File photo: This photo taken in October 2016 shows the Drake House Ruins site at Golden Hill State Park in Barker. The sign describes the history of the site.

Volunteers will be out picking up trash and working on other projects at state parks on Saturday as part of “I Love My Park Day.”

Parks & Trails New York leads the state-wide effort at state park and public lands, and calls “the largest single-day volunteer event in NYS.”

Thousands of volunteers will be out to clean up parks and shorelines, plant trees and gardens, restore trails and wildlife habitat, remove invasive species, and work on various site improvement projects, Parks & Trails said in a news release.

Two nearby parks are part of the effort.

At Hamlin Beach State Park volunteers are welcome from 9 a.m. to noon for beack cleanup, cleaning shelters, clean out of the fire place in Area 2, and cleanup at camping areas, the Area 3 garden, and horseshoe pits.

At Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse in Barker, volunteers are welcome form 9 a.m. to noon for garbage pickup and trimming back bushes on hiking trails. They will also paint the historic coal shed and outhouse. Volunteers are will clear brush and mark heirloom roses and gardens at the Drake House site.

For more information on I Love My Park Day, click here.

Press Release, Orleans County Sheriff Chris Bourke

ALBION – The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office will honor the County Corrections Division during National Correctional Officers Week from May 7-13, Sheriff Chris Bourke said.

As part of the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, the Corrections Division is committed to meeting the standards of the community, striving to promote safety, security and provide opportunity for rehabilitation. Their core values include respect, responsibility, honesty and empathy, Bourke said.

Our dedicated Corrections Officers have the responsibility to operate a safe and secure detention facility in compliance with the New York State Corrections Law and with regulations set forth by the New York State Commission of Corrections.

Each member faces the difficult and often dangerous assignment of ensuring the security, safety and well-being of the inmates housed in the Orleans County Jail. Their position is essential to daily operations to achieve institutional goals of care, custody, and supervision of approximately 600 inmates annually.

Please join us in recognizing our Orleans County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Officers for their dedication, hard work and service to the community.

MEDINA – Jim Friday marvels at the immensity of the Medina Sandstone industry. At its peak from 1890 to 1910, there were 50 quarries in the county employing 2,000 people.

The county’s population in 1900 was 30,164, according to the census. (In 2020, the population was 40,343).

“That was a huge percentage of the workforce,” said Friday, an Albion native who lives in North Chili. “It was just a huge industry.”

Friday, 75, is a Kodak retiree and loves local history. He wrote a book about the local sandstone industry, “The History of Sandstone in Orleans County NY.” The 108-page book includes many photos of the county’s dominant industry.

He spoke about the big business last week during the Medina Historical Society’s monthly meeting.

The quarries produced stone in some of the finest buildings in communities along the canal. They were used in churches, mansions and other public buildings. The stone also was utilized for sidewalks, curbs and street pavers.

The quarries were independently owned and competed against each other. The owners brought in immigrants from Poland, Italy, Britain and Ireland.

Friday is a descendant of Polish immigrants. His paternal grandparents (John Piatek/Friday and Stefania Siebak) lived on Moore Street in Albion.  His maternal grandparents (Tony Rice and Rose Lucas) owned the farm at the end of Orchard Street along the canal in Albion. When he was a child, Friday spent a lot of time in Albion and often swam in the quarries.

He explores the geology of how and when the stone was formed, the rise and fall of the regional quarry industry and what remains today.

Jim Friday of North Chili was the featured speaker at the Medina Historical Society meeting last week at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library.

Friday presents this timeline of the Medina Sandstone industry. During construction of Erie Canal from 1817 to 1825 large deposits of sandstone were discovered. In 1837, John Ryan opened the first commercial sandstone quarry in Medina to supply stone for the second expansion of the canal.

In 1906, there were 50 quarries in the county, employing 2,000 workers. From 1919 to 1930, there were only a few independently leased quarries.

He includes vintage quarry photos from the early 1900s that give insight into the products, work conditions, methods and equipment used to quarry the stone. The experiences of some of the many immigrants who toiled in the quarries are presented along with photos of stone structures that remain as prominent reminders of a bygone era, Friday said.

