In my position as Easton Senior Center Director, I was very interested to read the comments for and against a possible joint Easton, Weston and Westport Health District. I had had the ability to attend one of the very informative, Town of Easton presentations by Polly Edwards and the staff of the Westport, Weston Health District. Many folks in the audience were extremely impressed. I feel it is important for residents to take the time to study the issues and be part of the decision-making.
As a person who had at one time experienced the U.K. National Health Service, you would expect that the last type of Health District I would want to be involved with would be an organization that shared services from town to town. However, I was extremely impressed that so many free and low-cost services would be available. This fact alone makes the situation advantageous for seniors, low income families, families without insurance and often, one- parent families.
There will, of course, be many questions to ask and be answered, as with any new program. I have read in detail the information sheets and in view of the present virus situation it obviously may be a while before such issues get resolved. Or maybe it is just the right time to be able to plan discovery.
I have been informed that from the Easton Senior Center point of view, any new Health District will not mean any cancellation of present Easton Senior Center programs such as Flu Shot Clinics or Blood Pressure Clinics. In fact, the Center will be able to have the District sponsor other types of clinics at the Easton Senior Center.
A list of free (16) and low-cost (17) services is available. If, in fact we become part of the Health District, I would certainly be interested in asking for many of these free and affordable programs to be offered at the Easton Senior Center for the benefit of all Easton residents.
One thing is for sure. It is definitely important that if Health Districts are to continue to become part of the Connecticut way of life in the future, we should seriously decide to make our own decisions who to join with … before we are told who we are to work with! Get involved in the decision while there is time.
Val Buckley
Easton Senior Center Director
