OSU Hospital in Tulsa a Priority, Lawmaker Says
By Randy Krehbiel, Tulsa World, Okla.
Mar. 15–Oklahoma House Minority Leader Danny Morgan praised House Speaker Chris Benge on Friday and said saving Tulsa’s Oklahoma State University Medical Center is among his top priorities for the current legislative session.
Morgan, D-Prague, appeared at a Tulsa Press Club Page One Luncheon.
“A lot of people think when you’re talking about the OSU Medical Center you’re talking about Tulsa,” he said. “You’re talking about rural Oklahoma.”
The hospital, which is a training facility for students in the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, has been in financial difficulty for some time. Osteopaths make up a large share of the state’s rural family practice physicians.
“The three hospitals that I represent have DOs who are graduates of the OSU Medical Center,” Morgan said.
“That’s why it’s so important we understand that all Oklahomans understand that the sur vival of that hospital and the ability to recruit those top quality students into that program so that that person, after their education, can come to Prague or Stroud or Drumright to practice their medicine.”
Another major concern, Morgan said, is work-force
development.
“I don’t talk about bringing jobs to Oklahoma anymore. I talk about filling the ones that are expanding in the state of Oklahoma,” he said.
“I tell people in Oklahoma City, the surest way for us to lose Tinker Air Force’s air maintenance depot is to not be able to fill the 250 existing jobs in the aircraft power plant division.”
Morgan said Benge, a Tulsa Republican, has been a welcome change as the speaker.
“I have great respect for Chris Benge as a person, and he hasn’t disappointed me,” Morgan said.
Morgan said the uproar caused by Rep. Sally Kern’s remarks disparaging gay people has been a distraction for a House struggling to get through a mountain of proposed legislation.
“The tone and attitude (of Kern’s remarks) took me back more than anything,” he said.
Morgan said Democrats can cut into Republicans’ 13-seat House majority during this year’s election.
“We’re just going to keep handing a loaded gun to the other side and let them keep shooting themselves in the foot with it,” he said.
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Randy Krehbiel 581-8365 randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com
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