The quarries were consolidated by New York City bankers, which led to the demise of most of the local operations. It was also cheaper to use cement rather than sandstone in buildings and public works projects.

For more information about the book, click here or send Friday an email at photos.JimFriday@gmail.com.

“It was a lot of fun to learn about the history of Albion and Orleans County,” Friday said. “The sandstone industry was huge in Orleans County, and it is interwoven with the history of the Erie Canal.”

Friday also serves as the coordinator of the orleans.nygenweb.net website that includes a wealth of local genealogy data about Orleans County. The late Sharron Kerridge and her friends were the driving force behind establishing this website.

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Scott Robinson, director of Marketing at Community Partners, talks with Randi Ingersoll about the Day of Remembrance she is organizing Sunday at Oak Orchard Assembly of God.

MEDINA – Day of Remembrance was a tradition organized by nurse Deb Cook at Orleans Community Health, until her retirement. Then Covid hit and the event was dropped.

This year, nurse Randi Ingersoll has agreed to take over and revive Day of Remembrance, which honored all the patients of Orleans Community Health who passed away during 2022.

In preparation for the event, Ingersoll has been meeting regularly with others at Orleans Community Health who have the same passion as she does for this event.

All patients lost who were associated with Orleans Community Health will be recognized with prayer and a candle lighting ceremony. This includes patients of the dialysis units in Medina and Batavia, Emergency Room, Medical/Surgical Unit and North Wing, said Scott Robinson, director of Marketing at Community Partners.

Invitations have been sent to each family member and the hospital would love for families to come receive their condolences, Robinson said.

Guest speaker for the event will be the Rev. Randy LeBaron, a pastor who serves with Supportive Care of Orleans.

The service is scheduled at 3 p.m. Sunday at Oak Orchard Assembly of God on Ridge Road.

Refreshments will be provided after the ceremony.

MEDINA – The Village Board has cancelled Monday’s meeting because there are no new agenda items to discuss.

The board typically meets the second and fourth Mondays each months.

It had several extra meetings in April while working on the village budget, which was adopted on April 24.

Genesee seeks to reduce opioid overdose deaths

Provided photos: Participants in Wednesday’s MOUD Anti-Stigma and Awareness Town Hall at the Genesee County Office for the Aging are, from left, Dr. Samantha Gray, Randi Johnson, Reilly Climenhaga, moderator Paul Pettit, Kate Gregory, Daniel Hauck and Scott Davis.

By Mike Pettinella, GCASA Publicist

BATAVIA – Treating someone struggling with substance use disorder can take many paths, but the road to recovery can become much easier to navigate with the help of specific clinically proven medications.

That premise was brought to light on Wednesday night by six professionals in the substance use field – including two who have experienced the pain of addiction – who participated in a “MOUD Anti-Stigma and Awareness Town Hall” event at the Genesee County Office for the Aging.

The session was sponsored by the HEAL Initiative and Genesee-Orleans-Wyoming Opioid Task Force, with Paul Pettit, public health director for Genesee & Orleans Health Departments, serving as moderator. About 45 people attended.

“I have sustained healthy sobriety for just under three years, and one of the tools I used to get that sobriety in my toolbox of recovery is buprenorphine,” said Reilly Climenhaga, a detox technician at Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, who said he has fought the substance use battle in his life for more than 20 years. “My issues and those of many others go much deeper than just the use of a chemical. There are many paths to sobriety for someone addicted to opiates, but I truly believe that using MOUD (Medication for Opioid Use Disorder) greatly increases a person’s chances.”

The Food & Drug Administration has approved buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone to manage opioid use disorder, and those medications are available through local agencies such as GCASA, Horizon Health Services and Rochester Regional Health.

Pettit pointed out that opioid use disorder has been recognized as a chronic disease and these medications work by relieving withdrawal symptoms, addressing psychological cravings and lowering the risk of return to use and overdose death.

“And that is the goal of The HEALing Communities study (a countywide initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health and Columbia University) – to reduce opioid deaths by 40 percent,” he said, noting that data shows that Genesee County has one of the highest opioid overdose death rates in New York.

Dr. Samantha Gray, PhD, an advanced practice clinician at Horizon Health Service’s Batavia location and an adjunct professor at the University of Buffalo, emphasized that MOUD not only helps with substance use disorder but also with the mental health aspect that usually is a key part of the treatment process.

