Letters to the Editor | April 11, 2024

Want to restore some faith in government? Let’s start today by ensuring we have the needed funding, management, staff, and repairs in place for city pools. Complete the lifeguard hiring process and defeat all the talk like, “Oh, my goodness, we just discovered (in June) that there’s not enough of X-Y-Z to open the pools.” It’s going to be another hot and humid summer. Inner-city heat island residents, and especially children, need a safe place for play and physical and social engagement.

Barry Beck, Turnersville

Students at Drexel University are struggling to pay the high tuition. Yet, Drexel pays $3.1 million to have exclusive naming rights to SEPTA’s 30th Street Station for five years. As an alumnus, I am outraged.

Sidney Rubin, Wynnewood

With the elections, I think it is important to remind voters that some representatives from Pennsylvania voted against certifying the 2020 presidential race. There were 60 court cases filed nationally claiming voter fraud, and they were all dismissed due to lack of credible evidence. It seems our reps did not — or intentionally would not — perform basic due diligence to determine if the election was stolen. Instead, they blindly followed their leader.

When faced with a decision of huge importance, these elected officials ignored facts, played politics, and failed in their oath of office. Regardless of political party, voters should not allow Dan Meuser, Scott Perry, Lloyd Smucker, Fred Keller, John Joyce, Guy Reschenthaler, Glenn Thompson, or Mike Kelly to serve in office. While some of these folks merely condoned Donald Trump’s “Big Lie,” Perry actively participated in actions to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power. Pennsylvania voters deserve better.

Kent Kingan, Malvern

Under current New Jersey regulations, doctors of optometry must refer patients to ophthalmologists for certain minor eye procedures. This would change under A920 and S354, proposed legislation that improves access to care and health equity for patients by modernizing the optometric scope of practice. Last month, members of New Jersey’s Assembly Regulated Professions Committee unanimously passed A920 out of committee. As an optometrist and business owner for over 20 years, I appreciate the attention to this issue.

Optometrists provide more than two-thirds of primary eye care in the U.S. By 2030, New Jersey will have more baby boomers than school-age children, dramatically increasing the need for vision and medical eye care. The legislation allows optometrists to perform certain procedures to treat glaucoma and after-cataract surgery care as well as minor procedures to remove styes and skin tags. These procedures are safe, minor, and completed in an office setting.

All U.S. optometry schools teach students to perform these procedures, but under current state law, optometrists can’t perform them. Modernizing the optometric scope of practice is about keeping up with the ever-evolving field of vision and medical eye care. It’s about ensuring patients can access the services they need conveniently and from their provider of choice without waiting for referrals or continuing to experience symptoms or vision loss.

Arun Kaistha, Pennsauken

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