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Vi Quirion	Jaime D'Errico
	Apr 21, 2004 11:02 PDT

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Senior activist remembered as 'pioneer'

By Bonnie Washuk
Staff Writer, Lewiston Sun Journal

Viola "Vi" Quirion, 77, who died Sunday after battling cancer, was
remembered Tuesday as a senior activist who made her mark in the fight
for affordable prescriptions in Maine.

In 1999, Quirion was on "60 Minutes" while on a bus trip to Canada to
buy prescriptions with the Maine Council of Senior Citizens. As a
council member, she helped organize the bus trips.

In that same year, she was recognized by U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine,
for her work for affordable prescription drugs. "She never was on
welfare, she never collected an unemployment check. She spends nearly a
quarter of her $900 monthly income from Social Security on prescription
drugs," Allen said at a briefing on drug-coverage bills before Congress.

In 2000, she was featured in a "Time" magazine article about seniors who
couldn't afford their medicine.

In the first half of 2000, Quirion kept vigil at the State House to
remind Maine lawmakers - who were also being pressured by pharmaceutical
lobbyists - to vote for a bill to help lower drug costs.

And last year when the Bush administration proposed its Medicare bill,
Quirion went to Washington to protest.

"I got a call from our press office. Either Newsweek or USA Today wanted
to know: 'How would this bill affect Viola Quirion of Maine?'" Chellie
Pingree, president and CEO of Common Cause, said Tuesday.

"She didn't want to be in the spotlight, but she wouldn't give up,"
Pingree said. Pingree is a former state senator who sponsored "Maine
Rx," a bill to lower drug costs for those without prescription
insurance, especially seniors on Medicare. Many helped make Maine Rx
happen, and one of those was Quirion, Pingree said.

As the bill was debated, Quirion set up phone banks in her home. "She'd
be in the State House halls every day," Pingree recalled. "You'd see her
with her two canes wearing her purple jacket" cornering legislators.
Between her and the late John Marvin, then president of the Maine senior
council, "you couldn't say no," Pingree said.

U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, who was a state senator working for
Maine Rx in 2000, recalled Tuesday that Quirion's "commitment to social
justice and lowering the cost of prescription drugs was unparalleled."

Calling her a "pioneer," Rep. Allen agreed. "By helping to organize the
bus trips to Canada that '60 Minutes' and other news media covered, Vi
was instrumental in bringing to national attention the pharmaceutical
industry's price gouging of American seniors," Allen said. Along with
the Marvin and Pingree, "Vi was a driving force behind enactment of the
landmark Maine Rx," he said.

Before becoming an activist, Quirion worked at the Waterville Hathaway
shirt plant for 44 years before it closed in 2002, and was a member of
the Maine AFL-CIO. Gov. John Baldacci recalled that Quirion was involved
in efforts to keep Hathaway open and its workers employed. Baldacci
praised her activism, saying she "was an individual who set a standard,
a kind of a role model for us to follow."

Quirion was born in Winslow. She was a resident at Mount St. Joseph
Nursing Home when she died. A memorial Mass is scheduled for 11 a.m. May
1 at St. John the Baptist Church in Winslow.

Jaime D'Errico
Programs & Policy Associate
Consumers for Affordable Health Care Foundation

www.mainecahc.org
P.O. Box 2490

Augusta, ME 04338-2490

Ph: 207.622.7083 Fx: 207.622.7077
"Advocating the right to health care for every man, woman and child."

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<h2>Senior activist
remembered as ‘pioneer’</h2>

By Bonnie Washuk 
Staff Writer, Lewiston Sun Journal

Viola “Vi” Quirion, 77, who died Sunday
after battling cancer, was remembered Tuesday as a senior activist who made her
mark in the fight for affordable prescriptions in Maine.

In 1999, Quirion was on “60 Minutes” while
on a bus trip to Canada to buy prescriptions with the Maine
Council of Senior Citizens. As a council member, she helped organize the bus
trips.

In that same year, she was recognized by U.S. Rep. Tom
Allen, D-Maine, for her work for affordable prescription drugs. “She
never was on welfare, she never collected an unemployment check. She spends
nearly a quarter of her $900 monthly income from Social Security on prescription
drugs,” Allen said at a briefing on drug-coverage bills before Congress.

In 2000, she was featured in a “Time”
magazine article about seniors who couldn’t afford their medicine.

In the first half of 2000, Quirion kept vigil at the
State House to remind Maine lawmakers — who were also being
pressured by pharmaceutical lobbyists – to vote for a bill to help lower
drug costs.

And last year when the Bush administration proposed
its Medicare bill, Quirion went to Washington to protest.

“I got a call from our press office. Either
Newsweek or USA Today wanted to know: ‘How would this bill affect Viola
Quirion of Maine?’” Chellie Pingree, president and CEO of Common
Cause, said Tuesday.

“She didn’t want to be in the spotlight,
but she wouldn’t give up,” Pingree said. Pingree is a former state
senator who sponsored “Maine Rx,” a bill to lower drug costs for
those without prescription insurance, especially seniors on Medicare. Many
helped make Maine Rx happen, and one of those was Quirion, Pingree said.

As the bill was debated, Quirion set up phone banks in
her home. “She’d be in the State House halls every day,”
Pingree recalled. “You’d see her with her two canes wearing her
purple jacket” cornering legislators. Between her and the late John
Marvin, then president of the Maine senior council, “you
couldn’t say no,” Pingree said.

U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, who was a state
senator working for Maine Rx in 2000, recalled Tuesday that Quirion’s
“commitment to social justice and lowering the cost of prescription drugs
was unparalleled.”

Calling her a “pioneer,” Rep. Allen
agreed. “By helping to organize the bus trips to Canada
that ‘60 Minutes’ and other news media covered, Vi was instrumental
in bringing to national attention the pharmaceutical industry’s price gouging
of American seniors,” Allen said. Along with the Marvin and Pingree,
“Vi was a driving force behind enactment of the landmark Maine Rx,”
he said.

Before becoming an activist, Quirion worked at the
Waterville Hathaway shirt plant for 44 years before it closed in 2002, and was
a member of the Maine AFL-CIO. Gov. John Baldacci recalled that Quirion was
involved in efforts to keep Hathaway open and its workers employed. Baldacci
praised her activism, saying she “was an individual who set a standard, a
kind of a role model for us to follow.”

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

Quirion was born in
Winslow. She was a resident at Mount St. Joseph Nursing Home when she died. A
memorial Mass is scheduled for 11 a.m. May 1 at St. John the Baptist
Church in Winslow.

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Jaime D’Errico 
Programs & Policy Associate 
Consumers for Affordable Health Care Foundation

<a href="http://www.mainecahc.org">www.mainecahc.org</a>
 
P.O. Box 2490

Augusta, ME 04338-2490

Ph: 207.622.7083
Fx: 207.622.7077 
"Advocating the right to health care
for every man, woman and child."

 
 

 

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