NNY Business August 2015

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Y usIness

AUGUST 2015 Volume 5 No. 9

nnybizmag.com

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l Annuah healt care issue

Regional health care at work

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THE INTERVIEW St. Lawrence Health System CEO David B. Acker p. 44

Partnerships with CNY hospitals improve rural patient outcomes $2.95

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// Northern New York’s Premier Business Monthly //

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August 2015 | NNY Business

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126 Bellew Avenue, Watertown • 315-788-0805

NEW PATIENTS WELCOME www.docschonfield.com

Participating With Cigna, Delta Dental, Guardian, MetLife & United Concordia 4 | NNY Business | August 2015

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Inside AUGUST 2015

20 19

36 38

26 |

COVER |

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20 REGIONAL PARTNERS North country hospitals align with CNY facilities for high-level trauma care. |

GUEST ESSAY

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16 honor the mountain Committee works to build permanent monument to 10th Mountain Division. |

SMALL BIZ STARTUP |

19 GLUTEN-FREE goodness Potsdam couple brings love of good food, minus gluten, to St. Lawrence County.

HEALTH CARE |

26 healing all wounds Samaritan launches exclusive wound care center with broad range of patient services.

28 davita lowville Dialysis center brings muchneeded service to Lewis Co. 32 charting a new path Despite financial challenges, at 50, Carthage Area Hospital optimistic about its future.

36 critical rounds ‘Hospitalists’ deliver care to most ill hospital patients.

38 native smile sparkles Watertown woman takes leap, opens her own dental office. |

REAL ESTATE |

42 Q2 REAL ESTATE REPORT Certainty about Fort Drum’s future boosts homes outlook.

43 ToP TRANSACTIONS The top 10 property sales in Jefferson, St. Lawrence, counties total $13.5m in June |

BUSINESS HISTORY |

64 A pioneering doctor Sackets’ Dr. Samuel Guthrie discovered chloroform in 1831.

August 2015 | NNY Business

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BusIness

C o n tr i b u t o r s

www.nnybizmag.com

Chairman of the Board Gilbert H. Pearsall Jr. is chairman of the North Country Honors the Mountain Committee.

He outlines plans for a 10th Mountain Division Monument. (p. 16)

Lance M. Evans is executive officer for the Jefferson-Lewis and St. Lawrence County Board of Realtors. He explains new forms that will affect buyers, sellers. (p. 41)

Joleene Moody is a freelance writer who lives in Pulaski with her husband and daughter. In Entrepreneur’s Edge, she writes about taking steps to ‘figure it out.’ (p.48)

Tracy Leonard is deputy director of the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization. She writes about developing a top health care workforce for the north country. (p. 50)

John B. Johnson Jr.

Publishers

John B. Johnson Harold B. Johnson II

VP News Operations Timothy J. Farkas

Magazine Editor

Kenneth J. Eysaman

Staff Writer / Editorial Assistant Lorna Oppedisano

Larry Covell is an attorney and professor of business at Jefferson Community College.

He explains the eviction petition process in part two of his series. (p. 51)

Brooke Rouse is past president and CEO of the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce. She shares tips to improve in-person networking skills. (p. 52)

Jay Matteson is the agricultural coordinator for the Jefferson County Industrial Development Corp. He writes about protecting local farmland for the future. (p. 53)

Photography

Jill Van Hoesen is chief information officer for Johnson Newspapers and a 28-year IT veteran. She writes about planning for future digital and network demands. (p. 54)

Justin Sorensen, Jason Hunter, Melanie Kimbler-Lago, Amanda Morrison

Director of Advertising Michelle Bowers

Magazine Advertising Manager Beth Hornbarger

Advertising Graphics

Brian Mitchell, Rick Gaskin, Heather O’Driscoll, Scott Smith, Todd Soules

Circulation Director Jennifer McCluskey is an advisor for the state Small Business Development Center at SUNY Canton. She explains network marketing. (p. 55)

Norah Machia is a freelance writer and veteran Watertown Daily Times reporter. In our cover story, she examines health care partnerships in NNY and CNY. (p. 20)

Eli Anderson is a Watertown Daily Times reporter. He writes about Samaritan Medical Center’s new specialized wound care center in Watertown. (p. 26)

Gabrielle Hovendon is a former Watertown Daily Times reporter and freelancer. She writes about how a 12-year-old ‘hospitalist’ program has improved care. (p. 36)

MARKETPLACE Adirondack Surgical Group .................... 33 Advanced Business Systems .................. 14 Avon Shoes & Orthopedic Center ........... 10 Bay Area Bakery & Chocolates ............... 49 Blue Seal Feeds ..................................... 49 Bradley’s Military ................................... 18 Bonnie Castle Resort & Marina .............. 37 Carthage Area Hospital ............................ 5 Caskinette’s Ford .................................... 61 Central Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired ............................... 15 Cesario Family Dental Center ................. 71 CITEC .................................................... 17 Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center ........... 25 Clayton Dental Office ............................. 49 Coleman’s Corner .................................. 49 CREG Systems ....................................... 18 Crouse Hospital ....................................... 6 DaVita Lowville ...................................... 50 D.L. Calarco Funeral Home .................... 51 Dr. Guitar Music ..................................... 49 Fairground Inn ....................................... 49 Fidelis Care .............................................. 4 Foy Agency ............................................ 43 Fishing for Freedom Thousand Islands .... 70 Fuller Insurance ..................................... 43

8 | NNY Business | August 2015

Garlock’s Design Center ......................... 42 Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce .......................... 68 H.D. Goodale Co. ................................... 43 HighTower Advisors ............................... 46 Hospice of Jefferson County .................. 65 Immaculate Heart Central Schools ......... 65 Jefferson Co. Economic Development .... 34 Jefferson-Lewis BOCES ................... 27, 31 Lewis County General Hospital .............. 72 Lewis County Hospice ............................. 9 Macar’s ................................................... 60 Marra’s Homecare .................................. 48 Massena Memorial Hospital .................. 41 Massey’s Furniture Barn ......................... 66 McCue Dental ........................................ 40 Meade Optical ........................................ 58 Nigro Companies ................................... 29 NNY Business 20 Under 40 ................... 35 NNY Community Foundation ................. 24 North Country Family Health Center ...... 67 North Country Urgent Care .................... 39 Northern Radiology Imaging .................. 40 Northwestern Mutual .............................. 14 Nortz & Virkler Ford ............................... 11

