By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 December 2013 at 12:00 am
‘The hospital is moving in the right direction,’ hospital CEO tells Legislature
ALBION – Medina Memorial Hospital and its parent organization, Orleans Community Health, are making a series of changes in the coming months that will make the hospital stronger and more viable for the future, the hospital’s CEO told Orleans County legislators on Wednesday.
The community can expect a shift to more outpatient care, although the emergency room and inpatient beds will remain.
“Things are looking good,” Dolores Horvath, the hospital CEO and president, told the Legislature. “The hospital is moving in the right direction.”
The hospital is well positioned to serve the county, Horvath said, with health care sites in Medina and a new facility in Albion at the corner of Butts Road and Route 31. The Albion site is increasing services and expects to meet the “urgent care” standard in early 2014. Radiology equipment will arrive this month so that service can be offered in Albion, Horvath said.
The hospital sold the Orchard Manor nursing home earlier this year and is closing a seven-bed psychiatric unit that hospital officials say operates at a $300,000-plus annual deficit.
“We could no longer sustain that,” Horvath said.
Small hospitals are challenged, Horvath said, and some have been unable to survive. Lakeside Memorial Hospital in Brockport closed in April. Lake Shore Health Care Center in Irving, Chautauqua County, is closing next month.
“I’ve been in healthcare for 30 years and I’ve never seen such challenging times as I do today,” Horvath said.
The hospital has a staff focused in getting Orleans Community Health paid for its services through Medicaid, Medicare and the insurance companies.
Horvath said other health care providers are stepping up their efforts to attract Orleans County patients.
The University of Rochester Medical Center bought the former Lakeside hospital and renamed it “Strong West.” The organization has been advertising in Orleans.
United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia also plans to leave the Medina hospital as a tenant and open an expanded women’s health center on Maple Ridge Road.
Medina will lose UMMC as a tenant and could see some of its patients align with the Batavia organization, which would weaken Orleans Community Health.
Horvath asked the Legislature to be strong backers of Orleans Community Health, an organization with a mission to provide healthcare in Orleans County.
“We want you to be viable and strong organization that contributes of the overall viability and strength of the county,” Legislature Chairman David Callard said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 December 2013 at 12:00 am
File photo by Tom Rivers – Holley’s Canal Park will be upgraded with help through a state grant.
State Sen. George Maziarz is pleased to see two projects in the eastern end of his Senate district were funded in the Regional Economic Development Council Awards announced on Wednesday.
The state approved $65,776 to the Village of Holley for the Holley Canal Park Improvement Project, which includes improvements to the existing gazebo, pavilions, and stone paths. New elements of the park will include new tree planting, installation of grills and picnic tables, fire pits, and the purchase of new equipment to maintain the park.
“The Holley award will result in lasting improvements to the Canal Park for all to enjoy,” said Maziarz, R-Newfane. “This park will be more user-friendly and accommodating to boaters, bicyclists, and the community at large.”
The Village of Brockport in Monroe County was approved for a $200,000 Main Street Revitalization Project. These funds will assist the owners of mixed-use buildings to complete commercial and residential renovation projects, and perform streetscape enhancements in the village’s downtown business district.
“The awards announced today will help launch key community development projects in our canal villages,” Maziarz said. “These awards go to show that projects in rural areas can have just as much merit as those in suburban and urban regions. The funded projects will help transform the quality of life for local residents.”
Orleans Hub will have more stories on the grants and how Orleans County is faring on a per capita basis to other nearby counties. We would like to see more on these funds go to projects in Orleans County.
ALBION – The Albion Police Department has been honored with the 2013 Community Traffic Safety Platinum Award by the America Automobile Association.
The nationally recognized AAA Platinum Community Traffic Safety Award is the highest award AAA can bestow on any Police Department. It’s awarded to departments that have developed and maintained traffic safety initiatives in their communities and who have shown success in those initiatives.
The Albion Police Department has used programs such as Buckle Up New York, Selective Traffic Enforcement Program, Stop DWI and the Child Passenger Safety Seat Program to enforce vehicle and traffic laws as well as to educate and assist motorists.
