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Volume 213, No. 33
COOPERSTOWN AND AROUND State to require healthcare workers to be vaccinated All healthcare workers in New York will be required to get the COVID vaccine, with the first dose being received no later than Monday, Sept. 27. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the changeTuesday, Aug. 17. It applies to hospital workers as well as long-term care facilities such as nursing homes. There will be limited exceptions for either religious or medical reasons. Bassett Healthcare CEO Tommy Ibrahim stressed in an email the importance of getting the vaccine to hospital staff. “I understand that we all have very personal feelings and opinions regarding vaccination. But during a public health crisis of this scale, we must consider more than just ourselves as individuals. This is about doing the right thing for our patients and community,” Ibrahim said. INSIDE ►FALL PREP: College officials talk about back-to-school rules as they prepare for the fall semester. Page A3. ►BASSETT AWARDS: Kuhn, Riesenfeld given two of network’s highest honors. Page A3. ►LAKE TAKE: Editorial gives praise to groups that keep Otsego Lake clean. Page A4. ►FIELD OF DREAMS: Pathfinder Village residents get major-league instruction at Doubleday Field on Sunday. Page A7: ►LONG WAITS: 2020 Hall of Fame inductees Larry Walker and Ted Simmons both waited a long time for their honors. Page A7. ►ARTSY HOMECOMING: CSO leader combined writing with love of area arts. Page A9. Follow Breaking News On
AllOTSEGO.com ►COMMON COUNCIL: Oneonta council adds firefighting staff. ►DRAGON LEGENDS: SUNY Oneonta names its new class of Athletic Hall of Fame members. ►COVID UPDATES: As the Delta variant spreads in Upstate, follow the latest numbers.
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AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE
Cooperstown, New York, Thursday, August 19, 2021
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Next governor, Hochul, draws praise locally By KEVIN LIMITI Kathy Hochul, New York’s governor-in-waiting, has made a favorable impression on Otsego County officials the past few years. Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig said Hochul had visited Oneonta at least a half a dozen times. “She has been very supportive of Oneonta’s effort to revitalize and restore our economy,” Herzig said. “I think she’s a true friend of Oneonta. I hope to get her to visit Oneonta in the near future.” Common Councilmember Len Carson, a Republican who is running for mayor this year, also had positive things to say about Hochul, who is a Democrat. “I’m looking forward to seeing someone representing New York state that’s from Upstate. It would be nice to see the type of leadership she’s going to bring,” Carson said. “I’m very hopeful that Upstate New York will finally have a friendly ear to our concerns, rather than NYC being the one that gets the attention.” Hochul has also visited Cooperstown several times, including for a tourism symposium a year ago, where she met with Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh. “She certainly knows Upstate far more than any other governor,” Tillapaugh said. “For the first time in the history of the village there are four women on the village board and we are all thrilled that we will have a female governor.” Tillapaugh touted Hochul’s credentials in serving local town government and on the congressional level. “She has a wealth of experience
File photo
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hachul speaks at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Aug. 10. 2020, during a tourism symposium in Cooperstown. A year later, she is preparing to become New York’s first female governor.
but she’s a good listener. She goes around the state and listens to the concerns of local constituents,” Tillapaugh said. “I think these are all critical components. I don’t think she’s going to be dictatorial in any way.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation Tuesday, Aug. 10, in the wake of an independent report
that said he sexually harassed as many as 11 women while in office, and he and his staff retaliated against a whistle blower. A Buffalo native and Syracuse University graduate, Hochul was an aide to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. She served as a member of her town board and as Erie County Clerk. She was elected to
Congress during a special election in 2011 and won a primary to become Cuomo’s second in command in 2014. Hochul recently sought to distance herself from Cuomo, saying they were not close and in the past few days, she intends to promote a harrassment-free workplace.
Helios Care named as finalist for major award By GREG KLEIN Oneonta’s Helios Care is a top 25 finalist for a prestigious award for innovative palliative care. The John A. Hartford Foundation Tipping Point Challenge, sponsored by the Center to Advance Palliative Care, is a “national competition to catalyze the spread of skills, ideas and solutions that will improve health care delivery for all people living with a serious illness,” according to its website. “We are absolutely honored to be included with Mount Sinai and Indiana University and all the other prestigious groups,” said Helios CEO/President Dan Ayers. “I think we are the smallest group on the list by far. There is one from Kentucky. Obviously, they cover a rural area, but we are smaller.” Ayers said the recognition feels particularly special because a lot of it
is for programs Helios has already put in place. “We are unusual among our peers,” he said. “Some of them are on the list for what they plan to do. Ayers We are on there for what we have done.” Foremost among the accomplishments, he said, was reducing acute care needs 70% among patients, and redirecting health care and end-oflife issues so they were taken care of earlier and without the need for too-late or just-in-time emergency services. Ayers said the change in services provided by the group parallel its 2019 name change from Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care.
At funding levels of health care and human services departments, more emphasis was being put on encouraging long-term solutions for health care for the aging. With baby boomers becoming senior citizens, there is a known wave of older people coming that are better served in their homes and with their families for as long as possible, he said. “I tell people in our business, ‘you have to find the wave and ride it before it gives out and then you need to find the next wave,’” Ayers said. The shift has allowed the group and its employees to focus on helping people live in comfort longer, Ayers said. “Now it has become a more thoughtful and delicate decision, that people can prepare for on their own,” he said. “It has become a pragmatic decision rather than a knee-jerk decision.”
According to the challenge, the programs are judged on how they: • Improve communication skills and/or pain and symptom management skills among all specialists treating CHF, COPD and cancer; • Improve systematic access to specialist-level palliative care; • Implement a population health approach to identify and address patients with serious illness and unmet needs. Gold, silver and bronze winners will be announced in October, but Ayers said being on such a prestigious list is already a win for a small organization in the Catskills. “I could not be prouder of our staff,” he said. “We had to explain to them, ‘this is not hospice. We are providing a different service now. They adjusted and they have responded wonderfully. “Helios Care has innovation in its DNA,” he said.
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD