Letters to the Editor | April 25, 2024

As a doctor who has trained in Philadelphia hospitals, I am intimately aware of the patient safety concerns that surround a lack of staffing. However, expecting hospitals alone to correct this ongoing, systemic issue is unrealistic. More than 100,000 registered nurses left the medical field from 2021 to 2022, bringing the total nationwide shortage to 1.1 million. Hiring more staff, including nurse techs, certified nursing assistants, and phlebotomists, and providing trauma-informed care training to all staff, is necessary to make hospitals safe. However, this goal will not succeed without external support. Hospital violations and sanctions — as those reported recently in The Inquirer — should trigger alarms and a sense of urgency to policymakers. Instead, further violations are given out — especially to the hospitals that serve the most vulnerable populations in the Philadelphia area. I was within the walls of a Philadelphia hospital when the closure announcement was made, and I hope to never be at another Philadelphia hospital that must close its doors due to an overburdened system.

D. Pinto, Williamstown

Sen. John Fetterman and Rep. Elise Stefanik want Columbia University president Minouche Shafik to resign, but for different reasons. In the case of Stefanik, it’s to promote her anti-woke and anti-DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) agenda. How this resignation, or that of the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard, will stop pro-Palestinian demonstrations is not clear. How does preventing a valedictorian from speaking or shutting down Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine help stop the spread of antisemitism? Columbia already decided to get tough on protesters and had them arrested. Will a tougher president do any better? Is Tom Cotton available?

There needs to be free speech and protests on these issues. Most of the pro-Palestinian protesters want a cease-fire and humanitarian aid for Gazans. Yes, the attacks by Hamas were horrible and should not be defended, but when does Israel’s defense become genocide? More than 35,000 deaths and counting, half of them minors. It is wrong on the part of protesters to attack Jewish students, many of whom hold the same anti-Benjamin Netanyahu views. But as the media follows the shiny objects of antisemitism, the larger story is being lost. To support Palestinians and attack the Netanyahu regime is not antisemitic.

George Magakis Jr., Norristown

I spent more than 30 years teaching American history and psychology in Stroudsburg-area public schools. I retired in 1998 believing that the public pension I paid into year after year would sustain me through retirement. From 1968 to 2002, the Pennsylvania legislature approved modest cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, for retired teachers every four or five years. But it has been over 20 years since policymakers adopted the last pension COLA.

Since I retired, the value of the dollar has been reduced. I must continually cut back on things I can no longer afford. As we age, our medical needs grow, and the cost of insurance increases. I just learned that a chairlift I use every day to go upstairs needs repair. It’s humiliating that I must beg my state legislators to vote for a “catch-up” COLA. Teachers like me believed in our role of preparing the youth for tomorrow. Now that we are the age of your grandparents and great-grandparents, we feel like we’ve been ignored. I call on Gov. Josh Shapiro and lawmakers to pass a COLA for pre-Act 9 school retirees. Please don’t forget about us.

Jacqualyn James, East Stroudsburg

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