Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 4-8-21 E-edition

Thursday, April 8, 2021 | A4 | Mid Valley TiMes Editorial & Opinions
Serving the Readers of the Reedley Exponent, Dimuba Sentinel and Sanger Herald.
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
Fred Hall — Publisher
In my OPINION The damage continues
with each executive action
Just when many Americans are beginning to see a light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel, the Biden ad- ministration and their CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, have gone on the record telling us that current circum- stances actually indicate “impending doom.” Thanks a million!
As we slowly creep out of COVID, development starts to take shape
Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
Fred Hall
We're going on 13 full months in a COVID-dominated world, one that's delivered a severe economic blow to ma- ny businesses in Fresno and Tulare counties (particularly small business). But there's still a vision of making things better in communities in the region.
Juanita Adame, our hard- working features editor and re- porter-at-large, was in Sanger last week meeting with leaders of the new Sanger Revitaliza- tion Committee. The leaders shared with her about their vi- sion of sprucing up an old and weathered downtown region, and also are developing a plan to try to attract businesses to fill many vacant buildings. In these economic times it's a tough task for take on, but committee chair Tom Nichol- son and Tammy Wolfe with the Sanger Chamber of Commerce both are excited with the po- tential the future brings.
All three of our Mid Valley Times "anchor" cities — Sanger, Reedley and Dinuba — have historic old buildings anchor- ing their downtowns. Some are understandably in need of repair, and like all old buildings can use a little cleaning up.
That's what they're looking to do in Sanger, and we com- mend the committee for their spirit and desire to better the community. There have been plenty of feel-good stories about people volunteering and helping clean up their neigh- borhoods. In Reedley, teens have made a difference hitting different parts of the city with cleanup efforts.
Cities also have budgeted much-needed road and street repairs that are taking place. Dinuba's downtown district continues to have construction in the southwest portion, and Reedley is in the process of ex- panding much-needed roadway rehabilitation to Manning Av- enue from the railroad tracks eastward.
The next few months will be interesting to see how our communities emerge from the pandemic and respond eco- nomically.
•••
One of Sanger and the Cen-
tral Section's sports treasures is nearing a milestone, and the finish line when it comes to his familiar duties.
Ron Blackwood, who began keeping game statistics for Sanger High School's football
program when now-retired
Chuck Shidan
became head
coach in 1990,
worked his
349th consecu-
tive football
game for the
school on April 2 when the Apaches rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat Bullard, 14-6 at Tom Flores Stadium.
Blackwood will work one more game, Friday night's road game in Fresno against Edison High, to make it an even 350 before calling it a career. He's stepping down to help care for his wife in these COVID times and also trim back his schedule.
He's been the statistical brain behind the Apaches' foot- ball program the past 30-plus seasons, and provides valuable nuggets of statistical wisdom with each week's matchup. His "Tomahawks/Feathers" recap of the game always gives a brief- yet-thorough review of what took place, and gives statisti- cal love to the hard-working players.
Enjoy retirement, Ron, and as always, Go Apaches!
Jon Earnest is news-sports editor for The Times.
QUOTE
“I look to the future because that's where I'm going to spend the rest of my life.”
— George Burns (1896-1996)
Jon Earnest
With the installation of a new ad-
ministration in the White House, two
members of President Trump's coronavirus task force have completely changed their positions regarding as- pects of the COVID battle. One shouldn't be too sur- prised, because that's what bureaucratic members of the Washington swamp do! Deborah Birks, the scarf lady, now blames Trump for hundreds of thousands of deaths—without any tangible proof, I might add. Even wearing three or four masks, with people like that on one's team, one needs no enemies!
Anthony Fauci, the greatest publicity hound and cam- era hog I've ever known, this week took credit for the vaccine. How the hell did that happen when he originally argued it would take five or six years to develop? “Op- eration Warp Speed” was Trump's idea when he stream- lined the process, removing many of the government regulations and barriers which traditionally impede such an undertaking.
Frankly, Fauci, along with the World Health Organi- zation, have all the appearances of being co-conspirators in covering up China's role in all of this. To his everlast- ing credit, Donald Trump got us out of the WHO and eliminated the American taxpayers from funding such a corrupt organization. One of the first things Biden did was restore the funding and rejoin a group that, for all intents and purposes, is controlled by the Chinese. Leaves one to wonder how Hunter Biden's Chinese in- vestments are doing.
