Proud of Regiment

June 13, 2007

Dear Sir,

What a thrill to watch our wonderful Regiment march with such precision, pride and dignity at the Queen’s Birthday Parade.

How very proud their Drill Sergeant must have been to see such perfection and to hear the band playing so beautifully.

There is something about a marching brass band that stirs a deep instinct to follow, and makes the heart beat faster.

Whenever I hear The Salvation Army on the march on Sunday or at Christmas, I get the same feeling of gratitude that these established rituals and parades persist, to give me a feeling of stability and love for this island.

Well done to every soldier that marched that day, and everyone that took part in such an inspiring parade.

DIANA WILLIAMS

Pembroke

She speaks her mind

June 9, 2007

Dear Sir,

I must congratulate Diana Williams on her courage to speak her mind and cost it what it may. I admire this lady for taking a stand and for saying it out loud when so many are afraid of the “Man who would be King”.

I can’t wait to reach her age and be unafraid to take on the world. In face I have already made a list of the people I intend to bite.

BIDING MY TIME

City of Hamilton

Scoring political points

June 4, 2007

Dear Sir,

This is an open letter to Mrs. Louise Jackson.

Becoming the UBP’s chief scaremonger and misinformer is unbecoming. You used to enjoy a fine reputation in the community and seemed to have a genuine concern for the elderly and the disenfranchised. Now all you seem to want to do is use the elderly and the poor to score political points for the UBP.

You are losing your credibility by harping on the closing of the Indigent Clinic.

* If you really cared more about the poor and less about UBP politics, you would tell the Indigent Clinic patients that poor people all over the world would love to be able to do what they will be able to do — just go to the doctor’s office like everyone else.

* If you really cared more about the poor and less about UBP politics, you would tell them what someone told me recently — that separate is never equal — that’s why it’s separate.

* If you really cared more about the poor and less about UBP politics, you would stop using exceptional stories of a few hardships that can be exceptionally managed as a way of trying to preclude the positive change that will take place for the indigent patients. As a matter of fact, embracing our poor by integrating them into the general healthcare delivery system will be good for all of Bermuda.

* f you really cared more about the poor and less about UBP politics, you would stop scaring the old and poor people of this country just so you can look more like their saviour. It would be much more helpful if you would turn your attention to getting them more care under the new plan.

If you really believed what you say, you and the other members of the UBP would lead by example. Why don’t you and all of your families have all of your health care needs taken care of at the Clinic? Remember the old adage: What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. If the services are so good at the Clinic, why don’t you pay on a sliding scale and go there and socialise while you wait to see a doctor without an appointment those 4 days a week? Is your time too valuable? Or is your time just more valuable than the poor people you claim to love so much?

Mrs. Jackson, you remind me of a mother who tells her children horror stories so they can have nightmares and then she can comfort them in the middle of the night? You are not the Mrs. Jackson we used to love and respect. I hope that that Mrs. Jackson returns some time soon. It looks as if you have sold your soul. Let’s hope you have just loaned it out and it will come back to you and the people of Bermuda who are used to seeing far better from you. Pray on it!

GRYNETH ROBINSON, JP

Southampton

Clinical questions

June 24, 2007

Dear Sir,

With the closure of the Clinic on Friday, there is a reality that must be brought to light to the people of Bermuda that show again how the Government of Bermuda is not giving the patients the empowerment promised but are instead stripping them of their dignity.

The pamphlet that many citizens received in the mail outlining the so-called plan of the Clinic’s closure may have put to rest some concerns the general public had about the Clinic. I would encourage Bermuda to look deeper. Think about the group of people this closure will affect. The reality is that a large percentage of the Clinic patients do not have a fixed abode or mailing address so they did not receive the pamphlet. The pamphlet was not available at the doors of the clinic for the patients to read. Who is explaining the plan to them?

There was a meeting held for the patients of the Clinic a few weeks ago and the same this Wednesday, set up to inform them of the so-called plan. Out of the 1,200 patients or so registered at the Clinic only 40 showed up to last month’s meeting. People who were giving their support to patients were kicked out of the meeting. All the patients have not been contacted, who is explaining their healthcare future to them? Even if the so-called plan was being given to the patients it wouldn’t answer most of their questions anyway.

