Medical care unevenly distributed in town
Recently, after I cut a couple of fingers on a hedge trimmer, I needed to get to urgent care. I live on the Don Knotts Boulevard side of Morgantown.
I was disappointed and surprised to find that the Waterfront Med Express was closing on June 3.
There will be no walk-in urgent care areas on this side of town when this one closes.
Wedgewood had a walk-in by Planet Fitness that turned into appointments only, which had been convenient, too. My sister from Georgia needed to do a walk-in and had to drive clear across town to Gateway Urgent Care. I know WVU has urgent care at Suncrest Towne Center.
With all the medical personnel in Morgantown, one would think we would have more facilities available to our citizens besides one side of town. It’s not necessary to go to ER for small wound care.
I can understand in a large city that may be necessary to travel to get to an urgent care. But Morgantown isn’t that large. We need better distribution of our medical urgent care facilities.
Scheryll Richards
Morgantown
Destroying land won’t ensure economic growth
I’m proud to call myself a native West Virginian, with roots dating to at least 1734. Times have changed, but some truths remain: 1) West Virginians take care of each other, and 2) when you hear of a plan to bulldoze a hilltop or fill in a stream in the name of economic growth, think twice before going along with it.
A perfect example is the proposed Morgantown airport expansion and I-68 Commerce Park.
On June 2, my family received a letter stating we have until June 10 to comment on a proposal to acquire, blast and fill in 58 acres of land just over the hill from Sabraton, Woodburn and Jerome Park, for a slightly longer airport runway and commerce park. To date, the project does not appear to have any commitments to actually use either. It is pure, taxpayer-funded speculation: If we build it, we hope they will come.
How many times has this type of boondoggle been foisted on us? How long will it be before we realize that without thoughtful planning, no misguided effort to aggressively reshape the land will have a positive impact? We need to sink our money into quality of life and information infrastructure, not cheaper flights to Myrtle Beach and empty parking lots. We need to attract people and businesses who actually want to stay, not just visit.
Our Appalachian landscape is not an expendable resource. We already have an embarrassing number of commercial sites that we’ve developed and abandoned. Why aren’t we redeveloping these or, in the case of the airport, targeting former strip mine sites for a bold reimagining of the region’s transportation infrastructure, requiring less radical reshaping of the land?
Again: 1) If someone tells you everybody’s going to get rich if we blast and bulldoze yet another hilltop and fill in yet another stream, ask some hard questions before you swallow their story. 2) Let’s take better care of each other and our region: Submit comments to U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Regulatory Division at Cassandra.P.Forsyth@usace.army.mil before June 10.
Than Saffel
Morgantown
Will Gov. Justice’s vaccine bribes backfire?
I’m happy to see that the governor is encouraging people to be vaccinated against COVID-19. But I am concerned with his approach of bribing people to get the vaccine. While that approach may well work, I worry about the next time we are faced with a similar situation. Will everyone then wait until there is a bribe on the table before being vaccinated?
David Yelton
Morgantown
Prayers for MedExpress employees losing jobs
I received an email June 2 notifying me that MedExpress would be closing on June 3, at the Don Knotts site.
I called MedExpress on Don Knotts to see if this was true. Yes, the young lady said, tomorrow was their last day, and they would not be going to the location close to the hospital. More unemployment for Mon County.
There’s a bunch of us seniors who don’t like to travel out the boulevard or 705 and the traffic is always backed up. Not only is this a problem for us seniors but everyone who has to travel that distance to go to MedExpress. Why not go to Mon Gen ER or Ruby ER? You will be right there very close to MedExpress.
I don’t like their decision, but I’m sure someone at corporate made this decision. They didn’t even give me a full day’s notice that they are moving. I’m sure that when the readers of The Dominion Post see the article, they will feel the same way that I feel.
I’m sorry to see them leave that location, and my heart goes out to all of their workers who will lose their jobs. All of those workers have been there many years and have been loyal to their jobs.
My heart and prayers go out to the loyal workers who will be losing their jobs. Thanks to all of you who have been so kind to me and treated me in the past. I wish you the best.
Carol Ann Miller
Morgantown
Don’t need Equality Act that expands abortion
The Dominion Post has taken the position that “we need the Equality Act” to codify the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which guarantees rights to lesbian, gay and transgender Americans.
Our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution proclaim the equality of opportunity for all. These documents do not grant us rights bestowed by the government, rather they protect us from government. They restrain the government from interfering with our God-given rights because the Bill of Rights lists what the government shall not do. Our freedom is guaranteed by prohibiting the government and its agencies from abridging our God-given liberties. Nowhere does it say that any of these liberties is a grant from government.
However, progressives have turned this guarantee of liberty through the prohibition of governmental interference into the very opposite. In their view, government is the grantor of “rights” based on gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. We have been divided up into competing groups that are struggling to have government grant these so-called “rights.”
The Equality Act comes with hidden, intended consequences opposed by the majority of West Virginians. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings determined that new language in the act could be used to make abortions more available, expand taxpayer funding of abortion and weaken conscience protections for health care providers opposed to participating in abortions.
The Equality Act changes the definition of “sex” to include “pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.” It is well established that abortion will be regarded as a “related medical condition.” Thus, the Equality Act will reverse West Virginia legislation that has been passed with the approval of the people.
We don’t need the Equality Act. If the Supreme Court’s abortion precedent can be the law of the land, the same can be said for their precedent recognizing sex-related rights.
Wanda Franz
Morgantown
