August 9, 2007
Remarks at Martinsburg Rotary Event
By Senator Jay Rockefeller
Introduction
What you all do as members of the Rotary, I believe, is at the heart of what community truly means. As some of you might know, I began my public service career as a VISTA worker in Emmons – a small mining community on the Kanawha-Boone County line.
The lessons I learned there set my life’s path. I’ve said many times before that the families in that small community taught me more than anyone since ever has, and they truly gave me a reason & a cause to run for office.
It was those experiences more than 40 years ago that continue to guide what I do today. I can say with the utmost sincerity that each vote I’ve cast has been rooted in those people – and they continue to define so many of the issues that are most important to me today.
I learned back then that when people have health care, when they feel like they’re taken care of – that’s when you have a true sense of community.
Community is about neighbor helping neighbor. For 40 years as a member of the U.S. Senate, I’ve fought for those issues that are most important to building stronger communities.
CHIP
One critical part of that is giving our children the healthy start they need in life. The Senate recently passed a bipartisan bill that will maintain coverage for all 6.6 million low-income children currently in the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and provide health insurance to 3.2 million more.
This legislation not only guarantees that CHIP will include the nearly 40,000 kids in West Virginia who were enrolled last year -- but it also makes coverage available to millions more children nationwide, including 4,000 more in our state.
This is an incredibly important piece of legislation. CHIP combines the best of public and private health coverage to get medical care to American children in need. It gets kids in working families the doctor visits and medicines they need when they’re sick, and the checkups they need to stay well.
In 10 years, CHIP has reduced the number of low-income children living without health insurance by one-third; this bill will cover more than another third of all the uninsured children in America.
I think we can all agree that one child without health insurance is one child too many – and this bill goes a long way toward making sure all of our kids get the healthy start they deserve.
Veterans’ Health Care
In addition to our children, this nation has a strong obligation to make sure that those brave men and women who have fought to defend our country are taken care of.
I’ve been a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee since first coming to the Senate in 1985, and it’s a role that is enormously important to me – especially today, with all the hurdles our veterans have been facing when trying to get the care they need.
Overall, I believe the VA does a tremendous job in caring for our veterans – but there are a lot of needless bureaucratic problems that we must work through.
We have to remain continually committed to our older veterans – and we’re making great progress here in West Virginia in providing care to older veterans across the state.
We currently have eight veterans’ clinics, and we recently got news that Monongalia County will be home to the ninth. We’re also looking forward to the opening of our first-ever veterans nursing home in Clarksburg.
But we’re also going to have to work harder and quicker to make sure that all of our veterans, including those from Iraq and Afghanistan, are getting the best care possible.
We’ve already started, in a very important way. The Senate recently passed the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act of 2007. This important legislation addresses many of the problems soldiers face when transitioning from the active duty to veteran’s health care system.
The last thing our soldiers need when returning home is a cumbersome paperwork process. We’re determined to fix it, and this legislation will go a long way toward giving our wounded soldiers the support they’ve earned and deserve.
BRNI
For our children and our veterans – I’m enormously grateful for the strides we are making.
But a critical part of caring for those who need us the most is disease research. Almost 10 years ago, I helped to establish the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute – which is a simply amazing research Institute for neurological disorders.
It was named in honor of my mother, who fought a hard and brave battle with Alzheimer’s. The Institute is so important to me and to my entire family, but it’s also significant to so many people who are dealing with the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s.
In only a few years of work, the exceptional scientists at the Institute have already made remarkable strides in research, and we’re on the cusp of a lot of exciting developments.
We also have a new, beautiful research building opening in Morgantown next year. This will give us even more opportunities for world-class, innovative research in West Virginia that will help so many people in the future.
We still have a lot of work to do. But I believe that truly tackling this disease is within our reach.
If what the researchers and doctors are doing now at the Institute can help one family going through the pain of this terrible disease – or even from ever facing it to begin with – then we’ll have done our job.
As members of the Rotary, I know that you understand just how important all of these issues are – issues that affect everyone from our youngest children, to our seniors who need continuing care and support.
That’s why you dedicate so much of your community service to projects that help them:
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You support the local March of Dimes walk-a-thon each year. This is a crucial effort to guarantee healthy beginnings for infants across the world.
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You have a great history of supporting the Berkeley County Senior Center with various projects, particularly around the holidays.
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Each spring, I understand that you co-host a multi-phasic blood testing project with City Hospital to promote health awareness in your community.
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You give money each year to your local high schools.
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You are strong supporters of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
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And you’re helping to feed the hungry.
Everything that you do is evidence of what Rotary stands for -- Service Above Self.
You put others first.
You put your community first.
And you understand what it truly means to be a public servant.
What you’re doing here in your community has far-reaching effects, and I believe it’s an archetype of what our nation as a whole should be doing to make life better – better for our children, for our brave war heroes, for our seniors, and for each and every American family.
You’re setting the standard for community service – and I thank you for it.
