It seems as though everyone is an expert on what needs to be done to advance health care in Baton Rouge, writes Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister in his latest column.
McCollister writes that Metro Councilwoman Chauna Banks-Daniel, Rouge Collection Publisher Gary Chambers and Cleve Dunn Jr. are pushing for an emergency room in north Baton Rouge without offering evidence to indicate that one is really necessary.
The issue is out of control, he says, particularly with the Metro Council passing a resolution telling hospitals whom to work with.
Mayor Kip Holden opposed the measure while some council members supported it—a move McCollister calls “absurd.” Council members not supporting the measure included: Chandler Loupe, Joel Boé, Buddy Amoroso and Scott Wilson.
“They showed the courage to say no,” McCollister writes, adding that Chambers had to be removed from the council chamber during that meeting.
Talk of spending millions to build a new ER in north Baton Rouge is distracting from issues that cause poor health and trauma such as diet, lifestyle and food deserts, McCollister says.
“The issue of quality health care for our community and for the indigent is a serious one,” he says. “But the situation and services in Baton Rouge are much better and faster now than they were when there was an EKL hospital. Again I ask, where is the evidence to the contrary or any facts that indicate an ER in north Baton Rouge is necessary? Show me.”
Also, McCollister references his previous column on the comeback of Istrouma High School, which he says would have to compete to win over parents and get students.
Public schools should focus on what’s best for students, and no one is better equipped to decide what’s best for the student than the parent and child, he writes.
“Fighting to offer the best education for every child is a good thing, and children win when they and their parents get to choose,” McCollister writes.
Read the full column, which also includes McCollister’s thoughts on the 2016 Influential Women in Business honorees and the vital role women play in the business community.
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