JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia is bracing for a third wave of COVID-19 bacterial infections as the hugely transmissible omicron variant drives a surge in new situations, overall health authorities and specialists stated Saturday.
The country documented 11,588 new confirmed infections and 17 fatalities on Saturday in the previous 24-hour interval. It was the highest everyday caseload due to the fact August when Indonesia was battling to contain a delta-pushed wave.
Indonesia experienced recovered from past year’s spike that was amongst the worst in the region, and every day bacterial infections experienced fallen to about 200 by December. But instances are increasing once again just weeks right after the place documented its first local omicron transmission.
“The upsurge will be very quickly. … We will see a sharp increase in the around future,” Wellness Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin informed a information convention Friday, incorporating that the present wave would possible peak at the stop of February or in early March.
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He explained the governing administration committed a lot more beds for COVID-19 patients, ramped up tracing and tests and intensified vaccinations in all locations. But some wellbeing specialists doubt the measures will be enough supplied the lax enforcement.
Mattress occupancy costs in the money, Jakarta, the epicenter of the omicron outbreak, rose from 5{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} in early January to 45{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} on Saturday, explained Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria. He stated “omicron is shifting also swiftly” in the city, where by extra than 80{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of the 10 million inhabitants have been vaccinated.
Pandu Riono, an Indonesian epidemiologist and academic adviser to the federal government, explained Indonesians are still traumatized from the delta variant when several died in isolation at residence or whilst ready to receive crisis care as hospitals were being swamped.
During previous year’s surge, hospitals erected plastic tents as makeshift intense treatment units, and people waited for times ahead of remaining admitted. Oxygen tanks had been rolled out on the sidewalk for those people blessed sufficient to acquire them, whilst others were being informed they would need to have to come across their have supply.
Riono claimed a third wave would be unlikely to press Indonesia’s well being treatment program to the brink for the reason that omicron commonly triggers considerably less intense indications than delta.
President Joko Widodo on Friday urged asymptomatic people to self-isolate at home for five times and to use telemedicine services by means of which they can access medical doctors, medications and vitamins for free of charge, or to take a look at a local community well being centre.
“This is important so that our wellbeing treatment facilities can emphasis on managing individuals with additional serious signs or symptoms or people of other diseases that will need intensive care,” Widodo reported.
Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist at Griffith University in Australia, reported a third wave is unavoidable as lengthy as a huge part of Indonesia’s inhabitants remains unprotected in opposition to COVID-19. As of Friday, only 61{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of Indonesia’s 208 million people today eligible for photographs have been fully vaccinated.
Overall, Indonesia has described much more than 4.3 million infections and 144,268 fatalities from COVID-19.
Involved Press author Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Linked Press. All legal rights reserved. This content may perhaps not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
This coverage is produced achievable as a result of a partnership with WABE and Grist, a nonprofit, unbiased media firm devoted to telling stories of climate methods and a just potential.
Emory Health-related School’s administration is making weather improve a official element of its curriculum.
It’s the end result of many many years of college student-led initiatives to ensure Emory’s future medical professionals study about the escalating well being effects of a warming world, for the reason that local weather modify does not just bring hotter temperature and extra severe storms. It also tends to make lots of health troubles even worse – difficulties that medical professionals have to have to figure out and deal with.
Individuals concerns were best of mind for 2nd-calendar year clinical college student Irene Liu when she was implementing to clinical universities. She had been fascinated in weather advocacy for a very long time, and required to find a faculty exactly where she could focus on the surroundings – but that didn’t function out.
“I did not locate a medical school with that certain keep track of, so I seriously did not be expecting to learn about it at all,” Liu mentioned.
But when she got to Emory, she located out learners had been currently doing work on it.
Fourth-yr student Ben Rabin was concerned with local climate adjust when he started out the clinical college numerous several years just before Liu, since local weather change affects health and fitness in so lots of means. Air pollution drives strokes and asthma, preterm births, reduced birth-pounds infants and mosquito-borne disorders, not to point out the mental health impression of worsening hurricanes and wildfires.
But lectures almost never described the additional challenges and difficulties from climate improve.
By the time Liu received to Emory, Rabin and classmate Emaline Laney had worked with school to weave local climate modify into the typical items that all professional medical college students learn, not just all those who pick a specific course or track.
“So for illustration, we find out a ton about kidney injury, and kidney failure,” Rabin claimed. “And so we needed to speak about what are some of the challenges of extreme warmth?”
He stated it’s less difficult to get dehydrated when it’s extremely incredibly hot, and that can guide to kidney failure.
