Doctors should back Erlanger innovations
Last week’s front-page story, “Game of Hearts” by reporter Steve Johnson, provided insightful information. The idea of bypass surgery being performed without opening the chest cavity is as revolutionary as when Erlanger first introduced open-heart surgery to our community 50 years ago. Critically ill patients who might not have been able to undergo CABG surgery can now be saved by this new surgical procedure.
That said, and although I have great respect for the business decisions made in the past by Memorial Hospital, I was discouraged by the position taken by Memorial’s newest owners. Rather than being supportive of this procedure – which will save lives and money – Memorial’s leadership defensively remarked that their surgeons and staff were local, entitled to local support. I was chagrined to hear this; every year millions of their dollars leave our community for non-local purposes.
Rather than touting their past successes, Memorial needs to send its physicians back to Erlanger, where most of them were trained, to learn this new procedure for the good of their patients.
As a former Erlanger hospital board member, I support any innovation that will provide better quality health care in our community.
Russell T. King
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Parking policy didn’t show city in best light
The message was loud and clear. It was delivered by the parking tickets fluttering in the breeze and adorning the cars with out-of-state license plates. The cars were lined up on Broad Street; my bet is that they were here as part of the magnificent Head of the Hooch regatta. That’s where we were headed when we saw them. They were just some of the fine folks visiting our city over the weekend, pumping millions of dollars into our economy.
Couldn’t we have welcomed them by establishing a free parking Saturday? The nice lady writing the tickets could have worked that day as a “parking ambassador,” keeping parking orderly, or the money from the meters was so desperately needed, she could have helped folks understand and navigate the pay process. But, no, that’s not the message we delivered. Instead, we simply said “Welcome to Chattanooga; up yours!”
Rob Piper, Flintstone, Ga.
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Report more on Allegiant Air issues
Can your local reporters discover how many Allegiant Air flights to or from Chattanooga have experienced mechanical problems and terrifying experiences for the passengers like those described in your front page story on Monday?
My brother and nephew were flying Allegiant from Orlando to Chattanooga on Sept. 29 when I received this text message from my brother: “Plane going down, trying to make it back to airport.” When they were safely back on the ground, he called and told me that the engine had caught fire shortly after take-off and the pilot made a steep turn, almost stalled the plane and barely made it back to the airport, where emergency equipment was lined up on both sides of the runway.
Since the pilot declared an emergency for this flight, there should be a record of it and others on file with the FAA.
Vaughn Riley