Bricks-for-sheep isn't a great game, there's a lot of better designed ones out there...I've got a collection of over 200 games, Catan is annoying and boring compared to most of them. It's also become the butt of a lot of jokes in the board game world...hence my comment being a dig at it. Had this been a post from That's E there would have been a bunch of similar comments, but Catan wouldn't ever get mentioned by that's E folks because they know their audience.

So, I appreciate your input. Ask yourself a question. Have those 3 councilors been effective? Have they been able to work with the rest of the council to improve the CITY, or have they been focused solely a pushing agendas that serve their interests and their interests alone. Politics is getting things done, they can’t.

Catan's not a great game...and it's become the butt of a lot of jokes on the board game world...why the heck did this get so heavily down voted?

You’re such a consistent clown. The progressive councilors just asked for a CM search, ya know like every other city does? It’s extremely likely Batista would have come out on top anyway, but it’s a matter of transparency, honesty and following through on your word.

Yup, this is honestly probably the biggest cause of delays at the ER. Instead of just calling a physician or urgent care first, people go to the ER for everything (and I get that vibe from reading comments here too). If you are actually having an emergency, no ER will make someone wait for hours on end.

Some parts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland do not have ER services at all due to staff shortages post-covid. The wait to get assigned to a primary care doctor is also over two years. It’s incredibly, scary level tough in Canada right now. Not defending our system over theirs (at all), but healthcare is on the brink of collapse in many places.

Happy Cake Day

just to add here. my mother was an ER nurse for decades a few towns over. she said there is a staggering amount of people that goto to the ER for the smallest thing and definitely do not need to be there.

UMass Medical is a terrible organization top to bottom, thru and thru.

I went to the UMass ER one evening. In the two hours I waited there was a fight and then there was also what I could only describe as a drug induced psychotic breakdown with another person there. I didn't feel safe and I left, ending up at Milford Hospital where I was seen within 30 minutes.

I have also seen a few doctors in the UMass system and the general theme with all of them was you to had ride them for everything. They would want tests done and then forget to order them. Then when you call to follow up they give you a hard time. They would get test results and then fail to call or inform you; usually you have to seek out of the information like a private investigator!!

No one should go there. With all the great hospitals in Massachusetts, any one of them is a better option.

Thanks. Yes, my partner said, “From now on…”.

waited with my dad for 3 hours last year for heart attack like symptoms , the people ahead of us said they were there for 15 plus hours and counting ,so we left. they blamed covid.What’s the excuse now. It’s a fkn shit show and should fail some kind of inspection, shouldn’t be able to say your an emergency room when you can’t help emergencies

Clinton’s ER can’t handle anything serious. I used to work for the ambulance company that was contracted to transfer out of Clinton. If any even remotely seriously ill person comes in, they immediately send them out to UMass, Leominster, Marlboro or Boston. During COVID they were sending people as far as Hartford. It’s a glorified band-aid station and part of the reason UMass is always so packed. Leominster and Marlboro can handle anything short of high level trauma and MI/CVA that may require a catheter or interventional radiology. I once picked up a transfer from Clinton for an elderly woman who fell. X-ray showed no fracture, patient was stable and only complaining of minor pain to left hip. When asked the reason for the transfer, the Dr stated “It’s a trauma. We don’t do that here.” We took the lady to UMass. She was Xrayed again, which was negative again. They gave her an Rx for pain and transferred her back to her facility in Clinton.

I would like to chime in as someone who rotates between the UMass ERs. One of the smaller ERs associated with UMass had 35 boarders in a 38 bed ER. What that means is, there were 35 people waiting for beds either upstairs in the main hospital or in another facility. Essentially, 35 / 38 beds just taking up space. We had enough nurses to be taking care of 30 people tops. This is an issue amongst all UMass ERs. If you are not literally about to die you will be waiting for hours (I know it often feels as if you are gonna die, that’s why you’re in the ER. The triage nurse is an expert at sorting out sick / not sick and the doctors are monitoring the labs / vitals of people in the waiting room. If you’re waiting it’s a good thing). This is what happens when administration does not take the steps necessary to provide us with the resources to function at 100%. They are causing our community to suffer as a result. You’re anger should be directed at the C suite who is putting profits over patient care. Please, PLEASE be patient with all staff at the ER. We are not making you wait out of malice. Our hearts hurt when we see an 80 year old patient with a broken leg sitting in our waiting room for 8 hours. I promise we are all trying our best. If the triage nurse snaps at you for asking about the wait 3 times, please remember how overworked they are, how often they are berated by patients and families, how they have been working in a toxic stressful understaffed under resourced job for the past 3 years. We’re not trying to be rude, we’re not ok with people being harmed by the wait. We’re burned out and frustrated. Please, PLEASE try to be patient and empathetic. We’re trying our best 😔

Thank you. We are existing cafe and have strong takeout numbers. But a lot of the anticipated growth was expected to come from downtown foot traffic. Thank you for your input.

Take care of yourself, OP. That vicarious trauma will creep up on you. Don't talk about it with us, but do talk about it with someone, yeah?

Catan's fun as hell, whatsamattayou

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Foot traffic in worcester sucks these days, you’d have to be ready with a business model that can support a lot of online takeout orders and other regular business. i don’t think businesses that rely more on foot traffic than other methods of customer contact these days in worcester will be able to survive. numbers aren’t good enough for foot traffic

I have found the Clinton Hospital ER to have short waits.

I went to Lake Ave ER twice this summer. I waited max one hour after being checked in. YMMV.

Just had mine replaced this past Monday. 3500 done by Sentry Oil out of Rutland.

Glad everything worked out for you. The ONLY place to go with an eye problem is Mass Eye and Ear. You literally risk blindness elsewhere.

Yes. Husband waited 10 hours to be seen for heart attack symptoms the week after Christmas last year.

Did you end up finding something and getting enough to go see your mom?

I hope you asked him if you could take his picture