Letters to the editor on unvaccinated health care workers, Cuba and EMS

Unvaccinated health care workers

Sadly, during this time of increased illness and hospitalizations from the Delta variant, approximately one quarter to one third of health care workers in this country remain unvaccinated against Covid 19. While this percentage is less than the national average, it is too high. Besides protecting ourselves from serious illness with Covid19, we as health care workers have a professional, ethical and moral responsibility to protect our patients, and any others that we come in contact with, from transmission of the virus. The currently available vaccines are phenomenally effective at preventing serious infection with this deadly pathogen, and overall decrease the risk of transmission to others by 80-90%.

The recent increase in covid infections and hospitalizations in this country are directly attributable to the spread of the Delta variant among the unvaccinated, and those persons put unvaccinated health care workers at risk of not only contracting the disease, but also spreading it to other patients. Given the availability of highly effective and safe vaccines, this situation is both unnecessary and avoidable.

We, the physicians of Infectious Disease Consultants, join with the growing number of organizations throughout the country in calling for the universal vaccination of all health care workers. Vaccination of all eligible persons is the number one best strategy we have at this point to control and defeat this pandemic. Health care organizations have an obligation to provide a safe work environment for their employees and patients, and health care workers have an obligation to protect their patients with whom care is entrusted.

Universal vaccination of all health care workers should be implemented as soon as possible as it is the best and most highly effective means available to protect the health and well-being of our patients and the most vulnerable of those among us.

Cuba

After reading the article on Cuba in the Sunday Eagle — “Victimization narrative for Cuba is utterly outrageous” — l agree with one thing: Cuba’s poor economic performance has nothing to do with not having access to U.S. markets. Communism is a failed ideology.

The reason that China is doing so well is that workers from western democracies (those with labor laws and health and safety enforcement) have to complete against basically slave labor. Cuba could do the same except we do not allow that to happen. Communism is the abuse of civil liberties. Abuse of worker rights.

Trading with them gives those authoritarian regimes wealth and power. It gives them the means to spread that failed ideology. In economic terms slavery is a success. It was when people stood up to its immorality that it failed. It is time for western democracy to stand up to the immorality of communism. Our foreign policy in respects to Cuba is a success. Our foreign policy in respects to China is a failure.

Privatizing EMS

Response times are the life and blood of a good ambulance service. Those responses are critical in many cases such as a cardiovascular incident or life threatening injuries.

We were members of the Board of Health some years ago when Sedgwick County transitioned from a lackluster private ambulance service to an exceptional, nationally recognized, public ambulance service. Our Sedgwick County EMS was a point of pride.

Now, EMS response times have fallen significantly and there have been a number of resignations from the service, endangering the public health. In the process of addressing that, some Sedgwick County commissioners have mentioned once again privatizing EMS.

Whatever the reasons for this decline in our once exemplary ambulance service, be it leadership, remuneration or underfunding, it must be corrected. Public Health is one of the primary roles of government. Let’s not try to outsource the EMS once again. Let’s fix it.