A society is often judged by how well it cares for its weaker members, which usually consist of the sick, the very young and the very old. In the six years since Gov. Angus King was sworn into office, it appears he may have done some good for the youth of our state. This column questions whether or not he has done any good for our older citizens.

Under Gov. King’s reign we have seen about 1,500 nursing home beds close and in exchange there has been an increase in the availability of home health care, residential (boarding) care beds and assisted living apartments. This change is good as it provides our healthier senior citizens more choices of how and where they will receive any necessary long-term care services.

However, with the healthier residents moved out of the nursing homes into these alternative arrangements, only those with the greatest need for services are at the nursing homes today. This has caused a dramatic increase in the cost of nursing home care. Likewise, the individuals who relocated from the nursing homes to the residential care facilities require more services than those who previously were there and those facilities are also experiencing an average cost which is much greater than before.

While Gov. King’s administration has achieved a goal of providing a wider variety of long-term care services for our elderly, he appears to be unwilling to properly fund their increased costs. From 1996 to 1999, the state under-funded assisted living and residential care providers by over $50 million. From 1997 to 1999, the state under-funded assisted living and residential care providers by $21 million. Now the governor, through his recently proposed budget, is looking to take away the approximate 3 percent per year rate increases always given to help cover inflation.

What good is setting up a variety of long-term care services if you are not going to fund them properly to do the job? Yes, there are other states which fund their long-term care facilities at rates even lower than Maine’s; however, the quality of services in those other states leaves much to be desired.

One of my philosophies of life has always been if you are going to do something, do it right or don’t do it at all. Apparently, the governor does not subscribe to this philosophy. Many “mom and pop” operations have left the nursing home business in recent years because of discouragement from the decreased levels of funding.

These are individuals who took pride in the quality of service and care given to their residents. They apparently also subscribed to the philosophy of “do it right or don’t do it at all.” As long as we have our current governor in office, the prospects for improvement are very dim.

I encourage anyone who has a friend or relative involved with nursing homes, whether it be as a resident or as an employee, to ask our legislators to change the governor’s budget to provide sufficient funding to the providers of long-term care services. Continued inadequate funding of these services will affect each and every one of us. In view of this, I question, has Gov. King rendered any good for our older citizens?

Philip A. Cyr of Caribou is an administrator at Caribou Nursing Home and the owner of Katahdin Nursing Home.