“Over at Horizon, we are an integrated clinic. So, we assess for both substance use and mental health,” she said. “For those of you who are familiar with this population, those two things generally go hand in hand.”

Randi Johnson, a physician assistant at GCASA who works at the agency’s detoxification facility and Albion outpatient clinic, said MOUD, despite what people may think, is not a matter of trading one drug for another.

“I think we’ve probably all heard that at one point or another. But the important thing to remember is that we are treating this like a disease,” she said. “So, if you go to your primary care physician, you have high blood pressure, you have diabetes, you have any number of other common complaints, we’re going to give you a medication to help treat that.

“The beauty of MOUD is that we can use this to take away any withdrawal symptoms for patients. This allows them clarity … it gives them a good baseline that they can function at, so that they can work with the counselors to change the behavioral aspect of this.”

Johnson said she has utilized buprenorphine micro-inductions – a gradual process – to successfully initiate many patients on buprenorphine.

About 45 people attended the two-hour session that explored the issues surrounding medication for opioid use disorder.

For Daniel Hauck, a clinical supervisor at Hope Haven Inpatient Rehabilitation, RRH Chemical Dependency unit in Batavia, medication for opioid use disorder has evolved over the years, leading to his acceptance of the practice.

“As I’ve seen it evolve, I’ve seen that there’s better access to those medications. And as we really see better outcomes, it becomes much easier to engage a patient who feels hopeless in that moment, to actually be willing to come into that first appointment and come back to that second appointment,” he offered. “Oftentimes, that hopelessness comes from times where they have tried and feel like they failed.”

Hauck, along with panelist Kate Gregory, a licensed master social worker who manages the chemical dependency unit at RRH and Hope Haven, said they have made great strides in expanding services locally.

Gregory said it was a matter of figuring out how to serve patients better by developing immediate access.

“We launched a community-based care where we were able to go out and really serve patients, where they are literally meeting patients where they’re at – figuring out how not to let the EMR (electronic medical record) stop us from getting creative, and instead really expanding our services to meet the patient at any stage in their recovery,” she said.

When RRH added peer recovery advocates, that was a game-changer, she said.

One of those peers is Scott Davis, who also took part as a panelist at the public forum. Davis is in his second year as a recovery coach and certified peer advocate with RRH and is in recovery after many years of substance use.

In and out of legal trouble, including stints behind bars, Davis said that MOUD as prescribed by a physician was a key factor in his recovery.

“When I went to inpatient (treatment) in 2019, fentanyl was everything in my life,” he said. “I had cravings in rehab but I chose to go to a higher dose (of MOUD). I talked to my doctor, he had a plan, and when I got out I went to the Atwater (Community Residence) halfway house.”

It was there that Davis said he finally found the support system he needed, and eventually went to work for GCASA as a peer, before joining RRH as a recovery coach.

The panelists also shared their thoughts about the stigma attached to substance use disorder – perceptions among friends, family members and the community that can affect a patient’s self-worth.

“I think that, as a mental health or addiction therapist, it’s really important to just acknowledge that that exists. That validation alone can be huge,” Gregory said. “It’s also really important to infuse the culture of your agency with the right language and with the right education and with the right trainings and expectations around what creates a welcoming environment for people.”

She acknowledged the differing views of community members, and said that continuing education through public forums such as this town hall meeting will help to change perceptions.

Johnson said a major hurdle is that patients tend to believe the negative things that are said about them.

“As much as the community stigmatizes them at times, they come in and they believe that so wholeheartedly,” she said. “And so, one of the conversations I usually have with my patients, because almost every single one of them will come in and say I failed my urine test today, that it’s not pass or fail. We have that education in the visits with them because I don’t want them to feel like one use constitutes a failure.”

Press Release, Medina Band Boosters

MEDINA – The Band Boosters held their monthly meeting on Monday, May 1, to discuss upcoming events and elect officers for the coming year.

Those officers are Crystal Elliott, president; Heather Jackson, vice president; Holly Roush, treasurer; Michelle Wright, secretary; Paul Greean, delegate for 2-year term; Becky Rinker, student accounts; Jason Clare, transportation; Jenifer Lenhart, uniforms; Mindy Kenward, chaperones; and Kathy Dreyfus and Janine Farley, publicity co-chairs.

