Quotes of the Day

“I’m hoping now the state can stop these stupid challenges and work together with the community to make sure our poorest and most vulnerable residents have access to health-care coverage. Anybody who thinks that this is a bad decision is not representing the needs of the people of this state.”

– John Silva, CEO of  Morton Comprehensive Health Services, which provides health care to uninsured and low-income Oklahomans, speaking following a Supreme Court ruling upholding access to health insurance for those purchasing health insurance on Healthcare.gov. Federal funds are available to expand health coverage for 150,000 low-income Oklahomans, but the state has thus fare refused to accept them.  (Source)

“Once you get here, the company sucks you in by taking care of you. We work hard, but we don’t feel like we’re working hard for nothing.”

– Brittney Ogans, a ten-year QuikTrip employee speaking about the company’s recent ranking (69th) on Forbes’ first list of the 100 best workplaces for millenials, based on surveys of workers 35 and younger. QuikTrip reports very low employee turnover – 13 percent, versus 59 percent for other gas stations and convenience stores (Source)

“The lowering and removal of this objectionable reminder of those dark days will symbolize also the lowering of those barriers allowing a person to be judged not by color, but by the content of their character. That has become a symbol of the (Ku Klux) Klan and every other right-wing group. If that offends one of us, it ought to offend all of us.”

-Rep. Don Ross, D-Tulsa, protesting the Confederate flag that used to fly on Oklahoma Capitol grounds. It was taken down in 1988 and never returned (Source).

“When I came here, I thought I was coming to one city. I came to four cities – North, South, East and West. On the north side, 25 percent of the children go to bed hungry every night. That’s an epidemic.”

-Marq Lewis, founder of the Tulsa group We The People Oklahoma, which is organizing protests against police brutality and seeking to oust Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz (Source).

“We have to serve those most in need because we have limited resources, so that’s how we have to prioritize. What that means is you go without until you get sick enough – which is a horrible way to do health care.”

-Terri White, commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, speaking about how Oklahoma’s mental health providers are coping with an increaseing number of mentally ill people needing state-paid while state funding for core treatment services has fallen (Source).

“I didn’t know if we would get our voices heard. But we are very pleased.”

– Toni Pratt-Reid, a nurse practitioner who operates three medical clinics in the Oklahoma City and Piedmont areas, regarding news that the Oklahoma Health Care Authority had announced it would not follow through with provider rates to physician assistants and nurse practitioners this year (Source)

“#WhatIfOKC championed education as passionately as we do Thunder basketball?”

– Shelley B.Leveridge (@shelleybokc), one of many Oklahoma City residents participating in a #WhatIfOKC on Twitter on Wednesday. Participants used the hashtag to talk about what changes they would like to see in Oklahoma City  (Source)

“We sure didn’t choose to make so many and such large reductions all at once this year. But we have faced our financial reality, made the difficult decisions, and I’m confident DHS will survive these unsettling times.”

-Oklahoma Department of Human Services Director Ed Lake, speaking about how the agency is dealing with a $45.2 million funding shortfall. DHS is eliminating the equivalent of 200 positions, cutting reimbursement for developmental disabilities and aging Medicaid waiver program providers, and eliminating state funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, among other cuts (Source)

“They’re going to have to take lower-paying jobs. There’s going to be very few opportunities paying anywhere near what they’re making. That’s beginning to dawn on them.”

Lynn Gray, director of economic research and analysis for the Oklahoma Economics Security Commission, speaking about Oklahoma drilling workers who have lost jobs since energy prices fell (Source)

“My standard rhetorical question is — would it be OK if somebody in a diabetic coma or some sort of medical crisis always had to be transported across the state? And would we be OK with … laying them down in the back of a sheriff’s vehicle while we transport them?”

-Mental Health Association Oklahoma Executive Director Mike Brose, speaking how Oklahomans suffering a mental health crisis often end up handcuffed in the back of a police car without having ever committed a crime (Source).