Philipsborn
Dr. Becca Philipsborn, the college advisor for the climate curriculum, said incorporating local weather improve into the current curriculum tends to make feeling mainly because it’s “core know-how,” not a separate concern.
She credited students for major the exertion.
“I would not have assumed as a nevertheless junior college member to go to the med university and say, ‘This is what we have to have to be teaching the learners,’ ” Philipsborn claimed. “But the college students had that eyesight, they arrived forward with the demand from customers and reported, ‘This is the finest overall health obstacle of our time, we require to be learning about it.’ ”
Extra and far more healthcare educational institutions are instructing learners about local climate improve, in accordance to Dr. Georges Benjamin, govt director of the American General public Health and fitness Affiliation.
Benjamin
He explained pupils normally drive alterations like this. They’ve pushed faculties to improved address racism and to incorporate telemedicine, and they are main the demand on local climate adjust, way too.
He mentioned it’s specifically critical to educate this early in a doctor’s occupation.
“You can get medical professionals to be a very little a lot more holistic in their solution, and realize these social determinants make a big difference,” Benjamin stated.
And he explained it’s about a lot more than just far better treating clients.
“Physicians are influential in their local community,” he stated. “And so building sure they understand that [to] hook up the dots for human overall health is important.”
That is just what Liu is hoping – that discussions in doctors’ workplaces about the health effect of local climate alter can eventually have an effect on how culture responds.
“I believe that increasing consciousness to our individuals about how air pollution and warming and wildfires are influencing your overall health and your little ones will have rippling results,” she reported. “I feel I’ll with any luck , inspire associates in the group.”
Having these conversations in med college has had that influence on Liu. She termed it eye-opening.
“It manufactured me understand that there’s absolutely nothing in our overall health method that local weather modify does not contact,” she claimed.
Emily Jones is a Grist reporter embedded in the WABE newsroom, covering atmosphere and local climate options. Earlier, she managed the Savannah bureau for Ga Public Broadcasting.
Jan. 27, 2022 — SAN FRANCISCO and SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — KFF is expanding its KHN (Kaiser Wellbeing Information) operation by creating a rural overall health reporting desk supported by a $3.9 million grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Belief.
KFF will increase KHN’s editorial team and build a workforce of journalists and social media professionals in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Whole-time reporters and freelancers from these states and KHN’s nationwide newsroom will produce and distribute explanatory, business, and investigative stories on well being treatment challenges applicable to rural communities.
The group of journalists will deliver unbiased, precise, and trustworthy reporting on a huge variety of elaborate issues, which includes the ongoing pandemic, access to well being protection and treatment, the stress of health and fitness treatment prices on shoppers, housing and schooling, the opioid epidemic, mental wellness, medical center closures, the lack of crucial lifesaving tools, and burgeoning improvements in telehealth and medication. KHN will lover with neighborhood media in the course of the region to generate deeply sourced tales that shed light on underreported concerns.
As with all its journalism, KHN stories produced by the Rural Well being Desk will be made freely accessible for publication by media outlets across the country, released on khn.org and dispersed by way of KHN’s social media platforms.
“Rural America’s small populace density gives sizeable challenges in the supply of wellbeing care providers, nonetheless at the identical time devoted providers are providing major-notch treatment via progressive methods, like state-of-the-art telemedicine,” explained Walter Panzirer, a Trustee for the Helmsley Charitable Have faith in. “KHN’s new rural health and fitness reporting desk will dive deep into these issues and spotlight initiatives that guarantee a person’s ZIP code doesn’t establish their health care results.”
“Rural wellbeing demands much more focus, and with this grant we can deliver that,” claimed KFF President and CEO Drew Altman, who is also KHN’s founding publisher. “We are thrilled to develop our work in this crucial spot, and we are grateful for the help of the Helmsley Charitable Belief.”
The institution of the Rural Health Desk follows information past summertime that KHN is opening an Atlanta-dependent Southern Bureau to deliver extra journalism centered on wellbeing, race, fairness, and poverty in the region. KHN also operates regional bureaus in California, the Midwest, and the Mountain States.
Media corporations fascinated in functioning with KHN should really make contact with us at [email protected] and individuals fascinated in becoming a member of our initiatives to increase and make improvements to health journalism in rural The us and further than should really make contact with KFF at [email protected]. Employment opportunities for the Rural Health Desk will be posted quickly listed here.
About KFF and KHN
KHN (Kaiser Wellbeing Information) is a countrywide newsroom that creates in-depth journalism about well being concerns. Alongside one another with Policy Assessment and Polling, KHN is just one of the a few major operating courses at KFF (Kaiser Relatives Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit firm offering information on wellbeing troubles to the country.
