Last year, I learned that patients in Maine could effectively be denied access to the licensed health care provider of their choice when a woman from Old Orchard Beach, Mary, shared her health care story with me. Mary suffers from Lyme Disease - an infectious disease that is becoming increasingly more common in Maine. Yet, she had difficult time finding doctor who specializes in Lyme treatment that would also be covered by insurance. After finding a naturopathic doctor that worked for her, she was excited to learn that Affordable Care Act required naturopathic doctors to be covered by insurance. Unfortunately, her private insurance representative told her that, while the naturopathic doctor was a covered provider, her specific insurance policy did not cover naturopathy.
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I had a dream most of my life – to run a nonprofit organization. In summer 2013, I made it a reality.
The Saco Bay Center for Civic Engagement was born out of a need to house creative community service projects that didn’t quite fit within the area’s existing nonprofits; projects and initiatives that I and others in the community always wanted to do but didn’t have an outlet for. Now, five years and countless fundraisers and projects later, we are saying goodbye. Saco will soon be home to a brand-new ice cream parlor…with a twist. The Saco Scoop is opening this Saturday and is located at 209 Main Street. The twist? It’s not just about the delicious Shain’s of Maine ice cream and Seadog Biscuits being served, it’s also about the side order of community. This is a project of Saco Main Street and the brain child of Rob Biggs, our executive director. Saco Main Street is Saco’s downtown development organization. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, independent from the city, that is designated as a Main Street - Maine Community by the Maine Downtown Center and as a National Main Street program. Our organization focuses on promotions and marketing, design and preservation, economic development and volunteer organization to revitalize and improve Saco’s historic downtown area. In order to fully enhance the effectiveness of our mission, we needed a community hangout, a place to go a socialize with your neighbors and promote all Saco and our downtown has to offer. An equal component of this ice cream shop will center around community engagement. We will offer information on all of our downtown businesses and an opportunity to discover how to plan out an amazing 48 hours in Saco. For tourists and residents alike. Sometimes finding out what’s in your own backyard is equally fun. The history behind the space is noteworthy. The Saco Scoop is in the original Atkinson furniture store building. Former Saco Mayor Bill Johnson’s wife Mary’s grandfather HP Atkinson, sold furniture in the early 1900s in the exact same space. H.P. Atkinson was the founder of the Atkinson furniture company. We will have photos on the wall of Saco then and now. Reinvigorating a space with so much history is downtown revitalization at it’s best. We hope to transport you back in time and connect with Saco rich, dynamic history. Saco Main Street just finished creating the new community park next to the Post Office, so having this new ice cream shop right next door is a perfect combination to attract folks to eat, shop, and live in our downtown. Making the downtown a walkable destination with things to do in the evening is a critical element to the future vibrancy of our entire city. When your downtown does well, your whole community does well. Aside from ice cream, the Saco Scoop will offer merchandise from our area schools, like Thornton Academy. Alumni that come in for reunions for instance will now have a one-stop-shop for all things TA. Perfect timing for all my classmates coming in for my 10-year reunion from Thornton next year! I could use an extra maroon and gold sweatshirt myself.
All of the proceeds of the shop will stay within the community through our nonprofit. It will be put towards the good work we are doing to attract new business development, support and promote the existing businesses that are here, enhance the quality of downtown through service projects, and continue to put on free family-friendly events for all ages. So that scoop of ice cream doesn’t just fuel your soul, it will fuel our community. Hope to see you at our grand opening this Saturday at 10AM! As Memorial Day weekend is upon us, it’s important to reflect on the true meaning of the day and what is being done to support those who put their lives on the line. It’s easy to take the weekend for granted as just an additional day off, but we must not lose sight of the heroes among us. I come from an extended military family. Cousins, uncles, grandfathers, you name it, I have a family member who has served in various branches of the Armed Forces in various wars and conflicts. It makes me proud that they have chosen this particular way of serving our country. While we can always do better in society on this front, there is good work taking place in our community to support our veterans. For instance, we have some exciting news in Old Orchard Beach. Veterans will now be able to park for free, with their veterans plates clearly displayed, in any town lot or space with a parking meter on Memorial Day itself. Memorial Day weekend is usually the official start to the summer tourism season, so naturally it’s a time to put up the parking meters. The least we could do on the day itself is to let veterans park for free. After all, the parade and the ceremonies are for them and honoring the memory of their fallen comrades. This week the Masons, Saco Lodge No. 9, delivered dozens of bikes to students at Fairfield, Young, and Burns schools for the third year in a row. I was honored to be there alongside the Masons as the bikes were randomly