Letters to the Editor: March 7, 2024

Healthcare crisis looming in Southwest Washington

Did you know there’s a looming health care crisis in Southwest Washington that will affect everyone’s medical care?

Regence Blue Cross is in negotiations with Legacy Medical. If they do not reach an agreement by March 31, all Regence members will no longer have access to Legacy providers.

Why does this matter to you? It will mean that patients who lose care will have to find other providers in the Clark County medical system. Being that there are only two hospitals and the monopoly of Vancouver Clinic, PeaceHealth and Legacy, means that they will have to absorb patients they obviously don’t have the bandwidth for. This means you will have to wait longer for medical care and that you will not have a choice in hospitals for surgeries, etc.

I urge you to contact Regence and Legacy and make your voice heard. Otherwise, we will soon be forced to seek care in Oregon. You only have between now and March 31 to act.

Debra Kalz,

Vancouver

Questions persist regarding PFAS in Camas’ water system

Blaming MAGA republicans (“Worried about toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water? Blame the true offenders” published Feb. 15, 2024 in The Post-Record) for our Camas PFAS problems is about as mature as school kids pointing fingers at “the other kid!”

There are two pieces on PFAS in the current edition, one on facts and the other on Trump-bashing. Ironically, as you accuse the other side of hiding the seriousness of PFAS, the City itself is hiding a very likely potential source of PFAS in our water: the Camas mill, which has been using PFAS in paper making for many, many decades. The mill grounds are contaminated with PFAS, and our water wells are only 3,000 feet away.

Oh, yes, I forgot. The mill shall not be named in any negative fashion in this town. One could call the City a pretty effective lobbyist for Georgia-Pacific, don’t you think?

I certainly hope there are others like me who find this Hear-no-evil, See-no-evil, Speak-no-evil attitude toward the mill by our city fathers reprehensible.

Susan Knilans,

Camas