About the Helmsley Charitable Have faith in
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Have faith in aspires to improve lives by supporting remarkable endeavours in the U.S. and all over the planet in health and fitness and choose spot-based initiatives. Given that beginning active grantmaking in 2008, Helmsley has fully commited a lot more than $3 billion for a large selection of charitable uses. Helmsley’s Rural Health care Application resources ground breaking jobs that use info technologies to join rural patients to crisis health care care, provide the most recent medical therapies to patients in distant spots, and give point out-of-the-art training for rural hospitals and EMS staff. To date, this application has awarded additional than $500 million to organizations and initiatives in the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, and Nevada. For a lot more information and facts, take a look at below.
Texas Reduce Medicaid Staffing — Shortly This May perhaps Induce Problems For Signups
According to a report, throughout the pandemic, Texas reduce the selection of people functioning in Medicaid expert services even as a million Texans acquired protection because of to crisis federal funding. Now, staffing issues may perhaps impact an anticipated flood of new and returning applicants.
A lot more than 1 million Texans were being added to Medicaid protection through the pandemic, lots of of them little ones, thanks to unexpected emergency federal funding that deters states from dropping recipients throughout the well being disaster. But these gains could shortly be erased, according to individual advocates, who stress that state well being officers are not prepared for the inflow of new and returning Medicaid apps that could pour in as early as this spring, when the Biden administration is scheduled to elevate the emergency declaration. (Blackman, 1/25)
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers attained an agreement Tuesday to all over again require companies to offer personnel with up to two weeks of supplemental paid out unwell leave to recuperate from COVID-19 or treatment for a relatives member with the virus. The legislation, which lawmakers would most likely quick-track to the governor in the coming months, would apply to all enterprises with 26 or more employees. A identical legislation from 2021 that furnished 80 hours of supplemental paid out unwell leave expired Sept. 30. (Luna and Gutierrez, 1/25)
California could see fewer cigarette butts and vape pods on the streets underneath a evaluate released Tuesday. Assembly Monthly bill 1690 would ban single-use cigarette filters, e-cigarettes and vape products and solutions in the state with the intention of benefiting the atmosphere and general public health. “For a lot more than 50 percent a century, tobacco filters have prompted a community and environmental well being crisis that identified renewed vigor in the latest several years as the tobacco marketplace began to provide electronic vape products,” Assemblymember Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood), who released the monthly bill, reported in a news launch Tuesday. (Martinez, 1/25)
KHN:
What The Federal ‘No Surprises Act’ Signifies In California
Betty Chow, a Los Angeles resident, experienced a cervical disc replaced in August 2020 at a surgical procedure centre that was portion of her Anthem Blue Cross PPO network. 13 months later on, she was blindsided by a invoice for nearly $2,000 from the anesthesiologist who was on her surgical team but was not contracted with her PPO, or most well-liked service provider corporation. (Wolfson, 1/26)
When the notion of banning abortion in Lubbock initial came up, the city council declined to acquire it up, arguing the proposal conflicted with point out legislation and federal courtroom precedent. Citizens passed the ordinance via a ballot initiative anyway in May well 2021, empowering non-public citizens, relatively than community officers, to carry lawsuits against any person who assists an individual getting an abortion, like by driving them to a clinic — which the ordinance refers to as “aiding or abetting. ”The ordinance was quickly challenged in court. But now, 8 months later on, Prepared Parenthood has dropped that legal problem, saying “it is crystal clear we simply cannot rely on the courts to secure our constitutional legal rights.” (Klibanoff, 1/25)
PepsiCo Inc. is facing a further potential boycott above politics, this time for a $15,000 contribution to the Texas Republican Bash. Abortion-rights advocates are sounding the alarm that the donation, dated Aug. 5 in accordance to condition ethics fee data, arrived practically a few months after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into regulation a monthly bill banning most abortions in the state. Pepsi suggests it made the donation in 2020 but that the state party didn’t cash its examine right up until the next year. (Ceron, 1/25)
Two lawmakers are proposing funding “baby boxes” in each of New Mexico’s 33 counties in an exertion to improve solutions for dad and mom who want to abandon their toddlers beneath the state’s present safe haven legislation. A invoice to fund the initiative released by Sens. David Gallegos, a Republican, and Leo Jaramillo, a Democrat, would allocate all-around $30,000 for every single of the packing containers, which would be outfitted with warmth regulation and silent alarms. (1/25)
