Letters, 5/19: Nonprofit fights infections

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Six years ago, I was one of about 100 Nebraskans whose lives were forever changed because an area cancer treatment facility disregarded safety standards by reusing a syringe on multiple patients.  

 Today, I’ve beaten breast cancer twice but live with chronic Hepatitis C, which feels like I have the flu 24/7. One would hope that after an outbreak of this size, health care providers would have learned their lessons and universally follow appropriate guidelines.

Sadly, this has not been the case. In recent months, about 80,000 known health care patients from throughout the nation have been exposed to Hepatitis C, HIV and other deadly blood-borne diseases because health care providers in outpatient settings reused syringes.

 From an anesthesiologist in New York to a dermatology clinic in Michigan to an endoscopy clinic in Las Vegas — where a jaw-dropping 40,000 patients have received letters telling them of potential exposure when they were getting their colonoscopies — this tragedy knows no limits.

 As part of my own healing process, I joined with other survivors of the Nebraska outbreak to form a nonprofit foundation named HONOReform  (Hepatitis Outbreaks’ National Organization for Reform).

HONOReform is actively exploring a number of legislative and regulatory options for achieving our goals to better educate health care workers and patients on best practices, adopt design changes in health care delivery process and provide incentives to spur faster adoption of infection control guidelines.

Evelyn McKnight, Fremont

The more the merrier

Thank you for the story about the family from Arkansas with 17-plus wonderful children — a family that takes it as their responsibility to support and home school their own. Chores and study plus a whole lot of fun fill their days.

In the world scene, our greatest assets, humans, are becoming endangered nationalities. 

The birth rate per woman, according to Mark Steyn in his new revised paperback edition, “America Alone,” in the United States is 2.11, Ireland 1.9, Australia 1.7, United Kingdom 1.6, Canada 1.5, Russia 1.2, Germany 1.3 and Italy 1.2.

If a species had such a birth rate, alarms, bells and whistles would go off, and we would make sure it didn’t disappear as a part of nature.

Some Muslim countries’ birth rates: Niger 7.5, Mali 7.4, Somalia 6.8, Afghanistan 6.7 and Yemen 6.6.

In defiance of normal immigration patterns where the immigrants assimilate into their new country, the new country will assimilate into the great volume of the immigrants.

Judi Duerr, Lincoln

Look closely at E85 benefits

The article that described the energy content of liquid fuels for vehicles (LJS, May 12) is likely based on sound science. Unfortunately, the author forgot to mention any of the pros related to the use of ethanol and specifically E85. 

Aside from the direct benefits, such as reducing reliance on foreign oil, use of renewable resources to power our existing flex-fuel vehicles (as well as those being built now), and reduction in CO2 emissions, each of us can draw our own conclusions by using E85.

To simplify the economic benefits to the consumer, one only needs to know the mileage (mpg) and the price of the E85/E10/unleaded that you are using. Once you establish the miles per gallon for the fuel you are using, just divide the price per gallon you are paying by the mpg (hopefully you calculate the mpg under normal driving conditions). This will give you the cost per mile for each particular fuel you use.

For example, our 2005 Suburban gets about 15.1 mpg using E10. Today’s price is $3.70/gal for E10. Therefore, it costs $0.245/mile to use E10 today.

When we use E85 at $2.90/gal and get 12 mpg, it costs $0.242/mile to use E85.

You can see that the BTU energy content and the theoretical costs of a gallon of E85 compared to gasoline do not matter. The consumer can tell for himself or herself, using this simple calculation, the economics of using ethanol.

The mindset of the opponents of the use of ethanol is that people will only consider the price of fuel for their car when they fill their tanks. Ask yourself if you base every purchase on price alone!

Steven Rogge, Pleasant Dale

Pandering strikes Kleeb

Having voted for Scott Kleeb on Tuesday, believing he would attempt to bring a different approach to the position, I was disappointed when, in his victory speech, he immediately started the same old political pandering as everybody else. Almost the first thing out of his mouth was that tired old canard of “Nebraska values.”

Come on, Mr. Kleeb, you have the chance to bring some freshness into a very stale political climate.

John Jewitt, Lincoln

We are a war nation

Is the recruitment and use of our young men and women for military service in our best interest? Is our pattern of spending $563 billion a year on military endeavors an effective means to advance our well-being? Do these measures advance the law of human rights and the nation’s principles of peace, freedom and justice for all, or is it a betrayal of all of this as well as a disastrous disservice to our youth, their families and the rest of us?

Our government leaders have for some time now engaged us in one war after another. Indeed, between 1798 and 1945 they have sent our young people as soldiers into the countries of other people 127 times, according to Howard Zinn in “Passionate Declarations.”

Just since 1961, they have used our troops in the following 12 countries — Vietnam (1961-’73), Lebanon (’82-’84), Grenada (’83), Libya (’86), Panama (’89), Kuwait/Iraq (’90-’91), Somalia (’92-’93), Haiti (’94), Bosnia (’95), Kosovo (’99), Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (’03-today).

On top of this, they are suspected or known to have engaged us and our dwindling resources in covert military actions in Cuba, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Portugal, Nicaragua, Cambodia, East Timor and Western Sahara.

Many now contend that wars are manufactured by those we elect — not for the common good, but rather at the behest of elite interests. If this is so, we as a nation have certainly manufactured a lot of trouble for ourselves, our youth and others around the globe.

If we were to try to get ourselves out of this pattern, could we not simply consider the notion that war itself is our enemy and that those who create wars are the folks to whom we should direct our scrutiny.

Byron Peterson, Minatare

Johanns represents past

Does anyone find it amusing that Mike Johanns talks about how he is going to change the politics in Washington, D.C., if he is elected?

This guy helped create the problems we have here in Nebraska, in Washington, D.C., and internationally! His political philosophy is so out of touch with the overall majority of citizens of Nebraska and of the United States.

If this lifelong politician would have finished the first position he was elected to, or the second office he was elected to, or even the third position he was appointed to, we as Nebraskans could have judged him on his experience and performance while in office.

I am so sick and tired of these people who talk out of both sides of their mouth.

Voters of Nebraska, please educate yourself over the next six months and make your choice this November. Change for the better in Scott Kleeb, or stay the way it is with the George Bush policies of Mike Johanns. The choice is yours!

Rodney Vlcek, Lincoln