Occupational Medicine Associates ......... 15 Pivot (ASAC of Jefferson County) .......... 10 Rainbow International ............................ 14 Regional Medical Management .............. 40 River Hospital ........................................ 39 Samaritan Medical Center .................. 2, 40 Schonfield Dental ..................................... 4 Sea Comm Federal Credit Union ............ 54 Shred Con .............................................. 55 Slack Chemical Co. ................................ 53 State Street Wine and Liquor .................. 49 St. Lawrence Health System ................... 47 T.F. Wright & Sons Granite Foundry ....... 52 The Lundy Group of Companies ............ 22 Tunes 92.5 FM ....................................... 62 Waite Motorsports .................................. 59 Waite Toyota ........................................... 63 Washington Summit ............................... 23 Watertown Daily Times ........................... 41 Watertown Internists ............................... 33 Watertown Savings Bank .......................... 3 Watertown Spring & Alignment .............. 11 Wells Communications .......................... 67 WWTI TV50 ............................................ 69 Ziebart Tidycar ....................................... 11

Mary Sawyer

NNY Business (ISSN 2159-6115), is published monthly by Northern New York Newspaper Corp., 260 Washington St., Watertown, NY 13601, a Johnson Newspaper Corp. company. © 2010-2015. All material submitted to NNY Business becomes property of Northern New York Newspaper Corp., publishers of the Watertown Daily Times, and will not be returned.

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Submissions Send all editorial correspondence to keysaman@wdt.net Advertising For advertising rates and information in Jefferson and Lewis counties, email bhornbarger@wdt.net, or call 315-661-2325 In St. Lawrence County, e-mail blabrake@ogd.com, or call 315-661-2507 Printed with pride in U.S.A. at Vanguard Printing LLC, Ithaca, N.Y., a Forest Stewardship Certified facility.

Please recycle this magazine.

INTERVIEW | 44 vision for rural care A conversation with CantonPotsdam Hospital/St. Lawrence Health System CEO David B. Acker on how New York State’s largest rural county is dealing with changes in health care. |

COLUMNS | 16 guest essay

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ABOUT THE COVER

|

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48 Entrepreneur’s edge 50 ECONOMICALLY SPEAKING 51 BUSINESS LAW |

DEPARTMENTS

10 11 12 14 19

52 53 54 55

COMMERCE CORNER agribusiness BUSINESS TECH BYTES SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS

41 56 58 64 66

real estate roundup CALENDAR busines scene BUSINESS history WHAT’S HAPPENING HERE?

|

EDITOR’S NOTE PEOPLE ON THE MOVE ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT BUSINESS BRIEFCASE SMALL BIZ STARTUP

For this month’s cover photo, St. Lawrence County-based Photographer Jason Hunter met Kammi Hernandez and her 2-year-old son, Joseph, at Gouverner Hopspital where Joseph received emergency care last fall before he was taken to a Syracuse hospital burn center. Our cover story about how north country hospitals partner with larger facilities for major trauma and specialty cases begins on page 20 by writer Norah Machia.

PAID FOR BY FRIENDS OF LEWIS COUNTY HOSPICE

August 2015 | NNY Business

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T

EDITO R’S N O T E his month we are again leased to deliver our annual health care issue, one of our largest editions of the year.

At 72 pages, I suggest you grab a cold glass of iced tea, because you’re in for a long read as we begin the dog

days of summer.

In the pages that follow, you’ll find stories that touch nearly all who live and work in the north country.

As north country hospitals and health providers adapt to change by way of federal and state reforms, we examine the relationships that local providers Ken Eysaman have with larger trauma centers in Syracuse and elsewhere and how partnerships help maintain the continuum of care. From our cover story by writer Norah Machia, which begins on page 20, to a new wound care center in Watertown and a dialysis treatment facility in Lowville, to the story behind Carthage Area Hospital’s rise from the ashes of financial ruin, you will learn something new about one of the north country’s most valued sectors of our economy.

We also profile a Watertown native who, after graduating from the College of Dentistry at New York University, returned home to practice. Dr. Katie Clough-Perin recently opened her own practice on Washington Street.    20 questions — This month we sit down

with David B. Acker, president and chief executive officer of St. Lawrence Health System, Canton-Potsdam Hospital and the CantonPotsdam Hospital Foundation. Mr. Acker shares his vision for successful health care reform on New York’s largest county. Our interview with Mr. Acker begins on page 44.

tion, our largest this year, begins on page 58, and features 70 faces from more than four-dozen north country businesses and organization across the tri-county area.

On July 16, we joined the Greater WatertownNorth Country Chamber of Commerce for its July Business After Hours at AmeriCU Credit Union. On July 21, we saw history made at New York Air Brake as the iconic manufacturer of train braking systems celebrated its 125th anniversary at its Starbuck Avenue plant with Heinz Hermann Thiele, owner of German-based parent firm Knorr-Bremse, on hand.

On July 22, our Carthage staff joined the Carthage Area Chamber of Commerce for its July Business After Hours at the Little Sisters Inn at Herrings. That same day, columnist Jennifer McCluskey joined the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce for its July Business Spotlight at the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Resort near Massena.

On July 24, we joined dozens of public and elected officials and family members at Watertown International Airport for as the ribbon was cut on the airport’s new business center, which was dedicated in honor of World War II aviator Mary Ellen Cooper Cox. Finally, on July 26, we joined the River Hospital Foundation for its 13th annual Festive Evening at Bonnie Castle Resort & Marina in Alexandria Bay. Nearly 380 supporters and friends of the hospital helped kick off a $5 million capital campaign.    20 UNDER 40 — Nominations are now open

for our 5th annual NNY Business 20 Under 40 program that honors emerging leaders who show promise in their professions and communities. Turn to page 35 for a nomination form and look for more information in next month’s issue and on our website, nnybizmag.com, where you will find all the requisite details about the program and luncheon. On Thursday, Dec. 10, we will recognize the class of 2015 during a luncheon at the Hilton Garden Inn, Watertown.

Your in business,

   BUSINESS SCENE — This month’s scene sec-

AVON SHOES & Orthopedic Center Rx FILLED • EXPERT FITTING • PERSONALIZED SERVICE Your Family Shoe Store For Open Monday - Friday 9am - 5:30pm, Saturday 10am - 2pm 10 | NNY Business | August 2015

PEOPLE O N T H E MO V E

JCC honors faculty, staff

Four Jefferson Community College faculty and staff members recently received the 2015 State University of New York Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence.

