Health care, travel dominate days before special session

Health care, travel dominate days before special session

August 2, 2001

Capitol Report
By Senator Jim Isgar

On the road again.

We have the most beautiful Senate district in the country. The last few days I spent driving from Durango to Montrose to Gunnison. The mountains are truly spectacular with the clouds and green colors. There are days when I spend more time driving than I do in meetings. I've had days where I've driven 300 miles for three hours of meetings.

The geography is truly spectacular, but what I really enjoy is meeting the people of our district. I need to learn to enjoy the food a little less, however. You don't burn up many calories sitting in a car and listening to peoples' concerns. And everywhere I go they feed me.

As was reported in The Durango Herald, I was appointed to the interim committee to hear and address rural health issues. I have been trying to learn all that I can about these issues. I have made a few initial observations:

Our health care is good, but expensive.
More and more people cannot afford either health care or insurance.
The people involved in health care are dedicated, compassionate, and concerned about providing health care to their patients.
There is far too much paperwork, which increases costs and decreases patient contact time.
And, too little is done in the areas of prevention and wellness. I think. Investments of time and money in these areas could result in significant long-term savings and a higher quality of life for our citizens, especially those living in rural areas. We need to free up our agencies and the market to allow for more innovative solutions.

The next meeting of the interim committee will be here in Durango on Sept. 5. As I get more details I will report them in this column.

Brenda and I have traveled to many communities throughout District 6 and will continue to do so. As we've listened to community leaders and citizens we have discovered several areas of interest from water system improvements in Norwood to wastewater needs in Nucla. I have attended meetings almost every day around our district and find that the main issues seem to focus around transportation, growth and health care.

I am also learning of really innovative solutions to problems that are common to the entire district being used by local agencies. Just yesterday I learned of the provision of employee housing at Telluride Mountain Resort provided through the services of the West Central Housing Development Organization in Delta. Steve Heald, its executive director, showed how his organization has provided low-income housing for people working in the Telluride area. And, these units have million-dollar views and are accessible to employee work sites.

These are the types of programs that can be replicated around our district, especially in resort growth areas like Durango Mountain Resort as well as in the more tourist oriented towns like Cortez, Durango and Pagosa Springs, where housing is so expensive relative to earnings.

Sept. 20 is the special session of the Legislature called by Gov. Owens The three items on the call are women's health issues, redistricting and growth. I have been receiving many suggestions regarding growth, and most feel that it is an Eastern Slope issue. Please begin to think about the issues we are going to try to act on in the special session and contact me by phone or by e-mail.

Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, represents the 6th District, which includes Cortez, in the state senate. Reach him at the Capitol by phone, (303) 866-4884; by fax (303-866-2012; or by e-mail at jimisgar@qwest.net .