Throughout 2013 the Albion Police Department conducted several targeted details that focused on specific areas of safety for both motorists and pedestrians. These details were done in non-traditional ways to increase their effectiveness.
This is the third consecutive year that the Albion Police Department has received the Community Traffic Safety Platinum Award.
The Albion Police Department is dedicated to making our highways and streets safer for all who use them. Throughout the holiday season we will continue our efforts by adding more patrols and details.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 December 2013 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – The Medina Sandstone Society made history today in inducting the first class of honorees in the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.
The debut class includes two sites in Buffalo, three in Orleans County and one in Rochester. The Hall of Fame is inside the Medina City Hall in the main meeting room.
Orleans Hub will have a bigger story a little later on the event, which was attended by the owners of the six inaugural members.
For now, here are the plaques for each member of the first class.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 December 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – In 1830, when Orleans County’s government was led by a Board of Supervisors, the county leaders passed a resolution making care of the local poor a county responsibility.
Al Capurso, a Gaines resident, believes that resolution commits the county to owning and maintaining the nursing home. Last month he met with county legislators and the county attorney, and asked them to research the issue.
County attorney David Schubel reviewed the resolution and social welfare responsibilities for the county.
Schubel said other resolutions about the nursing home have superceded the 1830 resolution, including one from last February when the Legislature voted to create a local development corporation. The LDC became owner of the nursing home and has been working to sell the site.
The Legislature’s creation and use of the LDC has twice been held up in court after state Supreme Court challenges by residents and the CSEA union.
“The judge says we were lawful,” Schubel said during Wednesday’s Legislature meeting. “The judge says we did proper legal actions.”
Capurso said the judge wasn’t presented with the 1830 resolution as part of the lawsuits. Capurso believes that resolution may have resulted in a different decision from the judge.
In 1830, the Board of Supervisors voted: “Resolved, That the distinction between the town and the county poor be and the same is hereby abolished, and that the expense of maintaining all the poor shall be a county charge.”
The county created an alms house that took in local poor and infirm. That site was a social services function and not a medical facility like the current nursing home, which is licensed by the state Department of Health, Schubel said.
“To tie (the nursing home) with the alms house is a stretch beyond any rational basis,” Schubel told Capurso.
The attorney said the 1830 resolution is now “irrelevant.”
Capurso is a member of the Concerned Citizens of Orleans County, a group that has fought the Legislature on its push to privatize The Villages of Orleans, 120-bed facility of Route 31 in Albion.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 December 2013 at 12:00 am
The House of Representatives approved a budget deal today that cuts about $23 billion from the federal deficit over 10 years and also holds off the threat of a possible government shutdown until 2015.
U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence, backed the measure, although he said it fell “painfully short” in reining in the costs of entitlement programs.
The deal passed the House 332-94 and now heads to the Senate.
Collins issued this statement:
“Tonight I voted in favor of the congressional budget compromise that passed the House with strong bipartisan support. This agreement is far from perfect, but it does reduce our deficit by $23 billon and locks in discretionary spending at levels below what the House GOP budget called for. In addition, the agreement cuts spending in a smart, targeted away and avoids the pain caused by the President’s sequester, especially for our brave men and women in the military.”
“This agreement, however, falls painfully short in its total lack of entitlement program reform. It is my hope that as we move into a new year, the President and Congress can find the political courage to address this critical issue to ensure that Social Security and Medicare are strong for both current beneficiaries and future generations.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 December 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Representatives from the first class of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame pose for a photo on Thursday after the induction ceremony. The group includes, front row: Dina Zinone, property manager for Housing Management Resources which owns the former Saint Bernard’s Seminary in Rochester; Barbara Filipiak, a trustee with St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Medina; and Martha neri, historian at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Buffalo. Second row: Clint Brown, board member of the Richardson Center Corporation in Buffalo that owns the Richardson Olmsted Complex; Monica Pellegrino Faix, director of the Richardson Olmsted Complex; Lee Richards, pastor of the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church in Albion; Jeff Winters, director of the Orleans County YMCA at the former Medina Armory; and the Rev. Donald Huber, cathedral canon vicar at St. Paul’s in Buffalo.
