Tell Congress to support the CARE for Long COVID Act

I am a wife, support person and caregiver to my husband of 27 years who suffers every day with the debilitating symptoms of post-viral myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome.

Before he contracted this illness in February 2011, he was a lifelong athlete, avid musician, woodworker and successful commercial real estate broker. For the last 12 years, his severe ME/CFS symptoms — debilitating fatigue, headaches, flu-like symptoms, and PEM (post exertional malaise) — often put him in bed for eight or more hours a day.

Together, we’ve done what we can find some kind of relief — traveling in medical distress to see more than 30 doctors, including ME/CFS specialists in New York City, Boston and around New Hampshire, trying to find someone who understands what he is going through and how best to help him. He participated in a medical trial at Brigham & Women’s Hospital to test the efficacy of a drug to help reduce PEM. In 2023, we are traveling to a new pain specialist; hoping to find yet another medication to reduce the effects of incapacitating daily pain.

Due to the lack of education, research, and progress on ME/CFS and other post-infection-associated illnesses, our ongoing 12-year process continues to be emotionally and physically draining for both of us. Patients, families, and doctors need more tools, more education and new medications to find a cause and a cure.

Last year, Rep. Annie Kuster co-sponsored this bill. I urge Sens. Hassan and Shaheen and Rep. Pappas to support and vigorously fight for the CARE for Long COVID Act.

Peg Keeler

New London
Member of NH Chapter of ME/CFS

Fight for research on long-term illnesses

I write as a professor of immunology at Dartmouth Medical School. I was co-founder of Medarex — the company that created Ipilimumab and Nivolumab — the antibody therapeutics that have saved thousands of life years for people with cancer. Despite all my great connections, I was unable to help my wife who, after Lyme disease was ruled out following a serious tick bite, was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). She suffered for eight years!

Finally, I connected with Dr. Steven Bock in Rhinebeck, N.Y., by televisit. He saw lab report results that had great significance, but our local providers were too uninformed to understand their importance. He prescribed a treatment for the tick-borne infection babesiosis, and in two days my wife was 95% better. Eight years of suffering could have been prevented!

I cannot over-emphasize how critically important it is for our government to provide better financial support for groups researching causes and treatments for post infection-associated illnesses including long COVID and ME/CFS. I urge congresswoman Annie Kuster and Sens. Hassan and Shaheen to support and vigorously fight for S.3726, the CARE for Long COVID Act.

Paul Guyre

Lyme

Housing shortage questions

I’ve been reading many articles over the last year about the housing shortages in the Upper Valley and New Hampshire in particular. The situation will only worsen in the years to come.

What comes to mind as I read, are the empty houses that I see on my travels through the Upper Valley. I wonder why are they staying vacant? In my immediate vicinity I can identify five houses in varying conditions that could make a fine home for a couple or family. Some of these houses would require major repair work and others are probably in move-in condition, considering that they have been recently occupied.

With housing shortages being a major concern, whose responsibility is it to take vacant houses and put them into occupancy — government, Realtors, absentee owners, or nonprofits? If you’re an owner of one of these empty houses, what’s keeping you from making it available to help address the housing needs?

Marcia Brown

Cornish

Urban exodus and its burden on rural housing markets

With the rise of Zoom and remote work, many American city-dwellers have taken flight to suburbs and rural areas, preferring to conduct work from more comfortable home offices. Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine have seen an influx of new residents since 2019, driving up prices in an increasingly tight housing market. The Zillow Home Values Index indicates a 55% increase in New Hampshire housing prices and a 48% increase for Vermont over the last four years. Housing is more expensive than ever before.

In short, the production of new housing fails to meet the demand. The June 2022 New Hampshire Housing Report estimates that at least 20,000 new housing units are required to achieve a balanced market. New Hampshire’s housing shortage is compounded by local building restrictions that prevent new construction projects from moving forward. New Hampshire developers say they simply cannot build affordable units due to zoning laws, density limits, parking mandates, and the high cost of land. Such constraining regulations keep out potential new workers and consumers and are responsible for worsening socioeconomic segregation.

Supporters of these restrictions argue that drastically increasing the number of homes threatens to alter the small-town character of New England communities. The exterior aesthetic of new construction projects is also of concern. What is the compromise?

“Missing middle” housing, a term coined by Daniel Parolek, are buildings home to two or more households per parcel of land. Duplexes, townhomes, courtyard apartments, and everything between single-family homes and large apartment buildings fall into this category. Such communal structures are notably missing from local neighborhoods, yet they offer an ideal solution to the housing shortage. Their medium size will not disrupt our cherished New England charm, but with multiple households sharing one lot, these homes cut down the inherently high cost of land. If a traditional colonial home is out of your budget or if you do not need the extra space, middle housing is an ideal choice.

Let’s build more affordable homes and welcome new residents into our beloved communities. But let’s keep the charming bricks and shutters while we’re at it.

Zoe Zitzewitz

Hanover

Kudos for Seven Days article

I applaud the Valley News for providing the in-depth article by Alison Novak of Seven Days (“The tangled tale behind former Hanover principal’s abrupt resignation in Vermont,” May 1). It is a story that needs to be told but often is not.

The persistence of Jill and Pat Dunn to set the record straight in the face of foot-dragging and stonewalling by public servants reluctant to admit mistakes is rare. Sadly, the desire of public servants — be they school board members, their advisers or paid staff members — to refuse to reopen a matter they wanted to see as closed, is not rare.

It is good to see that persistence can pay off to reveal the truth. And kudos to Alison Novak for good reporting.

Joseph S. Warner

Unity

Thank you, voters, for Meriden library funding

I am writing to thank Plainfield’s kind people for donating funds to build a new library in Meriden. The old building had steep, narrow concrete steps at the entrance and similar steps to the children’s room in the basement. Many a fall took place on those stairways, so it is wonderful that they are no longer an issue, because there are no steps in the new library. This means all little children, seniors and those with special needs can take advantage of this beautiful building along with everyone else.

The old building was so small that more than five or six people in it, along with employees, made it difficult to browse at leisure. Browsing is an important function of a library. It lets people see books they had never thought to look for but could enjoy. Plus, the new library has plenty of parking places. There is even a small kitchen and a large multipurpose room for town events.

Most of all, I want to thank Mary King, director of our libraries, for her dedication, vision, and wherewithal that brought this new library into reality. She proves how one person can change the lives of many. If you haven’t stopped in the new library, you should. It surpasses expectations and will delight you with its open, cheerful space and possibilities.

Hilary Platt

Meriden

Attacks turn to transgender people

If it seems like we’re seeing more anti-transgender laws (like the recent “bathroom” laws in Kansas and North Dakota) since last year, it should not come as a surprise. Since “The Respect for Marriage Act” was signed last December, protecting same-sex marriage, citizens and legislators frustrated by the changes in our society have turned their attentions elsewhere. Attacking the rights of transgender Americans is the last vestige of “acceptable” hate in our society. We must not allow it to continue unchallenged.

Barry Wenig

Lebanon

Mutilation

The left will continue to mutilate children, so long as Garland and Biden remain in office. Their removal is a must, ASAP!

Jim Argentati

Lyme

]]>