Just Sayin’: Difficult to deal with Able-Ride on phone

My father lives in Oceanside and suffers from a traumatic brain injury, so he qualifies for the Nassau Inter-County Express Able-Ride service that provides door-to-door transportation for adults with disabilities. However, it has become nearly impossible for him to rely on this service.

Staff who run this transportation pride themselves on understanding the special care needed for adults with disabilities, yet the Able-Ride phone service misses the mark. When my father attempts to make an appointment with Able-Ride, he is sometimes disconnected or left on hold. Some workers don’t understand the severity of my father’s injury and get frustrated when he asks them to repeat themselves.

Something needs to be done so that adults with disabilities get better care.

Samantha Feldman, Oceanside

Tax e-cigarettes as a tobacco product

As the State Legislature works toward a budget, the health of all New Yorkers must be a priority.

This is a challenging budget year, but to reduce health care costs, we must focus on keeping people healthy. That includes combating smoking, which is still a primary cause of preventable death.

We also must do more to address kids using e-cigarettes and other tobacco products. Kids are enticed by these products because they come in candy flavors and often at low prices. It’s time to increase taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products, which have not been raised since 2010, and to include e-cigarettes. Including this in the state budget would help deter young people from using these products and would generate new revenue.

It’s time to tax all tobacco products equally and use this revenue to invest more in our tobacco-control program to educate about and discourage tobacco use.

Robert Stolberg, East Meadow

Editor’s note: The writer is a volunteer with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.