Meeting Public Comments

Kayla Ferris

I strongly oppose this bill. Public health mitigation measures are the least we can do to prevent longterm impacts and death from contagious disease. As someone with asthma, I was highrisk for severe complications during the COVID19 pandemic. Healthcare facilities, employers, and businesses being able to enforce safety measures during a dangerous outbreak is one of the only reasons I, and many more highrisk individuals, can stay safe under such conditions. Disallowing this will only cause more risk and death.You must vote no.

Lyndi Collins

Caregivers have a responsibility to the people they are caring for to prioritize safety over personal preferences. They have the right to choose a different occupation. The people they are taking care of dont have a choice about needing care. This bill puts vulnerable people at additional risk.

Michael Farley [Physician Assistant, retired]

Thank you for allowing me to comment on this legislation.So, now we are legislating about hypotheticals? And the subcommittee hearing is tomorrow? Let me try to figure out the circumstances of the problem, analyze it and let my public health colleagues on the ground collect the data, run that by the CDC and NIH, and I'll get back to you.No one that I know of was forced to take a vaccine that they refused. But many suffered the consequences. The vaccine was/is safe and effective and it saved many many thousands of lives in America and millions around the world.Many people refused to wear a mask and resisted safe distancing because it was uncomfortable or inconvenient or they just could not bother. Some of their fellow citizens suffered the consequences by coming in contact with a super spreader. ON the other hand, Doctors and nurses were attacked and shamed when they would not give Invermectine for Covid. Patients demanded it. Commentators wailed against the public health community and the medical community for speaking of the PROVEN SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE that Invermectin was USELESS for fighting Covid. Any situation that you MAY feel would "protect" citizens if this bill is enacted will need addressing by the public health department locally; the Dept of Public Health in Des Moines AND the relevant federal scientists and health officials. Does this bill communicate to Iowans that you don't even want to hear what advice and recommendations they have in this again hypothetical situation? And that no matter what steps they deem necessary when given, you will ignore? And if you do and flaunt the recommendations, you want to be held blameless for any consequences of your actions and be able to sue if your inconvenienced?We citizens sent legislators to DM to do the peoples's business. STICK TO IT.Thank you.

Diane Abell

Please do not support SF 180. This bill threatens public health by banning employers from requiring critical safety measures during outbreaks. It would prevent healthcare facilities and employers from ensuring that workersespecially those interacting with vulnerable populationsstay home when ill or prove they arent contagious during outbreaks. This puts our most vulnerable at serious risk.If medical personnel are given the right to refuse certain medical services for reasons of conscience, it would appear this person chose the wrong profession and should not be in the medical profession.

MELODY WALTER

Please reconsider the contents of this bill. Science should never be politicized putting the health and welfare of the people you are tasked to represent in danger. The bills moving through this session are in conflict with each other unless the intent is to penalize the less fortunate. Pushing work requirements for those who need support for healthcare from the ACA but then taking away protections of people when they go to work.

Lauri Okun

I strongly oppose this bill. Why do Republican members hate the young, the elderly, and the medically vulnerable?

Nancy Cobb

Please use a practical approach for the health of Iowans and do not pass this bill. Why cant we protect our citizens, especially those who have chronic health condition, by allowing wellness testing when there is an outbreak of a terrible disease?

Ainslee Barnes

I oppose this bill. Organizations should be able to protect those who need protection.

Michael Trenkamp

How anyone could be against this after the complete debacle of the last 5 years is beyond me. Thank you for hammering this bill through!

Lori VanLo

Your glaring lack of intellect is only surpassed by the catastrophic consequences of this law, which will inevitably result in loss of life. Congratulations on your contribution to sufferingtruly a masterclass in incompetence.

Wendy Tillgren

OPPOSE!! Vote NO on this bill. As an allied health provider who worked in patient care through Covid I find this bill absolutely ridiculous. Please if you are sick stay home, allow doctors to provide medical care based on need and best practice not their personal opinions.

