European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 19, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday january 19, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 7 Hospital closures in 88 again set record Chicago a for the sixth consecutive year record number of Community hospitals closed their doors last year the american Hospital association reported tuesday. Data compiled by the association show that 81community hospitals in 28 states shut Down in 1988. In general the Southwest Section of the country was hardest hit. In Texas alone 18 hospitals shut Down. Carol Mccarthy president of the Chicago based association said primary reasons for the closings were inadequate medicare and medicaid payments for serv ices rendered to the elderly and poor. Hospitals cannot lose Money or barely break even year after year and remain open Mccarthy said. It s just that  forty three hospitals or slightly More than half the total were Rural hospitals according to the association. Since 1980, 445 Community hospitals have closed with the numbers closing increasing steadily since 1982. For the last several years seven out of 10 Rural hospitals and 50 percent of Urban hospitals have lost Money caring for patients Mccarthy said. She pledged that her organization would pull outfall the stops to halt cuts in medicare and improve the funding of health care for the nation s indigent. Figures compiled by the association indicate that since 1982, medicare payments to hospitals have been $53.8 billion below what would have been spent on the same patients without Federal budget restraints. The association concedes that medicare payments to hospitals have been increased by 14.9 percent since 1983. But the association contends that during the same period the Cost of goods and services hospitals must buy to provide care has risen by More than 28percent. In addition to problems with medicare and medi Caid payments Rural hospitals Are faced with staffing problems association vice president Alexander Wil Liams said. Rural hospitals face a Chicken and egg syndrome with physicians Williams said. The doctors won t stay in the Community without a Hospital and the hos Pital can t stay in business without  in addition to the Community Hospital closures the association reports that 21 non Corn Unity hospitals closed in 15 states last year bringing the total number of Hospital closures to 102. Non Community hospitals typically provide care Ofa rehabilitative or Long term nature or Are units of other institutions such As universities or prisons. Foraging in town a it in t everyday that Deer show up on might have Good intentions and try to your doorsteps. But that s the Case in feed them wildlife officials Are urging Salt Lake City where hungry Deer Are otherwise. They say if residents fee descending the Foothills behind the the Deer then the Deer might become state Capitol. Although residents dependent on them for food. Home estness hunger Rose sharply lost year Washington a Urban homelessness and hunger increased significantly in 1988, particularly among families with children the . Confer ence of mayors said tuesday in report ing results of a Survey of 27 major cities. Families make up the most significant increase we have experienced bos ton mayor Raymond l. Flynn said i releasing the findings. He said one of every four homeless persons in the surveyed cities was a child the conference which conducts a annual Survey of hunger and homeless Ness reported that both had risen i nearly All of the cities it surveyed. Sen. Jim Sasser d-Tenn., chairman of the Senate budget committee called the Survey a devastating indictment of the neglect of the needs of our major Urban  he said the mayors had made compelling Case for increased spending on the problems. Flynn said the rate of increase seemed to have slowed a bit from the previous year in part because of increased Emer gency services provided by state and local governments. Officials in every City surveyed cited alack of affordable housing As the main cause of homelessness and Flynn blamed a Sharp decline in Federal spend ing on Low income housing during the Reagan administration. Shelters Are not the answer Flynn said. Permanent affordable housing that is the  the Survey was released at the open ing of the annual Winter meeting of the organization of big City mayors. The sur vey was conducted among the 27 cities whose mayors sit on the conference s task Force on hunger and homeless Ness headed by Flynn. Among its findings were that in the past year requests for emergency shelter in creased an average 13 percent. Requests for emergency food were up an average 19 percent. Sixty percent of those asking for emergency food we remembers of families. An average of 19 percent of the re quests for emergency shelter went unmet and among families the figure was 23percent. In 62 percent of the cities emergency food assistance facilities had to turn away people for Lack of resources. The homeless population was makeup of 49 percent single men 34 percent families 13 percent single women an the rest unaccompanied youth. An average 34 percent of the Home less were substance abusers 25 percent were severely mentally ill 23 percent had full time or part time jobs and 26  cent were veterans. Flynn called for More Federal spending on Urban problems and said he was encouraged by president elect George Bush s commitment to making homelessness a High priority. The Survey was conducted among officials from Boston Denver Louisville by. San Juan . San Francisco new Orleans Kansas City to. Nashville Tenn. Los Angeles san Antonio port land Ore. Salt Lake City Minneapolis Phoenix Philadelphia Trenton  York St. Paul Minn. Norfolk a. San Diego Providence . Hartford Conn. Charleston . Seattle Chi Cago Cleveland and Detroit. Teen Driver held hostage in 11 Day crime spree or t a it a Ocala Fla. A a teen Ager was held hostage by two prison escapees during an 11-Day, 4,000-Milecrime spree because he could drive with a stick shift and they could not a sheriffs spokesman said tues Day. Ted Siegel a 16-year-old Honor student was Kidnap Ped Jan. 3 by two escapees from the Marion county correctional institution and released unharmed sat urday night near Baltimore officers said. He returned Home safely to Florida just before Midnight monday. Authorities were still searching for the accused abductors Patrick Hughes Paige 21, and Anthony James Cokley 22. Sieges kidnappers could t drive a manual trans Mission car and failed in several attempts to steal an other car Marion county sheriffs spokesman Ken Ergle said. So they kept Siegel As their getaway Driver As they staged robberies in eight East coast states he said. While Siegel was running an errand for his mothering the Ocala area on Jan. 3, he was choked nearly unconscious shoved into his family s 1987 Dodge Omni and ordered to drive North on interstate 75, Ergle said. The kidnappers committed robberies and burglaries in Georgia South Carolina North Carolina Virginia Maryland Pennsylvania new Jersey and new Yorktee spokesman said. The Fri says most of the robberies occurred in new Jersey. The car was a very important part of the crime spree because there were several failed attempts to semiconductor firm to fire 2,000 workers Santa Clara Calif. Up National semiconductor corp. Will fire 2,000 employees in a move designed to end continuing losses a spokeswoman said monday. The layoffs National s largest since the Chip Industry went into a slump in 1986, amount to 5 percent of the company s worldwide work Force and include 500 people at the firm s corporate Headquarters in Santa Clara. The spokesw9man said the reduction would resulting a restructuring charge for the company s third Quarter that ends in february but she declined to quantify it. Steal another car Ergle said. They were concerned about the manner in which the car was driven said Ergle. Paige attempted to drive for about 100 Miles but the two became frustrated and did not want to attract  Ergle said Siegel told investigators he had made Aphis mind to do everything he could to protect the car. This car was a very important part of their  had saved Money. And Ted Felt a real Strong responsibility to his Mother and his family at whatever the Cost to return Home with that car Ergle said. The vehicle was last seen with the kidnappers who dropped off Siegel near Baltimore. During the burglaries Siegel was ordered to stay inthe car and the keys were taken from him the three slept in Woods shopping centers and parking lots Dur ing the 11-Day Odyssey often going Long stretches with out food. The teen Ager told investigators he was allowed Socall his Mother from a convenience store near Atlanta to say he would be freed in a few Days. I prayed every Day and it seemed to work out Siegel said after arriving Home