The band will perform in the Memorial Day parade and compete in the Sherburn Pageant on June 2-3. The entire season concludes with the band banquet on June 5.

Company seeks to build 30-unit labor housing on Route 63

LYNDONVILLE – A Lyndonville farm and packing operation that has expanded in recent years said foreign workers are critical to their success.

H.H. Dobbins has put in a new pack line and added a warehouse for storing apples. The company now ships apples 1.1 million bushels year-round or 44 million pounds for 55 apple farms.

While Dobbins has many reliable and hard-working staff from the local community, during its peak harvest and packing season about half of the 130 workers come to work in Lyndonville from Jamaica, Mexico and Honduras.

Dobbins is looking to build a new 30-unit farm labor building on Route 63, north of the village, and the project has critics in the community. Some town officials and residents have urged Dobbins to put the building on land it owns on the less-prominent Alps Road. Dobbins wants to use that land for an orchard, with either peaches or popular apple varieties.

Dobbins has machines for automated bagging, and other equipment that quickly scans apples for defects, whether scabs or too much water coring inside. Even with the push towards automation, Dobbins still needs 90 workers in the packing house operation.

There will be a public hearing at 7 p.m. today about the farm labor housing project. It will be held in the school auditorium at 25 Housel Ave. and will give residents a chance to comment on an area variance, special use permit and site plan for the 104-by-40 foot building. Dobbins is seeking a 50-foot sideyard setback variance. Dobbins said that would allow the company to put the building closer to a side of the property where there isn’t a neighboring resident.

The new project will offer the workers more comfort after their shifts, have more showers, and allow Dobbins to not rent a house in Medina for workers, and also shift away from two older farmhouses in the Lyndonville community.

“We want our guys to be able to relax and feel respected,” said Brett Baker, executive vice president and sales manager for Dobbins and its sales company, United Apple.

The building would have six bedrooms with five men to a room. They would be offered cable TV, the internet, air-conditioning in the summer, eight showers, eight sinks, and laundry facilities. Dobbins would set up reliable transportation for them to go shopping, go to the bank and tend to other errands, Baker said.

The new worker housing would primarily be for Jamaican and Mexican workers that work in the orchards through the federal H2A program that brings in legal foreign workers for agriculture. Dobbins hires 40 workers through that program.

The business also needed help with its packing facility. It turned to the federal H2B program to have 12 Honduran workers on the packing lines and sanitation crew for the first time from October 2021 to May 2022. Those employees fit in well with their American co-workers and proved very dependable. Dobbins hired 20 Hondurans since last October through later this month. Many returned from the initial group of 12.

The H2B program is available for temporary positions that aren’t directly on a farm. The U.S. has doubled number eligible the program from 66,000 cap in the federal fiscal year. The workers are screened through the Department of Homeland Security.

The government boosted the cap to help businesses have reliable workers in landscaping and groundskeeping, forest and conservation, amusement and recreation attendants, maids and housekeeping cleaners, construction, cooks and other industries.

The Honduran workers at Dobbins have impressed the leaders of the company and the American co-workers who are often alongside them in their shifts.

These workers including the five men from Honduras are part of the sanitation team at Dobbins. They include from left Andi, Johan, Julie Pries, David, Beth Miller, Oscar and Davey.

Beth Miller is the sanitation supervisor who works with five Honduran men after the packing lines closed down around 4 p.m. The sanitation team works to about midnight cleaning the machines and equipment, sweeping the floors, emptying tanks and getting the place ready for the next day.

Miller said the workers showed an immediate commitment to the job in October 2021 when they first started at Dobbins. They men have stayed positive, even during the harsh winter weather.

“I want to thank Dobbins for looking into this program,” she said. “These guys are all very nice men. They’re all smiles.”

They are learning English through a program run by the World Life Institute in Waterport. When they make it back to Honduras, they send messages through Facebook to let their American co-workers they are home safe.

Davey, 21, is finished his second seven-month tenure at Dobbins. Davey said the jobs are hard to come by in Honduras and they don’t pay much. Many positions are $6 a day and there are numerous applicants for those jobs. He worked a job in Honduras that was high-paying by that country’s standards. It was $20 a day. But he had to carry 130-pound batteries up a narrow mountainous path.

