News

It is Wednesday, September, 17, 2014, I’m writing from Room 111B at Healdsburg District Hospital (HDH). My room overlooks a lovely courtyard, for which I am most grateful as I recover from my right knee replacement by Drs. Tomasin and Rose.

As the Board of Directors of North Sonoma County Healthcare District and Chief Executive Officer we thank Healdsburg Tribune publisher, Rollie Atkinson, for his recent timely editorial (“Our hospital’s crystal ball,” Sept. 11, 2014). The editorial does a very good job of describing many of the obstacles facing small community hospitals in Sonoma County, such as our own Healdsburg District Hospital, as they struggle to adapt to these conditions and overcome their detrimental effect. Some hospitals will not make it: witness the recent closure of Palm Drive Hospital in Sebastapol. But we believe it can be done and we are committed to that outcome in our community.

During the next year or so, the City of Healdsburg will make important decisions about our future as a community. We see this period as an exciting opportunity, as well as a challenge to get those decisions “right.” And we must start by asking the right questions.

In March 2011, Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion of Guerneville put out a challenge – they asked poets, musicians and artists around the globe to join them on one day in a celebration and demonstration to promote peace and sustainability, and call for serious social, environmental and political change.

Reflecting on the ongoing national debate over the influx of immigrant children from Central America, columnist and political commentator, George Will, who will never be mistaken as a bleeding heart liberal, said on Fox News Sunday, “We ought to say to these children, ‘Welcome to America. You’re going to go to school and get a job and become American. We have 3,141 counties in this country. That would be 20 per county. The idea that we can’t assimilate these eight-year-old criminals with their teddy bears is preposterous.’”

Residents encouraged to become prepared for disaster

Throughout the United States the week starting on the third Monday of September is recognized as National Pollution Prevention Week. Pollution prevention is reducing or eliminating waste at the source by modifying production processes, promoting the use of non-toxic or less-toxic substances, implementing conservation techniques, and re-using materials rather than putting them into the waste stream.

Organizers seek volunteers to help coordinate Sept. 20, 21 event