A nationwide blood scarcity brought about by a surge in omicron scenarios has strike Idaho really hard, with some hospitals practically jogging out of the significant medical source before they are resupplied, point out well being officers stated Tuesday. A great deal of the southern 50 percent of the condition entered disaster specifications of treatment on Monday, partly due to the fact of workers shortages and partly since the inventory of blood solutions employed in transfusions, surgeries and other remedies is operating dangerously low. The designation will allow hospitals to ration treatment as needed when they don’t have sufficient resources for all clients. (Boone, 1/26)
Dealing with a surge in overdose fatalities and rural suicides, Ga lawmakers want to bolster the state’s dismal psychological wellness care system by pressuring personal insurers to strengthen protection and expanding condition funding for procedure and crisis expert services. Users of the condition Legislature are scheduled to unveil a policy package deal for mental wellbeing and compound abuse on Wednesday. Efforts to make certain non-public insurers provide the exact amount of positive aspects for depression, stress and anxiety and other psychological disorders as they do for health care ailments are expected to be a central element of the laws. (Thanawala, 1/26)
Whilst normal hospitals are fiscally stretched slim by the COVID-19 pandemic, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is opening a new $289 million, 52-bed healthcare facility fewer than 20 miles northwest of its city flagship, in the coronary heart of King of Prussia’s shopping district. The facility, which has a pediatric emergency division and 16-bed intense treatment device, is supposed to simplicity stress on CHOP’s crowded West Philadelphia hospital and catch the attention of new client people from farther west, who might not have been ready or willing to vacation into Philadelphia for treatment. Opening Wednesday, it shares a campus with one of CHOP’s busiest specialty care centers, on South Goddard Road. (Gantz, 1/25)
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard opens new Naval Branch Health Clinic
PORTSMOUTH NAVAL SHIPYARD, Maine – Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS) hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Naval Branch Health Clinic (NBHC) Portsmouth on Thursday, Jan. 6.
Surgeon General for the U.S. Navy, Rear Admiral Bruce Gillingham and Chief of Staff, Small Market and Stand-Alone Military Treatment Facility Organization for the Defense Health Agency (DHA), Mr. Eric Stringer served as guest speakers for the event.
“The completion of this beautiful military treatment facility is a significant milestone in our journey together with the DHA to enhance the healthcare delivery and readiness in the communities we serve,” said Rear Adm. Gillingham. “However, as beautiful as this facility is it’s not about the brick and mortar, but most importantly the people who care for the naval force and their families. It’s their expertise, compassion and mission-dedication that will bring this facility to life and will provide patient-centered medical care to all of its beneficiaries.”
U.S. Representative Chris Pappas, along with staff representatives from both Maine and New Hampshire congressional delegations, were honored guests at the ceremony.
“I was honored to join the ribbon cutting at NBHC Portsmouth, a new clinic that will serve Portsmouth Naval Shipyard,” said Congressman Pappas. “This facility will ensure that those working on behalf of our national security and naval readiness will have access to the care and services that they need. I congratulate the shipyard on the opening of this new facility and remain committed to securing all available federal resources to support the shipyard and its workforce as it continues its long tradition of being the best in the nation.”
The new facility is a multi-story, free-standing health and dental clinic that replaces the current health clinic at PNS. Originally constructed in 1911, the current facility was one of the oldest buildings still providing patient care in Navy Medicine. The new 53,568-square-foot replacement facility will house both a medical and dental clinic, with nineteen health care services including primary care, occupational, and behavioral health. The building is equipped with enhanced IT capabilities, central heating and air conditioning, and improved patient convenience and flow of patient care.
“The new and improved building 402 exemplifies the shipyard’s motto, ‘Proud of our Past … Ready for the Future,’” said NBHC Portsmouth’s Officer-in-Charge, Captain Leah Soley. “The new facility will offer patients and their families the same level of care and comfort they have grown accustomed to in the previous, historic location with a more functional and efficient design, with services tailored to meet their needs. This project has been in the works for some time and we are excited to be opening our doors.”
NBHC Portsmouth is a branch of Naval Health Clinic New England based in Newport, Rhode Island, and is an outpatient medical treatment facility that provides primary medical and dental care and coordinates access to other levels of health care services for active duty, retirees and eligible family members entitled to care prescribed by Title 10 U.S. Code. Outpatient physical therapy, behavioral health, pharmacy, laboratory, basic x-ray, audiology and optometry services are also available within the facility.
The clinic, staffed in part by personnel from Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Unit Portsmouth, supports the PNS industrial complex through comprehensive occupational health and safety surveillance programs, industrial hygiene, medical examinations and treatment of occupationally related injuries and illnesses.
