LETTER: Senate cuts to the Pioneer Home

To the editor:

On April 23, 2017, St. Michael's Catholic Church Organizing Ministry held a public meeting with Senator Shelley Hughes to discuss cuts to the Veterans and Pioneers Home in Palmer. During that meeting, Sen. Hughes was asked, "Will you commit to encourage your colleagues on the budget conference committee to make sure the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home is fully funded as per the House budget?" Without hesitation, Sen. Hughes responded to the 80 people in attendance, "Absolutely."

On June 17, we learned from an article in the Alaska Dispatch News that the Senate budget coming out of the special session included $818,500 in cuts to the Pioneer Home. This came as a shock and a disappointment to the members of the Valley community who were present for Sen. Hughes commitments and who were assured that April’s Senate budget cuts to Pioneer Home were simply a mistake made by an aide that would be corrected.

The threats to the Pioneer Home have led to enormous emotional trauma among senior residents of the Home as well as their family members. The public testimony at the April 23 meeting expressed anger, fear and disappointment. Deacon Harry Moore, whose mother is a resident at the Palmer Pioneer Home, testified, "When the Senate came out with the line item to remove the funding, the $6.5 million, the impact that it created within the Home was palpable. I visit my mom there and there was a high degree and level of fear that was generated through the residents.”

The current Senate budget proposing $818,500 in cuts will again be traumatic for Pioneer Home residents and families, only two months after they were soothed by Sen. Hughes and reassured the Pioneer Home in Palmer would be funded.

We look forward to learning from Sen. Hughes what steps she took to assure that the Pioneer Home funding remained stable. Our Veterans and seniors don't need additional stress in their lives. They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, much better than this Legislature is treating them. Between 2015 and 2020, the senior population is expected to grow by 41 percent, and many of us may be among those needing a space at the Veteran and Pioneers Home.

If you are concerned about funding for the Veteran and Senior Pioneers Home, join St. Michael's Organizing Ministry to make your voices heard.

—Patty Haugom and Kathy Bishop

St. Michael’s Catholic Church

Local Organizing Ministry