Davey has good English through the WLI program in Waterport. He said he hopes someday he could stay permanently in the United States and have more family members join him.

He said he is grateful for the chance to work at Dobbins.

“I like everything I do here,” he said. “I’m getting more experience.”

Julie Pries is a local woman who works on the sanitation crew with the men from Honduras. They have impressed her with their work ethic, and their kindness towards each other and the other co-workers.

“It’s been a really nice experience,” she said on Tuesday at the start of her shift. “They’re all very nice men.”

Miller, the sanitation supervisor, took the men out bowling Saturday in Medina. Some of them have been to Niagara Falls. Often, when they aren’t working, they stay in a labor house and play cards.

Dobbins would like for the new housing to be available for the Honduran workers when the H2A workers aren’t needed.

Those 60 workers through H2A and H2B are essential to the overall operation which has 130 employees at peak, Baker said.

Without the Honduran employees, Dobbins would likely have to scale back the winter and early spring packing schedule by a third, said Dave D’Anniballe, financial controller for the company.

D’Anniballe said the workers spend lots of their money with local businesses, often going to the Dollar General, Hojack Ice Cream Shack and Crosby’s.

“They have come from nothing and they love it here,” he said. “They generate a lot of income for the local economy.”

Dobbins has been in business for more than a century, going back to 1905. It recently expanded a packing line and warehouse in Lyndonville.

Press Release, Orleans/Niagara BOCES

Provided photo: Scott Brauer and Lisa Bielmeier were honored at the WNYSEC awards ceremony.

Lisa Bielmeier, Public Relations Director of Orleans/Niagara BOCES, and Scott Brauer, a Niagara Career and Technical Education Center Project Based Engineering teacher, were among the 18 recognized from across the Western New York area by the Western New York Educational Service Council on April 26 at the Awards of Excellence ceremony.

WNYSEC is an organization that provides support for the educational community, such as professional development, mentoring opportunities and research. Each year, WNYSEC honors exceptional teachers, support staff, administrators and board of education members for their outstanding service to their students, schools, district and community.

Lisa Bielmeier has been the BOCES’ Public Relations director for 25 years and received the WNYSEC Award of Excellence for Support Staff Services. In her role she supports Orleans/Niagara BOCES and several of its component districts in promoting their students, staff and programs and the importance of education.

Scott Brauer has taught the Project Based Engineering program for the past 27 years and received the WNYSEC Award of Excellence for Teaching. Brauer started as a student at O/N BOCES in the Precision Machining program, worked in industry for 15 years and then came back to BOCES as a teacher in career and technical education and adult education.

He has been a SkillsUSA lead advisor, TCI trainer and church deacon for many years and has helped to develop many student and youth centered programs and helped to mentor many teachers.

Orleans/Niagara BOCES District Superintendent Dr. Clark Godshall, who nominated the two individuals, said he could not be prouder of their achievements and the positive impact they have made in the educational community in Orleans and Niagara counties.

Press Release, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24) released the following statement on the passage of New York State Senate Bill 7855. This bill, which was passed as part of the New York State budget, changes the structure of Western Regional Off-Track Betting (OTB). The change will effectively diminish the role and input of rural Western New York counties.

Local leaders from across Western New York joined Tenney in condemning the highly politicized backroom deal, which upends decades of precedent to reduce the input of rural communities and hand disproportionate power to Democrat-leaning cities. The decision was made without any input or consultation from regional stakeholders.

“Negotiated and agreed upon in the dead of night without any input outside of Erie County and the City of Buffalo, the termination of every appointed commissioner of the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corporation is an attack on rural New York counties,” said Congresswoman Tenney. “For half a century, the Western Regional OTB has operated under shared control between 15 county governments and the cities of Rochester and Buffalo, promoting economic growth, jobs, and tax revenue across Western New York. With the passage of New York’s Big Ugly Budget, the Western Regional OTB has been politicized and the role of rural counties has been greatly diminished, with far more power now set to go to the cities. Now more than ever, when crime rates are skyrocketing, taxes are soaring, and people are fleeing the state at unprecedented rates, Governor Hochul should be focused on correcting these problems, not destroying the Western Regional OTB.”

