Letters: The meaning of a university town; Object to rules that silence constituents’ concerns

The meaning of a university town

As I sat in my coffee shop during freshman orientation I watched a father lecturing his son at an adjacent table. You could feel the stress and see the young man silently saying to his parents, “Give me some space.”

And that is in fact what this university town is — space for the students to come to terms with their emotions in freedom where their own ideas will be born.

The psychologist Baldwin said of youth that each of them in a unique way climbs the mountain above us in vision quest.

There is some peril in this and each of them deserve our support. For the fruit of their quest will come to be a blessing to each of us, as they face the evils that we in our time have struggled with as well.

Object to rules that silence constituents’ concerns

In Pennsylvania, legislators draw voting districts based on partisan politics to maximize their chances to be reelected, which minimizes the voice of the voters. During the 2019/2020 legislative session, several state legislators introduced bills that would reform how legislative voting districts are drawn.

These bills had bipartisan support and more co-sponsors than any other bill introduced in the legislative session. A majority of Pennsylvanians support the reforms, but these bills never made it to the floor for a vote. How can this happen? The simple answer is the rules process used by the legislature. The first item of business during the first day of the legislative session is a package of rules for how the session will be controlled. The Majority Leaders of each chamber convene to set the rules of procedure, which are put forward for a vote without review or discussion.

In the last session, the “rules” allowed only Majority Leaders and Committee Chairs of each chamber to determine which bills would be considered. A handful of legislators tell all other elected legislators what bills they can vote on. These leaders were not interested in reforming how districts are drawn, so the bills for reform did not get a vote. If your representative is not a part of the small group setting the rules, your voice is silenced.

Step one in creating a process for fairly drawing districts is to reform the rules. Tell your legislator to object to rules that prevent highly supported issues from being heard.

Prevention for a silent, vicious disease

I was pleased to read the recent article in Centre Daily Times about fractures and osteoporosis. As a nurse practitioner treating osteoporosis/bone health at University Orthopedics Center, I encounter osteoporosis fractures daily. Sadly, many of the breaks I see are preventable.

It may not be a popular idea, but the fact is that health care providers have failed in treatment of osteoporosis across the United States. This is partially because no one goes to their provider complaining of osteoporosis pain.

Aside from the economic burden on Medicare, patients who have suffered a hip fracture have a decreased survival rate in the next five years. The risk of death after a second fracture is strikingly high according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Of those that fracture a bone due to osteoporosis, one in five died within 12 months. NOF further predicts by end of 2020, 62 million Americans will have low bone density. The majority will never receive treatment and will suffer another fracture.

Research indicates that half of women and one in four men will suffer a hip fracture. It is actually unfortunate that osteoporosis doesn’t hurt until a bone is broken. It is difficult for medical providers to find symptom-free diseases, and osteoporosis no exception. It is a silent, vicious and mostly preventable disease.

Please contact your family doctor for a bone density test. Effective treatments are available, and the earlier you find that you have shrinking bone density, the more likely the treatments are to work.