_______________ east meadow ______________
HERALD
your HEALTH body / mind / fitness
and JANUARY 11, 2024
with a focus on:
Resolutions and Healthy Lifestyle
Vol. 24 No. 3
E.M. schools are best in state
longtime CoBA president retires
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JANUARY 11 - 17, 2024
Raccoon illness rates are high across TOH Her daily routine involves caring for a variety of animals in need of rehabilitation. In the Karenlynn Stracher first morning she feeds as many as helped an injured gull when she 100 animals, which include was 17. Now, nearly 40 years birds, raccoons, and squirrels later, her home doubles as an that she houses in cages. She feeds them by bottle or syringe. animal rehabilitation center. She kee ps water S t r a c h e r, 5 6 , bottles and dishes rehabilitates sick of food full. All the and injured wild cages are cleaned animals across Nasevery day. sau County. She is a “After that, I go one-woman show, into food pre p,” caring for a couple Stracher said. “So I of hundred winged mix for mulas for a n d f o u r- l e g g e d different species, I patients every year. chop ve g etables, Now she is pleading and then, by that with the Town of time, it’s usually Hempstead to open time for afternoon a facility where anifeedings.” mals can get the KARENlYNN At the end of the attention and help day, she does the they need, as she STRAChER laundry, washing f aces challeng es Animal rehabilitator the blankets, towel including an outand rags she uses to break of a fatal diskeep the animals warm and order in raccoons in Town of clean. She must feed baby aniHempstead communities. “Volunteers for Wildlife, who mals every two to three hours was the only wildlife rehabilita- around the clock, so, she said, tion center in Nassau County, she is up all night long. Any free time she has usualleft Nassau County last year,” Stracher said. “So whatever ly involves taking calls from rehabbers are left in Nassau animal control of ficers, or County, which are a few of us, police, letting her know about work out of our houses.” Continued on page 4
By BEN FIEBERT
bfiebert@liherald.com
Mike Monahan/Herald
Concerts return to East Meadow library The James Weidman Trio, a jazz group, took to the stage at the East Meadow Public Library on Jan. 7. It was the first concert of the new year, and there’s a lot more in store in the coming weeks. Story, more photos, Page 3.
At dealership, importance of organ donors is stressed By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
At a Westbury car dealership last week, Matt Carlson, Rallye BMW’s general manager, was able to tell his friends and colleagues that he’d be receiving the gift of life — a new kidney — from his daughter, Stephanie Trotti. And while he’s abundantly fortunate, many people in New York that need an organ aren’t as lucky. There’s nearly 8,000 people in the state on a waiting list for a life-changing donation, and while 3,300 residents received an organ donation last year, roughly 400 people on the transplant list die each year due to a shortage of donors. In New York, only 47 percent of the population is signed up to be an organ donor through the New York State Donate Life Registry— the lowest percentage in the country.
Rallye Motor Company, which has dealerships in Westbury, Rosyln and Glen Cove, partnered with Donate Life New York State, a nonprofit organization, to bring attention to Carlson’s story, and raise awareness about the life-changing impact of organ, eye and tissue donations. Juliana Terian, president and chief executive officer of the Rallye Motor Company, said the New York State Auto Dealers Association, and car dealerships, play a huge role in assisting Donate Life. “Dealerships are vital to organ donation,” she said at a news conference on Jan. 5. “We need so much to educate people on the importance of being able to donate. Forty-seven percent of the population in New York is signed up to be an organ donor — we have a long way to go. The goal here, with (Donate Life), is to ensure a life Continued on page 7
W
hatever rehabbers are left in Nassau County, which are a few of us, work out of our houses.