Jack N. Donato, Watertown, associate professor of computer science, was recognized for excellence in teaching; Timothy F. Grosse, Watertown, associate professor of mathematics, for excellence in faculty service; William L. McMahon, Carthage, lab technician in the lab science department, for excellence in classified service; Robyn M. Rhyner, Sackets Harbor, assistant director of financial aid, for excellence in professional service. College president Carole A. McCoy presented honorees their medallions at a May 1 celebration.

Mr. Donato began teaching full-time at JCC in 1990. He is also involved in curriculum development, five-year program review committees, college governance and student activities. He serves as a department chairman and also recently as president of the college’s Faculty Student Association.

Mr. Grosse first joined JCC in 1997 as an adjunct instructor and then as full-time faculty in 2004. He has served as department chair, honor’s program coordinator, on the president’s advisory council and as College Senate President. He serves as the champion of a Title III grant initiative to assist faculty with the development of flexible format classes and course redesign.

Mr. McMahon joined the math and science division in 2003. He is responsible for and assists in four science laboratory classrooms and on lab field trips. He also works with the chemical hygiene and safety committee, campus safety committee and the emergency response team.

Ms. Rhyner has worked at JCC for 15 years. She manages the direct student loan program, leads the freshman scholarship review and is active in the NYS Financial Aid Administrators Association and the SUNY Financial Aid Professionals.

Sackets Harbor resident named to farm council

Sackets Harbor resident Julia C. Robbins has been appointed to the America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education Farmer Advisory Council for 2015 and plans to help the Monsanto Fund distribute $2.3 million in grants to rural school districts.

The council reviews the top grant applications for the America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education program and selects rural school districts from across the U.S. to receive grants of either $10,000 or $25,000 to enhance math and science education. The

Got business milestones? n Share your business milestones with NNY Business. Email news releases and photos (.jpg/300 dpi) to editor Ken Eysaman at keysaman@wdt.net. The deadline for submissions is the 10th of the month for the following month’s issue. Photos that don’t appear in print may be posted on our Facebook page. council aims to bring together farmers with a broad range of community leadership experience from across the U.S. Ms. Robbins works full-time at North Harbor Dairy, her family’s fifth-generation farm and Old McDonald’s Farm, her family’s agritourism business.

She was chosen to serve on the council because of her active involvement in the community, including programs such as the Garrett W. Loomis Foundation, where she is secretary. In addition, she serves on the Jefferson County Farm Bureau board of directors.

Photography studio expands staff

Heath Photography recently hired Brittany Hill, Heuvelton, as assistant studio manager. Her position includes reception, handling client orders, studio production, coordinating staff communications and maintaining inventory.

Ms. Hill, a 2009 Lisbon Central Hill School graduate, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art, with minors in art history and business at Cazenovia College.

She joins Heath staff members Penny Heath Kring, John Donovan, and Heidi Sourwine.

Deputy sheriff appointed

Holly M. Lyndaker is Jefferson County’s newest sheriff’s deputy, Sheriff Colleen M. O’Neill announced in June.

Ms. Lyndaker was deputized after graduating from the David Sullivan-St. Lawrence County Law Enforcement Academy at SUNY Canton.

Ms. Lyndaker is a 2006 graduate of Copenhagen Central School and received a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Oswego.

Please see People, page 17

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12 | NNY Business | August 2015

Average per-gallon milk price paid to N.Y. dairy farmers June 2015 $1.59 May 2015 $1.56 June 2014 $2.17

(Percent gains and losses are over 12 months)

Vehicles crossing the Thousand Islands, OgdensburgPrescott and Seaway International (Massena) bridges

26.7%

Source: NYS Department of Agriculture

431,876 in June 2015 449,697 in May 2015 481,219 in June 2014

Average NNY price for gallon of regular unleaded gas

Source: T.I. Bridge Authority, Ogdensburg Bridge & Port Authority, Seaway International Bridge Corp.

June 2015 $2.83 May 2015 $2.73 June 2014 $3.80

U.S.-Canadian dollar exchange rate (Canadian dollars per U.S. dollar)

25.5%

June 2015 $2.78 March 2015 $2.86 June 2014 $3.84

4.0%

$1.25 on June 30, 2015 $1.25 on May 29, 2015 $1.07 on June 30, 2014

Average NNY price for gallon of home heating oil

27.6%

16.8%

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of N.Y.

Average NNY price for gallon of residential propane

Nonagriculture jobs in the Jefferson-Lewis-St. Lawrence counties area, not including military positions

June 2015 $2.47 May 2015 $2.70 June 2014 $3.00

91,500 in June 2015 92,100 in May 2015 91,200 in June 2014

17.7%

0.3%

Source: NYS Energy Research and Development Authority

Source: NYS Department of Labor

Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors single-family home sales

St. Lawrence Board of Realtors single-family home sales

119, median price $150,000 in June 2015 100, median price $150,000 in May 2015 115, median price $139,900 in June 2014

63, median price $91,000 in June 2015 64, median price $95,500 in May 2015 72, median price $105,500 in June 2014

7.2%

3.5% Sales

12.5%

Price

Sales

Source: Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors Inc.

13.7% Price

Source: St. Lawrence Board of Realtors Inc.

NNY unemployment rates

6.3

5.5 May 2015

June 2014

5.5

United States

June 2015

6.2

5.3 May 2015

June 2014

5.3

6.6 June 2014

June 2015

6.4

New York State

May 2015

6.0 June 2015

6.6 May 2015

Lewis County

7.7

7.0 June 2015

June 2014

6.8

St. Lawrence County

June 2014

6.3 May 2015

5.9

Jefferson County

June 2015

ECON SNAPSHOT

NNY

Economic indicators

Source: U.S. Department of Labor and New York State Department of Labor (Not seasonally adjusted. Latest available data reported.)

Note: Due to updates in some “Econ. Snapshot� categories, numbers may differ from previously published prior month and year figures.

