Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 155, No. 39
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
INSIDE
Kennett football 31-14...1B
Jennersville Hospital to close in 2022
Tower Health’s Board of Directors announced on Tuesday that Jennersville Hospital in Penn Township will be closing in 2022. Tower Health issued a statement saying, “After months of thoughtful exploration and analysis, the Tower Health Board of Directors today wins, announced a series of actions that will reshape the health system and establish a clear path forward for decades to come.” One of those actions is “beginning an orderly process to close Jennersville Hospital, effective January 1, 2022. During this period, the hospital and emergen-
Lincoln University receives gift...5B
$1.00
cy department will remain open and continue to care for patients and the community. Tower Health is fully committed to placing as many impacted employees and physicians as it can into other positions within Tower Health for which they are qualified, or through priority consideration for open positions at Penn Medicine, with which we recently announced plans to develop a strategic alliance, and which offers a variety of services in the Chester County region.” The press release further stated that Tower Health Photo by Chris Barber will continue to operate St. Jennersville Hospital is now slated to close in 2022. A community hospital has Continued on page 6A
operated at this location in Penn Township since 1959.
Red Rose Rent Day blooms again in Penn
Jenny Moore is still standing tall One local woman had to have part of her leg amputated and she battled other health issues, including infections and COVID-19. But, as a result of physical therapy and a lot of faith, she remains hopeful that a brighter future awaits By Betsy Brewer Brantner Contributing Writer
Prestigious Outten...1B
honor
for
event—Penn Township Historical Commission vice chairperson Scott Steele, State Sen. Carolyn Comitta, and State Rep. John Lawrence—took turns outlining the fascinating history of the property and the importance of historical preservation. Two themes quickly emerged. First, there is a long and storied history attached to the Red Rose Inn site; and second, the Penn Township officials involved in the preservation effort should be commended for their roles in preserving
For Jenny Moore, life as she knew it changed three years ago. A simple cut on the foot, irritated while she standing on her feet at work, progressed to an infection. Moore, like many people working a parttime job, didn’t have health insurance. She had diabetes, but due to the high cost of insulin, she was rationing the much-needed medicine. She explained, “With me, an infection can go from zero to 60 in no time. I had just finished working the Friday Courtesy photo after Thanksgiving and planned on going Jenny Moore is hopeful to church the next day. that she can regain some independence when she Eventually, I became gets a prosthesis. concerned and called my uncle and asked if he could take me to the hospital. He did. I found out I was septic, and then I contracted MRSA (an infection) at the hospital. From there, I was going in and out of consciousness. I asked the doctor if he was going to remove my toes. He said, ‘we are going to have to take a portion of your leg.’ I had just turned 47.”
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INDEX Courtesy photo
Opinion.......................7A While people lined up to tour the Red Rose Inn, four of the Penn Township superObituaries...........2B & 5B visors— Laura Sperratore, Victor Mantegna, Jay Ennis, and William Radar O’ Connell—posed for pictures with William Penn. Longtime supervisor Curtis Mason
Classifieds..................4B was unable to attend the festivities, but he was instrumental in the years-long effort by the township to purchase and preserve the Red Rose Inn.
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By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
© 2007 The Chester County Press
The Red Rose Inn, dressed up beautifully after years of meticulous renovations both inside and outside, welcomed visitors for the first time in more than a decade on Sept. 25 as Penn Township officially unveiled to the public the historically important building at 804 West Baltimore Pike. The township also revived Red Rose Rent Day—on the 290th anniversary of the day that this interesting petal of local lore began.
At 11 a.m. last Saturday morning, Penn Township Board of Supervisors chairperson Victor Mantegna stepped inside a tent that was set up next to the Red Rose Inn to welcome the dozens of attendees who had gathered to celebrate this unique piece of local history. The tent was filled to capacity and beyond, and Penn Township officials were elated that so many people turned out to see the results of a years-long effort to preserve the Red Rose Inn and transform it into a showcase of local history. The speakers at the
Expert Gary Liska gives presentation at Kennett Farmers Market
Habitat of monarch butterflies seriously threatened, expert says By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer At a Sept. 24 presentation at the Kennett Farmers Market that celebrated the pollination and migration of the monarch butterfly, expert Gary Liska told an audience of 50 that the insect’s future is being threatened to the point where its current habitat is as delicate and fragile as one of its beautiful wings. Liska, who plants private gardens laden with milkweed in order to attract the insect – was one of two presenters at an event sponsored by Historic Kennett
Square, the Mt. Cuba Center, the Kennett Library and Casa Guanajuato Kennett Square, a non-profit organization that encourages and promotes the culture, traditions, arts and education of Mexican community in Chester County. Liska said that while the monarch butterfly remains “one of the greatest pollinators out there,” its population has reduced by 90 percent over the past 25 years. While the annual migration of the Eastern monarch butterfly is impressive – it flies as many as 2,500 miles from the U.S. and Canada
where they breed, all the way down to the forests in central Mexico where they hibernate – the migration is under threat from several sources. Liska pointed to one possible factor – the proliferation of the tropical milkweed that primarily grows in the southeastern portion of the U.S. While it has exploded in popularity and proliferation, he said it posts serious threats to the viability and frequency of the monarch’s migrations. Because of that, “those monarchs never migrate, and if they don’t have that,
it throws off their natural migration cycles to Mexico,” Liska said. “The warmer we get and the average night time temperatures become, the more it will affect the flora, that have a significant impact on a monarch butterfly’s cycle and what they are programmed to do.” They key problem for the monarch butterfly with the tropical milkweed plant is that they follow their primary food source, and because it is an all-year plant, it becomes the primary source of sustainability for the insect. Subsequently, “they will
strand the monarchs to the point where they can’t migrate and keep them around longer than what they should have,” Liska said. “The types of milkweed that die off naturally is a program for them to move south, but if you throw in a new food source that doesn’t [die off], that’s a huge problem.” Man-made decisions are also taking a devastating toll on the monarch butterfly. The continued deforestation of Mexican forests have seen tall grasses filled with milkweed – full of white Continued on page 6A