When Marilyn Hall first started losing her sight to Retinitis Pigmentosa, she could cope. She was in her own home and had children to help. Now, however, her children are grown, she is divorced and living in an apartment, and her disease has progressed to the point where she cannot read her mail, pay bills or do laundry without help.

DO THE RIGHT THING—Urban League of Pittsburgh President and CEO Esther Bush asks legislators not to cut human service funding to nonprofits when the need for services is increasing.

Thanks to Catholic Charities’ Neighborhood Based Services program, she gets that help. But she may not for much longer. Mid-year state budget cuts have already forced service reductions and if the next budget is not delivered on time or reduces allocations to nonprofits further, Hall could be dropped from the program entirely.

On May 1. Pennsylvania State Rep. Jake Wheatley Jr. challenged his opponents, former City Councilwoman Tonya Payne and school board member Mark Brentley Sr., to participate in several public debates.

“The time has come for the voters of the 19th Legislative District to hear directly from the candidates for the Democratic nomination for their state representative in a series of debates throughout our community,” said Wheatley in a press release.

The challenge was to hold the public debates now through May 18, the day of election primaries at various locations within the 19th Legislative District they are running for.

As of this time, neither challenger has responded to Wheatley’s request.

MAY 5—Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato will host a Senior Celebration in the Park from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the South Park Fairgrounds, South Park. This celebration is part of Older Americans Month. The theme is “Live Strong! Live Long!” There will be free screenings, live entertainment, giveaways and more. Registration is requested. For more information, call 412-350-3428.

Tom Mattei, associate dean of Duquesne University’s Mylan School of Pharmacy, started his career as a pharmacist working in the Hill District. So telling an audience of Hill residents and stakeholders at the former AUBA Church on Centre Avenue that the university would open a community pharmacy in that spot this fall, he said was a thrill.

FIRST OF ITS KIND— Carl Redwood Jr., Hill Consensus Group chair; Esther Bush, Urban League president and CEO, and staff pharmacists; Charles Dougherty, Duquesne University president; J. Douglas Brinker, dean of Pharmacy, center, and Tom Mattei, associate dean of Pharmacy, far left, announce the opening of the nation’s first community pharmacy run by a university pharmacy school.

“I always wanted to thank my former patients from the Hill for all they did for me when I was starting,” Mattei said during the April 22 announcement. “I can’t think of a better way than this.”

The Hill District has been without a drugstore since Eckerd closed 10 years ago. Since then, residents have had to go Downtown, to Oakland, to the South Side or the North Side for pharmacy services.