GUEST EDITORIAL : Rough week
Posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/hl/Editorial/25753/
While the news from Washington and Wall Street last week was agonizing, maybe even depressing, the news from northwest Arkansas provided us little relief.
To recap: As Congress dawdled over a $ 700 billion bailout for our financial institutions, the Dow bounced up and down like a yo-yo (on Monday, it dipped below 10, 000 for the first time in four years ). To add insult to injury, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper proclaimed, " We’re not going to get into a situation like we have in the United States where we’re panicking and annunciating a different plan every day. ” Ouch.
Closer to home, a week ago today, Kennametal announced that it would close its Bentonville plant by the end of the year, costing the city 120 manufacturing jobs.
That news was soon followed by the announcement from Gates Corp. that it was temporarily laying off 30 fulltime and 17 temporary workers at its plant in Siloam Springs. Not to be outdone, Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas said Friday it will cut 61 positions, 41 of them full-time jobs.
We like to think we here in northwest Arkansas are somewhat insulated from the economic ills that visit the rest of the country, but that didn’t ring true last week.
The layoffs at Mercy are particularly disheartening, considering that it was only a few months ago that Mercy cut 43 jobs.
The staff reductions, according to Chief Operating Officer Jon Vitiello, are necessary to combat continued increases in costs of providing health care. Medical-service reimbursement isn’t keeping pace with Mercy’s costs, and the system has seen a significant increase in uncompensated care.
Vitiello was quick to add that Mercy remains fully committed to its mission of providing quality health care. We believe that.
We just wonder how Mercy plans to provide the same level of care that it did before it handed out pink slips to 104 employees. To be sure, Mercy finds itself in the same boat as many of our nation’s health-care providers. The situation playing out here is being felt across the country and, in some places, is much worse. How will our next president address the situation ? Getting back to the economy, one thing is for sure: America needs leaders who not only are willing to work hard, but work together to get America moving in the right direction. According to a CNN poll released Monday, 60 percent of Americans believe a depression is either somewhat or very likely. This is a phenomenally bleak outlook; if the people we elect to represent us in Washington haven’t already awakened from their slumber, maybe this poll will rouse them. The election is four weeks away. It will be an interesting four weeks.
—Benton County Daily Record