Letters to the Editor - The Lakeville Journal - 10-19-23

Stan’s the Man

Election time is approaching this November and Stan Morby is a candidate for a position on the Salisbury Board of Education. The Salisbury Republican Town Committee endorses Stan for this important commitment to our town and its educational system.

Stan is local and active in the community and is employed by the Town of North Canaan in the Highway Department. He has a young daughter who attends the Salisbury Central School. Stan is involved and invested in his child’s education where he serves on the PTO, the after school and summer programs as does his wife Larissa, who is a reading specialist at the school.

Motivated, hardworking and dedicated to what is best for our communities’ children, I believe Stan’s the man for this job and will make an excellent addition to this Board. On the website, Salisbury Central School states; “The Board of Education believes that the ideal learning environment is one in which students, parents, teachers, administrative staff and the Board of Education work together towards the continued improvement of the educational process.” Stan strongly supports this endeavor, in particular the importance that parents play in their children’s learning environment.

I support electing Stan to the Salisbury Board of Education, as he has all the attributes and qualifications desired to assist in overseeing the overall health of the Region One school district in a responsible, caring, and effective manner.

Liz Sayre

Salisbury

Thanks for Travel Club support

We are writing to express our deepest gratitude to the Northwest Corner community for their support toward our recent school fundraiser. Thanks to the generous contributions of local businesses and individuals, over $40,000 was raised at the Wine Dinner and Auction to support the Housatonic Valley Regional International Travel Club. These funds will allow over 40 students to travel to Spain, Portugal and Iceland where we will explore and learn about these amazing countries. Your generosity and support of our program is widely appreciated by HVRHS!

We would like to thank Denise Cohn and Northwest Corner: Students Without Borders for spending many months organizing the fundraiser. With their hard work, the dinner was a wonderful success! Much gratitude also goes to the White Hart Inn for hosting the dinner, planning a delicious menu, and supporting our school.

The dinner would not have been possible without the guidance and dedication of our teachers, Mr. John Lizzi, Mrs. Danielle Melino, Ms. Taylor Monico and Mrs. Letitia Garcia-Tripp. We thank them for making the time to work on this fundraiser alongside their classes at school.

Lastly, we are extremely grateful to our parents, families and Region One community members who worked with us to support our dreams of international travel. We can’t wait to immerse ourselves in these cultures!

HVRHS International Travel Club

Christian Allyn for First Selectman

Fifteen years ago my husband and I bought a home in Canaan. One of the first places we went to explore was the Beckley Furnace and were delighted to find a young man there on a Saturday volunteering to talk to visitors about the history of the furnace, he was so enthusiastic about the history and uniqueness of Canaan we learned a lot about our new home town.

I had served on the Housatonic River Commission (HRC) representing Cornwall for 10 years, at that time, so my friend and fellow HRC Commissioner, Fred Ruggles, asked if I would continue serving as his second on the HRC representing Canaan. After Fred’s death I asked Tim Abbot who we could find to replace Fred on the HRC. He recommended Christian Allyn. I talked to Christian over the phone and made a date to meet him at the next Selectman’s meeting. I was delighted to see the very same young man walk into the Town Hall that I had met at the Beckley Furnace.

Since that time I have become a close friend and big supporter of Christian. Christian participates in everything from economic development to beautification projects. He not only attends meetings but does the work, planting the trees and treating the invasive plants and trying to help everyone.

Christian wrote The Plan of Conservation and Development for North Canaan as a senior at UConn in 2017. This is a state mandated plan that other towns paid tens of thousands of dollars to have someone write. It was approved by the Board of Selectman in 2018.

Christian worked with the Foundation for Community Health and State Representative Maria Horn to get funding for the new Community Health and Wellness Center, currently being built on RT. 44.

Christian worked with the Fire District to make amendments to the Main Street Railroad Crossing Project, ensuring that there was a sidewalk between Roma Pizza and the Canaan Depot and ensure that there was a usable sidewalk on the Northeast corner of Railroad and Main.