Martha Lang [Clergy]

This bill is dangerous to our most vulnerable populations, especially those who work in longterm care and in healthcare. I worked in Healthcare for 10 years. To have a patient in the ICU be exposed to additional illness and potentially death because a worker did not stay home when experiencing an illness is unconscionable to not stay...and it would be unconscionable for a LTCare center or Hospital to NOT require such of its staff with certain illnesses. I worked in Children's Hospital in Iowa City with the most vulnerable children. This bill could be lethal to them if a staff member would make the (unethical) decision to expose them to illness. The healthcare facility must have the freedom to protect the populations they serve and this bill would remove that ability. decision

Sarabeth Maurisak

So we are facing a free for all in our work place. This appears to be the new normal for the GOP across the country. The party has become oblivious to the needs of the poor, the middle class, and the elderly. SHAME ON ALL OF YOU!

Courtney Collier

I support SF180 please vote yes. Our constitution protects our right to our body and the right to make informed decisions about our body based on our informed conscience decision. We should be permitted to refuse a medical product based on our conscience. We saw this right trampled on by government and private entities during the scam of Covid and we should never allow it to happen again.

Jennifer Leonhard

I support HF180. NO ONE should be coerced to take a pharmaceutical against their conscience. We cannot expect our medical personnel to respect our right to choice if we don't respect theirs. Medical ethics starts by respecting their conscience, first.

Kirby Nelson [Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner]

As a healthcare provider who served vulnerable populations during the COVID pandemic, I am deeply disturbed about this potential bill. We are already facing a healthcare provider shortage in this state and bills such as this, which serve no apparent purpose, continue to threaten Iowans access to quality health care providers. Providers will chose to reside elsewhere or relocate if their own health and well being is threatened in this manner.

Rodney Snavely

Vote no on this bill.Prohibiting tools for the protection the public health is the wrong way to go.In healthcare settings (medical offices, clinics, hospitals) the tools to protect the many are greater than the personal convictions of the providers, patients and staff. Medical workers who put the patients at risk, should not be present. Patients who refuse to protect others should be treated, but in a way that protects others; which in this bill would be discrimination.

Tracie Kennedy

Im in strong support of this bill because I believe no Iowan should ever be coerced into receiving a medical productespecially one still under Emergency Use Authorization, shielded by the PREP Act, and lacking longterm safety data.This is personal for me. On Valentines Day 2021, I lost my 36yearold brother, David, just hours after he received the Moderna COVID vaccine. He was a healthy manmarried to his high school sweetheartwith a beautiful 6yearold daughter. He took that shot not because he wanted to, but because he was coerced into believing he didnt have a choice. He thought he was protecting the kids he worked with. He wasnt told the risks.Within hours, he had seizures, brain swelling, cardiac arrest, and was gone. My family paid $10,000 for a Stanford medical expert to confirm the vaccine caused his death. We filed a claim with the CICP in 2022 and have received no responseno accountability. The system is broken.Only 50 awards have been granted through the CICP out of more than 14,000 claims. Thats a 99.6% denial rate. If the government cant provide justice for those harmed by EUA products, Iowans must have the right to refuse. This isnt theoreticalthis is real. My sisterinlaw is now a widow. My niece will never have her dad walk her down the aisle.Where there is risk, there must be choice. And when that risk comes with zero liability and zero justice, that choice becomes absolutely essential.Please pass this bill and protect the rights of Iowans. Thank you.

Corrin Smith

Of this subcommittee, only one is qualified to speak on higher level medical issues. The other two should, but never will, defer to the expert.

Grace Rogers

Vote NO on SF 180. REFUSING MEDICAL SERVICES?!? If someone doesn't want to perform medical services, THEN THEY SHOULDN'T BE MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS. What on earth does the Trump administration have on you people that you feel the need to submit to this authoritarian tyrant trying very explicitly to HURT YOUR CONSTITUENTS?!? Know that the people are awake now and will do everything in our power to replace you in your next election. YOUR TIME REPRESENTING IOWA IS LIMITED!

Maureen Struse

Regarding bill SF 180 I think this would be a dangerous policy for public health. A no vote makes logical sense.

Jayne Thompson

Please VOTE NO! THIS BILL IS NOT FAIR FOR OUR HEALTHCARE WORKERS!THIS WILL ADVERSELY AFFECT THE CARE IN HOSPITALS, CARE CENTERS AND HOME CARE FOR ALL! THERE IS ALREADY A SHORTAGE OF NURSES HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN THE STATE OF IOWA!WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS SHORTAGE WITH THIS BILL!