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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJess Grable January 8, 2016 JAN 1 1 2016 CITY O PPORT ANGELES Mayor Patrick Downie CITY CLERK City Council Port Angeles WA Dear Mayor Downie, Thank you for buying me coffee this morning, thank you for taking time to listen to my concern, and thank you for the dinner invitation extended to me and Bert. We look forward to good conversation with you and Mrs. Downie.. As you requested, I am stating some ideas about how to accomplish treatment for indigent children with poor teeth without fluoridating the entire community. I stated my concern that Council lends more weight to the position of doctors and dentists than it does to our position. You assured me that is not true; however, I am not assured that position applies to all council members. You and I have a common bond in doing charity for the vulnerable in our community. You are now the "face"of Port Angeles and you have an onerous responsibility in healing the fluoride divide. Your Council is facing some serious issues connected to fluoridation—a recall petition in circulation, "street theater", withholding of water bill payment and change of form of city government. Your leadership can pave the way for resolution and you are taking an important step forward by encouraging the public to meet with you; however, I do not know if your position is to end water fluoridation or simply a redo of the advisory survey. I understand that the City has the administrative power to end or continue fluoridation and the advisory survey is not binding. I While I may not approve of the aggressive language used to confront the Council, and while the group I belong to, Yes4CleanWater.Org, may not be on the same page with other groups, we have a common goal to -- end fluoridation of our water. Yes4C1eanWater has cohesion. We have strong leadership. We have officers and an agenda. We record minutes and we have a sergeant-at-arms to keep control of our meetings. We have a realistic plan to change form of city government to achieve an end to fluoridation if you as the mayor cannot find a way to that either by vote change or otherwise. I suggested you have meetings with the public to validate their concern about harm caused by fluoridation and that you meet with the groups in particular that are pursuing actions mentioned above. I am pleased to learn that you already have "town hall"type meetings in mind and you are looking at alternate ways to make fluoride (possibly in the form of pills) available for the indigent, children as well as vulnerable adults. What you have in mind is great leadership and will help change public perception of city council. I believe you are on the right track in finding alternative to water fluoridation,but state that teaching kids how to brush and floss is more important as fluoride, topically or in pill form is still fluoride, is not efficacious, and we all are getting too much fluoride. This is an achievable goal that schools, parents and dentists should embrace. Dentists could take turns in making a hygienist available to schools to teach dental hygiene in fun ways to which kids can relate. There must be some software tailored toward making brushing and flossing pleasurable. You mentioned providing toothbrushes. Kids love to get"presents"and what a great way to give the gift that keeps on giving. This project should be a community effort involving action by the schools, parents, doctors and dentists and volunteers from the public interested in helping kids achieve healthy teeth. You might want to appoint a city representative to coordinate the project. Involve the community in choosing a name for the project. Why not involve the County—Public Health—in this effort as well? They should be the real players in this area. This could be a way to close the fluoride divide. We are all good people and we become better people when we come together with a common goal! To recap, fluoridating the entire community is not the avenue to healthy teeth. Finding alternate ways to do so is achievable. It should not be the City's entire responsibility to provide the alternative. Schools, Public Health, doctors, dentists, parents,the public and Peninsula Daily News can be brought together to make the alternative workable. As Mayor, this could be your first order of duty. Thank you for eliciting my ideas on alternatives to water fluoridation. Your comments to me indicate you already have a pretty good grasp of the alternatives. Attached is another copy of my October 30, 2015 memo to City Council on the subject of fluoridation. i I invite you to attend one of our Yest4CleanWater meetings. 'N,1 erely, 1i /:l ss Grabble CC: Dan McKeen October 30, 2015 TO: Port Angeles City Council FROM: Jess Grable CC: Peninsula Daily News—Paul Gottlieb RE: Talking Point at Fluoride Public Forum—Oct. 29, 2015 Attached is my script which I was unable to deliver in its entirety. There is a message for you, an avenue to resolve an issue that has taken on"hot button" intensity and is dividing our community. Can't we, all of us, work as one to resolve this issue in an amicable manner so that the needs of all residents of our city are met? Our medical professionals have taken on the role of advocacy for children. I respect that and agree that when a segment of our community suffers, we all suffer. However, the fix is there to help these children with fluoride varnishes and/or fluoride prescriptions. That is definitely a work the medical professionals can accomplish. They have energy to burn in their quest to help children as was exhibited last night by each one who spoke and that energy could be directed toward finding ways to fund dental care for indigent children. I speak for myself only in saying I would be willing to burn some of my energy toward that end. I would do that because I, too, am an advocate for the elderly and yes, many single adults and parents who bear the physical, economical and medical burden visited on us by fluoridation. I would be willing to expend my energy in meeting the medical professional's half-way in whatever community endeavor is created to pay for dental care for indigent children. If our doctors are feeling some disrespect, sadly,they have brought it upon themselves. When they turn out en masse for public hearings to opine their views and enjoin state representatives, both factions become adversarial peers and they lose the luster of their professional and/or political standings—it's the"them against us" syndrome. We are all good people and we become better people when we come together with a common goal. Please be instrumental in ending the divide before it becomes an abyss. Because Paul Gottlieb was present last night, he gets a copy of this writing and my script. The PDN's new leadership, 3 too, could be instrumental in a community drive to assuage a need that will always be there because there will always be children in need of dental care. We heard many times of the urgent need to treat the many cavities of children in Port Angeles. One can only conclude that fluoridation is not working as well as doctors profess. Thank you for your consideration and whatever future action you take to resolve the fluoride divide.