![Sharon Hospital ordered to keep maternity services](https://lakevillejournal.com/media-library/u-s-representative-jahana-hayes-d-5-spoke-out-against-closing-sharon-hospitals-maternity-unit-at-the-sharon-town-green-oct.jpg?id=49978633&width=1200&height=800)
U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes (D-5) spoke out against closing Sharon Hospital’s maternity unit at the Sharon Town Green Oct. 16, 2022.
Patrick L. Sullivan
U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes (D-5) spoke out against closing Sharon Hospital’s maternity unit at the Sharon Town Green Oct. 16, 2022.
SHARON — The state Office of Health Strategy (OHS) denied Sharon Hospital’s request to close its labor and delivery (L&D) services Monday, Feb. 5.
This is OHS’ final decision in a five-year fight between Sharon Hospital and members of the local community, led by grassroots organization Save Sharon Hospital, over the closure of the hospital’s labor and delivery services.
OHS determined that Sharon Hospital’s application for a Certificate of Need (CON) failed to meet the statutory requirements intended to protect the “quality, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness of care” in the region served.
“The applicant has failed to meet its burden of proof” that this closure would not negatively affect local health care, the office wrote, coming up short in meeting four of the six criteria set forth in state law:
— That the closure would be consistent with the Connecticut Statewide Health Care Facilities and Services Plan.
— That it would improve quality, access, and cost effectiveness of care.
— That the hospital had good cause for reducing access to services by Medicaid recipients or indigent persons — more than 48% of Sharon Hospital’s labor and delivery patients paid through Medicaid in 2021.
— That the closure would have no negative impact on the diversity of health care providers and patient choice.
The decision concluded: “Based upon the foregoing Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Discussion, the Certificate of Need application of Sharon Hospital to terminate L&D services is hereby ordered DENIED.”
This decision in large parts echoes the OHS’ “preliminary decision,” handed down Aug. 29, 2023, which determined that L&D closure would failed to meet the agency’s criteria for a CON: “public need, access to care and cost-effectiveness.”
Sharon Hospital owner Nuvance Health appealed this proposed final decision Oct. 18. The brief and exceptions filed by the hospital argued, in effect, that the Sharon Hospital primary service area has less need for an operating maternity ward than it has for the cessation of financially unsustainable services.
On Nov. 8, 2023, Nuvance counsel Ted Tucci presented an oral argument for the closure of Sharon Hospital’s L&D services, saying that the proposed final “decision threatens Sharon Hospital’s ability to continue delivering care to Northwestern Connecticut.”
Nuvance Health originally filed a Certificate of Need to close the hospital’s maternity unit with OHS in January 2022, citing an annual loss of $3 million, staffing difficulties, and underutilization of the services as its key reasons for the proposed closure.
The $3 million loss at the hospital’s L&D unit contributes to the hospital’s overall annual losses of over $20 million.
In a brief statement to The Journal on Monday, Feb. 5, Sharon Hospital spokesperson Andrea Rynn wrote: “As a small community hospital within a non-profit health system, Sharon Hospital faces substantial financial and operational challenges to its continued operation of a Labor & Delivery unit.”
Since first announcing the intention to close the maternity ward in 2018, the hospital has faced stiff opposition from local community members led by grassroots 501(c)(3) organization Save Sharon Hospital.
Community members celebrated the state’s decision to maintain maternity services in Sharon.
Lydia Moore, president of Save Sharon Hospital, wrote her views in a statement to The Lakeville Journal: “We are so thankful and thrilled that the state has agreed with our community that the Sharon Hospital maternity unit must stay open! In its final decision, the state clearly shows its understanding that we need safe, high-quality, local access to labor and delivery, despite our rural location. Thank you to everyone in the community that helped us get here. It has been a long fight, but we did it!”
Rynn, on behalf of the hospital, said, “Sharon Hospital will continue to be transparent with our staff, community, and other stakeholders regarding our efforts to ensure the sustainability of Sharon Hospital.”
She said: “We will be considering all options available as we reassess our path forward.”
Abstract art display in Wassaic for Upstate Art Weekend, July 18-21.
WASSAIC — Art enthusiasts from all over the country flocked to the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley to participate in Upstate Art Weekend, which ran from July 18 to July 21.
The event, which “celebrates the cultural vibrancy of Upstate New York”, included 145 different locations where visitors could enjoy and interact with art.
On Saturday, July 20, The Wassaic Project hosted numerous community events. Will Hutnick, the director of artistic programming, said “We’ve been a part of it since the beginning, this is the fifth year of UPAW.”
Most of the action was based at Maxon Mills, the seven-floor grain mill located in the heart of Wassaic. On exhibit was work from 30 artists, 18 of whom were past residents of The Wassaic Project. “Artists can come and do a residency here, meaning they live and work with one another for a couple months at a time,” Hutnick stated.
The first floor held work by Petra Szilagyi, who uses dirt and linseed oil to construct images of paranormal concepts, most of which include bats. They reflected that a recent trip to a fifth sense competition in Vietnam was the influence behind the exhibit.
Across the floor was Tiffany Smith’s interactive installation which incorporated plants and wicker chairs, all of which were objects associated with her Carribean upbringing. “The room being filled with plants is symbolic of hurricane prep which often included bringing the plants from outside into the house,” Smith said.