Economic indicators New automobiles (cars and trucks) registered in Jefferson County

Trucks 134 in June 2015 108 in May 2015 113 in June 2014

Cars 552 in June 2015 441 in May 2015 615 in June 2014

10.2%

NNY

18.6%

Source: Jefferson County Clerk’s Office

Passengers at Watertown International Airport

Open welfare cases in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties

3,694 inbound and outbound in June 2015 4,057 inbound and outbound in May 2015 3,270 inbound and outbound in June 2014

2,338 in June 2015 2,310 in May 2015 2,322 in June 2014

0.7%

13.0% Source: Jefferson County Board of Legislators

DBA (doing business under an assumed name) certificates filed at the Jefferson County Clerk’s office July 1 to July 31, 2014. For a complete list of DBAs filed in May and in past months, visit www.nnybizmag.com.

July 27: A.G.P. General Contracting, 27649 state Route 126, Watertown, Travis Pashow, 27649 state Route 126, Watertown, and Timothy Danks, 3562 Vanbrocklin Road, Carthage. n Partridge and Peartree, 33768 state Route 180, LaFargeville,

Lenka Podhrazsky Walldroff, 33768 state Route 180, LaFargeville.

n 315 Motorsports, 36477 Nolan Road, Theresa, William F. Murphy

II, 36477 Nolan Road, Theresa.

July 24: Lucy’s Caboose, 13346 Depot St., Adams Center, Robin A. Bailey, 243 Sterling St., Watertown.

July 23: Threads Recovered, 25860 Dano Road, Theresa, Krystal Anne Ried, 25860 Dano Road, Theresa. n Azgard, 25860 Dano Road, Theresa, Markus Ried, 25860 Dano

Road, Theresa.

n Frozen in Time Photography and Photo Booth, 420 N. Main St.,

Mannsville, Rebecca Anne Sicley, 420 N. Main St., Mannsville.

July 10: Sketch’s Artistic Expressions, 6 Institute St. Apt. 23, Adams, William Hubert Adams, III, 6 Institute St. Apt. 23, Adams. n Motown Gyros, 16642 Hagen Road, Lacona, Jeremy Edmund

Lueck, 16642 Hagen Road, Lacona.

n CNL Farms, 28364 Joyner Road, Theresa, Jamie Lynn Lewis, 28364

Joyner Road, Theresa.

July 9: Colleen’s Cherry Tree Inn, 8541 state Route 3, Henderson, Colleen Marie Bellinger, 6541 Nutting St., Henderson. n LaLone Consulting, 428 Flower Ave. W., Watertown, Laurie Ann

LaLone, 428 Flower Ave. W., Watertown.

n Wonderful Walls, 14371 state Route 12E, Chaumont, Aaron W.

July 22: Always Christmas, 1021 Bronson St., Watertown, Tammy L. Gentile, 1021 Bronson St., Watertown.

Cole, 14371 state Route 12E, Chaumont.

n Kennett Knowledge, 21033 Storrs Road, Sackets Harbor, Kerry

L. Appleby, 14442 county Route 85, Mannsville.

Eileen Kennett, 21033 Storrs Road, Sackets Harbor.

n JMW Livestock, 39010 Creek Road, Theresa, Jessica Lin Gillette,

39010 Creek Road, Theresa.

July 20: Smokin’ Hot Ice Cream, 181 Ward St., Watertown, David Francis Boucher, 181 Ward St., Watertown. n Ponderosa Steakhouse, 1290 Arsenal St., Watertown, Homestyle

Dining LLC, 3701 W. Plano Parkway, Suite 200, Plano, Texas.

July 16: ALT Web Designs, 31883 state Route 12, LaFargeville, Christopher Thurston, 31883 state Route 12, LaFargeville.

July 15: Let R Art Inspire, 114 S. Clinton St., Carthage, Peter Basta, 114 S. Clinton St., Carthage. n Alex Bay Self Store, 24126 state Route 26, Alexandria Bay, Daniel

McAloon, 2 Crestwood Drive, Alexandria Bay.

July 13: Dancing Dog Café, 5 Walton St., Alexandria Bay, Anthony M. Menkel III, 3 Cedar Isle, P.O. Box 25, Chippewa Bay. n Awesome ATV Service, 17398 Morris Tract Road, Chaumont, John

CM O’Connor, 17398 Morris Tract Road, Chaumont.

n Independent Energies, 14442 county Route 85, Mannsville, Jean

July 8: Creative Notions, 1123 Academy St., Watertown, Morgan Michelle Baker, 1123 Academy St., Watertown. n North Country Advisors, 200 Washington St., Suite 202,

Watertown, Jeffrey Kimball, 267 Ward St., Watertown, Steve Yelle, 36627 Reese Road, Clayton, and Trevor Garlock, 117 Reyes Ave., Watertown. n Out Foxed Fly Fishing, 18486 Woodard Road, Watertown, Todd Michael Alberry, 18486 Woodard Road, Watertown.

July 6: Downtown General Store, 27 Market St., Alexandria Bay, Richard S. Thomson, 75 Anthony St., Alexandria Bay. n The Coffee Shop, 615 Coffeen St., Watertown, Michael J. Mullins Jr., 31500 Elm Ridge Road, Philadelphia.

Snap-On Tools, 16403 state Route 12E, Dexter, Judes Edward Schnabel, 16397 state Route 12E, Dexter.

July 2: Stogies, 743 Huntington St., Watertown, Chad Johnson, 329 Broadway Ave. W., Watertown, and David Dasno, 3042 county Route 15, Pulaski.

n Jarvis Handyman Services, 15980 county Route 181, Clayton, John

n Staci Walts LMT, 720 Washington St., Watertown, Staci Lynn Walts, 720 Washington St., Watertown.

n Little Wise Guys, 443 S. Clinton St., Carthage, Elizabeth Esther

n North Country Cab, 45321 Deer Point Road, Wellesley Island, Mark Andrew Burns, 19580 Peel Dock Road, Fineview.

J. Jarvis IV, 15980 county Route 181, Clayton.

Cepeda, 443 S. Clinton St., Carthage.

transactions

DBAs

Source: Social Service Depts. of Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 13

BUSIN E SS B R I EFCA S E HEALTH CARE

Major gift kicks off River Hospital campaign

A $1 million donation from a longtime north country philanthropist will kick-start a capital campaign aimed at helping River Hospital expand its River Community Wellness Program, hospital Chief Executive Officer Ben Moore III announced last month.

Retired businessman and philanthropist Richard R. Macsherry shared news of his latest gift with nearly 250 hospital supporters gathered for River Hospital Foundation’s 13th annual Festive Evening at Bonnie Castle Resort & Marina July 26.