YMCA of Strafford County designated a mental health friendly workplace
DOVER — The Dover Mental Health Alliance (DMHA), a newly formed Strafford County coalition, is building mental health friendly workplaces one “Place” at a time. The YMCA of Strafford County, located in Rochester, was recently designated as a safe, judgement-free “Place” by the Dover Mental Health Alliance. This is the first DMHA Mental Health Friendly Work “Place” designation outside of Dover.
The YMCA of Strafford County offers programs that help children reach their potential, help families and individuals achieve better health outcomes and encourages everyone to get involved and help make their community a better place. For more information about the YMCA of Strafford County go to: www.graniteymca.org/locations/strafford-county.
The staff at the YMCA received Mental Health First Aid training which teaches people how to recognize and respond to someone who may be in emotional distress. The group also received ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experience) training, which dives deep into the neurological, psychological and physiological impact of trauma and how it relates to our biggest health and social problems such as substance use, housing insecurity and mental health.
Executive Director Rob Riley states: “The partnership with DMHA and the YMCA has provided some great resources and training for our staff. We have already seen so many opportunities to implement what we’ve learned and are serving our community better. Our staff have also learned better ways to focus on improving their own mental health.”
“The YMCA is a great location to become a DMHA “Place” as it already embodies the values of the Dover Mental Health Alliance. The mission and programming of the YMCA underscores the goal to achieve better health outcomes and encourages all community members to get involved in making their community a better place. It takes all of us to recognize that mental health is part of our overall health. We can all be part of the solution to normalize this conversation so people can get the help they need without feeling shame or discrimination,” added, Suzanne Weete, of the DMHA.
The DMHA “Place” designation is available to any business, organization, or institution that strives to support their employees, colleagues, and customers’ mental health. The DMHA vision is to create a culture that understands, embraces and addresses the complexities of mental health. The mission is to build a resilient community that is educated, responsive and conscious of the impact of mental illness.
The Dover Mental Health Alliance (DMHA) is part of the local, Strafford County non-profit community mental health center, Community Partners. For more information about Community Partners, go to www.communitypartnersnh.org. For more information about the Dover Mental Health Alliance and upcoming trainings, visit www.facebook.com/DoverMHA/, or email Suzanne Weete at [email protected].
York Hospital announces art exhibit schedule
YORK — While still known for delicious lobster rolls and fresh-made chowder every Friday, the York Hospital cafeteria that was once a bustling lunchtime gathering place for patients, families, medical professionals and local merchants is now a quiet place for a caregivers to have a quick unmasked meal and a few minutes of solitary reflection prior to returning to a busy hospital shift.
York resident Cynthia Hosmer, longtime chair of the York Hospital Art Committee, shared that the pandemic has forced so many to approach what was once routine with a new perspective. “We did what we had to do. We went virtual and introduced a beautiful online gallery last year for all to appreciate and stayed the course with hanging artwork in the café to inspire our health care heroes in the hospital.”
The following artists will be exhibiting in the York Hospital café and in the online gallery during 2022:
Eric Ebbeson will be on display from January to March. Eric is an artist living and working on the Seacoast of NH. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Studio Art in 1968. He has exhibited in many art galleries and art shows in New England for the last 50 years and works in many media, including serigraphs, watercolors, acrylics, pen and ink, calligraphy, and alcohol ink. Sometimes he combines these media in creative and unusual ways. His work ranges from very realistic and figurative to abstract and unusual. He frequently combines Art and Letterforms, and has created a very successful series of prints and notecards using this method. He has been an art educator, teaching art at all levels. He has taught art at The Darrow School (New Lebanon, NY), the Hampton Academy, the Brush and Palette (North Hampton, NH) and led several drawing groups. He has also illustrated two books, “The Ambiguity of Autumn,” a book of poetry by Jeff Volk and “Luna and Floyd Visit their Grandparents,” a children’s book by Lauren Levine. During the pandemic he participated in “The Sketchbook Project,” a compendium of artists’ sketchbooks put online and also exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Library.
Dr. Kenneth Fellows’ artwork will be on display from April to June. After retiring from academic medicine and moving to Kittery Point almost 25 years ago, Dr. Fellows started drawing and painting as a hobby. Many local artists have been guided and inspired his early watercolor work. Painting has been so absorbing and compelling, it has become a ‘second act’ in his retirement. Listening to music while he paints, hours zip by, putting some creative wonder into life. He paints whatever interests him, switching from still life to Maine landscapes to portraits (mostly of his granddaughter, Ella) to interior scenes to old magazine covers, abstracts, postcards and dated seed catalogs—whatever captures his attention.In all his painting, he tries to live up to Dewitt Hardy’s aphorism that “we’re in the business of making miracles.”
