ECRWSS PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID DENTON PUBLICATIONS/ NEW MARKET PRESS PO Box 338 Elizabethtown NY 12932 Postal Patron
Saturday,ÊD ecemberÊ31,Ê2016
>>
www.SunCommunityNews.com
In SPORTS | pg. 14-15
>>
Winter teams head for break
In opinion | pg. 6
>>
Flawed from the start
PLUS: 2016 Moments of the year
In INDIAN LAKE | pg. 2
Sounds of the season
Boreas classification process improper
Students spread music
Tri-county area grapples with home aide crisis Lagging Medicaid reimbursement rates threatens service to local patients By Pete DeMola
pete@suncommunitynews.com
ELIZABETHTOWN — The tri-county area is scrambling to maintain funding for a program that provides personal care assistance to keep residents living independently. North Country Home Services reported earlier this month they would have been forced to pull out of Essex County by Dec. 31 without a financial lifeline from county lawmakers. Lawmakers on Tuesday approved $80,000 in eleventh-hour emergency funding to keep
the programming afloat. But the lifeline is a stop-gap measure and officials have broader questions about the future sustainability of the service across the region. ‘CRISIS SITUATION’ The nonprofit serves 150 patients in Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties. Care is split into two components: Level 1 services are generally hands off, and include tasks like light cooking and cleaning and changing bed linens, among other errands. Level 2 services include bathing, grooming and more traditional nursing services. Those are billed back to insurance companies. But the former is covered by Medicaid
— and the reimbursement rates to the providers are lopsided. While it costs $29.50 per hour to provide those services, NCHS is only being reimbursed $22 from the state Department of Health, resulting in what Essex County officials say are cumulative six-figure losses. “North Country Home Services cannot afford to continue providing Level 1 services based on the previous information,” Essex County Department of Social Services Commissioner John O’Neill told lawmakers earlier this month. “The Medicaid rates are just far below their actual costs.” If NCHS pulls out of Essex County, officials fear 40 patients will be pushed to the second category, causing an uptick in future costs.
And if they are determined to be ineligible for that program, the result could mean a complete loss of care. “If these people don’t get Level 1 care, they’re going to end up in a nursing home,” said Moriah Supervisor Tom Scozzafava. RURAL WOES While the state’s Medicaid program is undergoing deep reforms as part of the Affordable Care Act, including county takeover of Medicaid eligibility, the looming problem — which local officials are referring to as a “crisis” — can more be attributed to the rural nature of the North Country, said Essex >> See MEDICAID | pg. 16
Musketeer Holly Bearor is a re-enactor and hunter
By Lohr McKinstry
lohr@suncommunitynews.com
RESIDENTS LAUDED: With great food and terrific community support, the annual Adirondack Community Outreach Center Volunteer Holiday Party took place the evening of Dec. 21. The annual celebration is designed to commemorate the hard work volunteers put into the successful running of the Outreach Center in North Creek as well as a recognition of individuals who exemplify and demonstrate the spirit of volunteerism. This year’s recipient of the Bill Heidrich Recognition Award Certificate of Appreciation was given to Larry and Pat Carr. Presented by Sally Heinrich, the Carrs, she said, have quietly and modestly dedicated themselves to the community for many years. Pictured above: Pat and Larry Carr.
SCHROON LAKE – Not many women own a flintlock rifle, but Holly Bearor has two. The Schroon Lake woman takes her muzzleloader to historic re-enactments, and has even bagged a deer with one. She was the cover story for the October issue of Muzzle Blasts, a monthly magazine devoted to the use of muzzleloading firearms and published by the National Muzzleloading Rifle Association based in Indiana. “I got a .45 caliber flintlock in 1978, the Tulle (.62 caliber) musket in 1990,” Bearor said. “The Tulle is a French infantryman’s musket. I have a bayonet for it that I got for Christmas. “What other woman got a bayonet for Christmas?” The .45 caliber was custom made for her by armorer Doug Anderson, with a Siler flintlock and a Green Mountain barrel, and she entered and won various competitions with it. She started attending historic re-enactments as a French marine. “I said someday I want to participate, throw a tomahawk, shoot,” Bearor said. “My first reenactment as a French marine was the Battle on Snowshoes. I went from being a camp follower to a French marine private. “It gave me a lot more to do. It was fun being a guy.”
Photo by Mike Corey
>> See BEAROR | pg. 16