

My advice for any woman in the area who gets pregnant is to find out from her doctor what to do if labor starts at home.  The local rescue squads know what to do and get her to the ER at the hospital. The hospital has to treat her.

It is a sad state of affairs, but remember money is the most important thing to the folks operating the hospital now.

Carolyn McDonough

North Canaan

Thanks to our town registrars

We would like to thank and express our admiration for Salisbury’s Registrars of Voters, Karin Gerstel and Maureen Dell. These two women, one Democrat and one Republican as mandated by Connecticut state law, have spent countless hours attending to their duties which include creating and maintaining the official registry list for the Town of Salisbury, maintaining and preparing the voting machines, hiring and appointing poll workers, training poll workers, ensuring proper set-up of the polling place, ensuring proper reporting of candidate totals on election night, and conducting post election recounts and audits.

Karin’s and Maureen’s attention to detail both in the maintenance of the official registry and in ensuring proper set-up of the polling place, particularly during the last two elections during the Covid-19 pandemic, is to be commended. They have worked together with incredible patience, good humor and definitely in a non-partisan manner.

Hedwig (Chany) Wells,

Deputy Registrar (D)

Harriet Weiss,

Deputy Registrar (R)

Salisbury

Is this the revenge of Eversource?

So often during a big storm, people lose their electricity, water, TV, and heating, sometimes for days at a time. We often complain that Eversource has taken too long to repair service. I am sure Eversource is sensitive to these criticisms and now they are taking their revenge.

Starting on Route 4 near Ellsworth, they have been cutting down all trees near the road, and not just the trees near the electric and telephone lines but on the far side of the street where there are no poles with internet and electric lines. A large chipper is following the trucks and spraying the  wood chips back onto the side of the road. Will this massive tree cutting, where often there are no electric lines, really reduce the incidents in service during storms?

After finishing with Route 4, will they sweep up Route 41? There is a large piece of land with fields owned by the Sharon Land Trust and used by a local farmer. The farmer tapped the three Sugar Maples along the road for sap for syrup last spring. Will the Sugar Maples be made into wood chips to support Eversource’s revenge against our complaints?

Hard to believe this sweeping elimination of mature trees along our state roads, many located far from our electric lines, will really make Eversource more efficient at bringing us electricity during future winter storms.

Liz Piel

Sharon

Benefit as many as possible with action

Part of permaculture is a design process to help save energy and share resources among people. We are all concerned about the needs of people for healthcare over their lifetime and especially for emergency care and being born safely.

The overall view in terms of geographical location, numbers of people served, cost of services, and other benefits to those working or using the services of a hospital, school, library, faith or other facility or service are important to map out.

Options for other hospitals, schools or facilities to meet the needs of a number of people or ways to share resources whether staff, facilities, costs,or even consumers are all parts of a puzzle or process more people can appreciate. With emergency needs for medical care, often people are transported by ambulance or helicopter to get more advanced care and services.

The needs of each age group by the decade, including preparing all pregnant people to  have support for health and living safely (even with housing to provide safety, nutrition and counseling if needed) would be a wise investment. Caring for people in home settings, offering transportation to cut down on dangerous driving and numbers of vehicles on the road, and providing comprehensive mental health and drug prevention and recovery services are all worthy goals. In terms of delivery options, perhaps housing near larger hospitals with safe transport could be provided for a week to labor safely and go to the hospital when needed.

If a larger number of deliveries can be done at a hospital, more consumers could access those with more planning. A community wide systems approach assessing how people can be served across artificial or current boundaries may help more people benefit and resources go further.

Through decades of community outreach and advocacy, I network with others and share ideas to assess many situations and concerns to prevent an array of challenges and improve life for more people at all stages of life.

Catherine Palmer Paton

Falls Village