The Road Less Traveled

[Mark Kindt]

Thank you, Ms. McCarthy for these excellent points and observations. I will see what else I can find out. Unlike the loss of the hospital, I have very little information about the transfer of the Lakewood Health Department services to the County.

[Mark Kindt]

Keeping This Very Simple

I propose that the City of Lakewood Planning Department review the possibility of building a new hospital to serve Lakewood and the 150,000 people in the surrounding communities.

The need is great! The time is now!

There are already half-a-dozen studies at City Hall on this.

Given the scope and duration of the current pandemic those studies can all be updated with new demand and utilization data.

Just to make this easy for the Planning Department staff. -- Here is a list of the available studies in their possession (or downloadable in PDF from the web or the City's own website).

1. The 2018 Healthcare Analytics Study

2. Any study prepared by the City's vendor Subsidium

3. Any study prepared by the City's vendor Huron Consulting

4. The 2014 Proposal from the Metro Health System

5. All of the Healthcare Needs Assessment Studies prepared by Lakewood Hospital (download them in PDF online)

6. All of the Healthcare Needs Assessment Studies prepared by Fairview Hospital (download them in PDF online)

[Mark Kindt]

Time To Pick The Low-Hanging Fruit

If you are at home making face-masks for those in need, then you have a pretty good idea of why the City of Lakewood should have a new health department.

If you are at home preparing a newspaper for publication with stories about Covid-19, then you have a pretty good idea of why the City of Lakewood should have a new health department.

So just what does the Lakewood Planning Department actually do? Every urban planner is professionally trained to understand the role of public health in urban life. It's in their textbooks.

Let's ask our Planning Department to get to work on these public health needs.

It seems to me that a new public health department could be created for the City within 90 days and then fully operational by the end of Summer 2020.

This is not a heavy-lift. I encourage each reader to raise this issue with their city council-person.

As i read about the activities and reports of our elected representatives, my impression is that this is NOT under meaningful consideration. Instead, the big issue is outdoor dining! Are they nuts!?!?

I have been all over the Ohio Department of Health webpage and the webpage of the Cuyahoga County Board of Health and I can see no information that the pandemic has actually flatten-out here.

Why should the citizens of Lakewood be asked to go without either a local health department or a local hospital?

The time is now. The need is great. There needs to be a broad public dialogue on meeting our local public health needs. Not in Lorain County, but here, where we live!

[Mark Kindt]

The Ohio Department of Health Covid-19 Dashboard

Visiting this dashboard and clicking on the various tools is a truly sobering experience:

https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal ... alizations

If a person contracts Covid-19, that person has a surprisingly high risk for hospitalization. --Particularly above 40.

It seems completely preposterous and foolish that any elected official in Lakewood would be promoting the expansion of outdoor dining in Lakewood at this time under these conditions.

The head of the Metro Health System is reporting that their modeling takes Ohio nearly to 1,000 new cases per day -- 900 as reported in the PD.

[Dan OMalley]

Mark,

You are making a fair point here regarding our need to have a municipal health department. As you noted, we had one until about 12 years ago. But I do wish to reiterate, as you fairly noted previously, that the city’s elimination of that department does not mean we have gone without public health protocols or administration. The city contracts with the county board of health to thoroughly administer our public health needs. They have been very responsive in my estimation. For example, their director has personally joined our recent city council health & human services committee meetings to brief council on their efforts and the specific updates of the COVID-19 crisis in Lakewood. Furthermore, the city has take it upon itself to handle certain health matters more directly on a local basis (e.g., the bedbug outbreak a couple years ago).

Our contract with the county board of health expires this year. As we consider its renewal, we will be thorough in our evaluation of the service provided to our citizens. I would (and do) sincerely appreciate your input on the matter. I’ll keep in touch with you and others via the Observation Deck when this comes up. Thanks again.

[Mark Kindt]

A thank you to President of Council O'Malley for taking the time to provide this information and update. I also acknowledge and value the work of the Cuyahoga County Board of Health and its staff.

My goal is to open a broad community dialogue about the future of actual healthcare in Lakewood, a topic that has been previously addressed by any number of citizen and group panels under the guise of "wellness".

Especially now, in these urgent circumstances, it is my hope that Lakewood can begin to create new civic infrastructure to assist the most vulnerable communities in our city to cope with disease and the insecurity that accompanies that disease.

[Dan Alaimo]

Thinking back to the closing of the hospital, as torturous as that may be, one of the key issues was regionalism vs. the needs of our City. It seems that the health commission was closed just as it was needed most. As much as people are loath to revisit the discussion, it would serve us all to put discussion of a new hospital back on the table and a local health commission would be most helpful.