“The Western Regional OTB language snuck into the state budget is Albany’s latest attack on rural communities,” said State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt. “Governor Hochul and Albany Democrats have conspired to eliminate the longstanding arrangement that allowed 15 counties and the cities of Rochester and Buffalo to have balanced representation on the OTB board. The voice of rural counties is being smothered out simply because they are represented by Republicans. This is nothing more than a partisan power grab disguised as reform.”

“Genesee County, the host county of Western New Yor Off Track Betting calls on Governor and State elected officials to halt the assault on rural counties who own, provide guidance and leadership to the most successful OTB operation in NYS,” said Shelley Stein, Genesee County Legislature chairwoman. “Senate leaders are pushing to restructure the board of director’s voting power to 2/3’s of urban counties of Erie and Monroe and cities of Buffalo and Rochester. Through S7855A resetting the rural counties to 37% of weighted voting, from 1 entity/ 1 vote structure since inception of WOTB, 50 years ago. Successful leadership of WOTB is due to consistent leadership by rural counties that provided seed funds to operate and own WOTB. Our rural county leadership has experience in managing municipalities, providing value to owners of WOTB and especially safeguarding investments made by our taxpayers of Genesee County.”

“Once again Albany is okay with large counties taking away the representation of smaller and rural counties in a power grab…this time it is the board of directors of Western Regional Off Track Betting/Batavia Downs Gaming that is the target,” said Lynne Johnson, Orleans County Legislature chairwoman. “Currently, each member county gets equal representation, but not in the new plan, weighted voting will give control to the large counties, especially Erie County. Governor Hochul should line item veto this legislation that hurts small counties like Orleans. Fifty years ago by Home Rule vote OTB was created and representation balanced and fair. This attempted change is wrong.”

MEDINA – Orleans Community Health held an open house Wednesday morning to celebrate its Wound Care Center being named a Center of Distinction by the national company Healogic, based in Jacksonville, Fla.

Healogic’s director of operations, Toni McCutcheon, presented the award to Lisa Albanese Klein, program director at the Wound Care Center, during a ceremony, which included hospital CEO Marc Shurtz, Dr. David Walborn, Medina Mayor Mike Sidari, Deputy Mayor Marguerite Sherman, Wound Care Center nurses Amanda Jendrowski and Kylie Dougherty, and a satisfied patient, Jackie DeHollander of Lockport, formerly of Medina.

In presenting the award, McCutcheon said earning this honor is not an easy achievement.

“To qualify, a center must have a patient satisfaction rating of 92 percent or higher; a wound mix comprehensive heal rate of 75 percent or higher; and an outlier rate of 16 percent or less,” she said.  “The highly skilled and trained staff has made it possible to achieve this award. They provide exceptional wound care within this community and you should be proud of them.”

The Wound Care Center specializes in chronic or non-healing wounds that without treatment could lead to infection, hospitalization or possible amputation, she said.

“The Orleans Community Health’s Wound Care Center is about healing patients and this wound care center has achieve a great honor in receiving the Center of Distinction Award from Healogics, the nation’s leading wound care expert,” McCutcheon said.

Klein said this was an amazing accomplishment for the Center, and one they couldn’t have achieved without the support and leadership at Orleans Community Health. She thanked hospital CEO Marc Shurtz, nursing supervisor Kim Gray for their commitment and vision they had in providing wound care service for the local community.

“You identified a service that was lacking and brought our team in to support that need,” Klein said. “That was a huge undertaking, especially when the Center opened in December 2019, just before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Jackie DeHollander of Lockport, formerly of Medina, shared her experience of being healed at Medina Memorial Hospital’s Wound Care Center.  She shows a sequence of pictures of the wound on her head and praised the care she got there.

“Our small but mighty team has accomplished tremendous results for patients,” Klein added. “Our medical director Dr. Joseph Canzoneri, our clinical nurse manager Teresa Clark, Dr. David Walborn and our newest doctor Samuel Grodman are all dedicated to providing exceptional patient care and healing results. I am awed by the dedication and compassion I see demonstrated by this team.”