“This is my 98th year on the river,” Mr. Macsherry said, adding that the hospital is an “important institution worthy of our support.”

Three years ago, Mr. Macsherry, then 94, suffered a serious injury after a fall that required him to be airlifted to a hospital in Utica, his son, Richard H., a retired hospital administrator and member of River Hospital’s Board of Trustees said.

“He attributed his survival to the excellent care that he received at the emergen-

KEN EYSAMAN | NNY BUSINESS

River Hospital CEO Ben Moore III, left, Richard H. Macsherry, and father, Richard R. Macsherry, seated, at the River Hospital Foundation’s 13th annual Festive Evening at Bonnie Castle Resort & Marina on July 26.

cy room in River Hospital,” the younger Macsherry said.

Mr. Macsherry said his parent’s contributions to River Hospital during the past five years total about $2.5 million, adding that he has also pledged a personal gift of $100,000 to the capital campaign.

“My father just believes in supporting a range of service endeavors that help people,” he said.

Launched in February 2013, the River Community Wellness Program is the only civilian institution in the country to

offer an outpatient treatment program for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder. The Army announced May 13 that the program would be discontinued in July. On May 30, Army officials granted the hospital a reprieve and agreed to continue sending soldiers to the hospital’s program.

Positioning itself to become a leading provider of mental health services for the region’s military and civilian populations, River Hospital plans a $14 million project to build a three-story addition to its Fuller Street building. A $14 million state grant, including a $2 million match to be raised by the hospital, would pay for the 30,000-square-foot addition, Mr. Moore said.

The hospital had suspended a planned $5 million capital campaign while it weighed its future. Sunday’s announcement of Mr. Macsherry’s donation thrust the campaign back into action.

“It really means the future of this institution,” Mr. Moore said. “I am absolutely humbled by Mr. Macsherry’s generosity and kindness. We did not expect it.”

Visit www.riverhospital.org to learn more about the hospital’s capital campaign and how to donate.

— Ken Eysaman

Follow financial principles, not fads or trends.

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14 | NNY Business | August 2015

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BUSINESS BRIEFCASE EDUCATION

JCC breaks ground on learning center

Jefferson Community College and community officials recently broke ground for the school’s Collaborative Learning Center.

Scheduled for completion in April, the center will house academic support services, library resources, space for team projects or group study and more. Funding for the center has been provided by the college’s local sponsor, Jefferson County and the state.

Construction of the $11 million 36,000-square-foot facility has begun with removal of parking lot pavement and site preparation. Project management services are being provided by Purcell Construction Corp., Watertown. The building was designed by Mach Architecture, Williamsville, with Bernier Carr & Associates, Watertown. Bette & Cring Construction Group, Watertown, is the general contractor along with site contractor Cunningham Excavation, mechanical contractor Burns Brothers Contractors, electrical contractor Black River Mechanical and plumbing contractor Lawman Heating & Cooling.

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Cornell Cooperative Extension awarded grant

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County has been selected by Olive Garden, Watertown, to receive a $1,000 grant as part of the Darden Restaurant Foundation’s Restaurant Community Grants program.

The donation will enable Cornell Cooperative Extension to enhance the trail system at 4-H Camp Wabasso, Redwood, with signs, interactive displays and activities to familiarize youth, families and the community with native bird species.

REAL ESTATE

Edgewood owners buy Pine Tree Point Resort

The Pine Tree Point Resort is in new hands after being purchased by Janine and Benjamin Ridley. The pair, who have owned the Edgewood Resort, Alexandria Bay, for 13 seasons, bought the resort from Rick Thomson.

Mrs. Ridley said she and her husband were still developing plans to open and operate the resort, but called it a beautiful piece of property. She declined to name the price she and her husband paid for the property.

Please see Briefcase, page 18

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 15

g u est ess ay

A call to ‘Honor the Mountain’

R

By Gilbert H. Pearsall Jr. ecently, a group of Northern New York residents and business leaders formed a committee, the North Country Honors the Mountain, to build a monument honoring the sacrifice and service of the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division and the Fort Drum civilian workforce. It will also commemorate the 30th anniversary of the reactivation of the division in 1985 and the 70th anniversary of the 10th Mountain Division’s role in the allied victory of World War II. The city of Watertown has graciously donated its premier location to erect this monument: Tower Square in Thompson Park, an Olmstead-designed park.

It is the committee’s intent to restore Tower Square to its former glory and make it the crown jewel and centerpiece of the park with this fitting tribute to the men and women of the 10th Mountain Division who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.

The committee believes that building this off-post monument is important for Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain Division. The March 20 “We Love Fort Drum” rally held at Watertown’s Jefferson Community College sent an important signal to Washington, D.C., of the north country’s unwavering support and dedication to Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain Division.

But we need something more lasting. In the event of any future Defense Department base closure considerations, this monument in historic Thompson Park will serve as a permanent symbol of the community’s support for years to come.

The North Country Honors the Mountain committee plans to unveil the monument in July 2016.

The committee has commissioned Susan Grant Raymond of Boulder, Colo., to create the bronze reliefs for the monument. Susan has a long history with the association and sculpted the “Military Mountaineers” statute in 1991 depicting a World War II-era 10th Mountain Division soldier using a rope to assist a climbing 10th Mountain soldier outfitted in modern gear. In 2012, Susan created the Fallen Warrior monument, a two-part monument that tells a story of honor, camaraderie and humanity while depicting two themes: honoring the fallen and hope for the future. Both monuments are located at Memorial Park in front of division headquarters on Fort Drum.

Local businesses are designing and building the monument site at Tower Square.

16 | NNY Business | August 2015

committee is soliciting corporate and organiGYMO Architecture, Engineering & Land zational sponsorships. Major sponsors donatSurveying serves as the site architect and ing more than $2,500 will be acknowledged construction manager. Construction will on a donor’s plaque at the Tower Square site. be completed by Lawman Heating and Major local corporate and business sponsors Cooling, Purcell Construction, VETCO and so far include Samaritan Medical Center, Jake’s Lawn Care and Landscaping. Many Slack Chemical, New York Air Brake, ReEnmaterials will be supplied by local business like Jefferson Concrete Corp., Vespa Sand and Stone, T.F. Wright & Sons Granite Foundry and Taylor Concrete.

