State cuts would hurt River View Rehab Center
The
residents at River View Rehab Center are at risk as the state considers
drastic cuts to Medicaid funding. Nursing homes across the state
suffered $15 million in cuts for May and June and are now facing the
possibility of $230 million in cuts for all of Fiscal Year 2016.
Such
cuts would have a serious impact on the quality of care at River View.
We would be forced to decrease staffing to bare minimums and eliminate
extras that create the home-like environment our residents and their
families have come to expect. We would also be forced to cut the level
of activities for residents, and would be forced to delay needed
renovations.
Remember, our residents are the ones who worked their whole lives,
paid their taxes, served our country and built our community. But, in
many cases, they have outlived their resources. When it comes to
deciding where to cut, our residents must be our top priority.
Please join me in calling on elected officials in Springfield to hold the line on Medicaid funding for nursing homes.
Arshad Rahman, Administrator
River View Rehab Center
Elgin
Wildcats will become part of suburban zoo
Leave
it to the idiots beyond the burbs to want to hunt wildcats. First of
all, most hunters drink gallons of beer before they hunt, which means
they shoot at loud sounds. Those loud sounds are usually other hunters
who also downed gallons of beer.
As for the wildcats, they aren't as stupid as the hunters. They
quickly find those places where hunters don't usually shoot. One is the
south side of Chicago where the houses shoot back (with AK's). Another
place is the Chicago burbs because those living in the burbs shoot back
with something even more terrifying than AKs: lawyers.
The result is the wildcats join the zoo of varmints
and critters already at home in the burbs: bears, cougars, wolves
coyotes, foxes, raccoons, opossums, hawks, buzzards, deer, ground hogs,
rats mice — and occasionally eagles. Note please that while the hunters
may or may not threaten the wildcats, the bears, cougars, wolves,
coyotes, foxes and eagles are a different story, altogether. It means
wildcats always have the nearest tree in mind as they quest after
rodents. Sooner or latter, they run for it only to find a house cat
already occupying a branch. Still, as long as it finds an empty branch,
both of them will only have eyes for whatever treed them.
Such is life in the suburban zoo.
Len Robertson
St. Charles
Elgin area volunteers head to D.C. to lobby for solution
Following
the release Pope Francis' much-anticipated encyclical dealing with
climate change, three volunteers from the Fox Valley chapter of
Citizens' Climate Lobby will meet in Washington with their
representatives and senators to press for legislation that places a fee
on carbon and returns revenue to households.
The Fox Valley
CCL members who are traveling to the nation's capital to attend the 6th
International Citizens' Climate Lobby Conference, will spend a day, June
23, visiting the offices of senators DIck Durbin and Mark Kirk, as well
as representatives Randy Hultgren and Peter Roskam. Their message: We
need to reduce the risk of climate change by reducing the carbon
pollution we currently emit. We can achieve that with a market-based
solution that places a steadily-rising fee on carbon and gives the
revenue back to consumers, thereby shielding families from the economic
impact of higher energy costs.
As the advocates prepare to go to
Washington, Pope Francis is releasing his encyclical — a papal letter
sent to all bishops in the Catholic Church — calling for action to
address climate change. Titled "Laudato Sii" (Praised Be), the
encyclical speaks about the need to care for God's creation and to
protect the most vulnerable from the ravages of global warming. Francis'
encyclical comes in advance of his visit to the U.S. in September, when
he will address a joint session of Congress and also speak at the UN
General Assembly in New York. The pontiff's actions are timed to
encourage nations to reach agreement on a global climate change accord
in Paris at the end of the year.
"It's very exciting that the
Pope's encyclical is being released just before we go to lobby our
members of Congress," said Sandy Kaptain and Deni Mathews group leaders
for the Fox Valley CCL chapter. "With one third of Congress being
Catholic, Francis' message is bound to have a big impact."
In
their meetings with members of Congress, CCL volunteers hope to assuage
fears that placing a price on carbon will be detrimental to the economy.
A study from Regional Economic Models, Inc. found that CCL's proposal,
known as Carbon Fee and Dividend, would actually ADD 2.8 million jobs
over 20 years while cutting carbon emissions in half.
"If it's
done the right way, pricing carbon can actually be good for our
economy," Kaptain said. "That can happen if we give all the money back
to households. It will act as an economic stimulus."
The CCL
International Conference in Washington is being held June 21-23, and
features keynote speaker Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, who was named one of Time
Magazine's most influential people and who also appeared in Showtime's
award-winning series about climate change, "Years of Living
Dangerously."
Sandy Kaptain,
Elgin
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