ARC and ABM changing the rules

Dear Editor:

Your right to volunteer is in jeopardy. A select few want to take away your right to volunteer and serve on both the Ahwatukee Board of Management (ABM) and Ahwatukee Recreation Center (ARC) at the same time.

The attorney letter states that it is a conflict of interest. It’s quoted “The ARC and ABM are two separate organizations with different goals and purposes.” So how is this a conflict? It’s also quoted that the ARC board is in favor of this by-law change. That is not entirely true. It was not a unanimous decision, which is why you have to vote on it.

The ARC and ABM have a long history of working together for the benefit of the community. Most organizations need as many volunteers as they can get. Volunteers at the ARC cross many clubs, committees and boards. Members of the retirement area pay assessments to both ARC and ABM, so why not have a representative on both?

Since we have only one member that serves on both boards this sounds more like politics to me. Make your vote count.

Carol Smith

 

Tuckee Fest rocked

Dear Editor:

Thanks to you, the Ahwatukee Community Swim and Tennis Center’s Second Annual Tukee Fest Rockin’ in the Park was a huge success. Attendees enjoyed the great sounds from the bands Omniscient (Horizon High School), The Line Up, A Boy Named Sioux and B Platinum. A wide variety of food and beverage was offered from Nello’s Pizza, Macayo’s Mexican Kitchen, Von Hanson’s bratwursts and hotdogs, Campfire Kettle Corn, Jamba Juice, wine from Total Wine and beer from Hensley Distributing. FunRunners Rental provided the amusements for the kids.

Thank you also to the following businesses: Brewer’s Air Conditioning and Heating (spirit sponsor), Kevin McGraw – State Farm, Classic Image Dance, Woolaver Clear Smiles, Pro-Edge Performance Training, Ahwatukee Foothills Newspaper (advertising sponsor), Attorney Dean Formanek, Scott Roofing (entertainment sponsor), 1 Stop Signs, The Bagnall Company and Ace Hardware & Rental at 48th Street and Warner. Finally a big thank you to the 2009 Community Center Sponsors: Desert Landscape Professionals (DLP), Ahwatukee Country Club, Big O Tires, and Ahwatukee Adventure Boot Camp. Without their help, this event might not have been as successful as it was.

Door prizes were provided by Classic Car Spa, The Melting Pot, Phoenix Coyotes, Madison Avenue Salon & Day Spa, Fry’s Grocery Store, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Bed Bath & Beyond, LA Fitness, The Phoenix Suns, The Arizona Cardinals, Sleep America and Safeway Store.

Volunteers are also a big part of our success. Thank you Mike Mettner, Traci Phillips and the SEV Ravens Football team, who showed up first thing Sunday morning to collect trash, remove banners, arrange bleachers and clean up the Ahwatukee Park. Way to go Ravens. The Mountain Pointe High School boys and girls golf teams volunteered in the concession and food booths. Karen Corona, C.P.A., and her group of volunteers made sure ID bands were on for alcohol consumption and hands were stamped for entry. Jean Stuk (DPR Realty) and Michelle Wilson (ABM board member) worked without complaint all night selling tickets in the main ticket booth.

Kudos to the U.S. Army for bringing out a military Humvee that kids were allowed to climb in and on, and a football toss for more entertainment for the kids. Thank you to Councilman Sal DiCiccio and his staff for their fabulous support for this community event.

The entire staff of the Ahwatukee Community Center and Ahwatukee Board of Management worked tirelessly to bring this experience together so that families, friends and neighbors could have an enjoyable evening out, close to home.

Check out our Web site, http://www.ahwatukeehoa.com, for information on the following upcoming events, Spash n Dash – Oct. 3, Halloween Haunted House & Hayride – Oct. 23, 24 and 25, and Ahwa-Turkey Stomp Car & Motorcycle Show – Nov. 21.

Lisa Robinson

Special Events/ Rental Coordinator

Ahwatukee Community Swim & Tennis Center

 

Drivers and bicyclists need to know the law

Dear Editor:

I am responding to the letter from Leslie Vandorpol (“Bicyclists also have responsibility,” AFN, Oct. 2). This is what I have said before, drivers do not know that Arizona Revised Statue 28-812 states: “A person riding a bicycle on a roadway or on a shoulder adjoining a roadway is granted all of the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this chapter.”

Arizona Revised Statue 28-815 states: “Persons riding bicycles upon a roadway shall not ride more than two abreast except on paths or parts of roadway set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles,” meaning if there is no bike lane bicycles have a right to be in the road. I just do not understand the animosity to cyclists.

If a person cannot wait a few extra seconds to pass a bicycle maybe they should consider if that bike rider was their son, daughter or family member. Most cyclists are just out to enjoy exercise. In today’s world there are many people that use bicycles as their only means of transportation. If a vehicle that weights 3,500 pounds is being driven by a driver who does not know the laws maybe it is not cyclist’s fault, as stated.

Last week I personally witnessed a 77-year-old gentleman on his way to the YMCA get hit by a mini van in a school zone. The driver just turned right into the cyclist, hitting him and sending him to the hospital. Until both drivers and cyclists are educated on the state laws of the road this will continue.

Steve Donaldson

Founder of C.A.R.D

www.cyclistsagainstrecklessdrivers.org

 

Reimbursement rates make no sense

Dear Editor:

I totally agree with Doug Murphy’s assessment that our “medical system is pretty good, but paying for it is a mess” (“Health care good but paying for it…” AFN, Sept. 30).

Whereas Doug asks what does a heart attack really cost, I could ask what does a urinary tract infection really cost? As an independent, self-employed health care provider with a practice in Ahwatukee I would like to describe to readers another example of financial dysfunctionality in this country’s medical system, namely, the variance in reimbursement rates.

If a patient presents with symptoms of a urinary tract infection (UTI) and the diagnosis is confirmed by a simple test of a urine sample why do insurance companies pay physicians more for this office visit than they pay independent Nurse Practitioners (NPs)?

It may surprise readers to know that various health insurance plans reimburse nurse practitioners only a percentage of what they would reimburse physicians for identical services. Not only that, but the percentages vary among the health plans. For instance, Medicare reimburses NPs at 85 percent of typical physician rates, whereas Blue Cross Blue Shield reimburses at 60 percent and Aetna reimburses at ridiculously low percentages varying from 25 percent to 45 percent of what they would pay physicians. Take this example in a different context: if a nurse practitioner who is a salaried employee in a physician’s practice sees a patient with symptoms of a UTI, the practice is reimbursed at the physician’s rate, not at the lower NP rates. What is the logic behind that?

The reimbursement for a medical office visit for this diagnosis should be the same across the board whether the service was rendered by a physician or by a nurse practitioner. Physicians are being grossly overpaid for this type of office visit and independent NPs are grossly underpaid.

If surgeons within a geographic area of the country know what the “usual and customary” reimbursement will be for their services based on a procedure, so should primary care providers. Using the scenario of a UTI is just one example of how health care costs could be contained. It is time for insurance reimbursements to Primary Care Providers be determined based upon procedure or diagnosis regardless of whether it was provided by a primary care physician or by a primary care nurse practitioner.

And congratulations to Doug for such a speedy recovery!

Agnes Oblas, APRN