Hits and Misses
HIT: Engraved in a solemn black memorial are the names of 259 miners who died over many years in the 10 coal mines that burrowed beneath Cecil Township. The memorial, unveiled Oct. 20 at Cecil Park’s Miners’ Pavilion, was a tribute to the workers – some of whom were children – who labored in unimaginable conditions. It will forever be a reminder of the sacrifices that miners have made for our country to keep the potbelly stoves running, power our homes with electricity and help fire the blast furnaces to make steel. The work of those who sacrificed their lives – and those who forfeited their bodies to debilitating injury – won’t be forgotten. Their souls are now etched in history for all of us to remember.
MISS: We’ve written a good bit over the years about the need for immunizations, and the foolishness of going without vaccinations, but it appears there’s a never-ending supply of people who just don’t get the message, or reject it because of their personal “belief systems.” The latest story comes from Arizona, where state officials pulled the plug on a vaccine education program because about 120 individuals and families, including 20 parents who don’t vaccinate their kids, complained about it. The Arizona Republic reported that Brenda Jones, who heads immunization services for the state Department of Health Services, emailed two Health Department staff members to say she had gotten “a lot of political and anti-vax” feedback. What a shame it is that a program that could have provided good information about immunizations to thousands upon thousands of schoolchildren has been scuttled by a small group of know-nothings.
HIT: Among its many benefits, the Affordable Care Act required insurers to fully cover the cost of mammograms and other cancer screenings, but for some women, a simple mammogram is not enough. That’s because they have dense breast tissue, which makes it harder to detect the tumors that can appear in the earliest stages of breast cancer. The more detailed examinations typically require ultrasounds or MRIs, and many insurance plans don’t cover all the costs of these procedures. State Rep. Tarah Toohil, a Republican from the Wilkes-Barre area, has said Pennsylvania should consider joining New York state in requiring complete insurance coverage of breast screenings without any out-of-pocket costs. “Early detection is half of the battle and greatly increases the success rate for women,” Toohil said. “Unfortunately, because of high co-pays, high deductibles, and busy schedules, women are likely to find a million reasons to put off their breast screening or skip the exam altogether.” We hope more of Toohil’s colleagues agree with her and make this a top-shelf priority.
HIT: The Pittsburgh Public Schools board made the right decision on Wednesday when it voted 8-1 to not allow the school district’s police force to carry weapons. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, members of the board expressed concern that armed police officers would change the climate of the schools for the worse and, perhaps more importantly, increase risks for students and staff. Moreover, as Harold Jordan, a senior policy advocate for the ACLU of Pennsylvania pointed out last year, “There is no evidence that arming school officers increases overall safety or improves relationships within school communities. Having an armed officer stationed in schools has neither prevented nor stopped ‘active shooter’ incidents. It did not at Columbine High School, nor has it elsewhere.” He also noted, “Places of learning are not security zones or criminal justice institutions, and they should not be staffed that way.”