Stephen Harby’s work will be on display from July to September. Stephen was a visiting critic at the Yale School of Architecture for 15 years and conducts a travel enterprise, Stephen Harby Invitational. From an early age, travel, architectural history, and professional practice captured his interest and competed for his attention. At Yale College, he pursued a double major in architectural history and architecture, which instilled a passion for observation. Following graduation, Stephen spent a year traveling, studying Italian in Florence, and sketching, which combined all these pursuits for the first time.
Returning to Yale for architecture school, Stephen studied under Cesar Pelli and Charles Moore. Following graduation, he moved to California to join Charles Moore at UCLA’s Urban Innovations Group, where he was project manager for a range of buildings, including the Beverly Hills Civic Center. From 1999 to 2000, he was the Marion O. and Maximilian E. Hoffman Rome Prize Fellow in Architecture at the American Academy in Rome. He is based in Santa Monica and has lectured and published. His work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, Hunter College in New York and at the Fine Arts Building in Los Angeles.
Dustan (Dusty) Knight is a professional artist, educator, and art writer. Her artwork will be on display from October to December. She earned her MFA from Pratt Institute in New York and an MA in art history from Boston University. She is a recipient of a New Hampshire State Fellowship for the Arts, a MacDowell Colony residency, and a past resident of Cummington Artist Colony. Dustan is represented by galleries across the U.S., including Art Three in Manchester and the Ogunquit Art Association. She’s a contributing writer to Art New England, a frequent juror, and gives demonstrations and workshops in watercolor, art business, and art history. Her work has appeared in Watercolor magazine, Daniel Smith, Cheap Joe’s and Ampersand Insider newsletters. Dustan’s work is in many private and public collections, including Macy’s, Acme and Oracles as well as numerous hospitals and New Hampshire public buildings.
Alex deConstant‘s work will be on display from July to September 2022 in a gallery adjacent to the café. Alex is a Seacoast artist whose graphic seascape imagery is channeled through the medium of color woodcuts. His North Hampton studio is within walking distance to the granite sand beaches, reefs, and point breaks where he has surfed since his youth. An intimate knowledge of the New Hampshire coastline is where his inspiration begins. The rugged natural beauty and energy hold endless opportunities for his subject matter. Alex’s association with Don Gorvett Gallery was by invitation to work alongside master printmaker and artist Don Gorvett in his studio and gallery on Ceres Street in downtown Portsmouth in 2007. His woodcuts are in the permanent print collection of the Boston Athenaeum, and private collections.
Art Committee members Maryse Newton, Bernadine Speers and Judy Yandow joined Cynthia Hosmer in celebrating York Hospital staff and added their sentiments that all staff at the hospital – dietary, housekeeping, facilities maintenance, scheduling, reception, etc. – deserve to be recognized for their roles helping our community through a most challenging time. “We hope the artists and artwork we select to adorn the café walls provides hope and healing to our hospital heroes. We know this is a hard time for them to ‘stop and smell the roses’ – we continue to bring the art inside – so it is there if they need something beautiful to look at, even if the proverbial rose is a painting,” Hosmer added.
Artwork is available to purchase and a portion of each sale is donated to York Hospital. To view the current gallery online visit https://www.yorkhospital.com/online-art-gallery/. For more information about York Hospital services and providers, visit yorkhospital.com or contact York Hospital’s Community Relations Office at (207)351-2385 or [email protected].
Friends of York Hospital scholarship applications due March 18
YORK – The Friends of York Hospital Scholarship Committee is pleased to announce that the application period for 2022 is now open for students in the York Hospital service area who are interested in pursuing a career in medicine and/or health care. All applications must be received or postmarked by Friday, March 18, 2022 to be reviewed by the Friends of York Hospital Scholarship Committee, comprised of hospital employees and members of the Friends of York Hospital volunteer organization. This impartial selection committee evaluates the applicants’ high school records, standardized test scores, extracurricular activities, including community involvement and work experience, to determine finalists to be interviewed. Finalists are selected largely on the basis of financial need, academic merit and health care objectives. Finalist student interviews will likely be conducted in April and scholarship awards announced in May.
This year the Friends of York Hospital will award five $3,000 scholarships to graduating seniors who plan to have a career in health care and reside within the Hospital’s service area [the southern York County, Maine towns of Kittery, Eliot, the Berwicks, Sanford, Lebanon, Kennebunk, Wells, Moody, Ogunquit, York] for their freshman year of college.
