August 12, 2005

LETTERS2theEDITOR

Health care for children benefits all

Dear Editor,
The success of all of Silicon Valley’s children is the key to our community’s continued growth and prosperity. Our community depends on a skilled work force with a sophisticated knowledge and skills base more than many other communities.

We know Silicon Valley will continue to thrive if its citizenry can contribute to its continuing prosperity. While our children deserve the best possible futures we can provide them, their success in life will help us maintain the high-living standards of our community.

We know there are barriers to a child’s success that can impede them from becoming contributing members of the community. One such barrier is the lack of access to high quality and affordable health care coverage.

Lack of health coverage can impact a child’s ability to learn. Children who cannot adequately see the board in their school rooms or read their learning materials, who attend school even though they are ill or suffer from lack of dental care, cannot excel in a learning environment.

As many as 96,000 children in Santa Clara County—about 15 percent—do not have medical insurance. Many of these students are Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Latinos and African-Americans. The health needs of these students must be addressed if we are to reach our goal of ensuring success for all children. All of us have a stake in their success because their success is tied to our future.

Fortunately, we in Santa Clara County recognize that healthy kids grow up to be successful and productive adults. Our community is in the forefront nationally of providing health care to all children and thus helping all children enter school ready to learn. Our tools to do the job include the Santa Clara County Children’s Health Initiative and Healthy Kids programs.

These are public-private partnerships involving county and city governing bodies, local health and hospital systems, social service agencies, labor and faith-based organizations. These programs are designed to serve children in families with annual incomes can be $56,500 for a family of four.

Nearly 55,000 children who do not qualify for medical insurance through other government programs or who have parents who work for employers do not provide health insurance have been enrolled in these programs to date—but there is more work to do.

Saturday, Aug. 20, provides yet another opportunity to enroll eligible families in low or no-cost health insurance programs. A community event to enroll children in health insurance so they can enter school this fall ready to learn will be held at Raging Waters Park, 2333 S. White Road in San Jose, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Enrolling families will also receive free admission to the water park on Aug. 20. This is a community effort that recognizes our community’s understanding of the link between healthy children and a healthy community. You can call my office at (408) 277-1220 for more information, including what you will need to enroll your child in low or no cost health insurance.

Assembly member Joe Coto
23rd Assembly District

Build restaurants instead of drugstores in Evergreen

Dear Editor,
Every now and then, my family likes to go out for a sit-down dinner and have a nice meal. It’s a time for my family and I to catch up with each other’s lives without interruption from the phone or doorbell, further bonding our family.
With the selection of restaurants in Evergreen, this is a bit of a problem. There are some good restaurants, but I believe there are not enough of them. Since I was a kid here in Evergreen, I have seen so many nice homes being built along with small shopping centers.

Yet those shopping centers are putting in pharmacies like Longs Drugs and Walgreens, or banks and auto-supply stores. Have you ever counted the number of drugstores we have in a five-mile radius? I would imagine it being greater than 10.

How about some reasonably priced family restaurants that possibly have an outdoor eating area similar to Pasta Pomodoro? The Lunardi’s shopping center is a perfect place, yet a Walgreens is going in.
When my parents want to meet friends for dinner, we go to Santana Row, a nice place with ambiance and selection. With all these new houses and little selection of restaurants, all we are doing is driving business out of the area.

Families are busy. Sitting down to a meal is one of the few times that a family can all be together to engage in conversation. To the developers out there: encourage a strong family unit, bring business back to Evergreen and please don’t build any more drugstores or fast-food restaurants.

Nic Berglund
Junior at Evergreen Valley High School

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