By Sarah Elise Lewis
Over the past two years I’ve submitted more public records requests than I can count. Unfortunately I can count the number of times they’ve been answered on one hand. It seems that, in the face of requests for information they either don’t want to reveal or don’t have time to compile, the City’s party line is to simply ignore the fact that anybody wanted the information in the first place.
Brilliant!
Well yesterday I attended the Senate Local and Municipal Affairs Committee meeting on the proposed LSUHSC hospital, at which Sen. Julie Quinn asked State Health Secretary Alan Levine some tough questions about the propriety of not reopening “Big Charity” as a stopgap measure until the new hospital can be built.
No opportunity was given for public input until UNO student and LSU patient Brad Ott was recognized to speak. I’ve posted his remarks in the above video. As a current patient of the City’s ailing health care system, Brad offers some moving observations about the immediacy of the need for more increased capacity.
And his comments are largely informed by documents produced in response to public records requests. It’s a great example of how public dialog is strengthened and citizens are empowered by access to public information.
2 responses so far ↓
Charity Hospital and Public Records | Squandered Heritage // March 26, 2008 at 3:03 pm
[...] Sarah Elise Lewis was there with her camera and caught the testimony of Brad Ott [...]
Kit Senter // March 27, 2008 at 4:50 am
Thank goodness for Brad.The officvials responsible for providing health care for the indigent are shirking their responsibility. At a time when our need is greatest they close Charity Hospital, illegally I might add and hold out ffor the possibility of getting the feds to finance a new facility which , if it happens at all would be years away. In the meantime medical needs are not being met and our people continue to suffer.