Randy’s Ramblings: Decent pay and a good nursing home are worth preserving
January 26, 2012 at 1:26 am in Hudson Star-Observer
There they go again, to adapt a line from a former president. Three years after citizens voted 27,219 to 14,648 for St. Croix County to continue to operate a nursing home, the county board has set another referendum on the issue. Continue Reading
I believe that Esther Wentz is a long time county board member and retired teacher who knows all too well the benefits of a state pension plan, early retirement and wages that are never tied to performance, just longevity.
The question is not one of the heart Randy. I take great exception to that notion. You will find no greater care at the county nursing home than you do at Christian Community Home or any other nursing facility in the county. The question is, why does the county feel they should run a nursing home? Why don’t they also run a hospital and an urgent care clinic while they are at it?
The reality is, government should not be involved in competing with the private sector in these arenas of healthcare. They are misappropriating tax dollars when they are doing things other than providing for public safety, taking care of our roads and other infrastructure.
Keeping the county nursing home open is about protecting union jobs, period. These union nurses are no better trained, nor do they care any more than private sector nurses. Let’s call a spade a spade. Vote no.
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It is clear, Bullseye that you were not one of Mrs. Wentz’s students or you would have a much better understanding of the workings of a union, the history of teachers in Wisconsin and the pride in caring for members of the community.
The Wisconsin Teachers Association and Wisconsin Education Association was founded 1853. Women were paid half the salary of men. The teachers union was not formed until 1972 and it was still a fight for the basic necessities of the classroom.
Slow your roll and learn the history and law. The St.Croix Health Center has a five star rating, the others do not. The care, comfort and concern for our elderly (which you will one day be)
should be of the utmost concern for all.
If we follow your train of thought we should be contracting out for many of the services the county currently provides. There are many private companies that offer the same services as many departments in the county and at a reduced cost.
Educate yourself by reviewing the county budget. You will find many departments and expenditures that call the question. You will also find that the Register of Deeds is self sufficient(therefore not pulling from the levy)and that the St. Croix Health Center was self sustaining until 2000, but remains the lowest levy expenditure of the current budget with the greatest benefit.
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Really? In what class did Ms. Wentz teach about ‘the workings of a union, the history of teachers in Wisconsin and the pride in caring for members of the community’? Algebra or Spanish?
That is so much hot air I’d bet you could fill a balloon at the Hot Air Affair this coming weekend with it!! Esther is fairly old, but I don’t believe she was teaching in 1853 when women were paid half that of men.
What do history and law have to do with the nursing home’s supposed five-star rating and how much care and comfort they provide?
By the way, I am far more familiar with the county budget than you would know, unless you work for the county and are privy to information not available to the public or the county board, which should not be the case.
Yes, there probably are other services that could be contracted out. I am not at all opposed to a more ‘progressive’ look at how we provide services in a more effective and cost efficient manner. You are stuck back in the 1850′s…get with the program!
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Bullseye if you knew Mrs. Wentz at all, you would know that Algebra and Spanish were not her curriculum. It does not take a class to learn and share the history and struggle of teachers in Wisconsin. It does however take character and compassion to care for others.
Sadly it appears that arrogance and ignorance are the traits you most embrace.
With regard to your alleged intimate knowledge of the county budget; the budget is a document of public information which is available to all. The statement that you possess knowledge of the county budget unknown to the public begs the question. Please do tell us more….
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Bullseye, capitalism does not apply to all things. Care for the elderly does not need to be competitive in order to be well managed. It is about care, not profits.
Not everyone is able to care for themselves in their retirement. As a member of a community, I will help by ponying up some tax dollars and find comfort knowing that the goal of that organization is not to maximize profits, but to provide care.
I may never need the same service, but I know that I benefit from society more than what I have paid in.
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You play right into their hands Mike. Somehow, you think it is right to pay union nurses far more than their private sector counterparts, and to ask struggling residents of St. Croix county to make up the difference, just so you can feel good about yourself and your contributions to society.
