Some people have problems with the idea of a school-based health center (SBHC) in Port Angeles.
So let’s solve some of those, with facts:
• The SBHC must operate under the same laws as any other health care provider. None of that changes.
• A school district with an annual budget of more than $47 million can find a few thousand dollars for health somewhere.
It spends far more than that just to keep the schools sanitary.
• The tax burden on any Port Angeles School District property owner will be microscopic, maybe a dollar or two a year, based on the $5,000 a year that could be used for capital costs [“Health Center Proposed For Port Angeles High School,” PDN April 9].
• The current alternatives are for parents to take off from work and take their child out of class for a doctor visit or to let the child sit, suffer and underperform in class.
Without treatment, this can continue for months.
One problem has been left out.
Clallam County has one of the highest child mortality rates in the state, nearly 50 percent above the reported state average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Surely some of these are Port Angeles School District children and could be saved.
I’m told you can opt out of this program, and this is fine.
But who feels they have a right to deprive other Port Angeles families of a cheap and effective program that will improve — and could save — children’s educations and lives?
Kindly do not speak of freedom and rights if you would impose the choice you make for yourself upon others.
Richard Schneider,
Port Angeles