FARMINGTON – Sen. Susan Collins spent Friday in Franklin County, visiting students enrolled in a logging program in Coplin Plantation, touring the Woodlands Senior Living Center and stopping in at the Wilton Blueberry Festival.
It was Collins’ first visit to the center, the 14th and newest senior living community opened by Woodlands in Maine. She met with Woodlands Senior Living Chief Operating Officer Matthew Walters and members of the Woodlands staff, as well as touring the facility and speaking to residents. Collins said that facilities such as Woodlands, which has dedicated beds for people with Alzheimer’s disease and related memory loss conditions, were critical to meet the needs of the aging population.
Collins also spoke about what she saw as the greatest challenges facing that population, including the cost of prescription drugs. Collins singled out the “skyrocketing” cost of insulin, a drug first introduced in the 1920s, as an example.
“There’s no justification for the doubling of prices we’ve seen in the last five years,” Collins said, noting that acquiring insulin could be a matter of “life or death” for people with Type 1 diabetes.
Collins cited expansion of biomedical research funding as an example of a way the federal government was helping people with conditions such as Alzheimer’s, which she said was the country’s most costly disease. An increase in funding up to $2.3 billion to research the disease had prompted new approaches that were considering factors such as the patient’s circulation, lifestyle and genetic history.
Combating fraud was another focus, Collins said, citing the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s statistic of $3 billion lost to fraud last year. Even that figure represented the “tip of the iceberg,” Collins said, noting that many senior citizens would not report losing money to scams either due to embarrassment or the fraud having been perpetrated by a family member.
The senate’s Special Committee on Aging, of which Collins is the chair, releases the ‘Fighting Fraud’ booklet periodically, distributing it through senior living centers and the local sheriff’s offices. The booklet provides examples of common fraud, such as Internal Revenue Service scams that utilize spoofed phone numbers or the “grandparent” fraud wherein a purported family member asks for wired money oversees. It also provides the committee’s fraud hotline: 1-855-303-9470.
Collins said that another advance was new legislation that provided financial institutions with more of an ability to investigate potential fraud cases.
Retirement security was another area that Collins was concerned about, as more and more seniors outlive their savings. She said that was an advantage of Woodlands and similar facilities: they allowed for a range of different options for people as their personal circumstances changed, ranging from more self-autonomous apartments to assisted living areas to the memory care facilities.
“That’s why a place like this is so important,” Collins said.
Prior to visiting Woodlands, Collins was in the northern part of the county, visiting with students in the Mechanized Logging Operations Program. Those students were working an active timber harvest site in Coplin Plantation and Collins cited the program as being an “excellent example of the type of robust workforce development we need to create and sustain good jobs.” She also spent time at the Stratton Lumber Mill.
Friday evening, Collins attended the first day of festivities at the Maine Blueberry Festival.
I like this woman.
A politician,,, yes.
But that’s what it is….
She has earned my vote.
Proud of you Susan Collins.
Hey since you’re in town maybe you could school our Governor.. Oh wait Janet is undoubtedly hanging out in Portland with her friends these days..
Suzie usually hangs with “Moscow Mitch” McConnell whom upon leaving office will undoubtedly be among the 5 richest men (Actually males) on the planet.
My mother resided at a private pay Woodlands facility in Hallowell – Hillside Terrace – for five years. A tough business trying to please everyone and I was there at mixed times, several times a week and heard it all! I was lucky – my mother even at 96 seldom complained. Thank you Woodlands – Senator Collins and most especially the staff for all the help!
I sincerely appreciate Senator Collins being engaged in our community. I hope the attention she brings to the Woodlands will help with the crisis we have in elder care in our communities, but no one should be fooled into thinking the Woodlands is all beneficial. Their policies and practices often put a significant and unjust cost on our local medical community and especially our local hospital. All too often our local community assets and services are unduly tasked with picking up the pieces because of commitments made by the Woodlands that they cannot (and probably never intended) to keep when they accepted the responsibility for caring for a resident. The Woodlands brings some good things to our community, but it came with a significant cost as well!
Woodlands is great. But if Senator Collins wants to see what life is really like, then she should visit Sandy River Center, Edgewood Manor or Orchard Park.
Ms Collins expresses concern over the ”skyrocketing” cost of insulin. Yet she voted to confirm Alex Azar as Secretary of Health and Human Services, which regulates drug prices. His company (Eli Lilly) tripled the price of insulin when he was president.
Along with Moscow Mitch, she needs to go!
Ms Collins expresses concern over the “skyrocketing” cost of insulin. Yet she voted to confirm Alex Azar as head secretary of Health and Human Services which regulates drug prices. As president of Eli Lilly he tripled the cost of insulin.
Along with Moscow Mitch , Collins needs to go.
What she Susan collins should have done was support the women that the supreme judge did harm to, but she didn’t
Christobal… The evidence was pretty doggone weak… Do you find someone guilt yjust because someone sez so? I guess you still sniffling over your loss in the last Prez election. You got any now running that stand head and shoulder above the rest of the gang?
Bud..you are correct. If she really wanted to see how homes were run, it should be the “not brand new” ones, and it should be a ‘surprise’ visit. Even the worse places can be ‘spruced up’ for a scheduled, highly announced visit. And the ‘best’ staff put on duty. The only true way to evaluate a business is complete surprise, pop in, visits!
She is just trying to pretty herself up for all the screw up votes she has done in the last few years….the election box will decide if she can make it…
Cristobal demonstrates exactly how a massively ignorant and selfish population creates a totalitarian police state.
@ zqphod sen. Collins has done more to fight the rising cost of meds than most in D.C. The bill President Trump just signed for being allowed to import prescription meds from Canada was co written by her.
@cristobql maybe you can show the evidence you have against him that the swamp lacked to provide at his confirmation hearing. Also provide the evidence where he said he would end RoevWade. Being one guy on a nine judge panel may prove to be a little bit difficult.
Sen. Collins will have my vote until someone better comes along and that isn’t happening so far for the next election cycle.
Its a miracle that she left North Boston (Portland) to make it this far north. She could care less about the poor folk in the rural areas after all the big money is in the city
Jason,
You’re getting Susan mixed up with Janet Mills..
Janet is the one with so the friends from the Portland Planet..
Susan is real people…
Voting for Susan Collins Again.
I am a retired teacher from MSRD 9. A number of years ago Tom Savillo accompanied Susan Collins to our school to “listen” to our concerns/struggles in the real world of teaching. We were so excited to have a voice. We had other staff watch our classrooms so we could be in the teacher’s room for that 1/2 hour. Personally I had a teacher/friend that had specific concerns – not only school/teacher issues but also her parents and life care for the elderly. She spoke, yet didn’t have a whole lot of time for questions. My friend/teacher never got the chance to speak. It was disappointing. When, very few of us, got a chance to express our thoughts, she totally talked around the question to the point that you were left thinking “What? Did she answer that?” In other words she totally talked around the question to the point that I came to the realization – this is what people talk about “political rhetoric” . She did not “listen” she “talked”. I lost respect, not only for her, but also for where we are as people. Discouraging to feel America is made of “we the people”, yet the government truly is beyond our control. We could gather in crowds – marches – protests – against whatever issues we have. It is our right. Yet, in realization/reality we have no voice.
Time for Susan to go!