He is kind and generous and has hope for the future of Canaan.

I could go on listing his fine qualities but the paper won’t print this if it is too long. Vote Christian Allyn for First Selectman.

Lynn Fowler

North Canaan

My vote for Kitty Kiefer

I am writing in support of Katherine “Kitty” Kiefer for Selectman.

Raised in the shadow of Mt. Riga, Kitty has all the qualifications to help move our town government forward. A lawyer, former Town Selectman, Grandmother, Kitty understands our town’s history and where it needs to go for the future. Also, she has helped develop the current POCD (Plan of Conservation & Development — about to be published). Involved, open and approachable, she represents a fresh and much needed approach; She will not reside in Town Hall but will be “out there” fashioning a forward path. Vote for Kitty, support Kitty.  She is the candidate for this time…she understands where the Town needs to go!

Ward Belcher

Salisbury

Appreciating support for housing exhibit

Many thanks to Moore and More Printers and The Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation (NWCTCF) for their help and generous support of the Salisbury Association’s excellent affordable housing exhibit in the Academy Building. The foundation underwrote the printing of an accompanying booklet (free while they last) of articles illustrative of the community and personal impact of our current housing crisis.  Moore and More’s fee and service were exceptional. They are well known for their support of local nonprofits, as is the Community Foundation.  We are indeed fortunate to have such community minded organizations in our area.

Mary Close Oppenheimer, Salisbury Affordable Housing 

Commission Board Member

OHS holding Sharon Hospital accountable

On Oct. 10, 2023, the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy (OHS) approved Nuvance’s Certificate of Need (CON) application to terminate the intensive care unit (ICU) and open a lower-level progressive care unit (PCU} at Sharon Hospital. On the positive side, OHS’s Agreed Settlement includes nineteen conditions of which the following five require Nuvance to maintain the current level of care, hopefully protecting area residents from unnecessary transfer to other hospitals:

“Nuvance will continue to provide, consistent with its best practices, and will not reduce, the acuity of critical care services.

“Nuvance shall maintain staff at the level currently existing in the designated ICU, in the resulting PCU and shall report such staffing tevels to OHS every six months for a period of three years.

“Nuvance shall maintain, update and/or improve the current level of critical care equipment as necessary to maintain the population and acuity of critical care services currently offered.

“Nuvance shall provide OHS with data regarding the acuity of care levels of patients every six months for three years.

“And, Nuvance shall annually report to OHS the number of patients transferred from the PCU to another hospital, by month, including the reason for transfer, for a three year period.”

These requirements reflect promises Nuvance made in their pre-filed testimony of Feb. 6, 2023. Dr. John Murphy, CEO of Nuvance, stated: “The PCU (progressive care unit) will have the capacity to treat all patients who currently receive care in the Sharon Hospital ICU.”  Dr. Mark Marshall, vice president of medical affairs, elaborated: “The Hospital’s PCU will have the capacity to care for critically ill patients who require ventilators to breathe or who need hemodynamic monitoring (procedures to check blood circulation and monitor heart function) or vasoactive medication (drugs that can either increase or decrease blood pressure as needed or increase or decrease heart rate as needed.)”

OHS plans to hold them to their word in order to protect vital services for critically ill patients in our service area. This echoes the intent reflected in their proposed final decision of Aug. 28, 2023, to preserve the maternity unit at Sharon Hospital in denying Nuvance’s request to close it. In addition, Gov. Lamont, U.S. Sen. Blumenthal, U.S. Rep. Hayes, CT Attorney General Tong, CT Comptroller Scanlon, and others have heard us and “have our back.” We are deeply grateful for their commitment to our community.

Finally, we have piqued an interest in rural health regionally. Connecticut Comptroller Sean Scanlon has established a Committee on Rural Health Care to improve its delivery in rural areas. Hopefully, the Committee will make recommendations to improve access to care, transportation, funding, equity, and collaboration. Now, all stakeholders in our communities must continue to work together to strengthen our hospital.

David R. Kurish, MD

Sharon