Veterans Day was again marked with many great celebrations paying honor and tribute to our veterans who deserve such recognition. While recognizing our veterans' service and sacrifice is extremely important, another important thing about events such as Operation Bugle Boy, the ceremony at Blair Oaks High School and other events in and around town is the message that these veterans are able to deliver to our community and especially our children about the importance of military service. Carrying this message to our children, fellow Americans and to everyone of the importance of service to our country, is vital to helping those who might be inclined to join the military understand the importance of doing so, and if further helps those who will never join the military understand the importance of taking care of our veterans once their service is over.
We need our military to continue to remind all of us of the value of public service and support our military and military careers. It was so good to see more than 1,000 children at Blair Oaks participating in the veterans' appreciation ceremony and hearing great words from Todd Beamer, who lost his son in the 9/11 airplane crash. With fewer people in the military today than in the past, and the ending of the use of the draft, we must take extra efforts to expose our younger generation to this career. I am happy to say there were two students from the graduating class of Blair Oaks who have already committed to a military career. It was an honor and privilege to meet John Beamer and his wife personally and to observe the veterans' appreciation at Blair Oaks and other events this week.
Last week, while sitting in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, a lady from Jefferson City came up to me and she expressed a sentiment that is a sad reflection of the condition of our politics. She simply stated she wanted to go vote for someone and not just vote to be voting against someone else. That should be a reminder to all of our leaders that our constituents want action and they want the political parties to be parties of attraction, parties of accomplishment and goals as opposed to being parties of promotion, or parties whose primary way of getting elected is not accomplishment, but telling voters how great they are and how bad the other party is. Working on these goals is something we can do at a local level.
The issue of individuals being on hospice or other restrictive medical facilities and no one being allowed to see them due to the COVID-19 situation, it was again brought to my attention through organizations and through working with the chief of staff of a senator to try to address the problem. I have many constituents who have called me devastated because their loved one, their parent, or their spouse is in a COVID-19 ward on hospice, and is being left to die alone because the family was not allowed in. It is a horrible situation for those who cannot visit their loved ones and takes a tremendous toll on all of the medical staff who do their best to lend comfort to those who are dying and to fill the role that only our family members and loved ones can truly fill. While many facilities have put measures in place to ensure this doesn't happen, many are still concerned that if the pandemic ramps up again, the problem could become widespread once again. There is also discussion about what tools we can give families so that they have a way to see their family members in their dying moments.
While the problem is easy to diagnose, the solution is not. We have to balance the rights and safety of other patients with the undeniable need for dying patients to have family present. I believe there is a solution if we continue to work on it. We are making progress on that and hearing from patient rights groups, families who have been in this situation while losing members of their family, health care providers and healthcare workers.
Any thoughts are appreciated on this, but I do believe we will have a bill being introduced in the House and Senate by the first of December.
As always, your input is vital to my ability to represent you effectively. Please call and email with your questions, thoughts and concerns.
State Rep. Rudy Veit, R-Jefferson City, represents Missouri's 59th District and shares his perspective on statehouse issues twice a month.