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Thoughts & Views EDITORIAL
Some thoughts as Down Syndrome Awareness Month ends
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Wednesday, September 29, 2021
ach year, this newspaper features a photo of Nicolle Santos, 8, of Kearny, when her enthusiastic photo is beamed onto a large screen, at Times Square, Manhattan, for Down Syndrome Awareness Month. Nicolle, a student at Franklin School, brings joy to every single person who has ever met her. Her love, unconditional. Her spirit, undeterred. To say she’s is an exceptional human being is an understatement. And she has Down Syndrome. She is one of approximately 6,000 children who are born each year with Down (which equates to 1 in every 700 children born.) Here are some other statistics about the syndrome, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: • As a mom’s age increases, so, too, does the likelihood of bearing a child who has Down Syndrome. • Research estimates there are about 83,000 teens or younger with Down Syndrome. • Overall, there are about 251,000 Americans who have Down Syndrome. • Going back to 1960, the life expectancy of someone who had Down Syndrome was about 10 years. Now, that life expectancy is 47, a staggering increase. • Children with Down Syndrome are more likely than children without it to experience hearing loss, sleep apnea, ear infections, eye diseases, heart defects, intestinal blockage, hip dislocation, thyroid disease, anemia, iron deficiency, Leukemia and excessive constipation. • Staggeringly, health care costs for children up to age 4 is estimated to be 12 times more expensive than for those without Down Syndrome. • Nearly 40% of families with a child with Down Syndrome have at least one parent who leaves full-time work to become a full-time caregiver. • Nearly 40% of all families with a Down Syndrome child report having serious financial challenges caused by their child’s condition. Some of these statistics are mind-blowing. But ask the average person and they might not know any of them. We bring you this information as a reminder and to offer greater awareness to Down Syndrome. But we do so, also, with the hope that in time, things will improve. We only need to look to our Nicolle to see just how vital that notion is. Last, but certainly not least, we take this opportunity to honor and give thanks to Pathways to Independence, of Kearny, for its tireless work for and with many who have Down Syndrome. That work does not go unnoticed and is priceless.
Rose: Bravo to The Observer for calling out Murphy To the Editor: Congratulations on the Observer’s excellent editorial as to why you will not endorse Gov. Murphy’s bid to be reelected. I couldn’t agree more — if it wasn’t for the tireless efforts of Mayor Alberto G. Santos, the Keegan Landfill would still be open, and the people of Kearny were wise to reelect him. There are numerous reasons why Philip D. Murphy should not be given a second term. He campaigned on lowering our property taxes but did nothing to make that happen. However, one of his first acts as governor was to provide funds for the legal defense for non-citizens. When Katie Brennan, who worked on his campaign accused another member of the campaign of rape, emailed him about a sensitive matter, he replied “We know you, and
LETTER TO THE EDITOR I’m on it.” We might ask just what was the “it” he was on? Worse yet is that other women in his administration were not allowed to divulge how they were sexually harassed. Then there was Ice Gate, where he admitted he forgot to treat the roads, which led to over 1,000 reported accidents, injuries and property damage. It should boggle one’s mind he gets high marks for handling COVID-19, when at one point, New Jersey had the highest death rate per 100,000 residents in the entire world. He also followed (former) Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s lead in sending infected patients into nursing homes, and as
80-year-olds struggled to get vaccination appointments, he made sure that those convicted of crimes got priority over them. You would think the governor who was sold to us as a Wall Street financial genius could do better than his estimate that we were facing a $30 billion budget shortfall. Unless of course it gave him cover to borrow almost $5 billion. There are countless other reasons not to reelect him, but the most simple for me is that he couldn’t identify who hired the person who Katie Brennan accused of rape to a position that paid $170,000 a year. Having said all this, there is one reason why he will be reelected. He is a Democrat. Armand Rose North Arlington
CORRECTION ■ A story in last week’s edition of The Observer inaccurately spelled the last name of former Harrison Councilman Anselmo Millan. We apologize for the error.
In Memoriam Mary A. Tortoreti 1942-2016
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