MEDINA – They can be easy to overlook or to not fully appreciate because we have so many in Orleans County and in Western New York. But some of the great Medina sandstone structures are now getting their due.
The Medina Sandstone Society unveiled the first inductees in the new Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame on Thursday. The debut class includes three churches, a seminary turned into senior apartments, a massive former psychiatric center and an armory that is now home to the Orleans County YMCA.
The Sandstone Society wants to celebrate Orleans County’s role in providing the stone, skill and brawn for building some of the most iconic and treasured sites in the county, region, state and beyond.
The first class of Hall of Fame inductees includes three in Orleans, two in Buffalo and one in Rochester. A Hall of Fame Committee narrowed a list of 21 nominees to the six selections. The honorees are enshrined inside the main meeting room in Medina City Hall, a sandstone building that was built in 1908.
The committee – society members Jim Hancock, Dave Miller and John Slack – went hunting for great buildings made from Medina sandstone. They didn’t need to look to far to find great examples of architecture and craftsmanship. Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin noted that the many local and regional sites wow visitors, but often aren’t greeted with much fanfare locally.
“Don’t miss the extraordinary ordinary we have in Medina sandstone buildings here locally and spread throughout New York State,” Lattin said during the Hall of Fame induction.
Lattin was part of a contingent from the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church in Albion, one of the six inaugural members. That church was built in 1894 primarily with funds from George Pullman, an Albion native who made a fortune selling sleeping cars to the railroads.
He built the church as a memorial to his parents. He didn’t spare any expense in the building, which includes more than 40 Tiffany stained-glass windows, Miller noted.
“It is a flawless pink sandstone in the old English Gothic style,” Miller said.
Medina Y director Jeff Winters addresses the group after the Medina Armory was inducted in the Hall of Fame. He is joined in front by Scott Taylor, Y CEO for the GLOW region; and Dean Bellack, president of the Orleans County Y board of directors.
There are bigger sandstone churches in Albion than the Pullman site, but Miller said the Pullman church is an exceptional example of precision stone work. The long low profile of the church is also very unique, he said.
Lee Richards, the church pastor, said the congregation takes great pride in the architecture of the building and all of the stained glass. Church buildings like Pullman were designed “to uplift souls,” Richards said.
Other inductees include:
St. Mary’s Catholic Church, completed in 1904 in Medina, is an immense structure with two tall towers. The building was constructed during Medina’s glory days at the turn of the century. It has been lovingly cared for by the congregation for more than a century.
The congregation paid $75,000 to build the church that uses brown Medina sandstone. One of the towers reaches up 170 feet high. The original Vermont slate remains on the roof.
The Medina Armory opened in 1901, a few blocks from St. Mary’s. New York State paid $55,000 to build the structure that includes octagonal towers. It was closed by the state in 1977 but then the 90,000-square-foot site found new life as a YMCA.
Medina Y director Jeff Winters addresses the group after the Medina Armory was inducted in the Hall of Fame. He is joined in front by Scott Taylor, Y CEO for the GLOW region; and Dean Bellack, president of the Orleans County Y board of directors.
“We’ve tried to be good stewards of the building,” said Y director Jeff Winters.
The YMCA is currently working on a $400,000 upgrade of the site, improving accessibility and amenities.
In Rochester, the Hall of Fame Committee picked Saint Bernard’s Seminary, a collection of four buildings that were constructed between 1891 and 1908. The seminary has been converted into apartments for senior citizens.
The Medina sandstone was quarried from the Genesee River gorge. It is an unusual type of red sandstone with white inclusions. It has well-done decorative brick trim.
“It’s the most unique looking sandstone,” Miller said.
Perhaps the most prominent Medina sandstone building – the Richardson Olmsted Complex in Buffalo – is in the midst of a major transformation from a long dormant former psychiatric hospital into a boutique hotel, center for architecture and high-tech conference rooms.
