Letter to the Editor - 'Where there is no vision people perish'

Editor,

Recent actions by our federal government to cut needed Medicaid funding, historic patterns of inadequate and inequitable funding for mental health and disability services are giving me a terrible sense of deja vu.

In 1971, my Shelby High School sociology class toured the Montana facilities at Warm Springs and Boulder. I was appalled by the terrible living conditions and an overbearing sense of hopelessness. I remember asking our tour guides a couple questions: How do you give 2,000 people showers? (Answer: All at one time)

Why doesn’t somebody do something to help? (There was no answer)

After graduation, I soon forgot about my questions and my neighbors with disabilities. Little did I realize that the birth, love, and care for our own children would cause me to not only remember, but also experience what I witnessed on that tour. Our journey was difficult, but we were fortunate that our loving Heavenly Father, Gov. Stan Stephens, Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services staff, a bipartisan Montana Legislature and our neighbors worked to improve services for Montana citizens with disabilities.

I trust and pray that Gov. Gianforte, the Montana DPHHS, a bipartisan Montana Legislature and our federal government will work out their philosophical and political differences that divide and destroy. Please offer your encouragement and economic support to Montana’s nonprofit service sector and their employees who sacrifice to serve our neighbors in need.

Please, do something to help!

Matthew 7:9-11

John Harwood

Joliet