Vitamin D clarification

Thank you for shedding light in Tuesday’s editorial, “Time For More Vitamin D,” on revised recommendations for vitamin D for children and adults. It is an important health issue affecting both children and adults in Maine, especially as the daylight becomes less during the fall and winter. The editorial, unfortunately, attributed inaccurate information to me.

It is my view that the new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics, that children receive 400 international units of the vitamin, are reasonable for young children. Adults may need 1,000 IU per day, but small children should receive about 400 IU per day. Four 8-ounce glasses of milk per day provide 400 IU vitamin D. As always, parents should check with a pediatrician about the right vitamin supplements for their children.

Susan Sullivan

University of Maine

Orono

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BSO ‘fire and spirit’

While the solo performances were excellent Sunday afternoon, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra seemed subdued, without the fire and spirit I’ve enjoyed in the past. It must have been difficult for concertmaster Trond Saeverud to step forward and assume the role of conductor on such short notice.

I don’t know why Maestro Xiao-Lu Li departed so suddenly, but I do know that I truly miss his presence at the podium. I might not have understood everything he said to the audience, but his enthusiasm for Bangor and the symphony was most apparent. I had hoped that he would be with us for many more years.

I wish him and his family good fortune.

Donald C. Grant

Stetson

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Dead grass gripe

Gov. Baldacci needs to get tough with the state highway department. I observed three mowers operating just west of Bangor cutting dead grass on I-95 on Oct. 30. I’m sure the commissioner will come up with some lame excuse for wasting money. The crew could be better used filling cracks and potholes. I wonder if this will continue after we get snow.

Brian Hanson

St. Albans

Living long in Maine

Maine must be a good place to live.

Saturday’s BDN obituaries pages carried some interesting figures. Of the 22 listed deceased, six were 90 or older; five were 80 or older; and five were 60 or older. The average age of the 19 whose age were listed was 76.6 years.

While figures do not lie, and though they may be used selectively, it is still an interesting figure for this day for central and northern Maine.

Richard L. Rhoda

Houlton

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State of Bangor is good

My thanks to the Bangor residents who attended the recent Penobscot Theatre production of “State of the Union” at the Bangor Opera House. I had never been to Bangor before performing in this show, but I hope to return to your community in the future.

Everywhere I went, I encountered friendly residents eager to make a visitor feel welcome. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring your city during my off-time, and I found your reaction to our performance enormously gratifying.

I want to publicly express my gratitude to Penobscot Theatre artistic director Scott R.C. Levy for hiring me, and my compliments to the entire PTC staff for their commitment to creating high-quality theater for the benefit of Bangor.

Bill Timoney

New York City

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Warden identified

The warden shown with Gov. Baxter in the Oct. 30 edition of the BDN is David C. Priest, warden supervisor from Winn.

Gov. Baxter liked Dave and Dave would chauffeur him when the governor made his rounds in Baxter Park.

He appears on page 85 of the book “An Honest Woodsman” by William J. Warren.

I know Dave Priest from the early 1960s. I used to get him to bow-up the beaver dams when they blocked culverts on our roads. I was a young forester working out of Mattawamkeag for International Paper Co. then. I also hunted bobcat with him. He was the best warden Maine ever produced. He wasn’t eager to pinch you if you made an honest mistake — he gave you a good lecture-education instead.

He retired in 1971. He has since died, along with his wife, Lillian.

Russell Hovencamp

Dover-Foxcroft

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Let us not forget

This Veterans Day, let us not forget that: “It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flags and whose coffin is draped by the flag who allows the demonstrators to burn our flag.” (Author unknown).

God bless all veterans and our troops serving this country today. May our American flag forever wave.

Alberta Gamble

Winterport

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EMHS opt-out policy

Waiting for mom at EMMC for her yearly mammogram, I only half-listened as the hospital registrars explained a new form waiver to her and several other patients, effective Sept. 1. The phrase “information may be released to charities” kept breaking through my concentration on a sock I was knitting.

Mom had given me papers to hold and after hearing this repeated several times I put down the knitting and tried to figure out what they were talking about.

On page 3 of 9: “To contact you for EMHS-related fund-raising activities we may use or disclose your protected health information to contact you for EMHS-related fund-raising activities (limited to name, address, telephone number, insurance status, gender, age, and dates of treatment). If you do not want to be contacted for fundraising activities, please write to Healthcare Charities at P.O. Box 931, One Cumberland Place Bangor, Maine, 04402-0931.”

Apparently EMMC patient confidentiality has gone out the window and you must request to opt out of fundraising, rather than opt in. Mom neither hears nor sees very well so she had no idea what she had unknowingly authorized. Name, address, telephone number, insurance status, gender, age and dates of treatment hardly seem “limited.” Judging by the lack of reaction from other patients as this form waiver spiel sped by, I doubt the extent of this sharing was registering with many. This is an unacceptable breach of trust and EMMC should cease its backward opt-out policy immediately.

Laurie Walton

Glenburn