Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to [email protected]
I was interested in the opinion piece written in the Bangor Daily News by Edward DuGay regarding the nursing home crisis that this state is going through. After thinking on this I have come up with a solution.
One thing that is needed is the state takeover or creation of nursing homes. I think private business is only interested in the profitability factor. The simple fact is that if we taxpayers can pay for K-12 education of our children, we should be able to pay for end-of-life care for those who have paid taxes contributing to the education of our children.
The hard reality is that as much as we would love to care for our seniors at our homes, we soon find that when someone needs 24-7 care, we will burn out in a short period of time. When that happens, as much as it breaks our hearts, we are forced to seek the services of nursing home care or at a minimum assisted living care.
There are few and far between of us that can afford the six, seven, eight or more thousands of dollars a month that these facilities charge per resident.
If we can pay taxes to educate our children, I think that we can afford to pay taxes to care for those who can no longer care for themselves.
Thomas Bonner
Holden
