Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

The headline on this blog heralds a piece of good news for those of us who live in and around Salem, Oregon.

Salem Health and Oregon Center have reached agreement to settle a suit filed by the Center contending that “the health care giant (Salem Health) was monopolizing heart care in the city.”

For this good news, I am not the first to report it.  Credit goes to Salem Reporter and its reporter, Hailey Cook.  It’s another example of this on-line journalism outfit reporting facts that matter to readers.

Here is how Cook started her story:

“Salem Health has privately settled a lawsuit with a local cardiology clinic that claimed the health care giant was monopolizing heart care in the city.

“The Oregon Heart Center, the largest independent cardiac care center in the mid-Willamette Valley, filed its $15 million lawsuit against Salem Health in September 2024.  It claimed Salem Health violated anti-trust law by pressuring patients to switch providers, limiting referrals to the clinic, and restricting patients’ access to information about independent providers.”

So, why does this matter to me?

Well, I have been a patient of both Salem Health and the Heart Center.  Both have performed very well for me whenever I, as an old person, have needed service.  In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that both contributed to a process that saved my life.

So, I am glad that the suit has gone away and that both providers can continue getting about the business of providing solid health care in the mid-Willamette Valley.