WAR ON TERROR
Rebuilding on 9/11 site honors those who died
I couldn’t agree more with Bert Roughton’s column, “To carry on is to fight back” (Opinion, May 26).
While in New York, I recently visited the 9/11 memorial site. While standing in line to get in, I overheard a person make the statement, “I don’t see why they had to build on this site. They should just leave the site as a memorial to honor the people killed on that site.”
I couldn’t disagree more. Building on that site says to any terrorist bent on causing destruction in America, “We will not be intimidated. We will carry on. We will fight back.” What better way to honor those who died in that tragedy that day?
DICK WISE, ATLANTA
HEALTH CARE
Hospitals should listen to emergency doctors
As the nation implements health care reform, emergency care has never been more important. We treat everyone, from babies to seniors, and we see the full spectrum of medical problems. We save more than lives. We are dedicated specialists who mobilize resources and coordinate care for our patients.
A new report by the RAND Corporation finds emergency physicians are playing a role in reducing health care costs. We are key decision-makers for nearly half of all hospital admissions.
This report urges policymakers and hospital administrators to pay closer attention to the role emergency physicians can play in evaluating, managing and preventing hospital admissions. Greater collaboration is needed between office-based and hospital-based physicians to ensure seamless transitions for patients from one site of care to another and, ultimately, safely home. Emergency departments must be fully integrated in health care delivery systems.
DR. JOHN J. ROGERS, PRESIDENT-ELECT, GEORGIA COLLEGE OF EMERGENCY PHYSICIANS
VA Medical Center did great work for me
I find the recent news about the Atlanta VA Medical Center to be very disturbing.
I have been a patient and have had an operation done at that facility. Everyone there does a great job. They are very concerned about my health, and bend over backwards to ensure I am well cared for.
Keep up the good job, Atlanta VA Medical Center.
RICHARD TRICE, SUWANEE
RELIGION
Christians can’t insist on ‘having our way’
Jerry Luquire’s rallying cry that Christians should demand “having our way” reflects the theocratic control our Founders tried so hard to prevent in the design of a purposely civil rather than religious Constitution ( “Stand up to atheist demands,” Opinion, May 30).
To be sure, non-Christians, whether unbelievers or not, should not be exempt from accurate criticism. But it would be harder to include more misconceptions, non sequiturs and falsehoods in one column than did Mr. Luquire. To most Christians I know, his flaming and ill-directed rhetoric is an embarrassment.
JOHN CARVER, ATLANTA
