To the editor:

Thomas Paine, the often quoted colonial newsman, once wrote, “If you are afraid to offend, you can't be honest.”

Hospitals across the river and the Washington Bridge are in a crisis, unable to operate without a crisis mode, especially in the Emergency Room, with wait hours up to 13 hours on corridor uncomfortable carts, lack of nurses and doctors, and every health care attendant running around trying to relieve the pain or stress of patients.

Why? Well, when you call your primary doctor, if you can find one nowadays, the phone robot will say if you have an emergency call 911 and if rescue comes you go to the hospital ER. There are no house calls, and doctors, like the rest of the health care system, are market driven, not patient driven.

When the Washington Bridge has a crash or some other reason to stop traffic, like trailer truck tip-overs, our side of the river is blocked and emergency traffic is blocked. Ask any medical attendant, time is an important factor for heart attacks, strokes and others. It doesn't make any sense to have a venture system squeezing important traffic in medical emergencies on I-195 West.

Moreover, parking is very limited due to increased buildings and no lots in Providence hospitals. We (the East Bay) need a full-fledged, 300-bed hospital with an ER, outpatient services, medical imaging, out-patient surgery, lab, and intensive care with step-down facilities. A non-profit one at that.

Nurses are the key to good hospitals, and we need free education for them. Remember, the health care industry sets its own rates with the insurance companies. The patient has no say, just the pay. Then the middle class picks up the difference. Patients are left out of the negotiations. Are lobbyists setting the rates in negotiations?

With a $610 million surplus in the state, how about a hospital for this side of the river that is accessible and safe.  

Richard Ferreira

Riverside

Ferreira is the former director of security at the Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence and is a retired East Providence Police Department captain.