Health Care

GLENDALE — After promising to veto a health-care reform bill passed by the state Legislature on Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday called a special legislative session in hopes that lawmakers will reach a compromise that is less taxing on small businesses. The start of the session, which took effect immediately after Schwarzenegger’s announcement, came on the same day that the Legislature concluded its regular session to break for Rosh Hashana. In addition to health care, the special session will also provide a forum to continue debate on water policy, Schwarzenegger said.

Regarding Rep. Adam Schiff’s letter on health-care reform (“Health-care reform is due,” July 27), I agree to disagree. Good health care doesn’t start in the White House. It starts with each and every one of us taking responsibility for our own health. Millions of dollars each year are spent to provide free or low-cost health care to illegal immigrants, even in the prison systems. Additionally, the cost of the proposed health-care bill in Congress is more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years.

I want to thank the News-Press for giving the office of Assemblywoman Carol Liu an opportunity to respond to [Dave Wilcox's commentary]. I chaired the meeting to which the author refers as Ms. Liu remained in Sacramento in Legislative Session. The commentary appears to criticize Ms. Liu for bringing information on various health-care bills being considered in the Legislature to her constituents. The purpose of Assemblywoman Liu's Health Care Legislative Update Forum was not to advocate for any particular policy, but to explain and obtain feedback from 44th Assembly District constituents and stakeholders on what is being proposed.

GLENDALE — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to ensure minimum health-care coverage for all Californians has Glendale and Burbank hospital officials eager to see how such a program would be implemented. "It's complex and, quite frankly, we're still digesting it," said Patrick Petre, Administrator of Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. "Any time you get an announcement like this, you have to realize that he's making a political statement and the devil is in the details.

Demand for health services is on the rise at area hospitals, a trend that is likely to continue and increase the need for workers in the industry, according to a report from the Verdugo Workforce Investment Board. Health care is the second-largest industry in Glendale and Burbank, employing about 24,000 workers at area hospitals and clinics, according to the report. The entertainment industry, which accounts for the employment of about 50,000 area workers, generates the majority of the region’s economic activity, according to the board.

Robert Shaffer GLENDALE -- There's a health-care debate in the district, and it involves bills and amendments and seniors and one Republican congressman. Critics of Rep. James Rogan (R-Glendale) held a newsconference last week to protest the congressman's choice of one HMO bill over another, and charge him with misleading the public in a series of television advertisements promoting his position on health-care reform. Rogan's staff struck back, pointing out that one of the event's sponsors, Americans for Democratic Action, gave $1,000 to Rogan's opponent in an upcoming election, state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Glendale)

Thank you, Jim Kussman (“Reserve hotline for real crimes,” Aug. 10), for summing up the thought of many Glendale residents. The city should practice what it preaches about water conservation. Stop or slow down all the excessive development. Also, thanks to James Arone (“Keep government out of health care,” Aug. 10) for his excellent letter. All I can add is, God help us if this plan is passed! JOANNE SHADER Glendale   Town hall meeting was one-sided I attended the town hall meeting held by Rep. Adam Schiff in whose congressional district I reside (“Crowds riled on health care,” Aug. 12)

Area congressmen are getting heat from lobbyists on both sides of the national debate on health-care reform as the representatives arrive back in their districts for their August recess. Rep. David Dreier, who opposes the nearly $1-trillion plan in the House of Representatives that includes a public health insurance option, is one of 25 Republicans being targeted in a national ad campaign by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which supports the House proposals. Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who has said he would be hesitant to vote for a health-care-reform plan that did not include a public option, is in the crosshairs of a lobbying effort by fiscally conservative group Americans for Limited Government.

I attended the recent town hall meeting conducted by Rep. Adam Schiff, a man I admire and have great respect for. Although I am thoroughly in favor of health-care reform, I am very wary of any bill that includes a so-called “public option.” I would like to see what the Senate comes up with in the way of a compromise that might include medical co-operatives that have worked quite well in some parts of the country. Contrary to what many mailbag letters have said, I do not believe Medicare is a good argument for a public health care option.

