Tod Children's Hospital is a valuable community asset

Tod Children's Hospital is a valuable community asset
EDITOR:
As the parents of three young children, we would like to take a moment to speak personally about our experiences with Forum Health Tod Children's Hospital and what the hospital means to us.
Our youngest daughter, who is nearly four, was born prematurely at an area hospital in October 2002, and had to stay in a neonatal intensive care unit for two months. She underwent several tests and was seen by many doctors.
Her blood pressure and potassium were high and a nephrologist from a Cleveland-area hospital recommended more specific tests to determine exactly what was wrong.
Unfortunately, the local hospital where she was born couldn't perform all the tests because she was so small and underweight. During an exam with her family practitioner it was suggested that we take our daughter to see Dr. Stephanie Dewar at Tod.
She hadn't been gaining weight and as parents, we were feeling pretty helpless and frustrated. But, as soon we saw Dr. Dewar, our uneasiness started to subside.
Dr. Dewar spoke to us like a human being. She looked at us and told us that we were doing a good job; and that our little girl could be challenging but that there were things we could try.
Soon, we became well acquainted with the clinical nurses and the lab technicians and Dr. Dewar's entire staff, who were wonderful with her and made a difficult situation so much more bearable.
If we hadn't had Tod to turn to when our little one was so small and frail, we would have been forced to travel back-and-forth to an out-of-town hospital or would have had to spend several days at a time away from our two other children.
Our daughter seems to have a metabolic condition but she is thriving and doing very well and we credit much of that to the caring professionals at Tod Children's Hospital. Without their skilled, specialty pediatric services and genuine compassion, we wouldn't be doing as well as we are today.
We are very pleased that this very important community resource has been saved.
DON ARGIRO and LISA GILL-ARGIRO
Poland
Taking life lessons from the tale of two football players
EDITOR:
Maurice Clarrett. Brad Smith. Both are gifted and outstanding local athletes of the same age. Both were highly recruited and starred for top college teams. But there the similarity ends. Their recent articles in The Vindicator show quite a contrast. One prepares for his rookie year in the NFL and the other sits in a jail cell. One breaks passing records and the other has a police record.
If society can analyze why they took such different roads, then maybe we can also apply similar reasoning on ways to improve the crime problems, not only in local cities, but also nationwide. Without considering athletic ability, think of what a pleasure it would be to live in a neighborhood where young men have character like Brad Smith.
KATHY ZIMMERMAN
Canfield
A few words on the proper care and feeding of the SUV
EDITOR:
With all the hoopla about ethanol, it seems that someone should be raising the ethical issue about using edible food (corn) to fuel our SUVs while there are hungry children in the world.
STEVEN K. BROWN
Columbiana