To Tallahassee and Back: “Nowhere Else to Turn”

Over nearly 18 years of working in the Legislature, I can’t recall how many times my colleagues and I have heard variations of I/ we have “nowhere else to turn.”  This statement has opened many a conversation with a constituent(s) who have called or stopped in asking for assistance. We hear this from distraught individuals who then proceed to give an account of an often heartbreaking situation they feel helpless to handle alone.

One of the most touching moments came when an elderly couple stopped in to visit with Sen. Mke Fasano. They were experiencing financial difficulties with their bank and needed assistance to keep their home. After hearing their story, the senator asked if they had any children. The gentleman acknowledged that they did indeed have grown children. He also stated that the children were unaware of the difficulties their parents were facing.

He made it clear that they were not going to reach out to them for help. Whether it was pride that kept them from sharing their problems or the possibility that they were estranged from the now-adult children we would never know. What we did know was that these two people felt alone in this world, and the senator was the one person they believed could help them. And help them he did. 

Successfully helping an elderly couple keep their home is satisfying, indeed.  Seeing a person’s life literally saved through the direct intervention of a legislator is something altogether more fulfilling. Rather early in the senator’s tenure in the Florida House of Representatives we had the pleasure of meeting a couple who were facing the challenge of a lifetime. The husband, an engineer, had brain cancer. His health insurance company was refusing to authorize the lifesaving surgery he needed to remove the cancer. As unbelievable as it sounds, the insurer apparently was hoping their claim denial would outlive the gentleman facing a very uncertain future.

The engineering firm that he and his wife had operated was shuttered because they could no longer afford to keep it in operation. They were in dire financial straits; they were on the brink of a very dark future. Direct intervention by the representative forced the insurance company’s hand and ultimately led to the surgery’s approval. The man who faced an almost certain death survived a surgery that resulted in the removal of nearly half his brain. The engineer who made a living by using complicated mathematic equations, had to relearn the basics of numbers. He eventually did. We cheered when he was able to return to the world of engineering. I ran into him a few years ago and he looked as healthy as anyone could ever look. It was a joy to see him living his life as though none of what he went through had ever happened.

These are but two of now seemingly countless examples of people whose lives have been impacted, and our own as well, because they had “nowhere else to turn.”

I welcome your questions about the legislative process, state government or any related matters.  Please feel free to leave your questions in the comment section and I will answer them in an upcoming post.  If there is a specific topic you would like me to write about please let me know as well. Thank you for your readership.