In response to "End to morality?". You could check out, the Constitution Party at, http://www.constitutionparty.com/ or their presidential candidates site Chuck Baldwin 2008 at http://baldwin2008.com/ . I think you will see there is no reason to give up your moral values and all the decent things you were taught in school. Many Constitution Party candidates and members share your values.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

I just wanted to address the Friday the 30th of May. My Daughter took my 18 month old grandson to the hospital at 6:30pm, due to he was vomiting and had diarrahia all at the same time, and his tongue turned blue and he was very limp. The hospital put him in the part were it is an emergency part and his oxygen was at a 83%. They did not put him on anything. and after a 41/2 hour wait my daughter asked three different times when is the Doctor going to be in, the nurse said the Doctor told her that they have more people that are in more critical shape then he was and had to wait his turn. My grandson never got to see the doctor. I believe this was all do to him being on medicade. My husband went in to see the doctor due to spider bite and was in and out in one hour, but he had blue cross blue shield, they treated him like gold. This was horrible, I wish there was something that could of been done.This hospital has gotten a bad name due to this kind of treatment. My grandson is doing good today, he had the bad case of the flu.

didder65--I'm very sorry that your grandson was ill, but you've told us nothing that would suggest that he was treated any differently by the hospital because he is on Medicaid. Obviously, the medical staff was correct that there were more serious issues to deal with (especially on a Friday night)--your grandson had a bad case of the flu.

It's hard to have to wait in the ER, especially when a small child is involved. But if you look at the situation objectively he got the treatment he needed in the order the healthcare professionals determined was appropriate and he is doing well.

Let me tell you something "wasting money" God forbid our law enforcement officers should have to use their weapons, but if they do, I would prefer that they be comfortable with the handeling of the weapon and not get any "surprises" when they are in the heat of the moment. And as far as I know, they have always used ammo when practicing with their weapons.

didder65 - that is when you say, please transfer my child to children's mercy. they cant refuse if he is stable, the ambulance will pick him up with 3 very qualified people to take care of him. this hospital should NEVER treat a child.

didder, that is horrible. Please write/email a letter of complaint to the hospital and let the patient advocate speak with you and your family. If this did happen, the ER leadership needs to know about it.

didder 65- as an ER nurse (not at Heartland), I can tell you that if in fact your grandson had an oxygen level of 83%, he would not have been put in the waiting room. I don't care how old you are, if you have an oxygen level of 83%, you will be seen immediately. Also, he would not have been diagnosed with the "flu". I realize that it is very difficult to wait that long to see a doctor when you have a sick child, and it is frustrating. However, I am a travel nurse and have worked at MANY emergency rooms, and I can tell you that the wait times are long everywhere. Heartland has a very busy ER, and sometimes, unfortunately, you are going to have to wait. As far as the medicaid issue, most of the people there are probably on medicaid, and the nurses and doctors don't even look at that information unless they have a good reason to. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but I think you were confused about the seriousness of the child's condition.

adomrb obviously no one in your family has been treated at heartland, we were in the ER for almost 12 hours with my 17 month old grandson because his eyes were swollen, they couldn't figure out why, demanded they send us to children's mercy, within a half hour they began treating him for conjuctivitis. the aren't equipped to deal with young children, they tried to draw blood 4 times and by chance, finally hit a vein after using him as a pin cushion. so don't be so quick to judge if you weren't there to observe.

My grandson was not waiting in the waiting room they took him directly to the emergency room, then left him there for 4 1/2 hours. My daughter checked him out, and took him to Doctor next day. We watched him very closely that night. I realize that there were sick people, but when you have a baby with an oxygen level of 83% he should of been at the top of the list. Not because he is was my grandson, but because of his oxygen level and being a baby.

rxyrch, you are upset because your grandson was not treated quickly enough for pink eye? The ER is not an Urgent Care facility. Pink Eye is not an emergency and your grandson was not in danger. The ER staff probably knew that quickly and were in no hurry to pull doctors of emergency cases to see your grandson. It sounds like they kept you there to make sure that there wasn't something else going on. I'm just glad your grandson got the help he needed.

didder65, I think the point adomrb was trying to make is that it's hard to believe that any ER would allow a baby with an oxygen level of 83% to not be seen immediately by a physician. I have no reason not to believe your story, but if it's true then you need to get in touch with Heartland and tell them what happened so people can be held accountable.

This is a delayed response to an article I read about city employees getting a wage increase. First let me say I am a former city employee from a small town south of St Louis. I know what it is like to work for the local government. It is "extremely" difficult to work at "City Hall". All eyes are on you and you are constantly walking a thin line. Most city employees work very hard at their jobs and many work from home and work overtime hours w/o any pay. I have worked on the residential and commercial side in my former position and believe me you take some pretty hard knocks from the general public when it comes to building issues. I recently had the opportunity to travel to St Joseph. I went with a relative one day to St Joseph, MO's City Hall and was quite impressed with the efficiency of their building department. The people were very polite and their building section went out of their way to ensure that my questions about constructing a commercial building were answered appropriately. Hats off to you St Joseph City Hall. Your professionalism was greatly appreciated!