Questions like:

* What about transport? In the pamphlet it states that Government hopes to utilise the volunteer services and private individuals who presently provide transportation to clients for medical visits. Where there is need, private transportation providers will be contracted as necessary”. Well, what is it? The Clinic is closing on Friday; the patients want to know; who will provide the transportation?

* Will the transportation and doctors offices be wheel chair accessible?

* Will they have to pay for transportation?

* Many patients are also concerned about medical supplies like dressings; where will they get supplies? No one has been able to answer that question yet.

* How about who are the doctors of the “patient’s choice”? There is finally a list but many of the “30 plus” Doctors from the list have even been quoted as saying they will not receive patients, they can only accommodate a certain amount of patients, patients will have to pay a fee of $45.00 to see them. This is not “patient’s choice”.

* Finally, What about HIP? It was stated that “All clients currently requiring medical assistance will be placed on the Government Health Insurance Plan (HIP)”. HIP is in such a mess right now that regular patients on HIP are being required by some Doctors to pay up front because the payments are not being made. In the pamphlet it states that “Clients will be charged $5 for each visit . . . Additional benefits note covered by HIP will be funded subsidy.” This is also supposed to be reimbursed in 30 days. Just the other night the new Minister of Health said that patients will have to pay as much as $45; the reality is that this is not feasible for many of these patients, that is why they are going to the Clinic in the first place. They just can’t pay.

* Patients will only be able to go to four doctors visit a year. What will happen to someone who has a wound who used to go to the Clinic everyday to get their dressing changed? What will happen to patients with diabetes or who have just been diagnosed with cancer? Mandating that these patients only see a doctor four times a year will do one of two things —1) flood the emergency rooms or 2) increase suffering and at worse death among Bermuda’s poor.

* It is also stated that the patients will now have been issued insurance cards. By stamping them as “indigent” and having them present a card for service is again not dignifying for the patients.

Lack of information and availability of that information, lack of notice and lack of support for the patients is not in any way dignifying. The patients of the Clinic are being pushed into the closure with no appropriate consultation and with no voice. We would like to encourage Bermuda to keep a close eye on events after the closure. Take note of the increased time you will have to wait to see a GP.

Keep a close eye on the elderly and disabled who may not be able to make it to visits because of transportation and who may not be able to receive the care they need. We must now look out more than ever for the people less fortunate than some, do not allow the Government to forget them. If the Government of Bermuda really was “sensitive to the expressed concerns of the clients of the Medical Clinic and the general public” then they would hold off on closing the doors to the Clinic until the people involved (namely the patients and the doctors) could be consulted properly and time would be given to formulate an effective transition plan should it be concluded it would be in the best interest to close the Clinic.

JENNIFER BROOKS

Hamilton Parish

Seniors no better off

June 13, 2007

Dear Sir,

It is difficult to understand why the PLP keeps saying seniors are better off now than ever!

Take HIP for example: Here we are the middle of June 2007, and the HIP website is still hopelessly out of date and still showing the premiums which took effect on April 1, 2006 — over a year ago.

One caller to a radio talk show on April 3 this year gave the correct HIP premiums obtained from HIP office and the premium for seniors was $186.96, a 7.55 percent increase over the 2006 premium. However, another caller who always says she is a PLP supporter called the show later to contradict the first caller, and then gave the wrong figures from the out-of-date HIP website. The second caller then accused the first caller of “coming on the air and giving misinformation to the public.”

The second caller then said that since the PLP came into power in 1998, the pensions for seniors have been raised by 24 percent, but when asked several times to give the percentage by which HIP premiums have been raised, she never does. The facts are that HIP always goes up by much more than the pension goes up. This year HIP was raised by 7.55 percent on April 1, 2007 and seniors do not get their raise of 4.5 percent until September 15, 2007 which is five and a half months later. In the meantime seniors are paying the $13.12 extra a month. By the time they have paid that extra for April, May, June July, August and September in advance, the total extra will be $78.72 before they get their pension raise on September 15!