Another issue in Lakewood is population density. I don't know, nor do I really care, what other inner ring suburbs are doing in this regard, but I see it as a real need here.

Finally, we have many people here ready and willing too discuss health concerns particular to Lakewood. As one who was suspicious of many actions of the past administration, it wouldn't surprise me if this was a factor in their thinking. My limited exposure to county people is they are a step removed from the interests of Lakewood. It's time to bring health-care back home.

[pj bennett]

It's time to bring health-care back home.

Hear, hear! It's time to bring health-care back home!!!

[Mark Kindt]

City of Lakewood Acts To Expand Outdoor Dining

https://www.cleveland.com/community/202 ... nance.html

The federal Centers for Disease Control has reiterated its guidance that the virus spreads easily between people.

[Mark Kindt]

Here Is A Quote From A City Council Member

“We recognize how important our small businesses are to our community,” said Ward 2 Councilman Jason Shachner, who earlier this week introduced the ordinance. “We want to do everything we can to make sure that people know that Lakewood is a place where it’s going to be safe to enjoy our restaurants and other amenities.”

Please note the use of the word "safe" in this quote.

I would suggest that the word "safe" has a special meaning during pandemic conditions and that this representation cannot be supported unless the Council Member has special knowledge about the levels of contagion in Lakewood and the surrounding communities.

In what sense is Lakewood "safe" from Covid-19 contagion. I'm sorry, but it isn't. To this point, I have attempted to avoid any real discussion of Covid-19 in this thread, because like Mr. Shachner, I am just a lawyer without specialized training in medicine, epidemiology, or health statistics.

Lakewood is no closer to having a Health Department than ever, but it is making policy decisions that affect the health and safety of residents and visitors and I am deeply disturbed by this.

Intensive Care Units in Cuyahoga County are loaded with Covid-19 victims, while Lakewood pretty much just proclaimed "Party On!" in EXACT timing with the date for the bar and restaurant reopenings.

[Mark Kindt]

Here Is The Ohio Department Of Health Dashboard for May 21, 2020

This was a public document yesterday when Lakewood City Council unanimously acted to expand outdoor dining in the city.

Please look at the graphs on the right of the image and explain to me why our elected officials think what they did was "safe".

No, it was outrageously reckless.

ODH Dashboard 5-21-2020 -- Covid-19.jpg (90.09 KiB) Viewed 12201 times

[Dan Alaimo]

CDC also eased back on its guidance regarding transmission of Covid-19 by contact with various surfaces. The emphasis is now on airborne transmission of the virus. I've seen some pushback on this, but personally I'm inclined to accept it. Our knowledge of Covid keeps changing and this is another example.

Regardless, WEAR A MASK! The numbers have gone up but this is not the expected second wave. In Cuyahoga, this is still the first wave. WEAR A MASK!

City of Lakewood Acts To Expand Outdoor Dining

https://www.cleveland.com/community/202 ... nance.html

The federal Centers for Disease Control has reiterated its guidance that the virus spreads easily between people.

[Mark Kindt]

I encourage our elected representatives to seek expert advice on local responses to this pandemic. The expansion of outdoor dining is an unneeded risk to the health and safety of residents and visitors. This is a strong argument for Lakewood to re-establish the Health Department.

[Mark Kindt]

I encourage our elected representatives to seek expert advice on local responses to this pandemic. The expansion of outdoor dining is an unneeded risk to the health and safety of residents and visitors. This is a strong argument for Lakewood to re-establish the Health Department.

For many Ohioans devasted by the ravages of Covid-19 this Memorial Day Weekend is a somber time. Today or tomorrow will mark the deaths of more than 2,000 Ohions to Covid- 19. May their families and friends find solace during their grief. --With sympathy and compassion to all.

[Dan Alaimo]

I encourage our elected representatives to seek expert advice on local responses to this pandemic. The expansion of outdoor dining is an unneeded risk to the health and safety of residents and visitors. This is a strong argument for Lakewood to re-establish the Health Department.

For many Ohioans devasted by the ravages of Covid-19 this Memorial Day Weekend is a somber time. Today or tomorrow will mark the deaths of more than 2,000 Ohions to Covid- 19. May their families and friends find solace during their grief. --With sympathy and compassion to all.

I call attention to one of the entries to the NY Covid mask messaging contest because it is what we should be doing here. The people must lead on this particular message. I like it a great deal but I hope it doesn't win as it gives an already popular governor much more attention than he aleady has - "the luv guv." But Lakewood needs to take this message to heart. Do the right thing. Wear a mask.