Milwaukee leaders are fond of publicly poking fun at Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh by condescendingly asking the question, Does Milwaukee really want to be like these cities? Obviously these so-called leaders are extremely insecure about promoting Milwaukee and consequently they feel the need to resort to such classless rhetoric. My advice to them is to knock it off because all it does is embarrass the city – and themselves – even more.
The latest edition of US News & World Report (7/23-30, 2007) ranked America’s best hospitals on a number of criteria. Guess what? Milwaukee can’t hold a scalpel to Detroit, Cleveland, or Pittsburgh. With Milwaukee having some of the highest health care costs in the country – $2,653 annually vs. $2,496 annually nationwide from 2003-2004, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – one would think the city has a surplus of great hospitals providing great health care. That might be true, but certainly not compared to these other cities.
The magazine ranked hospitals in 17 disciplines. Milwaukee hospitals showed up a disappointing total of four times in four categories. Pittsburgh hospitals, however, showed up 15 times in 15 categories; Detroit hospitals 17 times in nine categories; and Cleveland hospitals a heart-stopping 24 times in all 17 categories.
The highest rank a Milwaukee hospital reached was 24th (out of 50) in “endocrinology.” The best a Cleveland hospital did was 1st (out of 50) in “heart & heart surgery.” In fact, Cleveland hospitals were in the top 10 in 13 categories. The highest rank a Detroit hospital reached was 12th in “heart & heart surgery,” but it also had five hospitals that made the list in “neurology & neurosurgery.” The best a Pittsburgh hospital achieved was 3rd (out of 50) in “ear, nose & throat.”
Milwaukee likes to tout its children’s hospital, but it was no where to be seen other than in a paid ad in the magazine. On the other hand, Cleveland had two hospitals ranked (4th and 20th out of 26) in pediatrics, while Pittsburgh’s children’s hospital was 11th.
Instead of cutting on other cities, Milwaukee’s leaders should put a Band-Aid on it and focus on making our city healthy in every sense of that word.
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Good comments, but they could be extended to city leaders who praise cities like Cincinnati and others which are not in as good shape as Milwaukee. Do they ever visit those "leading cities?"
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