Newtown’s Willingness To Help

To the Editor:

Every since Kevin’s Community Center opened, it has been a great source of community pride to me. Dr and Mrs Z. Michael Taweh turned a personal tragedy, the loss of their son Kevin, into a free medical center to help people without insurance and in need of health care to get it.

National health care reform will make medical insurance available to more uninsured people in the future, but it will take years to come to fruition. Kevin’s Community Center will no doubt continue its good work even after it does.

A person who is ill needs medical intervention whether they are from Newtown or anywhere else. The same goes for routine health care that prevents people from getting seriously ill in the first place. People are people wherever they live.

I was pleased to read The Bee’s editorial urging Newtown to support Kevin Community Center’s expansion at Fairfield Hills. I also found it sad that such a worthy enterprise was meeting resistance with its plans to provide more and better care to all who need it, whether or not they are Newtown residents.

What makes it nicer in Newtown isn’t just the lovely homes, excellent schools, and abundant open space; it’s the community spirit and willingness to help our friends and neighbors in need.

About 800 families, 3,800 adults, in Newtown alone have no health care coverage, according to Kevin Community Center’s website. Health care costs continue to rise, causing more people to be uninsured each year, especially following the Great Recession.

Kevin Community Center’s vision is to build an independent, comprehensive facility to increase its capacity to see patients that will include educational programs, a library for health information, and an outreach center to improve and enrich the lives of those most in need.

I agree with Gloria Markey’s letter last week in this space and add my thumbs up to signing the lease for Kevin’s Community Center. The state’s $500,000 grant paves the way to get it going. It would be a travesty to reject this opportunity.

Let’s support the expansion and show that we in Newtown are people of substance.

Nancy Doniger

4 Saddle Ridge Road, Newtown                                                                      December 8, 2010