Letters to the editor July 19

Change from the inside out

One of a nurse’s primary jobs is being able to sense when something is not right. That being said, if a majority of nurses decide to form a union at your local hospital, you can bet something is not right and needs to change.

It doesn’t matter which union was picked. The ads don’t even matter, to be honest. The only thing that matters is nurses at Logan Health want a union contract. We are real people working with patients every day in the hospital you drive by all the time. I go to work for 12 hours and it is my passion to help people.

If it was my family member on the gurney needing life-saving measures, I want a nurse who has good experience, knows where stuff is (how to use it), and who is in a healthy headspace – i.e., life is going pretty good for that person personally, emotionally, spiritual and physically.

A healthy headspace can mean the difference between life and death. Maybe that sharp nurse sees something nobody else sees, or nails that IV that was desperately needed. I can go on and on about healthy headspace. Logan administration can help nurses at your community hospital find that healthy headspace with a respectable union contract.

The SEIU is what we chose for our union and that doesn’t sit well with some people. They are not from here, but neither is our CEO who gets a respectable wage. The old-timers probably wonder if anybody is from here anymore? Can I say “digital nomad”?

We can change the name of the hospital, but real change can only happen from the inside out. Support the nurses on the inside and your community will benefit.

—Peter Arnold, Kalispell

Feeling the same way

Thank you for Kathryn Berg’s letter (Montana is different, and we like it that way).

You described what we’ve all been talking about, are angry about, and grieving. Every word you wrote was from our mouths, too.

—Sally Bleil, Bigfork

Kalispell water woes

Are your water bills higher? Last year, the Kalispell City Council voted to double our water bills over seven years. Their purpose was to help with building low income housing by giving the rich developers a break in their expenses. The council cut their impact fees by 50% to help lower the cost of building.

We all know what has happened to the prices of homes to the point a middle-income family can not even afford to buy a home. The developers got a huge break and we all have to pay for it.

The increase in water bills affects all of us, especially low-income families who are having a very hard time making ends meet.

Sid Daoud and Tim Kluesner were the only council members to vote against this change. Ask your council members to rescind this program.

Went to Havre over the Fourth of July and water bills are so high there they just stop watering their lawns in the summer. The town looks dead with nothing green. Is this what we want Kalispell to look like in the future?

— Robert Sapp, Kalispell