Dear Editor:

As former co-chair of Maine’s Acquired Brain Injury Advisory Council and current member of The Brain Injury Association of America’s Brain Injury Advisory Committee (Maine Chapter), I have witnessed the importance of two critical accomplishments of Governor Mills that have not received the coverage or attention they should. In 2019 and 2021, Governor Mills enacted two bills that have profoundly improved the lives of individuals, families, and supporters of people affected by acquired or traumatic brain injuries: LD 297 “An Act to Strengthen Community Brain Injury Resources,” and LD 559 “An Act to Improve the Rights and Basic Protections of Persons with Acquired Brain Injuries.”

LD 297 ushered in a new era of desperately needed services for people with brain injuries, establishing a statewide helpline as well as Neuro-Resource Facilitators and support groups to work directly with survivors of brain injuries. There are now seventeen active support groups around the state. A webinar series to help inform and train family caregivers is now available online.

LD 559 created a Bill of Rights previously unavailable to people with brain injuries. For more than thirty years, adults and children receiving other developmental or mental health services have had just such rights. They have had, most importantly, the right to be heard.  If they didn’t agree with how services were being delivered, for instance, they could file a grievance.  These protections were not available for people with brain injuries until LD 559 became law, allowing people with brain injuries finally to be heard.

As a father of a son who suffered a life threatening traumatic brain injury I have gained hard-earned insight into the utter chaos that upends the lives of victims of brain injury and their families. I know I share this experience with Governor Mills who lost her husband Stanley in 2014 from complications following a stroke.

I will be casting my vote for Governor Mills because I know professionally and personally that she cares about the welfare of the people of Maine and she does something about it. Our Governor is making a difference.

Richard M. Brown

Dresden