Opinion

• I’ve had concerns for a very long time, rarely do you hear of a positive experience at St. Louise. • Yes, after reading all the news about it, I am concerned. This is something the hospital should have known was going on, should have addressed it for improvements and, definitely, should have been prepared to speak to the press and the residents of South County when the report came out.  The “unavailability of the CEO” on something so important is disappointing. • No more than any other hospital, as those are places just riddled with opportunities for people to contract something, unfortunately. The only thing I have a concern about is that it limits options for women due to the parent company’s beliefs. I don’t think medicine and religion should limit one another. • No. I have been a patient in the past and received great care. • No. Not serious concerns. I do have some concerns about the ability of this organization to meet the community’s needs. I also continually wonder why their services are so expensive relatively speaking. I had an MRI at Saint Louise and it ran around $3,000. The same MRI at another service provider was $1,800. It’s hard to “stay local” when there is a dramatic price difference. I also think they need to work harder at recruiting new doctors into the community. Many times we have to leave town to find common specialists. • No, I have received care at Saint Louise Hospital and have always found their care to be adequate. • No. I don’t have any experience with the ER or trauma functions at this hospital. • Not serious – yet.

1.  Council sets clear goals, then flaps around in the water

Saint Louise Hospital’s recent patient issues an example of why regulators are needed

• Yes! While I appreciate council’s approach of carefully vetting the idea of spending the money, this is something we should definitely support. With re-emphasis on crime prevention through recreation, the pool can be considered an important piece of that puzzle. Look to San Jose for this one: Nicely funded recreation programs with low crime rates. It’s a proven method. From purely a local perspective; how can we allocate millions to the west side and not spend a couple hundred thousand on the east side. Also, very disappointed to read city officials comments about how hard it is to find and hire lifeguards. The Culture-of-No has got to go! • YES!!  Both of my children learned to swim during Summer use of the pool by City of Gilroy Parks and Recreation programs. Over the years, thousands of children have utilized that pool for Summer cool off, excellent exercise opportunities and positive activities.  $117,000 is a small price to pay for the beneficial use by many Gilroy youth. • Yes! I think is is ridiculous not to provide community recreation equally for all of our children. The city spent a lot of money on Christopher High’s pool and they should invest equally throughout the community. The amount to repair and maintain the pool is small compared to the community impact of not providing recreation for ALL of our children during the summer. • Yes. Good partnership for GUSD/Parks&Rec for summer programs and school year phys ed. Cost is in reality very minimal but GUSD must pick up part of the tab. • No. There simply is not enough population surrounding the pool to warrant the repair cost and upkeep – 50 kids per week for 6 weeks then only 20 per day average does not pencil out! • Definitely. We now have public “neighborhood” pools in the northwest quadrant (CHS) and in the southern central area (GHS). We need to keep one for our residents on the east side of Gilroy. Not everyone can afford their own swimming pool and cooling off in a pool on a hot summer day is an American tradition! • Yes! Our town needs pools. Of course, I am a swim teacher and I have a very strong bias, but pools in neighborhoods are so important. Knowing how to swim is so important. I am a strong proponent of city-GUSD partnerships for recreation and this is one place to do it. Parks and rec employs local youth as lifeguards and swim teachers and serves the community with rec and instruction. If we neglect it any further toward ruin, we’ll never get it back. • My vote is a unanimous YES! The South Valley Middle school pool would provide a source of entertainment for our youth and extra jobs in our community.  First, it’s the only pool on the east side of town for the residents in that area. Some of the children that use this pool would not have the means to travel across town. Second, my daughter swims for the Gilroy Gators, and this is the pool they use for their practices. The Gators have been established for almost 30 years and currently are looking for a pool to have their practices over the summer.  Unfortunately the parks and recreation programs are taking up most of the available times at the Christopher and Gilroy High pools. The Gilroy Gators program may potentially have to look outside of Gilroy for a location. Don’t we want to keep our Gilroy Gators in Gilroy? • No. Gilroy operates two swimming pools in Gilroy. Our city administrator says that participation of swimmers in the summer at the SV pool is 20 or less per day. The SV pool maintenance has been shoddy and now requires $117,000 - $300,000* in repairs. Seems that $183,000 was suddenly not necessary based on dollar estimate in the April 9, 2012 article. Move away from the older pool and concentrate on the maintenance and support of the two high school pools. *$300,000 Dispatch Feb 9, 2012, South Valley Middle: Too pool for school?". “The pool requires nearly $300,000 in repairs and ongoing operating funding to stay open.” • Yes, provided the city can reach an equitable cost sharing agreement with GUSD. This is, after all, GUSD property and responsibility. • They should. It serves an area of town that is often forgotten, and now with the ridiculous water slides at CHS the disparity is glaring.

Unbelievably positive experience tagging along with the remarkable GUSD choirs

No. As a veteran I recall getting the opportunity to talk to any type of doctor when I was discharged. I was given a discharge physical and was offered a chance to speak to a chaplin and I don't recall if a psychological examine was offered, but I would have refused. My recollection is that the GI's in my era were all but focused on getting home as a civilian from Vietnam and not dealing with any more military bureaucracy. In this era the Veterans Hospital has more evaluations for PTSD than ever in the history of the military and let veterans that this service is available. I don't know if having any number of counseling hours would change anything. Getting discharged is a treasured moment, and in my thinking no one on the brink of discharge is going to do anything to keep that from happening. • No, I just don’t trust the government to be able to put in place a program to truly help the military vets. I do think more emphasis should be placed on screening and following up with current military as well as those leaving who are showing signs of post traumatic disorder and/or have suffered injuries which might effect their mental stability. Our current tragedy would not have been diverted by counseling upon departure! • Yes. I suspect in most instances it would be welcomed. • Absolutely! And, I believe there should be follow up every 6 to 12 months. • Yes. They should receive counseling and support during their tours as well. We need to be vigilant that our service men and women get any help they need all along the way. • I don’t believe it should be MANDATORY for the men and women to go through counseling AFTER their term is over. I believe that it is ABSOLUTELY necessary to have them go through counseling regularly while they are IN the armed forces not just after they've been on a deployment. • Yes, with follow up if there are questionable behaviors or attitudes. • Counseling for sure, but I think each soldier’s requirements for time incounseling will be different. The armed services needs a way to gauge how much is enough, economically, but the soldiers need sufficient counseling to re-integrate successfully. • Yes, and there should be a schedule of follow-up visits for one year that are mandatory to complete the discharge process. • There should definitely be mandatory psychological screening during the discharge process. Seems to me that I’ve read that all troops in combat zones receive counseling, but if screening reveals need for more it should be given. Maybe follow up contacts through Veterans Affairs is in order after discharge. Many of these soldiers are reserves and could be offered/given counseling services as a regular part of that program. • Absolutely. They have so many potential needs. Financial hurdles. Re-integration with family. Employment challenges. Physical injuries that lead to mental stress. Guilt from returning while others did not. The list of needs is long. • Certainly for those returning from a tour of duty in a war zone.

GUSD tax ended; It’s worth noting and pointing out the good works done with the bond

1. Could anything more have been done to help our war veteran?

A burning hope expressed in poetic form for the safe finding of 15-year-old Sierra LaMar

1. Leadership is multi-layered and has some key components