CheckPoint Graphics is providing marketing, VideoWorx is providing video, DOCO Quick Print is providing printing and Lamar Advertising will provide billboard services.

The new monument at Thompson Park will have four sides made A rendering of the proposed 10th Mountain Division Monument in Thompson of granite and shaped Park’s Tower Square, Watertown. as a mountain rising ergy Black River, Watertown Savings Bank, from a 35-foot diameter pad at the center of Otis Technology, Benefit Services Group, Tower Square in the middle of the park. Three Community Bank, Norstar Development, Key bronze reliefs will be mounted on three sides Bank, Northern New York-Fort Drum Chapter of the granite monument depicting the diviof the Association of the United States Army, sion’s major historical periNational Association of the 10th Mountain ods: the Mountain Soldiers of Division Association, as well as other busiWorld War II in Camp Hale, ness and individual donations.

Colo., and Italy from 1943 to 1945; the re-activation of the Thanks to a grant from the Northern New 10th Mountain Division and York Community Foundation, another major its participation on continsponsor, individual donations to the Honor gency operations in Hurrithe Mountain monument will be matched cane Andrew, Somalia, Haiti, dollar for dollar.

Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia, Individuals, business and organizations Bosnia and Kosovo from 1985 that wish to support can make checks payable to 2001; and the division’s to the Northern New York Community Founparticipation in Operation dation with “Honor the Mountain Monument Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom from Fund” noted on the memo line. You can mail 2001 to present. your tax-exempt sponsorship/contribution to The division unit patch will be etched the foundation at: Northern New York Comon the fourth side of the monument and munity Foundation, 120 Washington St,. Suite be available for the 50th anniversary of the 400, Watertown, NY 13601 reactivation. Additionally, the committee is Credit card donations can also be made at inviting the major local communities of the nnycf.org. Click on the “donate” button on city of Watertown, Jefferson, Lewis and St. the left side of the page. Please indicate your Lawrence counties and Fort Drum to create donation to the “Honor the Mountain Monua time capsule that includes items representment Fund” in the “add special instructions ing these communities and businesses. It to the seller” section on the second page of will be buried in front of the fourth side as the donation instructions. part of the monument unveiling ceremony Visit HonorTheMounain.com to learn more in July 2016. The intent is to unearth the about the project or to donate. time capsule upon the celebration of the 10th Mountain Division’s 50th anniversary of its Gilbert H. Pearsall Jr. is a retired Army reactivation in 2035. lieutenant colonel who served with the 10th The committee is in the middle of a fundMountain Divison at Fort Drum and former direcraising campaign to raise $400,000 to build tor of human resources for Johnson Newspaper the monument. As part of this campaign, the Corp. He lives in Carthage with his wife.

P E O P L E O N T H E M O VE PEOPLE, from page 11

Doctor named APA fellow

Mariam H. Asar was recently named a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. This marks the second fellowship for Dr. Asar. She was named a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1996.

In addition to her behavioral health practice with Canton-Potsdam Hospital , Dr. Asar has been reappointed as an adjunct clinical assistant professor in the department of physician assistant studies at Clarkson University.

Dr. Asar received her medical degree from Dow Medical College of Karachi University, Karachi, Pakistan. She completed a residency in pediatric care at Children’s Hospital of the Albany Medical Center and a residency in adult psychiatry at Temple University Hospital. She is board certified in pediatrics, psychiatry and neurology.

nounced his retirement earlier this year.

During Mr. Bartow’s tenure at the Tug Hill Commission, the agency celebrated its 40th anniversary, expanded attendance at its annual local government conference to nearly 700 and worked closely with the three state regional economic development councils that include portions of the Tug Hill region.

Mr. Bartow, Adams Center, is among three executive directors who have served during the commission’s 42-year history. All three elected to leave the commission upon their retirement from the state.

Prior to his service at the commission, Mr.

Bartow served at the state Department of State as the director of the Division of Local Government Services, serving as the New York Appalachian Region program manager. His prior experience also included a position with the New York State Senate as a research analyst and with the St. LawrenceEastern Ontario Commission.

Mr. Bartow holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from SUNY Albany and bachelor’s degrees in environmental studies from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and natural resources conservation from SUNY Morrisville.

New CFO at Children’s Home of Jefferson County

The Children’s Home of Jefferson County recently named Melissa L. Barcomb as its chief financial officer, responsible for the oversight of the finance department and agency financial operations.

Mrs. Barcomb was recently employed in Syracuse at the Center for Community AlterBarcomb natives as finance manager, and at Henderson-Johnson Co. as controller/divisional manager of accounting.

She previously served as an adjunct professor at SUNY Oswego as Adjunct Professor.

While at Oswego, she was also controller/ director of accounting for auxiliary services.

Mrs. Barcomb earned a master’s degree in business administration and accounting from SUNY Oswego.

She also serves as treasurer of the Children’s Board of Oswego as well as as chairwoman of the board’s Unsung Hero Committee and Poinsettia Holiday Drive.

Forest products group appoints new director

The Empire State Forest Products Association, Rensselaer, recently announced John K. Bartow Jr. as the organization’s new executive director. Mr. Bartow retired from the Tug Hill Commission earlier this summer.

He succeeds Eric Carlson, who an-

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 17

b u siness b riefc a se briefcase, from page 15 NONPROFITS

Children’s Home nets $142k program grant

The Children’s Home of Jefferson County, Watertown, will receive $142,500 to provide post-adoption services. The organization is one of eight agencies awarded money through the state Office of Children and Family Services.

In all, the state awarded $1.57 million to the eight programs, which represents a $570,000 increase over 2014-15, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced.

The additional funding will allow programs to provide clinical mental health and family counseling, parent education and training, youth development and other important resources to adoptive families.

The money was allocated in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families portion of the 2015-16 state budget. Families with incomes at or below 200 percent of the poverty line are eligible for post-adoption services.

JRC receives grant

The Jefferson Rehabilitation Center, Watertown, has received $8,000 in grant

funding from the New York state chapter of the Arc, a statewide advocacy organization that serves people with disabilities.

The grant is to be used for recreational opportunities for JRC clients.

Last year, JRC received a similar grant from NYSARC to provide art supplies, gym memberships, zoo admission and outings such as golf, fishing and trips to Enchanted Forest Water Safari in Old Forge.

