Approximately six weeks ago, my terminally ill, 59 year old brother was doing the one thing he has enjoyed most of his life…. Watching sports on television. My brother has end stage prostate and bone cancer. Four years ago after being diagnosed, he refused to give up and die and he chose an aggressive chemotherapy and is currently in remission. He is bed bound and resides in a long term care facility. When it became apparent that he would be unable to go back to his home due to his diagnosis and physical condition, myself (his sister) and his 2 boys, made the choice to try to get him into Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries long-term care facility. I chose Diakon because I had worked there as a nurse for nine years prior to having knee replacements and having to take a less strenuous job. And because it was a beautiful, place, with staff who truly cared about the residents quality of life. About eight months into my brother’s stay there,  the staff was told with very little warning, that a company/corporation had bought out Diakon and it was no longer a nonprofit organization, it was now a for-profit organization. From the moment my brother had his own apartment back in the day,he always had Comcast cable and he always had every single sports package available through Comcast . Because if there was one thing my brother loves to do, he loves to watch sports. He watches anything from racing, to baseball, to basketball, to golf, to boxing, and the Olympics are one of his favorites. But out of all the sports that my brother loved to watch… football was his favorite. He was very much looking forward to the upcoming season. Imagine my brother’s surprise when one day he was watching his TV, which was his own personal TV ,using his own personal Comcast box with every sports package available, which he paid out of his own pocket for and did I mention my brother is private pay which means his entire life savings is going into the 12,000 + a month bill he pays to live there…… well his TV screen went black and without any notification or warning he was told the new corporation was not going to use Comcast, they were going to switch to Dish Satellite services. That was six weeks ago. Every single day/ week to follow, staff, families and the residents  are being told different stories as to why there are only two to four channels to watch, which constantly  freeze for hours at a time. I personally have been in contact with the administrator and I’m getting nowhere. I contacted the Ombudsman and she has been working with residents to find a solution to this problem. If you believe, like I do , that taking away a long-term care resident’s television goes against a resident’s right to live comfortably, and that it is affecting their quality of life, and if you believe that six weeks is too long to still only have two dish channels …..I am asking you to sign this petition. There are many residents who are bedbound and have very little family that visit, they have no one to advocate for them except the loving staff that care for them. They are sitting in their rooms or laying in their beds staring at a black TV for six weeks now. I recently found out that they also don’t live stream church services on Sundays to the residents in their rooms. These residents have worked their whole lives and had their own homes, these are human beings who are and were an intricate part of society and through life‘s challenges and aging they are now at their final place of residency. Don’t these people have a right to at least have the joy and common respect to be able to watch television channels of their own choosing? So if you know my brother or you have a family member or a loved one in a long-term care facility, or if you simply think this is a horrible situation….I’m begging you to sign this petition so that we can investigate, uncover and restore cable television service to the residents of Oak Hill Village in Middletown. Thank you for your time and consideration!