I witnessed a minor miracle Thursday night involving Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center and feel duty bound to share.
Specifically, my brother was suffering a reaction after having some teeth pulled recently. He called me for a ride to the ER and I dropped him off at 9:55 p.m. I then returned home for what I thought would be a lengthy wait, with an eventual late-night/early-morning call to take him back home.
Imagine my surprise when my cell rang at 10:42 and he was done and ready to be driven home. I dropped him off at his apartment at 10:55, meaning his whole ER experience, including his ride home, had taken roughly one hour.
Color me amazed.
My mind raced for an explanation. I have none. My previous ER experiences, particularly since the hospital sale to Duke LifePoint in 2014, which has become a focal debating point of the Burns-Bradley race for the state house, have been almost all bad.
A notable exception was when a granddaughter broke her wrist at summer camp last year and she was treated promptly and well at the Conemaugh ER.
But my brother, my mother, a cousin, and others I know have had miserable experiences including, but not limited to, long delays, lack of information exchange and some flat-out questionable treatment.
Plus, the place is filthy and the staff, judging from overheard conversations, is not particularly thrilled to be working there.
Frank Burns has tried to blame the hospital decline since the sale on Bradley. As previously pointed out here, Bradley didn’t sell the hospital. She did, however, sell the idea to the public in her role as hospital spokesperson that it would not be a negative and any surprises might just be positive.
This does not reflect well on her judgment, or worse.
Another issue in the Burns-Bradley contest is Bradley’s association with the Myopia 2025 elitist group looking to tell Johnstowners what is good for them, no matter what they think.
This led to a secretive effort to transplant Afghan nationals here, a plot that fell apart under the disinfectant of public exposure.
That matter was detailed here previously in a 9-5-24 post, Yes, Virginia . . . in which I wrote of a discussion with a Bradley loyalist at the county Republican office in Richland who said we owed it to the Afghans to let them come here and they would all have been vetted properly beforehand so, no problem.
In response to a demand from this guy, I detailed in that 9-5-24 blog post numerous examples of “vetted” Afghans doing bad things to American military in Afghanistan.
Now, in recent days comes word of yet another “vetted” Afghan national being arrested in these United States, specifically Oklahoma, charged with plotting an election day terrorist strike. This man is reported to have worked with the CIA in Afghanistan.
He was vetted, perhaps three or more times, we have read. Not very well, apparently.
With any luck, he could have landed in Johnstown.
To sum it up, one must consider fresh evidence and adjust opinions if warranted.
If the Conemaugh ER functions well down the line in cases with which I’m familiar, I’m willing to sing its praises.
And, if “vetted” Afghan nationals continue to plan or commit crimes against Americans, it only strengthens my resolve that Myopia 2025 and Bradley were wrong on the matter of bringing them to Johnstown and Burns was correct to oppose it publicly.
Sam Ross Jr's site 