A Thoroughly American Story/June 30
Patrick White for State Representative
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Mingling with volunteers at the Left Field event in Sheffield on Friday.
In This Issue:
A Thoroughly American Story
Thank you Michael Wise
Tried to Make a Doctor's Appointment Lately?
The Patient Revolution
Trai thi Duong and Luy Nguyen with Senator Ted Kennedy.
A Thoroughly American Story
I want to focus this week on a thoroughly American story.
On April 30, 1975 Saigon fell. Luy Nguyen and Trai thi Duong got out and were placed in a refugee camp in Guam. And it was on July 4th, 1975, that the Nguyens and three of their four children first arrived in the United States and settled in East Hartford. In 1979, they opened Truc’s Orient Express, naming it after their young daughter, who with her mom still resides in West Stockbridge.
The Nguyens served on the losing side of the Vietnam Civil War. The day Saigon fell, their oldest son was visiting relatives across the Saigon River. In the chaos of the moment, with the last helicopters evacuating, they made the heart-wrenching decision to leave one child behind, and they fled a country in chaos, never to return.
Thank God they settled in West Stockbridge. You see, it was there they met Gene Dellea, who recently retired as West Stockbridge moderator and who previously served as a Select Board member. It was Gene who introduced the Nguyens to Ted Kennedy. It was Ted who worked with a hostile foreign power to reunite the Nguyens with their oldest son, Lâm Nguyen, a reunion that was nearly 7 years in the making.
The United States didn’t have a diplomatic relationship with the new Vietnamese regime at the time. Nevertheless, Ted Kennedy found a way through diplomacy to open channels of communications. That is in and of itself a lesson we can all learn from today.
Like the many immigrants who came to these shores before and since, the Nguyens got a new start here in America. America got so much in return. Over the past four decades, Truc’s Orient Express became a regionally famous destination restaurant for Vietnamese cuisine and paved the way for West Stockbridge’s renaissance. I worked in restaurants as a teenager here in the Berkshires, and anyone who has done the work knows it’s hard work. They came with nothing but hope for a better life and built that life one plate at a time.
There’s something obviously poetic about arriving in the United States on July 4 nearly five decades ago. There’s something absolutely beautiful about how most folks in West Stockbridge and the Berkshires welcomed them with open arms. Not all. But most. I am proud to live in a county and a country where this quintessential American Dream is possible for anyone willing to work hard and raise a family. The Nguyens embody all that is best about what America stands for.
Many of the talking heads have been fixated on Joe Biden’s performance last Thursday night. And yet it was Donald Trump who demonized immigrants when he said, “We are living right now in a rat's nest. They are killing our people in New York and California and every state in the union, because we don't have borders anymore.” It was Donald Trump who said, “People are coming in and they're killing our citizens at a level that we've never seen.”
Immigrants built this country. Immigrants like the Nguyens. Do we have challenges with immigration? Absolutely. Championed by a conservative Oklahoma Senator, we had a bipartisan solution on the table that Donald Trump scuttled. Why? For political expedience. He would have you think that crime among immigrants is higher than that of the general population. It is a lie. In fact, immigrants are half as likely to commit a crime than the general population. Mr. Trump has for decades cherry picked those awful examples and used it as a wedge to divide us. In a country of 333 million, there will always be stories of the best and the worst. Whose stories a politician, especially a president, chooses to tell matters. It just does.
We are all immigrants. My dad’s family on the Whites side believed they were descended from a Mayflower family. There was a family document in a bible somewhere that traced that lineage. With modern tools, someday I would like to confirm that just for the fun of it. But it was my Dad’s other Irish and Native American roots that he more closely identified with. My story, being adopted, is a bit more complicated. I ran my DNA a decade ago and it turns out I am half Sicilian and half Middle Eastern. Not that it matters. America is one big melting pot, and that pot is what has, over and over again, truly made America great.
Did Joe Biden have a bad debate? Who do you really want running this country? Someone who celebrates the best of those among us, or someone who demonizes for the politics of hate?
I am voting for the politics of aspiration this November. I am voting to reject the politics of division. For me anyway, it is as simple as that.
Happy July 4th everyone. And happy anniversary to the Nguyen family. The Berkshire community has a lot to be thankful for. They are one of them.
The Nguyen family was finally reunited after seven years with the help of Gene Dellea and Teddy Kennedy.
Thank you Michael Wise
After ten years leading the Berkshire Brigades, Michael Wise, the Great Barrington Town Moderator, told me at the Left Field event on Friday that he is stepping down.
Michael has been a tireless advocate for the folks with the least among us. I met Michael in 2019 when he took the time to explain to me an option for more progressive taxation that is available to local select boards. I agreed with him on the plan's merits, and I've consistently supported this option during my time on the Select Board.
This is my third political campaign. I won my first two running for the Stockbridge Select Board. In each, I've opted to provide voters with detailed policy positions and proposals. Often we get generalities we can all agree on, but when it comes to the specifics of how to accomplish them, folks seem unwilling to take a stand lest they offend.
With me, there are no surprises. I listen to informed folks like Michael before the election, and then I communicate my positions through detailed policy positions, emails, and in person.