Then there was the laughable Dr. Brown’s generous offer of no-fee for seniors to renew a driving licence and save themselves 26 cents a month! He then came up with no fee to renew car registration for seniors. What about seniors who don’t drive? There are many of them who can’t afford to have a car let alone pay for gas and maintenance of a car. And we know all seniors have to pay the same for a loaf of bread as the politicians who gave themselves those huge raises last year — retroactive to April 1st! These politicians want to make sure that they don’t have to choose between food and prescriptions when they retire.

Now that Dr. Brown is determined to close the Medical Clinic at the end of this month, seniors who formerly went there will have to find the money to pay for medical care or go without it! This is better off? I don’t think So!

FOR ALL HURTING SENIORS

Warwick

Wales just what we need

June 4, 2007

Dear Sir,

I refer to an article written by reporter Tim Smith which appeared in your paper on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 under the heading “ Kurron are Minor League.”

While acknowledging that Johns Hopkins is a very fine institution and not wishing to pass judgement on the worth of “Kurron” as an appropriate consultant to the Bermuda Hospitals Board, I do take exception to a comment in this article attributed to a “prominent physician” (unnamed of course) who suggested that choosing Kurron over Johns Hopkins for this consultancy role was “like having Oxford or Cambridge University being turned down in favour of a group from Wales or somewhere.” That was an unkind cut and did not sit well with those of us who are proud of our Welsh heritage and the standards of Welsh Universities and their graduates.

Universities like those at Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea can hold their own in any company, and many a don at Oxford and Cambridge will have been educated in the Welsh University system. “A group from Wales” might be just what is needed to provide advice to the BHB, boyo! An honest to goodness prominent physician would know that and would not have disparaged the Welsh.

IDWAL WYN HUGHES

Hamilton Parish

Not Zooming again

June 13, 2007

Dear Sir,

I write this letter to you today in order to try and warn future passengers of what they may open themselves up to if they are planning on travelling with Zoom Airlines in the near future.

Firstly I would like to point out that it is about time that another airline provided Bermuda with an alternative link to Europe at a more reasonable cost, and I commend Zoom for providing that opportunity to both Bermudians and tourists alike.

Because of this more affordable option I decided to travel with Zoom this past weekend. I was on the inaugural flight on Friday 8th June from London and returned with them on Monday 11th.

Prior to arriving at the gate in Gatwick on the 8th we were advised in the queue for check in that there would be Toronto passengers on our flight also. This was as a result of UK Zoom not having the paperwork completed for the airline to travel to Bermuda so we had to travel on their Canadian partner. At the time I just thought that this was one of those things and that as it wasn’t affecting our flight too much it was fine, although I am sure that the Toronto passengers felt very differently. Little did I realise that this was a sign of problems that were likely to happen on my return journey.

Prior to leaving for the airport in Bermuda on Monday afternoon we checked the flight details to make sure that it was still on time. It had been delayed to 8.20 p.m. from 6.45 p.m. As a result of this I had now missed my connection to Dublin and another ticket had to be purchased at quite an expense. Eventually the flight left at 8.45pm and we were advised that instead of it taking the 6 hours and 30 minutes as advised on our itinerary, it was now going to take 8 hours and 15mins as Zoom didn’t have clearance to travel on the normal route and had to go via Nova Scotia, Greenland, Iceland and then down over Scotland. Again as a result of this we didn’t land until 9.30am by which time I had missed my 10 a.m. connecting flight to Dublin and had to purchase yet another ticket which left at 1.30 p.m. Not only was this at a great expense it also ended up causing me to miss a whole day or work. Even if we had taken off at the correct time of 6.45 p.m. I still would have missed my connection in Gatwick due to the extended flight time of which we were not advised prior to departing.

While I can understand that Zoom were keen to launch their new service to Bermuda, their responsibility effectively lies with the passengers they are carrying. Not having the paperwork for their inaugural flight, not having clearance for the transatlantic route but still advising the passengers that the flight time is 6 and a half hours when it is in fact over 8 hours is remarkably irresponsible and shows signs of shortcuts, something you cannot do with airline travel.

To those of you who are planning on travelling on Zoom in the near future beware of what delays you are likely to encounter. If you are planning a trip to Europe and need a connecting flight, ignore the flight time they tell you and add on a good few hours.

For a new airline to Bermuda they have started their campaign on a sour note with me personally. I can safely say that the next time I am booking my flight to Bermuda it will be with British Airways.

RONAN KANE

Ireland