the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Aug 19, 2024
In the August primary election, the voters in Baraga and Ontonagon counties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan voted to increase funding for their ambulance services. Those in Ontonagon felt that there was really no choice as their hospital was closed down.
Baraga County has a hospital with emergency services and inpatient care. Ontonagon does not. Their hospital was closed in April 2024 because Aspirus, the hospital system that owns the hospital, decided the people in Ontonagon County didn’t need a hospital.
Says who? The hospital corporation, that’s who. The owners that put profit before people. Aspirus left the people with a Monday through Friday clinic with no emergency or in-patient care. It does not meet the health care needs of the people. It could not even deliver mammogram services, as promised, because the clinic has the equipment but lacks the workers to operate it!
The Ontonagon hospital closure is resulting in more risk to patients and EMT workers, and an increased burden on Baraga County hospital workers and staff. So now the ambulance is the only hope of triage, of emergency services? It is 47 miles, one way, to bring patients to Baraga.
This is rotten medicine, the product of a rotten system that always puts profit ahead of people. This is a life and death issue.