Klein introduced former patient, Jackie DeHollander, who showed pictures of a nasty wound on her head and the progression as it healed. She fell down concrete steps while attending a concert in Buffalo in December. She was taken to ECMC, where they X-rayed her and sent her home. When she visited her primary care doctor, he didn’t even look at her head, but sent her to physical therapy, thinking she needed to have her balance improved.

The sore continued to worsen and thick matter and blood were oozing from it, so she put a paper towel over it. When she finally went back to the doctor and the paper towel was pulled off, the raw sore was more than an inch in diameter.

DeHollander had nothing but praise for nurses Amanda Jendrowski and Kylie Dougherty.

“I’ll say it a million times. They were outstanding,” DeHollander said. “They were wonderful to me. I loved all of them. These are people who really care.”

DeHollander would visit the Wound Care Center once a week for three months before the wound was healed enough for her to be discharged from their care.

Medina Mayor Mike Sidari commended the hospital on its tremendous growth, which he said has been happening for the last 10 to 15 years.

“When you pull in the parking lot, you can’t find a place to park, and that’s good,” he said. “When new people come to Medina I tell them about all the services we have here, and I’m proud to tell them my wife was a nurse here for more than 30 years.”

Shurtz said it was the hospital’s goal to keep growing and bring more award-winning services to Medina.

“You shouldn’t have to drive to the city to get health care,” he said.

Press Release, Orleans/Niagara BOCES

The Orleans and Niagara Career and Technical Education Centers would like to take this opportunity to recognize the winners of the SkillsUSA State competition.

Electronics: Electricity/Electronics teacher Bill Leggett with Austin Gardner of Lyndonville, left, and Zach Luick of Lockport.

Congratulations to all our competitors and we are looking forward to seeing what our first place winners will do at the National SkillUSA competition in Atlanta next month.

Tech winners at the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center on Shelby Basin Road in Medina include:

• Gold – Arie Decker of Roy-Hart, Health Occupations Technician program, for Health Occupations Professional Portfolio
• Gold – Nathaniel Wolf of Roy-Hart, Computer Tech program, for Internet of Things competition
• Gold – Anthony Cercone of Lockport, Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering, for CNC Milling
• Gold – Zachary Luick of Lockport, Electronics, for Electronic Technology
• Gold – Taylor Frentz of Medina, Maddie Breeze of Lockport, Sarah Smith of Medina, Kortney Schwartz of Roy-Hart and Olivia Kroening of Medina, Cosmetology, for the Cosmetology quiz bowl
• Gold – Lydia Samson of Barker, Allied Health program for basic health care
• Silver – Caleb Joseph of Newfane, Computer Technology, for Technical Computer Applications
• Silver – Austin Gardner of Lyndonville, Electronics, for Electronics Technology
• Silver – Mia Albone of Medina, Early Childhood program, for Early Childhood Education
• Silver – Tyler Halifax of Lockport, Computer Technology, for Information Technology competition
• Bronze – Anthony Marullo of Lockport, Building Trades, for plumbing competition
• Bronze – Ian Jones of Lockport and J Reynolds of HGL, Computer Technology program, for web design and development
• Bronze – Jayden Swygert of Roy-Hart, Cosmetology, for barbering
• Bronze – Miya Goodale of Barker, Health Occupations Technician program for first aid/CPR
• Bronze – Jayden Colleta of Roy-Hart, Vincent Molisani of Albion, Tyler Chraston of Roy-Hart, Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering program, for automated manufacturing technology

Anthony Cercone of Lockport won first place in CNC Milling.

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Contractors are milling Main Street in Medina today, taking off the top layer of asphalt as part of a repaving project.

Keeler Construction in Barre is the main contractor for the project.

Medina will see about $750,000 of state-funded pavement in the village. Medina is using its CHIPS funds and more than $600,000 from the state as an official touring route. The CHIPS and touring route funds are both managed by the state Department of Transportation.

The areas to be paved include:

• Main Street from railroad tracks to Commercial Street
• Prospect Avenue from lift bridge to West Center Street
• Park Avenue from Main Street to the village clerk’s office
• West Center Street from Main to Prospect
• North and South Academy from Ohio Street to Catherine Street
• Genesee Street from Park Avenue to West Oak Orchard
• South Avenue from Main to Gwinn Street