distributed at school assemblies to some very deserving kids. It was especially neat to see how the kids cheered for their fellow peers even when they knew they weren’t going to get a prize. It demonstrated that it wasn’t just about them, but about seeing their friends succeed and be happy – such an important life lesson for all. The Saco Bikes for Books program achieves two very important missions. Number one it promotes childhood literacy and gets kids excited for reading tangible books. Young School, for instance, reads a combined total of well over 500 books. Keep in mind this is above and beyond any work currently being done in the classroom. Number two it gets kids outside. In this day and age of smart phones and eyeballs glued to some type of device, these bikes represent a catalyst to get outside, breathe the free air and smell the roses. Ok, maybe not that last one, but you get the point. It’s the idea of being kids again and not reliant on technology to keep yourself entertained. This all culminates into the Saco Community Bike Rodeo this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Saco Public Works Facility on North Street. It’s a fun, free, family event with bike safety checks, a bike course, helmet safety station with free fittings, Touch a Truck, raffles, wellness vendors and and more. The kids who won bikes at school can pick them up and everyone is encouraged to bring their bikes to participate. If you would like to donate a bike or scooter or nonperishable food, organizers will be collecting donations to distribute to those in need. I’ll be there with Saco Main Street, so be sure to stop by and say hello. By now you’ve probably heard in some form that the Legislature is crippled with partisan gridlock and currently in recess until we head back in to deal with the governor’s long list of vetoes. I’d like to provide some perspective on this situation. Last week, a small group of House Republicans voted to block an extension of the legislative session, blocking our ability to continue working. They essentially shut down the Legislature from finishing the work we had left. Bills like transportation bonds for roads and bridges, Medicaid expansion, funding for our schools, banning conversion therapy, implementing marijuana business licenses, expanding student loan assistance, and how to deal with state level changes from the Trump tax plan. Important pieces of legislation destined to just die without debate, without a vote. This childish display of strategic antics is unacceptable. We were elected to do a job and it’s time to do it. We can’t just negate our duties because you want to go home. I’m here, ready to work until the job is done whether it’s today, tomorrow or two months from now. I often talk about the influence of lobbyists at the statehouse in Augusta. For the most part my advocacy on this topic centers around reducing the role money plays with lobbyist influence, but we can’t ignore the culture that we’ve allowed to be created in the hallowed halls. Pay-for-play is common practice and at this point is pretty common knowledge. The special interest group and corporate lobbyist with the largest checkbook has the most direct influence over public policy decision making. What isn’t as known, is how lobbyists are treated versus legislators. It’s not often we can say both sides came together for the greater good, but that is exactly what has happened. Democrats and Republicans overwhelming rejected the governor’s veto on my bill, LD 1030 An Act to Require Non Discrimination Policies in Providing Health Care Services. The Maine Senate voted 32-2 to override the veto and the Maine House followed suit 135-11. This was after a unanimous report from the Insurance and Financial Services Committee. This means my bill now becomes law and will begin impacting policies in January 2019. The new law will prevent insurance companies from excluding payment for care received from a naturopathic doctor practicing within the scope of their license. This means insurers will have to pay for health care provided by licensed naturopaths, as they would for care given by other licensed providers, such as medical doctors, osteopathic physicians and nurse practitioners. The law also prohibits insurance companies from charging higher co-pays, deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for naturopathic care. In addition, insurance companies may not exclude naturopathic physicians from their network on the basis of their training and licensure. Every year like clockwork, there is an event that unites us. Brings people of all walks of life (literally) together for something much bigger than ourselves individually. A true collective conscious. The event of course is Mary’s Walk.
That feeling you get when you are in the midst of thousands of your friends, neighbors, and complete strangers walking towards a common goal and purpose down Main Street is truly indescribable. There is no better text-book definition of what having a strong sense of community is all about. We are once again faced with the horror of a mass school shooting. Before my family moved to Maine, I went through grade school in Florida. The idea that a mass shooting would take place at any school, let alone one that I could have attended, is unconscionable. That could’ve been me. It could’ve been my friends shot to death for simply being at a place of learning. The one place you are supposed to feel safe. Since the shooting, I have been trying to find the right words to say. I can’t imagine what those at the school not only went through during it, but also in dealing with the emotional aftermath. |
Beyond the HeadlinesWeekly Column featured in The Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier Newspaper by Rep. Justin Chenette of Saco Archives
September 2021
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