1,000 reasons for mental health unit
Please see the facts below regarding mental health. I understand Parkridge Hospital is exercising some legal tactics to delay our project to build a new mental health hospital in Chattanooga. I feel strongly that this community needs additional mental health services in this region.
In 2015, more than 1,000 patients in Erlanger’s emergency departments needed placement for behavioral health issues.
Patients in Erlanger’s Emergency Department have waited as long as 168 hours for placement in a behavioral health facility.
In 2015, 10,000 patients were admitted to Erlanger with co-existing medical and behavioral health conditions.
The second leading cause of death for those aged 10 to 24 is suicide.
More people died from opioid overdoses in Tennessee in 2014 than from car accidents.
Allen Bible, Erlanger Health System
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Government can’t improve economy
When will we realize government doesn’t make wealth; it only taxes wealth and redistributes wealth?
Government produces nothing. Government makes nothing.
Government cannot grow our economy, nor improve our economy. Wealth is added only when some factory makes something and someone sells it.
Our country improves only by working and making, not by taxing and spending.
Gerald Whitely, Ringgold, Ga.
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When is it enough money? Here’s when
State Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, asked at last week’s legislative Education Summit, which was heavy on legislators and light on educators, “When is it enough? Is money the real problem?”
This is the inevitable question of skinflints who refuse to admit how pitiful Tennessee education expenditures, for generations, have dribbled into its public schools. I propose the following criteria to assist Rep. Carter and his ilk to determine school funding:
* When state expenditures per pupil reach, at a minimum, the national median, instead of decades in the bottom 10.
* When every school at every level – poor and rich alike – have resident art and music teachers.
* When all schools have decent, sewage-free athletic facilities and gyms for sports and recreation.
* When class sizes are determined by educators, not budget cuts, and tutoring is available to struggling students.
* When teachers can budget for reasonable, regional field trips and supplies without resorting to internet fundraisers.
* When kids no longer sell coupon books, candy or wrapping paper, and their parents no longer cough up constant fees for basic supplies and programs.
I recommend this list also be used to judge the performance of legislators.
Lisa Lemza