Dear Editor:

I am an elderly woman who is determined to die in my own home. My mother had the same intention, and indeed, did so. Unfortunately, no one missed her for three days. If she had had affordable home care and access to home hospice arrangements, she could have been spared this final indignity.

It was not for lack of love or concern that my sister and I were not around. My sister lives in California, and I was living in Texas at that time. I remember vividly when two LaPorte, Texas police officers came to my door, not sure if I were the right person to receive the sad news.

For these reasons, and plenty of others, I endorse Referendum #1, to encourage and adequately pay in-home health workers. However, at the political debate of Thursday, Oct. 4, in Wiscasset, I was dismayed to learn that, like so many high-minded attempts at helping our state and country, Q1 is likely to founder on the reef of funding, its effects on taxes, its financial burdens on the very people Q1 is intended to help.

I have never understood this country’s collective opinion of worth, that its sports players and entertainment figures make millions of dollars while the really vital workers, like teachers and health care providers, must survive on peanuts. I shall vote to support Referendum Question 1, and cross my fingers that the state legislature will be willing to cobble together funding from tax, grant and donation, both public and private sources.

Jo Cameron

Edgecomb