Scholarship recipients must enroll as full-time students in the upcoming fall and continue in school for the entire academic year in a health care curriculum. Scholarship awards may affect financial aid eligibility, so students should talk to guidance counselors for details. We ask at the conclusion of your first semester, please send an enrollment verification letter from your college/university to Friends of York Hospital Scholarship c/o Kate Ford, Volunteer and Student Experiences, York Hospital, 15 Hospital Drive, York, ME 03909. A check will then be made payable to the school and mailed there directly.
The application includes an essay describing why a career in the medical field is desired and why students feel they should be chosen to receive this scholarship. Letters of recommendation from high school guidance counselors and from a current or recent employer, along with official high school transcripts, are necessary for application consideration. In lieu of an employer, students may submit a letter from a supervisor in an organization where they have been a volunteer.
All interested students should contact their school guidance counselor for a copy of the application or visit the York Hospital website to download a copy and mail the application, along with required attachments, to: Friends of York Hospital Scholarship, c/o Kate Ford, 15 Hospital Drive, York, Maine 03909. TEL: (207)351-2224. Applications must be received by or postmarked by March 18, 2022 to qualify.
For further questions about the Friends of York Hospital Volunteer organization, contact Volunteer Coordinator Kate Ford at [email protected] or 207-351-2224.
Cornhole tournament raises $3k for Wentworth-Douglass
SOMERSWORTH – A local cornhole tournament raised $3,000 for the Wentworth-Douglass Foundation, as well as other charitable causes benefitting service dogs and local sports organizations.
The ‘King of the Hilltop Cornhole Throwdown’ was hosted by New England Sports Hub in September, and featured hundreds of cornhole enthusiasts gathered at Hilltop Fun Center in Somersworth – the site of the organization’s future 135,000 square foot sports dome. The event honored first responders and the funds to support Wentworth-Douglass will be used to support The Lawson Family Mobile EMS Simulation Center.
“From the get-go, the Sports Hub team pledged to donate all registration proceeds to the local teams and organizations that helped us drive participation,” said Craig Riotto, principal of New England Sports Hub. “Since the event was set to take place on 9/11, we also wanted to both honor and give back to first responders. That’s when Wentworth-Douglass Charitable Foundation raised its hand and told us about their mobile simulation center. It was a perfect fit.”
The Lawson Family Mobile EMS Simulation Center provides state-of-the-art, real-time training directly to EMS responders and Fire and Rescue personnel in the field, that is both cost-effective and community based.
“Our Lawson Family Mobile EMS Simulation Center has been an invaluable community partnership between Wentworth-Douglass Hospital and emergency first responders from Dover, Durham and surrounding Fire and Rescue teams,” says Brian Nicholson, Emergency Services Coordinator. “The training provided mimics emergency situations they see in the field that provide immediate critical care to patients in need.”
Emergency first responders receive continued education and are equipped with real-time training that saves lives and supports a healthy and strong community. Airway management, cardiac simulation, delivering a newborn and team training are some of the simulated training exercises that local providers have participated in.
“We are grateful to New England Sports Hub and Hilltop Fun Center for hosting such a fun event that raised critical funds and increased awareness of the importance of well-trained first responders and the impact they have on the community,” says Jackie Eastwood, Chair, Foundation Board of Directors. “The funds raised from the King of the Hilltop Cornhole Throwdown will support continued education and training with local fire and rescue departments which ultimately improves patients’ outcomes and the health of our community.”
Along with a competitive tournament format, the event featured barbecue, a gelato truck, a beer tent, vendors, and all the attractions of the Hilltop Fun Center. Over 20 local/regional businesses partnered with Sports Hub to sponsor the event, with Atlantic Broadband, Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, and Bournival Jeep headlining the fields on event day.
What group is primarily susceptible to the ravages of covid-19 even if fully vaccinated and boosted? Seniors. And who will have an in particular hard time finding free of charge at-home covid exams below the Biden administration’s approach? Sure, seniors.
As of Jan. 15, non-public insurers will include the expense of eight at-dwelling quick covid checks every single month for their users — for as lengthy as the general public well being emergency lasts.
Discovering the assessments will be hard enough, but Medicare beneficiaries experience an even even bigger hurdle: The administration’s new rule doesn’t apply to them.
It turns out that the guidelines governing standard Medicare never supply for coverage of self-administered diagnostic tests, which is specifically what the quick antigen checks are and why they are an critical device for containing the pandemic.
