As the mid-term elections approach, the country faces two important issues: protecting health care and acting quickly in the event of catastrophic weather events. Mari Cordes has the background and organizational skills to tackle both problems. As a registered nurse in Vermont for most of her life, she has devoted herself to ensuring that Vermonters receive the best and least costly health care. Overseas, she has played a key role in carrying out effective disaster relief programs, demonstrating skills that would be valuable here at home.
Mari knows that uncertainty about the future of health care looms large among large segments of the American public. There are political pressures everywhere to limit access to quality health care for those who cannot afford to pay for it. Here in Vermont, she has worked to make hospitals put patients before profits and prevent insurance companies from discriminating against patients with pre-existing conditions or on the basis of gender choices.
Overseas, she has organized and deployed medical teams to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and, in 2015, provided medical relief to refugees displaced and fleeing from war and terrorism in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
The suddenness and scope of Hurricane Michael’s devastation in the Florida panhandle and the area’s unpreparedness to deal with it should be a wakeup call to all of us. Extreme weather events are becoming more common and moving further north. Vermont is not immune. We need professionals in the state government and the legislature who can act quickly when such crises occur. Mari Cordes is that person. Join us in voting for her on Nov. 6.
Kenneth and Eve Thompson
Bristol