All The News That’s Fit To Confuse

It is unfortunate that the local papers not infrequently print an article of little significance and make it sound as if there is a monumental change taking place, particularly when the article is announced by a misleading headline.

Take, for example, the recent article: City Hall undergoes makeover.Reorganization will include structural overhaul,staff changes.

What structural overhaul would that be, pray tell? Yes indeed,a couple of highly paid General Managers were given a slight change in their responsibilities and the Director of Human Resources was placed onto the senior management/leadership team.These changes were accomplished with one “minor” pay increase (well,we will see about that as the next round of salary increases is announced) so there certainly was no “structural overhaul” that some in the community would like to see.

And then there is the recent scary headline: VIHA introduces daily convalescence fee.New charge will affect many seniors who cannot go directly from the hospital to their own homes after surgery.

This dire warning suggests that many senior citizens are now going to face severe financial stress because they are unable to pay for this $29.40 per day user fee. However the article also points out that “Health authorities have the ability to reduce or waive the fee if the rate is determined a financial hardship for the individual.” And in cases where there are family members available to assist financially, this certainly would be appropriate and expected,otherwise everybody else has to bear the burden.

Wayne Schulstad