Message from the State Director
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2007-10-19 11:35:36.140167-04:00
For the past three weeks, our entire AARP staff team has traveled the state as part of our Divided We Fail Listening Tour. We were in Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Pierre, and in each of these communities, we had the opportunity to share how AARP is going to strengthen health care and financial security for South Dakotans through our Divided We Fail effort.
We also had the opportunity to ask people to get involved. We need people from all over our state to join this effort and demand action, answers and accountability from our public officials. Health care and financial security are two issues that impact each and every South Dakotans on a daily basis.
But maybe most importantly, we have had the opportunity to listen to the stories that so many of you have generously shared regarding struggles that you, a friend or a family member have had with health care or financial security.
These stories are the reason we must succeed with Divided We Fail.
No one in this state or country should have to struggle each day without health insurance following heart bypass surgery because he or she can no longer keep a full-time job. But yet a woman in Rapid City is in just this situation and hoping she can hang on until she can be eligible for Medicare.
No one in this state or country should have to take their health into their own hands, and stop taking important medications because a gap in prescription coverage makes medication unaffordable. Yet a woman in Sioux Falls is in just this situation.
Both of these situations are unacceptable, but unfortunately we're hearing these kinds of stories from all over our state.
So, as a state and a nation, we must come together to do something to help those who are struggling and to ensure that the support and security is there for when we or someone we love is facing a similar challenge. Divided We Fail must succeed.
We look forward to going to more communities in 2008 to ask people to get involved with Divided We Fail and to gather more stories of struggles and challenges people are facing each and every day with health care and financial security. However, you do not have to wait for us to visit your community for you to share your story or get involved in this historic effort.
Please take 5 minutes to go to Divided We Fail online and sign our pledge and/or share your story - we want and need to hear from you. Your voice is important.
Sarah Jennings, State Director AARP South Dakota
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