ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, August 24, 1996              TAG: 9608260034
SECTION: EDITORIAL                PAGE: A-7  EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: BRIEFLY PUT 

TO OUR HEALTH AND WEALTH

DID YOU know the Roanoke Valley is the seventh-healthiest community in America? That's according to the September issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine.

Sure, such surveys are meant to bring attention to the publications that do the surveys, and the basis on which they rank localities is usually flawed and sometimes ridiculous.

Because this survey rated metropolitan areas according to numbers of physicians per capita, relatively small communities with relatively large medical institutions naturally rose to the top. (Rochester, Minn., home of the Mayo Clinic, was No. 1.) Especially likely to do well are areas, such as the Roanoke Valley, whose medical facilities serve a much larger region.

But, in addition to citing Carilion's Community and Memorial hospitals and Lewis-Gale's sports medicine center, the Kiplinger article also noted the valley's excellent recreational resources. And whether we're seventh or something else, it's indisputable that we enjoy good access to high-quality health care. That's great for quality of life and the region's attractiveness to outsiders - including businesses and retirees. It's also a bragging right.

"THE PROLETARIANS have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win." - Karl Marx, 1848.

"Every Man a King." - Huey P. Long, 1928 and thereafter.

"The rich are already rich. ... [With tax cuts,] everyone can get rich in America." - Jack Kemp, 1996.

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