“While at this time authentic Medicare are not able to pay for at-dwelling tests, screening continues to be a important software to assist mitigate the unfold of covid,” a assertion from the federal Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Solutions explained. Medicaid and CHIP protect at-residence covid assessments, with no charge to beneficiaries, dependent on a 2021 Biden administration mandate.
Medicare individuals are remaining to find totally free checks other approaches, together with via the administration’s new site, covidtests.gov, and at community centers. The Medicare application does address fast antigen or PCR tests completed by a lab without having charging beneficiaries, but there is a hitch: It is restricted to one particular test per year until a person has a doctor’s order.
More wants to be finished, advocates say.
The administration has altered some Medicare procedures throughout the pandemic, like bettering obtain to telehealth expert services and nursing house care, mentioned David Lipschutz, affiliate director and senior coverage attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy.
“We know that the Medicare plan has important versatility relative to the community wellness crisis, and it has shown it has the capability to change the rules,” Lipschutz said. “We believe they must come across the flexibility to provide the covid at-residence exams for free of charge.”
Q: Why cannot the Medicare plan reimburse beneficiaries for the above-the-counter assessments or choose up the tab at the pharmacy as professional health and fitness options will do?
The companies the Medicare software pays for are spelled out in federal law.
“It frequently excludes above-the-counter points,” mentioned Casey Schwarz, senior counsel for training and federal policy at the Medicare Rights Center, an advocacy team.
The general public health and fitness crisis was not too long ago prolonged 90 days, via mid-April, and the administration could still make a decision to grow coverage. Some lawmakers in Congress are urging the administration to deal with the tests.
“Demanding Medicare recipients — nearly 1-fifth the population of the United States — to foot the bill out-of-pocket for at-residence assessments is unfair, inefficient, and will charge life,” said Rep. Monthly bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.Y.), who has urged the Biden administration to grow Medicare protection to include them.
It may well not be a straightforward adjust, as these checks look to slide into coverage gaps. Medicare Component A handles hospitalization, and Part B normally covers service provider-dependent expert services like health care provider visits and lab tests. Aspect D addresses medicine.
“So there’s a minimal little bit of a problem of wherever this kind of profit would in good shape,” Schwarz stated.
People in personal designs at times pay back upfront for companies and then are reimbursed by their health and fitness strategy. But which is not how Medicare works. The application pays suppliers, not beneficiaries. So that’s an additional wrinkle that would have to be ironed out.
Q: So how can a Medicare beneficiary get totally free at-house covid exams?
There are a couple of options. This 7 days, the Biden administration released a web page, covidtests.gov, exactly where everyone, which include Medicare beneficiaries, can order free of charge at-residence covid checks. Just one billion assessments finally will be obtainable. Each individual residence to begin with can get 4 exams.
4 checks is a significantly cry from the eight monthly exams that persons with non-public insurance policies can be reimbursed for. But it’s greater than practically nothing, specialists say, particularly when stopping the unfold of covid demands repeated testing around a time period of times.
“Four assessments is not a lot of tests,” explained Juliette Cubanski, deputy director of the program on Medicare policy at KFF. “This is one of the most at-risk populations, and to not have the possibility to acquire at-residence tests and get reimbursed puts this whole populace on their again foot.”
The Biden administration is also offering up to 50 million extra totally free at-home checks to local community wellbeing centers and Medicare-licensed health clinics.
But 50 million tests will not even present just one examination apiece to the 62 million Medicare beneficiaries, Lipschutz explained.
About 4 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries are in Medicare Advantage managed-treatment plans. These private strategies may possibly give free at-property tests to customers, but it’s not required. Enrollees ought to test with their ideas to see no matter whether which is an selection.
Q: What other free of charge covid screening selections are out there to Medicare beneficiaries?
In traditional Medicare, beneficiaries can get speedy antigen or PCR diagnostic tests without paying anything at all out-of-pocket if the check is requested by a medical doctor or other well being treatment provider and performed by a lab.
The federal govt has set up extra than 10,000 free pharmacy tests web-sites throughout the place that Medicare beneficiaries can pay a visit to as nicely.
With the current extension of the public health and fitness unexpected emergency, the scenario is fluid, and Medicare beneficiaries may possibly still get protection for at-dwelling covid checks which is similar to what privately insured men and women now have.
“This is all a shifting concentrate on,” Lipschutz explained.
KHN (Kaiser Wellness News) is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being challenges. Jointly with Coverage Evaluation and Polling, KHN is one particular of the 3 significant functioning courses at KFF (Kaiser Family members Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit firm supplying information and facts on wellness challenges to the nation.
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