If you have a question, just ask. If I don't answer right away, I will be asking experts so that my position is informed. Rest assured, you will get an answer.
With Michael Wise at Dewey Hall in Sheffield on Friday.
Tried to Make a Doctor's Appointment Lately?
There are a lots of reasons why doctors and nurses should choose the Berkshires. And yet they aren't. We have a dearth of primary care physicians, nurses, and specialists. We are going to need to get serious about rural health needs, which to me falls into two urgent areas: ambulance/emergency medical offerings and professional recruitment. Today, I'd like to address the latter.
I break these strategies into two sections: First, the role of state government, which revolves around financial offerings. Some strategies I would propose as your state representative:
Financial incentives:
- Loan repayment incentives for educational debt
- Competitive compensation packages
- Sign-on bonuses and retention incentives
- Low-interest home loans not constrained by affordable housing rules
The second has to be community driven. We must:
- Involving current Berkshire physicians/dentists in recruitment efforts
- Showcasing community amenities and lifestyle benefits
- Assistance with spousal employment and childcare
- Warm welcome and integration into the community
There are a number of practice opportunities in rural communities like the Berkshires that attract physicians. These include:
- Broader scope of practice: Rural physicians often have the opportunity to practice a wider range of medicine, as there are fewer specialists available. This allows them to utilize more of their skills and gain diverse experience across multiple areas.
- Greater clinical autonomy: With less oversight and bureaucracy, rural physicians typically have more freedom to make independent clinical decisions and shape their practice.
- Deeper patient relationships: The smaller community setting allows physicians to form closer, often multi-generational relationships with patients and gain deeper insight into their lives and health needs.
- Community impact: Berkshire physicians can have a more visible and significant impact on the overall health of their community, often serving as a primary healthcare resource.
- Leadership opportunities: There are often more chances to take on leadership roles in rural hospitals and healthcare systems.
- Work-life balance: Many rural practices offer more flexible schedules, shorter commutes, and a less hectic pace compared to urban settings.
- Outdoor lifestyle: Rural areas typically provide easier access to nature and outdoor recreational activities, which appeals to many physicians.
- Cultural attractions: For a rural area, the Berkshires offer unmatched cultural destinations. Let's start offering summer weekends in the Berkshires as part of a recruitment drive.
- Entrepreneurial potential: There may be opportunities to introduce new services or specialties that are lacking in the community.
- Technology adoption: Some rural practices are at the forefront of adopting telemedicine and other technologies to expand care access.
These unique aspects of a Berkshire-based practice can appeal to physicians seeking a different pace of life, more autonomy, stronger community connections, and the opportunity to make a significant impact in an underserved area. The Berkshires have a lot to offer. We need to proactively make the case for why young physicians and nurses should choose the Berkshires.
Antique ballot box at Lee Town Hall.
The Patient Revolution
I reconnected on Saturday at Fuel with an old friend from college named Sheila Moroney. Sheila spent over 30 years working in healthcare and is now the Executive Director of the Patient Revolution. She was in town with her three sons and husband Jack to attend a wedding at Gedney Farm in New Marlborough.
Patient Revolution's Mission: "We are a global community of Care Activists, a unique group of lay people and professionals, patients and clinicians who are dedicated to transforming healthcare from an industrial activity into a deeply human one, capable of providing careful and kind care for all through local health system change, collaboration, research and education."
They list four principles on their website:
Be inclusive
To be inclusive is to create equitable and welcoming space for all connected to healthcare without privileging certain voices over others.
Be generous
We engage in giving generously of our time, attention, talents, connections, and resources. This is true within our community and between us and others.
Be radical
Here radical refers to the need for fundamental change. Policies, systems, culture, technology, and training must be remade to create the conditions in which care thrives.
Be careful
As we work to fundamentally change healthcare, we stay alert to the possibilities of harm or unintended consequences. We foster solidarity through kindness and respect for all.
Most of us sense that there is something fundamentally broken with healthcare. It's too profit driven. It's too impersonal. It's too hard to get an appointment. Let's start a conversation on how to fix it both here at home and throughout the Commonwealth.
Taggart House Party in Stockbridge last week. Thanks for hosting, George Manley and Caitlin Infantino!
Talking issues with Jared, Ari, and Jon at the Taggart House.
House party at August Moon.
Want to Learn More?
Please consider supporting my candidacy to represent you in the State House. To learn more, visit https://www.patrickwhiteberkshires.com
You can donate by clicking here:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/patrick-3rd
Or you can mail a check to:
Patrick Thomas White Committee
81 Hawthorne Street
Lenox, MA 01240
We had a solid fundraising week and have now reached over 50% of my goal. Thanks for any help you can provide. I am in it to win it and am running to effect real change. I'd love to have your support.
Warmly,
Patrick White
PS: You can find detailed positions on my campaign website:
https://www.patrickwhiteberkshires.com
Previous Notes
Week ending 6/23/2024
Meet Ben Soloway. read more
Week ending 6/8/2024
Climate Cred. read more
Week ending 6/1/2024
Solving the EMS Crisis. read more
Week ending 5/24/2024
Lessons from Wyoming. read more
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The Politics of Water. read more
Week ending 5/10/2024
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