The twin towers of the Richardson Olmsted Complex in Buffalo make the site one of the most iconic Medina sandstone structures ever built.
The twin copper-roofed towers of Medina sandstone rise 185 feet above Forest Avenue in Buffalo, making the complex a prominent landmark since 1872. The site was designed by famed architect H.H. Richardson, who also chose Medina sandstone for the steps in the state capitol in Albany as part of the Million-Dollar Staircase.
The complex took about 20 years to complete and includes a park designed by the country’s most respected landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. It was built to be an Eden to help patients recover from mental illness.
Clint Brown, a historic preservation architect, is a member of the board of director for the Richardson Olmsted Complex. He said the board would accept the honor in memory of the patients at the site, and “the quarrymen who mined the stone and the masons who dressed it.”
Brown and the site’s director Monica Pellegrino Faix would like to include a display about Medina sandstone and the quarrymen as part of the site’s center for architecture.
The oldest inductee in the Hall of Fame was built from 1849 to 1851. St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Buffalo used sandstone from a Hulberton quarry.
Medina Sandstone Society President Bob Waters, left, is pictured with Hall of Fame Committee members David Miller, Jim Hancock and John Slack.
The church was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Richard Upjohn, the leading church architect of the day. The U.S. government declared the church a National Historic Landmark in 1987, the only church in Western New York with such a designation.
A fire at the church in 1888 destroyed the interior of St. Paul’s. But the sandstone shell remained and the church rebuilt and reopened. That fire bolstered the reputation for Medina sandstone, Hall of Fame Committee member John Slack said.
The brown sandstone was used for the pulpit and columns in addition to the exterior structure. The Rev. Don Huber, the cathedral canon vicar, said the brown stone has a calming effect.
“The sandstone feels mothering,” he said. “It’s not cold and hard. The sandstone gives St. Paul’s warmth.”
The Hall of Fame Committee plans to induct new members every year. The committee is led by Jim Hancock.
“It was really hard to narrow it down to six,” he said. “There are so many beautiful and unique structures.”
Takeform Architectural Graphics in Medina created the plaques and display for the Hall of Fame. The company made a second set of plaques so each honoree could have one to display.
City Hall has been used as a visitor center during the summer. Hancock said the Hall of Fame should make the building a bigger destination.
MEDINA – Firefighters responded this morning to an attic fire at a vacant house on Prospect Street in Medina. Firefighters from Medina, Lyndonville, Ridgeway and Shelby responded to the call. No injuries were reported.
Middleport and East Shelby fire companies filled in at the Medina fire hall.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 11 December 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – The days of voting for Republican and Democratic candidates in village of Albion elections may be over.
The Albion Republican Committee wants to see the elections in the future limited to candidates on independent party lines. The Republican Committee last week officially voted to have candidates run on independent-only party lines.
“We think if it is nonpartisan you would get a wider range of candidates to step forward,” said Dawn Allen, the Albion GOP chairwoman.
The resolution will need the support of the Albion Democratic Committee to take effect. The next election is in March and includes the mayor and at least two trustee positions.
Democratic Party leaders have discussed the issue the past year but haven’t reached a conclusion, said Sandra Walter, the Democratic Party leader in Albion. She expects the group will meet again soon to talk about whether to support the move to independent elections.
The other villages in Orleans – Holley, Lyndonville and Medina – all have independent-only candidates, who tend to run on party lines such as “The Village Party,” “The Taxpayer Party,”“The Family Party,” as well as others.
Rather than securing the support of the Republican or Democratic Party leaders, independent candidates would pass petitions signed by a small percentage of village residents in order to be on the ballot.
Allen thinks the move would give more power to the candidates and residents. Right now both Republican and Democratic committees include some members who don’t live in the village. That means people from outside the village are currently helping to pick who runs for the village offices.
ALBION – Staff and board members of the Arnold Gregory Memorial Hospital in Albion look over a new bed around 1960.
Pictured, from left: Dr. John Ellis, board member Sidney Eddy, hospital administrator Helen Yerger, board president Edward Archbald, board member Robert Babbitt and nurse Mrs. Douglas Hayes.