As visitors made their way up the narrow wooden stairs, music could be heard from behind the walls. The echoing music was Daniel Shieh’s installation, entitled Mother’s Anthem, which played a recording of the American Anthem in 30 languages. The languages ranged from Spanish and Italian to Navajo and Bengali.
Each floor was filled with artwork of all mediums, including painting, fibers, collage and photography. Rachel Bussières, who switched her concentration after watching the 2017 solar eclipse, uses varying light sources to produce lumen prints. During the wildfires, she recounted that she “made a new exposure each day to capture the changing air quality”.
Luciana Abait also incorporates the natural world into her pieces, instead using maps. An environmental activist originally from Argentina, Abait’s work highlights “environmental fragility, specifically the impacts it has on immigrants.” Her installation that is currently on display at Maxon Mills, takes the form of a mountain range built solely from maps of the US and Argentina.
Throughout the day, visitors could “Arm Wrestle 4 A Popsicle”. Winners had the choice of 3 playfully flavored trout-inspired popsicles - Nightcrawler, Power Bait, and Salmon Roe. Artist Katie Peck, who spent the day in costume as a rainbow trout, encouraged guests to step up and try their hand at an arm wrestle.
Shibori Indigo dyeing, group meditation, and dance workshops were open for community members of all ages as well.
While the daytime activities fostered appreciation of fixed art, a dance party until midnight at The Lantern Inn offered guests a space for performative art.
When describing the environment of The Wassaic Project, Smith emphasized, “It’s all community, it’s all love.”
A serene scene from the Amenia garden tour.
AMENIA — The much-anticipated annual Amenia Garden Tour drew a steady stream of visitors to admire five local gardens on Saturday, July 13, each one demonstrative of what a green thumb can do. An added advantage was the sense of community as neighbors and friends met along the way.
Each garden selected for the tour presented a different garden vibe. Phantom’s Rock, the garden of Wendy Goidel, offered a rocky terrain and a deep rock pool offering peaceful seclusion and anytime swims. Goidel graciously welcomed visitors and answered questions about the breathtaking setting.
Amenia Finance Director Charlie Miller welcomed visitors to his Bog Hollow Road garden in Wassaic, a manicured expansive yard with well-placed garden beds framing a far-reaching view. He said he plans carefully each winter for the next spring’s improvement.
The organic, environmentally responsible Maitri Farm was next, a lesson in coordinating agriculture with natural balance. The farm stand and a walk among the greenhouses brought visitors together.
Near the center of Amenia was the garden of Polly Pitts-Garvin, offering a chance to visit a robust vegetable garden with raised beds to be envious of and a remarkable absence of any insects or usual vegetable garden problems.
At Chez Cheese, the vast garden acreage surrounding the 1850s historic home of Joan Feeney and Bruce Phillips in Millerton, visitors could begin at refreshment stations where walking tour maps of the 15-acre property were available. There were streams and ponds with docks, and a dozen bridges arranged around the landscape. In the 19th-century, the property had been the home of the Wilson Cheese Factory, inspiring the name of the estate.
The Amenia Garden Tour was supported this year by Paley’s Garden Center in Sharon.
Gary Dodson working a tricky pool on the Schoharie Creek, hoping to lure something other than a rock bass from the depths.
PRATTSVILLE, N.Y. — The Schoharie Creek, a fabled Catskill trout stream, has suffered mightily in recent decades.
Between pressure from human development around the busy and popular Hunter Mountain ski area, serious flooding, and the fact that the stream’s east-west configuration means it gets the maximum amount of sunlight, the cool water required for trout habitat is simply not as available as in the old days.
This is not a new phenomenon. It does seem to be getting worse, though.
Gary Dodson and I convened where the creek makes its final run into the Schoharie reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system, on a semi-broiling Thursday afternoon, July 11.
The goal was simple. Catch smallmouth bass, which abound in the lower section of the river.
This was hot stuff — as in an 80-degree water temperature.
The air temperature was actually slightly less at 77.
After negotiating the intensely slippery rocks, festooned with treacherous algae, the first major pool presented several difficulties, with a back eddy competing with a main flow and several large trees draped about the whole thing.
I hit on the simplest strategy, which was to flip a weighted attractor fly called a Tequilley into the start of the eddy so it would proceed slowly but steadily into the maelstrom, sinking all the while.
This worked. A proper adult smallmouth, with bronze coloring and vertical stripes, took the thing.
The point-and-shoot camera finally died, however, and I was not going to try to fumble my phone out for a nice but routine fish photo.
Why not?
Because I guarantee the fish would have made a sudden, last-moment bolt for freedom, causing me to drop the device into the drink.
Gary moved downstream while I continued trying to annoy the residents of the pool, succeeding a couple of times with different colored Wooly Buggers.
Then we all got bored and I moved off, where Gary was catching rock bass and cussing them out for not being something else.
I have to admit, they are not the most compelling critters. Something about the red eyes.
This latest trip was dominated by extremely tedious and distasteful Harry Homeowner activities, but on both Wednesday and Thursday mornings I prowled Woodland Valley Creek. By “morning” I mean “dawn,” because that was when the water temps were down to a barely acceptable 64.
I made the acquaintance of several stocked browns and of a handful of their wild cousins. The wild fish are smaller and nimbler.
The successful ploy was an Adams wet fly, size 16, drifted behind something big, like a Parachute Adams or Stimulator.