TOURISM

AAA awards Harbor Hotel

The 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel, Clayton, has earned a Four Diamond status from the Automobile Association of America.

The hotel is one of 24 hotels in upstate New York to earn the distinction.

Opened in July 2014, 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel joins its sister properties, the Portland Harbor Hotel, Portland, Maine, and the Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel, Watkins Glen, both with Four Diamond ratings.

Buffalo-based Hart Hotels ownes and operates all three hotels.

MEDIA

Local station awarded

Watertown’s public broadcasting station, WPBS-DT, recently earned the Outstanding

Public Affairs Program or Series award from the New York State Broadcasters Association for “Public Eye Special Edition: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Tracy Duflo, director of production, and Roque Murray, producer/director attended the Tony Malara Awards Dinner for Excellence in Broadcasting in New York City to accept the award.

This year, WPBS-DT also won three awards of merit from The Accolade Global Film Competition for locally-produced “Building North Country Innovation,” “Bringing Caribbean Sounds To The North Country,” which was made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program, and “The Great Cable Carry,” sponsored in part by the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation.

The station has also been awarded two Communicator Awards: the award of excellence for the local production “The Great Cable Carry,” and the award of distinction for the local production “Building North Country Innovation.” In addition, WPBS-DT was the bronze winner in the 36th annual Telly Awards and the winner of the bronze summit international award in the category of history/ biography for “The Great Cable Carry.”

Each documentary is available for viewing online at watch.wpbstv.org.

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S m a ll B u siness sta rt up BUSINESS

3 Bears gluten free bakery & more THE INITIAL IDEA

Not all business epiphanies come while clowning around. The idea for 3 Bears Gluten Free Bakery & More quite literally did.

It was January 2014. Husband and wife Chris A. Durand and Faye M. Ori were at a party.

The couple runs Cubby T. Clown & Company, and were operating that day under the aliases of Cubby and Cuddles the clowns. When it came time to decorate cookies, Mr. Durand noticed a forlorn girl sitting by herself.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She answered that cookies make her sick; she had celiac disease.

“You know what? Cookies make Cubby sick, too,” Mr. Durand, who had been diagnosed with the same disease a few years ago, said.

The girl’s face broke into a smile.

Mr. Durand and Ms. Ori, who had wanted to start another business for years, had found their calling: they would open a gluten-free bakery.

TARGET CLIENTELE Since opening in January, 3 Bears has expanded from offering bakery items to presenting a variety of breakfast, lunch and dinner fare, including pizza, wings and a salad bar. The common theme across the menu board is apparent from the name; it’s all gluten-free.

But that doesn’t mean that 3 Bears aims at attracting only those restricted to a gluten-free diet.

“We’re hoping that people just come in and try it,” Ms. Ori said. “This is just another choice and we hope that people come out and enjoy it because it’s good food, and whether or not it’s gluten-free is irrelevant.”

So far, those hopes are coming to fruition.

About half of their clientele doesn’t follow restricted diets, she said. Mr. Durand added that 33 percent of their business is repeat customers, a feat that usually takes at least a year to achieve.

Smoothies have been customer favorites this summer, Ms. Ori said, adding that carrot cakes, raspberry-filled cupcakes and homemade bread have also been top sellers.

In a world where an estimated one in 100 people have celiac disease, some of them children, Ms. Ori said it makes her day when she can delight someone with an entirely gluten-free menu.

One of her favorite parts of the job is when “you get a child come in here and they have celiac,” she said, smiling, “and you tell them they can have anything in the case.”

THE JOURNEY

From idea and concep-

MELANIE KIMBLER-LAGO | NNY BUSINESS

“We’ve got such a crazy good reputation that we want to stay on track. Everyone’s proud of it.”

— Chris A. Durand, co-owner, 3 Bears Gluten Free Bakery & More tion to opening the doors to customers took about a year. The couple got the ball rolling quickly thanks to Mr. Durand’s extensive business background in restaurants, sales and food service, along with help and support from the St. Lawrence County community. The Small Business Development Center at SUNY Canton, North Country Savings Bank and the Town of Potsdam were each great help, they said.

“All these people have a lot of knowledge, and if there’s anything I’m anal about, it’s taking all the information I can get,” Mr. Durand said. “I bounce all my ideas off of them. You need all that input.”

3 Bears opened in the slow season, which was a conscious business decision that allowed them tgime to train and perfect menu items. Now that things are picking up, the staff — four full-time and eight part-time employees — is well-trained.

“Everyone knows what they’re doing,” Mr. Durand said. “We work well together.”

The biggest challenge the team has faced is predicting the amount of food to make each day and finding out they need more space in the kitchen for things like a second panini press, Ms. Ori said.

All in all, the couple knows they have a good thing going. They’re growing “like crazy,” Mr. Durand said, and the hard part is knowing the extent to which they should manage that progression. They have to balance moving forward with keeping their crew up to speed.

“We’ve got such a crazy good reputation that we want to stay on that track,” he explained.

“It’s pretty awesome that everybody knows the bakery. Everyone’s proud of it.”

IN FIVE YEARS

Mr. Durand and Ms. Ori’s daughter, who’s helped with company accounting already, plans to join the ranks at 3 Bears, making it a “real family event,” Ms. Ori said.

The couple hopes to expand the menu soon, as well. They want to offer items ranging from dairy-free to corn-free to vegan.

“We’d like to eventually be able to carry at least something for everyone,” Ms. Ori said.

Plans for a website are in the works, too. The goal is to provide a hub from which customers can order items wholesale. 3 Bears already sells wholesale to local colleges, doctors’ offices and pharmacies, and the couple hopes to expand that pool of buyers.

The owners have some ideas stewing on the back burner for years into the future: opening a full-service, fine-dining restaurant in the area, and expanding to Watertown or Burlington with a franchised location. Eventually, they’d like to be able to turn the business over to their daughters, Mr. Durand said.

But for now, the masterminds behind 3 Bears have one main goal.

“Neither one of us ever got into this to be rich,” Mr. Durand said. “We got into this to help people.”

— Lorna Oppedisano

WHERE 51 Market St., Potsdam | FOUNDED January 2015 | WEB Facebook.com/3BearsGlutenFreeBakery

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 19

Kammi Hernandez holds her 2-year old son, Joseph, outside Gouverneur Hospital last month.

