Letters to the Editor | June 14, 2023

We need to address the recent decision by the Philadelphia School District to eliminate Veterans Day as a recognized holiday with school closure. This decision, driven by the need to meet the required number of school days, disregards the invaluable contributions made by veterans. It is not only insulting but also shows a disregard for the sacrifices made by veterans and their families. We respectfully request a more thoughtful approach to honor the men, women, and families within the veteran community. The School District should partner with a respected veterans’ organization to develop learning materials and experiences for students across the district and implement a curriculum for an in-school learning day dedicated to honoring veterans.

Celebrating Veterans Day in schools provides a unique opportunity to educate younger generations about the sacrifices and contributions of our veterans. It instills respect and patriotism and helps children understand the values our nation stands for, such as freedom, democracy, and justice. It is vital for schools to foster gratitude, empathy, and civic responsibility. The Philadelphia Veterans Parade has proudly celebrated our diverse community for eight years. With over 150 organizations and 7,000 participants, we highlight the importance of recognizing and appreciating our veterans. Veterans Day holds immense significance for our community. We urge readers to reach out to school officials and demand that the district honor our veterans.

Anthony Murphy, president, Philadelphia Veterans Parade

Learning that we all needed to stay indoors as much as possible last week due to smoke from Canadian wildfires felt like the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic all over again. What other unanticipated impacts of the climate crisis lie ahead? A warming planet means more wildfires. I just read that the everyday air quality in about nine Asian countries is far higher than what the EPA deems “safe.” The limit for particulate matter is 12 parts per million, but many Asian countries are over 100 ppm daily. It’s time to stop giving out subsidies to oil and gas companies with their planet-heating and polluting business and spend that money building up our clean renewable infrastructure. Let’s address the fact that we’re heading for a climate cliff and stop racing toward it.

Sue Edwards, Swarthmore

I applaud David Rowe for his June 7 op-ed on the cost of hospital care in Pennsylvania, and his support of hospital price transparency to enable residents of the commonwealth to foresee costs. Hospitals and health plans are already required by law to disclose negotiated prices for all items and services, but consumers too often must wait until after they receive care to fully understand how much they owe. While hospitals are mandated to publish in a readable format the cost for all items and services, they have been slow to comply with transparency rules; moreover, some hospitals with higher revenues in highly consolidated markets have been more likely to flout the law, preferring to pay fines rather than lose their competitive advantage. Although hospital transparency laws have been in effect for over two years, wholesale compliance for providers is still a long way off. Federal and state policymakers have more work to do to ensure that better transparency leads to a more cost efficient health-care system.

Mark Brody, Langhorne

SEPTA and its Regional Rail engineers are staring down the barrel of a strike as contract negotiations have reached a standstill. It’s rare that a transit strike ends with good news for riders. This time, however, the dispute presents an opportunity to transform Regional Rail for the better. Beyond the bold thinking in SEPTA’s push to “reimagine Regional Rail,” federal pandemic dollars and the cancellation of the King of Prussia rail project have freed up cash to invest in transit. But before it can carry out those future visions, SEPTA must address systemic problems. Rather than adapt to the shifting post-pandemic commute patterns, SEPTA is allowing service to atrophy by running a skeleton service. Trains bring people from the suburbs to Center City in the morning and take them home in the early evening, never mind that people are once again eating, drinking, and shopping after hours. Regional Rail engineers know this, and they have called for SEPTA to hire more engineers and run more trains.

There are two ways to resolve the current engineer shortage. SEPTA can continue running commuter trains less frequently, hire and train new engineers from scratch, and watch costs rise without a corresponding increase in revenue. Or it can shorten off-peak trains and convert conductors into engineers. With more engineers, the agency can run trains more frequently, cutting wait times and making Regional Rail a more attractive option. If SEPTA wants to make Regional Rail a “lifestyle network” where riders can get where they want to go when they want to get there, it will need to prove it can offer better service while keeping costs manageable. New trains, restored stations, and fare integration with bus, subway, and trolley services will all help to make this goal a reality.

Dominic Coletti, Philadelphia

The argument by some of Donald Trump’s defenders regarding his recent indictment is that Hillary Clinton had sensitive documents at home, and so did Joe Biden. Why, then, is only Trump indicted? Is this a double standard? The answer is that none of the charges are for having government documents. They are for willful retention, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document, corruptly concealing a document, a scheme to conceal, and making false statements and misrepresentations. Simply having government documents wasn’t deemed an actionable offense for Clinton, Biden — or Trump. The difference is that Clinton and Biden didn’t willfully conceal the documents, move them about so they were not discovered, and then lie about it. Therefore, no indictment. Whereas Trump did all that and got his attorney to lie about it, too. It’s these actions that form the substance of his indictment.

Elaine Lindy, Philadelphia

The May 26 editorial cartoon by Christopher Weyant comparing Florida and 1930s Germany is incredibly offensive and as inappropriate as the Dilbert rant by Scott Adams that got him banned. Weyant should be reprimanded, and the editor permitting publication is equally culpable as readers have been given a horribly inappropriate analogy. This country needs to heal, and as a recent Will Bunch column exclaimed (“America voted no on extremism”), we need moderation, not extremism. Comparing Florida politics to Nazism is not the correct path. The Inquirer’s example here seeds fear and hate rather than moderation and resolution.

Eric Berinson, Cherry Hill

The Sunday op-ed piece, “Devastating, dangerous,” captures the decades-long and unrelenting shortage of registered nurses; however, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Act is one solution that could backfire. If X nurses are mandated for Y patients and X nurses are not available, then the Y variable will change; hospitals will stop accepting patients, units will close, and patients will suffer. Opening more registered nurse training programs is impossible due to the unavailability of instructors.

Other options: 1) Use licensed practical nurses and certified nurse assistants to the extent of their licensure and capabilities. Training for these roles is shorter, and education requirements for instructors are less stringent than for RNs, so these extra hands can be quickly made available. 2) Nurse extenders may help prevent burnout and keep experienced nurses who can become nursing school instructors, thus allowing for RN program expansion. 3) During World War II, the Bolton Act effectively invested in nurses. Reinventing it now could yield similar results by providing free training for all levels of caregivers and student loan forgiveness. 4) Decrease RN licensure and renewal fees. 5) Secure additional funding for the Board of Nursing to allow more efficiency, shorten wait times for nurse licensing exams, licensure, and renewals, and more expeditious approval of training programs.

Marti Trudeau, assistant professor and practical nursing program director, Manor College, Jenkintown.

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