Dear Editor:

As a result of family illness, I have spent much of my waking hours recently within the walls and departments of Our Lady of the Angels Hospital, and I would appreciate your allowing me to share my thoughts with your readers.

First, the case my loved one has received has been terrific. The staff, including physicians, resident doctors, nurses, technicians, nursing students, cooks, orderlies and all, are professional and capable, and you don’t see them wasting time. They devote themselves to the patients and to the care that our aging population needs so much. They are dedicated, and my thanks go out to them.

There’s no point bemoaning the state’s financial crisis. It’s there, and we let it happen. If the special session cannot resolve it, we face the prospect for the first time in our history as a city of becoming a city without a place to go if you become badly sick. This is a prospect that is simply unacceptable and would be devastating.

The solution, if there is a solution, is for everyone to do everything that can honorably be done to keep our hospital intact and viable. We need it!

John N. Gallaspy

Bogalusa