How much longer do we want to watch health-care costs increase more than the cost of living, our economy flounder under the ever-increasing weight of health-care costs, persons with preexisting conditions be denied coverage, insurance companies terminate policies because the insured has a serious illness and families go bankrupt because of medical bills? We can’t wait or watch this tragedy any longer. I’ve read that a new federal study reports an estimated $2.5-trillion increase in health-care spending in 2009, and that this amount is expected to double by 2019.

Local hospitals and health care professionals agree they need to better integrate mental and physical care to address Glendale's most pressing health needs. For the Community Health Needs Assessment focus group, which meets once every three years, the most pressing public health issues affecting Glendale include obesity, smoking cessation, high blood pressure and diabetes. At a meeting Mondayof more than 30 representatives from local stakeholders - including Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Glendale Memorial Hospital and the Verdugo Hills Hospital - the city's most urgent health problems were discussed in terms of integrating services to have the highest impact.

Eli Hallak had always wanted to send the St. Francis High sports medicine program to a national competition, but all the ones he found took place in person and were too expensive with travel and room and board costs. Hallak, the director of St. Francis' sports medicine program, took matters into his own hands and developed the National High School Sports Medicine Championships, an online competition open to schools across the country, in association with the American Academic Competition Institute and John Meadows of the computer company Meadows and Associates.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) is used to asking tough questions as a member of the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees, but at Crescenta Valley High School on Monday, he was the one on the spot. Roughly 70 students from the school's ROTC and Advanced Placement Government classes heard from Schiff in an event moderated by AP Government teacher Alicia Harris. Students asked Schiff to explain his views on the Affordable Care Act, No Child Left Behind and the Armenian genocide, where the topic was pressure from Turkey to block legislation recognizing as a genocide the death of more than 1 million Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1923.

Glendale Adventist Medical Center was one of nine hospitals in California to earn the "Outstanding Achievement Award" from the Commission on Cancer this month. Glendale Adventist -- one of just two hospitals, including the Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, recognized by the commission in the L.A. region -- received the award for its cancer patient services. In a statement, Boris Bagdasarian, director of cancer services at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, said the honor was yet "another eternal endorsement of our commitment to improve the health care of our patients through quality care based on the best medical evidence available.

I don't usually comment on online articles or websites. Partly, it's because of the company that would put me in. Not that I think every online commenter is crazy. On the contrary, I'm sure there are several who could pass a mental competency test. But I don't like the idea of having my knee-jerk reactions recorded for posterity. Who knows? There may be a day when I decide that I was wrong all along about Donald Trump's hair or the artistic merits of “Two and a Half Men.” So when I'm tempted to add my voice to a chorus of online comments, I usually just keep my virtual trap shut.

Is the U.S. ready for a Mormon president? You bet we are! The “moral majority” has had enough of the immoral behavior of the Lindsay Lohans and Charlie Sheens who plague our airwaves. It's high time we had some pro-marriage, pro-family and pro-American values restored to the dignity of the White House. The Obama presidency was a noble but failed experiment in blatant socialism. What Americans need right now are jobs, not universal health care and higher taxes. We already have a warfare state we cannot afford.

The women and children of this state are facing a crisis of major proportions. When California faces tough times, those times are even tougher for women and the families in their care. For the past several years, the state has consistently balanced its budget by cutting services to women and children. The California Commission on the Status of Women is needed now, more than ever, to ensure women are not unfairly burdened in this dire economy. It is the official voice of women in this state and advises the administration on gender equity issues.

In November, refugees from Iraq, Iran, Uganda, Egypt and Eritrea celebrated Thanksgiving at the International Rescue Committee's Glendale location. It was the second annual Thanksgiving celebration that the International Rescue Committee has hosted. Many people enjoyed roast turkey and traditional fixings. The International Rescue Committee works in more than 40 countries in areas of conflict or war to provide people with clean water, health care, shelter and sanitation. The IRC annually helps to resettle thousands of refugees in 22 cities across the nation.

It came down to the wire, but Daylight Adult Day Health Care Center in Glendale will remain open and continue serving hundreds of low-income clients after its network reached a settlement with the state over Medi-Cal payments. Without the settlement - reached after advocates for the disabled and elderly filed a court motion this summer seeking to prevent planned funding cuts - Daylight and other centers that are part of the state's Adult Day Health Care program would have closed on Dec. 1 because they would no longer have been eligible for Medi-Cal benefits.