Thanks. The rest of us have ALL of society in mind when we see subsidies like this going into the hands of a few greedy union employees. The reality is, these elderly would still receive care, and most of those nurses would still have jobs if the county didn’t subsidize an efficient operation. But then we wouldn’t all look ‘caring’ enough because the private sector would be taking care of it.
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Bullseye, You point to the private sector but offer up Christian Community Homes as an example. As a non-profit/non-tax organization, aren’t we subsidizing their existence? I’m fine with that, but then again I realize that the private sector and capitalism does not solve all problems.
This is a service that is needed, but not necessarily high margin enough to attract enough competition to guarantee that people have a lot of choices. Therefore, gov’t and churches often step in. Not to compete, but to fill a void.
You’re image of greedy employees hardly pans out. When is the last time you saw a nurse, LPN or CNA living high on the hog?
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Mike, how can you compare taxes not paid by CCH to the county home, which doesn’t pay taxes, either?
There is no “void to fill”. A couple of years ago, there were 2 or 3 private-sector companies bidding on the right to operate the county nursing home. They all backed out when the unions forced the city of NR to come out against the plan, and the companies realized it wouldn’t be worth it fighting city hall.
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Get real, Bullseye. No “union” forced the New Richmond Common Council to do anything. You’ve got to be kidding me. Prove it.
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No idea what your comment is about the NR city council KTinWI. I never said anything about it. You do seem to be very intimate in your knowledge and defense of the unions, so we know your position.
No one is making any convincing arguments that union nurses are needed to provide care for these elderly residents. I just find it interesting that all the union groupies rush to defend the county nursing home. Something tells me that if they were not union nursing positions you would throw them under the bus. Unions are becoming irrelevant and it is hard for some of you to swallow.
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I should have said ‘public unions are becoming irrelevant’. Private unions are a separate issue that the free market addresses.
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The question you need to ask yourself Mike is why have nearly all counties in the state stopped running a county nursing home? Is it because they just don’t care about the elderly? I think not. The elderly are taken care of in a variety of facilities by insurance and medicare, regardless if they are in a govt run or not. Why do you think these people would not be serviced elsewhere??? If that is not your primary concern, the only other one could be the loss of high(er) paying union jobs.
I liken much of the waste in gov’t to parents who think that throwing money at their children will somehow make them into happy, responsible adults who contribute to society. You know and I know throwing money at something as important as child-rearing is hardly the solution. But many parents do it anyway because it makes them feel better.
I am not so easily swayed into throwing govt money at anything that doesn’t make sound economical sense. It needs to be ‘sustainable’ as the left likes to say. A nursing home that has run millions in deficits over the years is not sustainable, wise or compassionate. It is simply a foolish proposition that makes some people like you feel good. It’s time to face the music.
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Bullseye, if insurance companies are the ones running the facilities now, that explains the constant rise in my insurance costs. The system has found a new way to defer its costs on to me – funding a service that I was already (and still am) paying for via my taxes.
You tell me that insurance companies run these places, charge me more in my youth and don’t count those payments towards my retirement? Am I supposed to see that as an improvement on the system? I d o not. At least the government cannot really deny service. An insurance company can and will to protect their primary interests – profits.
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I guess I was mistaken in assuming that people out here have a basic understanding of how things work. Insurance companies and medicare combined pay most of the costs generated in nursing homes, whether those homes are privately or publicly run. So why is it so critical that these people are provided care by union nurses in a govt run facility? Answer…it’s not!!! Our county run home simply ensures the existence of union nursing jobs and keeps people like Mike feeling good. It is also an irresponsible way to spend taxpayer dollars when other forms of care are available.
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Bullseye, to be fair, I have learned quite a bit about the system via this exchange. I even spent some time with my dear old mother who used to inspect these types of facilities. She had her own opinions on the politics of it, but essentially care was the same at either.
Though I agree that an inefficient publicly funded entity should not exist in perpetuity, I do not see the wisdom in handing everything over to the private industry. You claim it is me being led by my heartstrings. Actually, I’m not so sentimental. Insurance companies get bail outs with tax dollars. Why not just pay taxes and skip the middle man? Why fleece the consumer in the process?
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