Open Letter to Kai Tramiel

Kai Tramiel
Clinica Romero vice president

Coachart outreach director

We are sad by your decision to decline our meeting request last week, we believe dialogue is always a depart point for solutions. As you know hundreds of patients in this poor community are denied medical services everyday at Romero Clinic. They are receiving phone calls cancelling their appointment or are told at the window that their appointment has been cancel.

Oscar Romero, as Marting Luther King, was killed defending the voiceless, the poor, the oppressed; the clinic was founded right after his assassination to honor his mission and commitment to the people. Now you are trying to privatize the clinic. Converting Romero clinic to just another of the existing hundreds who exploit people healthcare needs in our community is so irresponsible.

REMEMBER “Clinica Monsenor Oscar A. Romero’s mission is to provide affordable, quality healthcare, health education, and advocacy to the uninsured and underserved communities of Greater Los Angeles.”

We disagree the way you have been managing the clinic and believe that changes are necessary in the current leadership. You do not have a deficit of almost two million overnight and loosing grants for mere negligence is just nonsense. You said that more patients with medical and other insurances will save the clinic, but you laid off the entire outreach team who recruited such patients.

For more than three moths we have been trying to meet and discuss the clinic’s situation, but you and Carlos Vaquerano hide and do not want to meet with the patients and the community.

Why did you call us last week, very upset, saying that it was “inappropriate” to send you e-mails at your job (another non profit organization)? we do not think you understand the magnitude of the damage you are doing to one the poorest communities en the county of Los Angeles (Pico Union – Westlake), we are going to tell you what is “inappropriate”:

Inappropriate is to cancel thousands of medical appointments because there are no doctors, assistants, or medicines. Do you know the suffering of a patient with diabetes who does not get insulin? Do you know the frustration of a single mother, who missed work, and is told at the window that her child appointment has been cancel?

Inappropriate is to hide the crisis for half a year and not do anything but lie that everything was fine

Inappropriate is not to have a rescue plan and just lay off union workers as a solution

Inappropriate is to be so insensitive for the thousands of families who are affected by your actions

Inappropriate is to go for the easy way and privatize the clinic and kill Romero’s legacy and mission

Inappropriate is to have two faces, be in the progressive side but your actions at Clinica Romero are tea party policies

Inappropriate is that you are responsible for the current crisis at the clinic and are still a board member

The Patients Association will continue the struggle and organizing until Clinica Romero is saved and the mission and legacy of Mns Oscar Romero is respected.

We hope this letter makes you think and reflect.

Sincerely,

Patients Association of Romero Clinic

pacientesromero@gmail.com                                                                                       August 9, 2011