Angus King

They did everything that they could have possibly done. They postponed a non-emergency surgery in order to be available as a backup to the local hospital.

One suggestion that Senator Rubio and I are working on is funding preventive measures so that we're preventing the disaster, which is much more expensive to remedy than it is to prevent.

That's what I'm looking for. There's a pre-existing structure. It's not ad hoc when an emergency strikes.

And it's important to me, it seems to me that the local and State emergency preparedness folks know of your capacity and as part of their toolkit.

I've come to realize that I'm now above that.

Maine is a big small town with very long streets.

They did everything that they could have possibly done.

And my concern is that A, we don't know enough about it. And B, once we learn more that we learn how to prevent falls, it's a preventable epidemic, at least to some extent.

If you learned of a disease that affected one out of four elderly veterans, an epidemic that caused significant harm, hospitalization costs, and often death, would you consider that worthy of research?

I hope you'll rethink where these clinical trials take place, because if you're not doing them in rural areas, you may be missing some important information that could be informative because that's where a lot of veterans are.

I think it's very important because, you may well have different typologies and different pathologies in rural areas than you have in urban areas.

And my concern is that A, we don't know enough about it. And B, once we learn more that we learn how to prevent falls, it's a preventable epidemic, at least to some extent.

If you learned of a disease that affected one out of four elderly veterans, an epidemic that caused significant harm, hospitalization costs, and often death, would you consider that worthy of research?

I hope you'll rethink where these clinical trials take place, because if you're not doing them in rural areas, you may be missing some important information that could be informative because that's where a lot of veterans are.

I think it's very important because, you may well have different typologies and different pathologies in rural areas than you have in urban areas.

It turns out that there are a number of sort of nonclinical factors affecting veteran suicide. One high on the list was financial insecurity, another was food insecurity.

If you learned of a disease that affected one out of four elderly veterans, an epidemic that caused significant harm, hospitalization costs, and often death, would you consider that worthy of research?

One high on the list was financial insecurity, another was food insecurity.

I think it's very important because, you may well have different typologies and different pathologies in rural areas than you have in urban areas.

And my concern is that A, we don't know enough about it. And B, once we learn more that we learn how to prevent falls, it's a preventable epidemic, at least to some extent.

I hope you'll rethink where these clinical trials take place, because if you're not doing them in rural areas, you may be missing some important information that could be informative because that's where a lot of veterans are.

Ultimately this is all about service to veterans.

Why not empower the local managers, if they have a need give them a budget, they decide what they need, who they need, and do the hiring and hold them accountable.

We have to really think hard about all the steps, and here is one of them.

I believe that the whole idea of differential pay in different regions, based on cost of living, is somewhat obsolete.