Letters: It's simple to show your support for healthcare workers

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly recently issued a statewide “stay home” order, which is an important part of the ongoing effort to limit the spread of COVID-19. In doing so, she cited several reasons, including the need to prevent overburdening the healthcare system, and to buy more time to help secure necessary medical supplies.

At the same time the state’s “stay home” order is in effect, there are more and more examples of support being expressed for healthcare workers who are on the front lines of this battle. That is gratifying and well deserved. Every day, healthcare workers take care of the most vulnerable among us—people who are anxious, people who are scared, people who do not have the resources to pay for their services. We put healthcare workers in often-impossible situations, asking them to do more with less, and then look over their shoulders as they navigate this difficult terrain. In short, we take them for granted on a regular basis.

I hope that as we move forward in this very difficult environment, that attitude vanishes. I hope that we recognize healthcare workers as the best among us—as people who run toward a problem instead of away from it; as people who care for members of their community every hour of every day; as people who prioritize the health of their patients ahead of personal security. At the very least, we owe them that.

Wherever you are, if you agree that healthcare workers deserve our support, there’s a very simple but important way you can express that support. It is a fact that social isolation and distancing will help reduce the spread of the virus and limit the exposure of vulnerable individuals. So please stay home.

Tom Bell
President and CEO
Kansas Hospital Association

Regarding the recent article “HCA CEO donating salary to employee fund," why all the publicity about a two-month donation? What percentage of his annual pay, including bonuses and stock options, does this represent? Is the company contributing to employees’ 401(k) accounts? Perhaps they should consider reducing how much their shareholders receive so that they may support any employees who might have to be laid off and all who otherwise contribute to their profit margins.

Peter J. Betts
Retired hospital executive
Covington, La.

The article “TeamHealth doctor loses job after criticizing hospital’s virus response” reported that Dr. Ming Lin, an ER doctor at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Washington state for the past 17 years, said he was fired after posting on social media that the hospital was slow to screen visitors and negligent in not testing staff.

Because the COVID-19 virus first hit in China, their doctors had to learn about it quickly, and tried to share their experience with the rest of the world. The Chinese Communist Party has likewise shared with the rest of the world their methods for dealing with whistleblowers who criticize officials and publicize deficiencies in response to the pandemic.  If Dr. Lin’s statements are accurate, it appears that some healthcare leaders in the U.S. have been paying attention.

Dr. Mark Buchanan
Avon, Conn.

Note: Lin’s employer, ER staffing firm TeamHealth, stated he hadn’t been terminated but would no longer be working at PeaceHealth.