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Phone
360-430-1003
Email
pjforcitycouncil@gmail.com
Town where you live
Longview WA
Experience (300 characters max)
Multiple leadership roles within my field of medicine, including Chief of Medicine and Board of Directors for the Washington state chapter of American College of Physicians; twenty years as Medical Director for Cowlitz Medical Blue Shield and King County Blue Shield.
For one thing, I'll offer quarterly group meetings at which citizens can askme questions or tell what's on their mind. I will answer any emails that come to me as a council member. I'll be available at public events and will continue to talk with and listen to people wherever I see them, whether at church, at the theatre, at the grocery store, and so on.
Longview does a wonderful job of keeping streets and parks clean. As a "Tree City USA," we have hundreds of trees with leaves that fall from September through January into the streets and yards. I appreciate the regular street-sweeping that scoops up the leaves and keeps them from clogging street drains, while beautifying the streets in general. Since Hope Village opened, there has been a noticeable drop in the problem of used syringes/needles being left in public places/parks. Not only are they are a potential danger to anyone who picks one up or steps on one, they affect the quality of our parks and sense of safety.
This will be my first adventure in elected public service. I would argue, however, that I've been in public service to our Medicaid (as well as non-paying) population since I started my medical practice in 1979. Though retired from private practice, I now volunteer as a physician at our local Free Medical Clinic. The patients are very grateful to have medical care at no cost to them provided by a core of dedicated physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses and support staff. I was also a physician volunteer at the YMCA Cardiac Rehab program for about 5 years before we had a formal program at the hospital. I have also volunteered for many organizations around town, including being on the Chamber of Commerce board of directors, the Lower Columbia College Foundation Board, St. John Governing Board and Foundation Board, the Columbia Theatre for Performing Arts, and others.
In addition to supporting our Hope Village for adults (50 pallet homes behind a locked fence with support staff, counseling, meals) and other existing programs (Beth's Place and Janus Youth, Family Promise), I would love to see some kind of a shelter program, perhaps with parking, for those who are either unable (or unwilling) to enter Hope Village. It could be an expansion of our cold weather shelter with showers, food, laundry and so on. There are models like this around the country, including a shelter in Honolulu where my older daugher worked about 20 years ago.
I see a vibrant downtown area with shops and restaurants and small businessess filled with patrons, both local and from out of the area who come to see our outdoor art gallery and our increasing number of murals. I think of themed cities like Poulsbo, Leavenworth and even Castle Rock that have created reasons for tourists to visit them.
I envision enough jobs with adequate wages for all who want to work and incentives for those who live on the fringes but are able-bodied and could do something to contribute to society while earning some money, I think back to the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) of the late 1930s when my dad and one of his brothers worked at CCC projects (along the Columbia River) and got paid for it. They were able to support their widowed mother during that peri-depression period because of those programs and learned valuable skills at the same time.
