State makes wrong choice for services for blind
Years ago, I received rehabilitation service from the Iris Network, a statewide agency serving blind and visually impaired people over age 14. The staff was exceptional, and the skills I learned were life changing. I know where to go when I need questions answered.
The Iris Network is appealing the recent decision by Maine’s Department of Labor Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired to award a five-year contract for community-based blindness rehabilitation services for adults and youth over the age of 14 to Catholic Charities Maine.
I do not understand how Catholic Charities Maine can be awarded this contract when they have no accredited staff to do this work.
The Iris Network has nationally certified vision rehabilitation therapists to teach transition-age youth, working-age adults and senior citizens how to be independent. Many newly blind are over the age of 70. These skills can assist them to stay in their homes and thrive in place.
I would prefer increased funding be used for direct service, not administrative costs. The Iris Network’s bid was about $225,000 per year less than the Catholic Charities Maine’s bid of $1.3 million. Catholic Charities Maine’s annual budget for compensation of direct service professionals was $30,000 more than The Iris Network, which would increase administrative costs by about $195,000 per year. My hope is that this conditional contract awarded to Catholic Charities Maine will be reversed because it is essential to avoid serious harm to the public interest in high-quality and cost-effective community-based blindness rehabilitation services.
Nancy Matulis
Dover-Foxcroft
Hope for Alzheimer’s patients
Alzheimer’s disease does not begin at a specific moment. It creeps into a family’s awareness. Who knows exactly when we noticed my husband was changing. I started to be aware of subtle differences four or five years ago. Things he could do as a second nature became difficult. Last year, my husband was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s at age 62.
I am sure some people would be surprised to learn this disease can affect someone so young. Alzheimer’s is not just a disease of old age. Everyone is at risk. Of the 5.4 million Americans with Alzheimer’s, nearly 200,00 are younger than 65.
Alzheimer’s still has a stigma around it. We have found some people are uncomfortable with the changes. My husband loves to have friends call and suggest a day of fishing. Others might see his personality changes, but he does not. He still is himself. We so appreciate all our friends.
Our hope is that his story will find its way to someone struggling with Alzheimer’s symptoms and encourage them to seek a diagnosis. An early diagnosis helps a family navigate this devastating disease and advert crisis.
My husband and I would like to thank Sen. Susan Collins for co-sponsoring the Health Outcomes, Planning, and Education (HOPE) for Alzheimer’s Act. We also would like to thank Sen. Angus King and Reps. Bruce Poliquin and Chellie Pingree for co-sponsoring this truly bipartisan effort to allow Medicare to cover critical comprehensive care planning support for those newly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s may help or maintain quality-of-life for the individual, their family and caregivers.
Mary Dysart Hartt
Hampden
King must lead on national monument
My family owns and runs a small set of cabins in Millinocket that cater to visitors to our region who come to hike, fish, snowmobile, hunt, or just relax and enjoy our beautiful region.
Last winter, my family went up to check out the land that is now proposed to be a national monument. It was beautiful, and I know that our guests would love the opportunity to visit this land. They might stay a couple of extra days to do so.
A national monument in the region would bring more visitors. It would help all the businesses where visitors stay, eat and shop in the region. And some of those visitors may even decide to move to the region year-round. Our population would go up, and our tax rate would go down. This proposal is a no-brainer for those who want to see a prosperous Millinocket.
My wife went to Orono when Sen. Angus King and National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis held a forum for which 1,200 national monument supporters showed up. She was thrilled to see the huge show of support for the national monument.
I went to the meeting in East Millinocket held by Rep. Bruce Poliquin and members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources. I bet he was really surprised to see the supporters dramatically outnumbering the opponents.
It is past time for King to provide some leadership and publicly express his support for a national monument. He’s got practically every business in the region in support. What is he waiting for?
Skip Mohoff
Millinocket
Turkey’s witch hunt
After a wide-reaching anti-corruption investigation in 2013, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the government would pursue those involved even if it took a witch-hunt. Witch-hunting is very well known in the United States. But Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s communist witch-hunt in the 1950s would seem trivial compared to Erdogan’s version.
Not only in Turkey but even in the U.S and Europe, it is hard to predict what Erdogan’s followers, some of whom are sympathetic to Islamic State, will attempt to do. I have talked to dozens of Turkish-Americans living in the U.S., and they have stated their fear of contacting even their parents or relatives. There are numerous cases in which people were sentenced because of a single Twitter or Facebook share.
I do fear the damage an elected dictatorship would do not only in Turkey but also in Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East. Calling the coup attempt on his regime a “ gift from the God,” Erdogan has already dismissed more than 60,000 public officials, including 10,000 police officers, and the number grows daily. Also, the first state of emergency decree signed by Erdogan authorizes the closure of certain public and private institutions. Now even dozens of media outlets are being shut down in the wake of the failed coup. It is the biggest witch-hunt in the history of Turkey.
Eyup Sener
Portland