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Times of Ti
February 1, 2020
suncommunitynews.com
• EDITION •
State ignoring Essex County? Ambulance program: no funding, contract By Tim Rowland STAFF WRITER
ELIZABETHTOWN | Close to a year and nearly $1 million into a $2.27 pilot program designed to improve ambulance service, Essex County still has not received any reimbursement, or even a signed contract from the state, which is supposed to be picking up the tab. “I’m very concerned,” said Shaun Gillilland, chairman of the Essex County Board of Supervisors. “No one (at the state level) can tell us where the money or the contract is.” The state aid is supposed to help get the project off the ground, and give the county a head start toward the possible creation of a countywide EMS service. With the expectation of reimbursement, Essex County has been fronting the costs of the pilot program, which pays for medical personnel and emergency vehicles in rural towns that have had trouble providing service. Those costs have to date topped $700,000, and on Friday the supervisors approved another $100,000 for two new medical cars. County Manager Dan Palmer advised supervisors to approve the purchase, despite the lack of state communication. Grant funding is frequently slow to arrive, Palmer said, and worst case, even if the state fails to come through, the county would still need the vehicles. He said he expects the state will fulfill its commitment, but still, it would be nice to have it in writing. “The contract has still not been returned,” he said. “We keep asking about it, but don’t get a good response as to where it is.” But if the county stops approving purchases it could make matters worse by causing further delay at the state level, he said. Last April the county agreed to accept the state grant to pay for full-time staff to supplement existing volunteer EMS operations in Crown Point, Ticonderoga, Moriah and Wilmington. Like much of the nation, the North Country has had trouble fielding an adequate number of volunteer first responders, and that’s led to dropped calls and prolonged response times. The pilot program is designed to provide a solution, but there are a number of moving parts, and Lots of issues remain up in the air, including how the program will be funded and expanded after the grant money runs out. Meanwhile, Gillalland said, the county has continued in good faith by staffing ambulance departments in Southern Essex County, with Wilmington on the runway and other towns, including Willsboro and Essex looking for help as well. “We need to get (ambulance) coverage to these people,” Gillilland said. Making matters worse was the 2019 Halloween storm that did several million dollars worth of damage to Essex County infrastructure. Fortunately the county has received word that it’s eligible for federal disaster relief, but “if we hadn’t gotten FEMA aid we’d be in a hurt locker right now,” Gillilland said. ■
Ti hospital honors its past Timeline shows changes through the years Ticonderoga Historical Society President Bill Dolback and hospital board member Bob Dedrick inspect a timeline depicting the story of the University of Vermont Health Network Elizabethtown Community Hospital-Ticonderoga Campus, formerly Moses Ludington. Photo by Tim Rowland
By Tim Rowland STAFF WRITER
TICONDEROGA | It’s the hospital with a name as long as a paragraph, the University of Vermont Health Network Elizabethtown Community HospitalTiconderoga Campus. But no matter, because mostly it’s still known around town as Moses Ludington. And last week, the University of Vermont (UVM) Health Network honored the old hospital’s past with the unveiling of a photographic timeline of the hospital’s legacy dating back to its birth 112 years ago. The permanent display spans a corridor off of the hospital’s main entrance, in celebration not just of the founder, Horace Moses, but of those who have walked its hallways through the decades. “Horace would be pleased with what he started back in 1908,” said John Remillard, president of Elizabethtown Community Hospital, paying tribute to the medical advancements and the people instrumental in the hospital’s growth. “In just about every picture there are people — these are special people working at a special place, and that’s why it’s going to endure for
another hundred years.” One of those faces in the photos was that of a fresh-faced physician’s assistant named Robert Berrick, pictured in 1978. It was another time of transition, said Berrick, as the hospital stood at the threshold of modern medicine. “When I fi rst came here, most of the doctors had been trained in the ’30s and ’40s,” Berrick said. “Some of the medicine we take for granted today didn’t exist.” The nearest CT scanner was in Glens Falls, and physicians were sometimes reluctant to embrace new techniques, he said. Ticonderoga Historical Society President Bill Dolback said the first hospital had 12 beds and expanded over the years until the current building went up in 1981 on ground that had once grown fruits and vegetables for the hospital kitchen. When the new hospital opened, patients were wheeled across the parking lot to the new facility. Jodi Gibbs, who is coordinating the transition to the UVM network, said the hospital had a trove of archives from which to draw, including photos and ledgers. “The board was in favor of some recognition — they didn’t want a hundred years of history to be forgotten,” she said.
A big, Little party
LEDGESIDE EMERGES BEHIND MAC’S RUBBLE
Market demolition exposes historic gem
The photos show past board members, candy stripers and one of Carol Ferguson, who for years was credited as being the grease that kept the hospital running. The timeline includes one particular mystery: There’s a 1932 photo of nurse Ann Gijanto with a set of newborn quadruplets. But while she’s poured over the records and found several sets of triplets, Gibbs said, there is no notation of quadruplets. There was, however, the notation of the birth of Robert Dedrick, who went on to become a Ticonderoga supervisor and is a current member of the hospital board who attended last week’s ceremony. “I love these pictures; they’re very attractive and colorful and I think they caught the essence of the people who worked here,” he said. The fi nal panel pays tribute to the most recent transition, when Moses Ludington Hospital was purchased by The University of Vermont Health Network–Elizabethtown Community Hospital and “With a grant award from New York state, a $9.1 million remodel is completed to ensure high-quality care continues to be available to the Ticonderoga community, just as Mr. Moses envisioned over 100 years ago.” ■
ROOST honors North Country senator
See LEDGESIDE » pg. 5
From Staff Reports SUN COMMUNIT Y NEWS
Ledgeside peeks out from behind a mound of rubble from the demolition of Mac’s Village Market, a building that had kept the mansion hidden from sight for more than 60 years. Photo by Tim Rowland
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SARANAC LAKE | There will be many tributes to Republican Sen. Betty Little in 2020 as she completes her 18th and final year in the state senate. That’s the price of having helped so many people. Last Thursday, a packed ballroom at the Hotel Saranac turned out to thank Little and wish her a happy retirement. “When I was a supervisor, when I was important, I had my own parking space,” said former North Elba Supervisor Roby Politi, as he surveyed the packed house. “Today I had to park at Ray Brook and take an Uber.” Tupper Lake Mayor Paul Maroun quipped that Little was able to succeed where he has failed: “You’ve brought my whole village board out together,” he said. Little was honored during the annual reception of the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism, which has worked with Little on multiple projects through the years. The event drew politicians and well-wishers from across the North Country — even some whose jurisdictions were no longer in Little’s district. See LITTLE HONORED » pg. 2
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