Rep. Kristen Cloutier deserves thanks for sponsoring the Tax Credit for Family Caregivers bill (LD 1919). Other elected officials should support it as well.

A year ago my family made the difficult decision to place my grandmother in a nursing home. She had repeatedly told us that she wanted to spend the rest of her days in her own home.

In the last few years, her dementia quickly progressed. First, my mother and aunt would stop over once or twice a day to make sure that my grandmother was taking her medication. That soon became trips to make sure that she was eating, bathing, or even just checking to make sure she was safe. On more than one occasion that included spending the night. They eventually hired someone to help but, with limited money, there were only a few hours covered each week.

This past March my grandmother passed away. Thanks to her loving daughters, she only spent two months away from her home. But while they were busy tending to her, they had forgotten about themselves. The stress of caring for their mother had created health issues for them.

Even after everything my mother and aunt went through, I know that they would do it again. I only wish that this bill had been introduced sooner so that they could have benefited from it.

I take solace knowing that, with the passage of this bill, more families will be able to better care for their loved ones at home.

Tobie Akerley Gordon, South Paris