Viewpoints

To the Editor:

My mother-in-law was one of the nearly 200,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19 so far this year. Olly lived in a nursing home.

I always imagined that my husband and I would be able to sit with her and hold her hand when she neared her death, so she wouldn’t be alone. But when she began to have trouble breathing one morning in late June and began rapidly declining, she was isolated in her room and given a COVID-19 test.

Only one nurse could enter. She checked on Olly once an hour until, a day later, she went in and Olly had died, alone. Because the virus had spread so virulently and you couldn’t know who might bring it into the nursing home, we had not been allowed to see Olly for several months.

To the Editor:

This Administration has joined with Republican Attorneys General from 17 states to bring a case before the Supreme Court that seeks to strike down the Affordable Care Act. If successful, this would bring a permanent end to the health insurance program wiping out coverage for 23 million people and ripping away protections  for people with preexisting conditions.

Prior to the Affordable Care Act, which was passed 10 years ago by the Obama Administration and the Democrats, insurers were allowed to discriminate against people who had preexisting conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, COPD and asthma (just to name a few). Insurance companies denied coverage, charged higher premiums and denied any claims associated with a preexisting condition. Health insurance was unaffordable resulting in millions of uninsured Americans and bankruptcies caused by huge medical bills.

To the Editor:

The Lincoln Project, RVAT, Right Side Pac, the Bravery Project, and a 43 Alumni group - what do these organizations all have in common? They are all political PACs started by Republicans for the sole purpose of defeating their own party’s incumbent candidates, while throwing their full support to the Democratic candidates in the 2020 election.

According to their web site, the Lincoln Project is holding accountable those who would violate their oath to the Constitution and who would put individual political operatives before Americans. RVAT is an organization of Republicans, former Republicans, conservatives and those who previously voted for Republican incumbents. Right Side Pac is focusing on targeting voters in battleground states such as Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Bravery Project members identify themselves as conservatives and independents.

To the Editor:

Our government leadership has mixed reviews among American farmers. The big promises of 2016 have yet to come true. The disastrous trade deal with China caused the farmers to lose market value on corn, soybeans and livestock. A “go it alone attitude”, without engaging our allies, cost us our markets to those same allies, as well as other commodity suppliers. Our markets have still not recovered.

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue tossed out, on his first day, a bipartisan reform on ag market contracts that had taken years to complete. When speaking at a town hall at The World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin, Perdue showed his callous disregard for small farms. He was quoted as saying there was no guarantee that small farms will survive, saying, “In America, the big get bigger and the small go out.” He said farmers should stop whining.

To the Editor:

Iowa has the highest infection rate in the U.S. with COVID-19. We are all retired Decorah, Iowa family physicians. We have read extensively about this pandemic since it began. We trust the websites www.cidrap.umn.edu and www.globalepidemics.org.

The globalepidemics.org website has real-time, color-coded infection levels for each county of the U.S. The color codes are linked to treatments. Iowa is designated red, the highest infection rate.

You will see at this site that Iowa needs a stay at home order to be given by our governor in order to knock this virus down far enough to control. Otherwise, with our schools and colleges open, and Labor Day weekend coming, the infection will further spread. It is critical that we do not overwhelm our hospitals.

To the Editor:

Catfish here saying, “Howdy!” Or, should I say, “So long?”

You know, after a terminal diagnosis, I realized I was becoming more afraid of living than dying, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the physical pain.  Shocker, huh?  Well, not really.

What you could very appropriately say is that I am “nearly scared to death”.  My pain is watching our precious Earth crumble and burn.

Maybe there is a global mob? Maybe the deity or demon responsible for all this chaos is finally going to reveal themselves and take us all to a better place? That is, regardless of skin color.

Now, close your eyes and imagine “a better place”.  It’s green, isn’t it? Please, “plant” your voice with your vote this November 3.

Annie Gallagher
a.k.a. Catfish Annie
Waukon

I guess “summer” is over because schools have started! But some nasty summer weather is still probably on tap for the next several weeks – heat-n-humidity plus tornado season will be with us, not to mention the threat of derechos! As if this year hasn’t held enough discomfort and disaster!

I’ve seen numerous posts on Facebook about how we’ve had enough of “2020” and wanting to fast-forward to 2021. Poor ‘”2020,” it didn’t ask for bad things to happen. And for some people it hasn’t been as bad a year as some others have been – for my family 2013 was a pretty rotten and depressing year. So our perspective as to what makes the year ‘bad’ can vary greatly as well as affect our emotional and spiritual health!

To the Editor:

I read with interest the Huck letters to the editor in the (August 19) issue of The Standard. As I read the letter, I reflected on the issues that faced us with my wife’s 89-year-old mother, who was recently living in an assisted living facility.

She too was isolated both to her apartment, and our visits, too, were only through “the glass”. We really couldn’t visit her, other than sight as we could not hear her through the glass and we were not allowed to talk to her through a screen. While she had a phone in her apartment, it was not where she could talk on it and see us out the window at the same time. The times we visited her there we left in despair and knew that her despair was worse than ours.

To the Editor:

I want to say how much I appreciate Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon and Crossing Rivers Health Hospice out of Prairie du Chien, WI for helping alleviate most of the pain and anxiety of a terminal illness for both my husband, Michael, and me.
July 31 of this year Michael was diagnosed at Veterans Memorial Hospital with lung cancer. At age 92 he never considered treatment. He only wanted to stop the pain and the worry for me.

Every one of the hospital and hospice staff was kind, competent and always helpful in guiding us through the dying process. I am extremely grateful for all the caring people who saw us through this ordeal to Michael’s death August 22, and after.

I cannot emphasize enough how fortunate we are to have our own small-town hospital and nearby hospice. A heartfelt expression of my gratitude goes out to all the good folks who have helped us in so many ways. Your kindness is contagious.

For your meditation: Isaiah 22-15, 19-23
Romans 11:33-36
Matthew 16:13:20

I hope you are enjoying a peaceful and relaxing summer. Have you been able to assist the people of central Iowa? It’s rewarding be ing Christ-like to them. I know a good friend of mine from Farley, Chris Kleusner, (nephew of Sister Margaret Anne Kramer) took his entire crew and all his construction machinery to Cedar Rapids this past week to help clean up.

Today’s Gospel follows last Sunday’s Gospel and it’s on the same page in the Bible. The Gospel today depicts something much larger that it would seem to be after a mere casual reading.

Up to this point, Jesus has only appeared to be a Rabbi, that is a teacher. His disciple had been following him because they liked what He was teaching.