It strikes me that, less than 100 days into his new administration, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have done more damage to the economy and security of America than anyone in history. Most of that damage was from unforced errors since it appears to have been done sim- ply to nullify Trump doctrines which were identifiably successful. The Border Patrol would be the first to let one know that the current mess would end very quickly if we simply went back to the Trump rules!
Blaming the illegals themselves is a basic non-starter. The crises we have at the border has been caused by Democrat American politicians. What would you do if you had been invited — even encouraged — to come over (the door had been left open) and there would be all kinds of amenities when you arrived. Food, room and board, medical care would be underwritten by the host. We, perhaps cynically, see all of this as Democrats work- ing to build an under-educated, dependent lower class voter clientele to assure power in perpetuity. To that end, Nancy Pelosi ha an oppressive voter bill to codify the worst features of the most recent election.
How can one possibly explain the initial bumbling efforts of Biden to appease his left-wing base? We com- pletely opened our Southern border and promised all kinds of perks to anyone who get here; we shut down pipelines and oilfields to prevent our becoming energy independent; We paid our dues and rejoined the corrupt World Health Organization; We rejoined the Paris Cli- mate Accords assuring we will be taken to the cleaners and we are pleading with the Iranians to let us back into the worst and most one-sided agreement ever. That ugly recitation could and should be expanded to include the Biden series of executive orders which are stripping Americans of basic rights seemingly on a daily basis.
Considering all of that malfeasance along with the cackling laugh of Kamala Harris, the average American voter should have ample reasons to fight back against all of this nonsense.
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
New statute bad for community cancer care centers
By Krista Nelson and Barbara Jensen Guest columnists
Ruth is a 67-year-old woman living with metastatic lung can- cer. She receives care at a treat- ment center near her home in rural southern Illinois. There are larger hospitals over an hour away in St. Louis, but she doesn't have the time or finan- cial resources to travel there as often as she would need to.
Fortunately, the cancer cen- ter near Ruth's home boasts ex- cellent staff — including her oncologist, experienced nurs- es, a pharmacist, and a social worker.
There are more than 2,100 community cancer centers just like Ruth's across the country — many located outside of ur- ban centers. For decades, these centers — and their multidisci- plinary staff — have played an integral role in helping Ameri- cans fight cancer. Unfortunately, fulfilling their mission is about to get harder, as is life for patients.
In November, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a new statute, known as the most-favored- nation rule. If the new admin-
istration implements the rule, it will drastically affect how cancer centers operate.
In theory, the MFN rule is supposed to lower costs for patients on Medicare. In real- ity, the new rule will reimburse cancer centers for less than they pay for necessary medi- cations, such as chemotherapy, unless these cancer centers renegotiate drug prices with their suppliers.
Many of the support servic- es provided by nurses, phar- macists, and social workers at cancer treatment centers are not covered by Medicare. Can- cer centers use reimbursement funds to cover these services for the benefit of their patients.
Clinics purchase their medi- cations up front. Once oncologists administer the drugs to patients, the clinics bill Medicare for the cost of the drug itself, plus a small additional fee of 6 percent. This 6 percent fee helps cover the cost of services that are con- sidered "extra" yet well known to improve patient outcomes, such as nutritional counseling, medication side effect teaching by nurses and pharmacists, and psychosocial intervention from social workers.
The MFN rule will drasti- cally cut drug reimbursements. It's estimated that community oncology practices will suffer a 52 percent loss of Medicare drug revenue, on average, once MFN is fully implemented, ac- cording to the American Soci- ety of Clinical Oncology.
The impact of the rule will be especially acute in rural communities around the coun- try, where community centers are prevalent, and Medicare is the largest health insurer.
As professionals who work with cancer patients every day, we find this unconscionable. We support payment reform that makes quality cancer care more attainable and equitable for all. The MFN rule, how- ever, does not help but harms the ability of cancer centers to provide this care for patients.
Krista Nelson, a licensed clinical social worker and prac- ticing oncology social worker, works at Providence Health and Services in Portland, Ore. Barbara Jensen, a registered nurse, works as the regional director of Oncology and Pallia- tive Care at Skagit Valley Hos- pital in Mount Vernon, Wash.