In all its ocean-linerly majesty, the Los Angeles Times veered a few degrees from its usual course last week better to scrutinize the ongoing crisis in Los Angeles’ ramshackle Department of Health Services. The story, which could have appeared at any time over the past year, spoke of endless waits in clinics, understaffed wards, crowded emergency rooms, faltering funding. All of this is true and important to say.But even more important to say is where to begin straightening out this bureaucracy-clogged entity charged with preserving the health of the poorest 40 percent of our county‘s population. Simply to say that it’s all problematic implies that there‘s no place to begin fixing our DHS. But clearly, there are places where the remedy isn’t more money (scarce everywhere in public health since Proposition 13) but the kind of courage and determination we haven‘t seen in Los Angeles County government since I can recall.
Source: Upheaval Update | L.A. Weekly