Joseph burned his hands on an oven in October and received emergency care at the St. Lawrence County hospital. He was later transferred to olisano Children’s Hospital at Upstate, Syracuse, where he was evaluated and treated by pediatric burn specialists.

C O V E R S T O RY

Partnerships critical to continuum of care

north country hospitals align with syracuse facilities to manage major trauma, specialty cases

W

TEXT BY NORAH MACHIA | PHOTO BY JASON HUNTER

hen Kammi Hernandez received a phone call from her babysitter that her 2-year old son, Joseph, had burned his hands, she did not realize the extent of his injuries until she took him to the emergency room at Gouverneur Hospital.

The babysitter had opened an oven door and just as she turned, Joseph came in unexpectedly behind her and reached over and touched the inside door and a rack. The oven had been heated to more than 400 degrees.

“They evaluated Joseph right away in the emergency room and gave him medication for the pain,” Mrs. Hernandez said.

“They wrapped his hands in saline dressing to help cool them.”

But the attending physician knew that her son would need more advanced treatment because of the severity of his burns, she said.

He contacted Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, for a consult on Joseph’s treatment.

“They decided once he was stabilized, they needed to transport him to the Syracuse hospital” which was arranged through the Gouverneur Volunteer Rescue Squad, Mrs. Hernandez said.

Gouverneur Hospital is certified for 25 beds, and is affiliated with Canton-Potsdam

Hospital, under a parent organization, the St. Lawrence Health System.

Upstate Medical Center has a Level 1 Trauma Center that serves 14 counties stretching from Canada to the Pennsylvania border. The hospital is staffed 24 hours a day by in-house specialists and on-call physicians, who provide care for all types of severe trauma and life-threatening injuries, spokeswoman Doretta Royer said.

“Our regional trauma center contains sophisticated and current equipment to resuscitate, stabilize and support the most critically injured patient,” she said.

Mrs. Hernandez said, “they gave my son great care at the Gouverneur Hospital, but they also knew their limitations” for treating his severely burned hands.

Joseph was subsequently admitted to the Golisano Children’s Hospital at Upstate, where he was evaluated and treated by pediatric burn specialists.

“His fingers and palms were burned,” Mrs. Hernandez said. “They clipped off the damaged tissue so they could assess it. They gave him antibiotic cream, bandaged him again and gave him more pain medications.”

Joseph was discharged after a short stay at the hospital, but the road to recovery was just beginning. He needed enzyme cream applied to his hands and bandages changed

daily, and the family traveled weekly to Syracuse for follow-up care.

He underwent two separate skin graft procedures, “where they took skin from his thighs to graft onto his palms and index fingers,” Mrs. Hernandez said.

The accident happened in October, but the family made trips to Syracuse through May for Joseph’s treatments and evaluations.

“He received wonderful care in Syracuse, from the doctors and the nurses,” Mrs. Hernandez said. “I feel fortunate that we had access to those resources.”

Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital offers both primary and specialized medical care for pediatric patients, and operates the only pediatric intensive care unit in a 17-county referral area. The facility also has the only dedicated pediatric emergency department between Rochester and Vermont, Mrs. Royer said.

In cases of patients with severe burns, the adult burn victims are treated at the hospital’s Clark Burn Center, a six-bed adult intensive care unit, while children are treated by both burn and pediatrics teams at the Golisano Children’s Hospital.

The Clark Burn Center is a regional referral center that serves more than 27 counties.

Please see Partnerships, page 23 August 2015 | NNY Business

| 21

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C O V E R S T O RY partnerships, from page 21 While the Syracuse hospital works closely with north country facilities for emergency transfers, many patients can still receive specialized care closer to home.

Those options are continuing to expand with increased physician recruiting efforts and the advancement of telemedicine throughout the region.

In 2013, Samaritan Medical Center reestablished its neurosurgical program, and since that time, there have been 196 of those surgeries performed at the Watertown hospital, spokeswoman Krista A. Kittle said.

“We invested approximately $2 million to bring the program back to Samaritan Medical Center,” she said. “This has been an excellent program with Dr. Kidwai and the Central New York Neurosurgical Group. We are actually hoping to expand the program with the addition of another neurosurgeon we are currently recruiting.”

Neurosurgeons affiliated with Upstate Medical Center can provide emergency surgery 24 hours a day at both Samaritan and Carthage Area Hospital. Their north county practice, which includes a physician assistant, is Neurosurgical Associates of Northern New York, 629 Washington St. “The addition of the neurosurgery has

absolutely helped in this area to keep people here,” Ms. Kittle said.

It’s important to note, however, that Samaritan had already been offering emergency neck and back surgeries performed by surgeons from the North Country Orthopaedic Group, 1571 Washington Street, she said.

“The orthopedic group had done these type of surgeries all along and continue to do so,” she said. “The neck and back surgery was not re-established, it was the brain and cranial work that was re-established.”

Although SMC is not a state-designated trauma center, “that does not mean that we don’t treat trauma. We treat it every day,” Ms. Kittle said.

Approximately 60 to 70 percent of trauma patients “stay here at SMC, and we treat a variety of traumatic injuries when we have the specialty or level of care that the patient’s injuries call for,” she said.

“Some trauma patients are stabilized here in order to be able to survive the transport to Syracuse,” she added. “And some are transported to Syracuse directly from the scene if they are stable enough to make the trip.”

The decision of whether to transport a patient to Syracuse or provide treatment at the Watertown hospital is “made on a case by case basis and in the best interest of the patient, and is determined by which level of

care that patient needs in order to have the best outcome,” Ms. Kittle said.

“We just don’t have the volume of trauma in our region that larger cities have” in order to justify the expense of such a highly specialized service, she said.

In addition to transferring critically injured trauma patients to Upstate, the Watertown hospital has agreements with other facilities in Syracuse as well.

For example, “we no longer offer diagnostic cardiac catheterization. That’s another example of a specialty that didn’t have the volume of patients in the region to support the program,” Ms. Kittle said.

All cardiac patients requiring transfers are sent to St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, she said.

Samaritan Medical Center also has a transfer agreement with Crouse Hospital, which has a Level 3 Neonatal Care Intensive Unit. The babies who are born earlier than the 32 week gestation are typically transferred to the unit at Crouse. Once the babies reach the 32 week gestation level, they are transferred back to Samaritan Medical Center, which has a Level 2 NICU. North country emergency medical responders also play a vital role in helping to coordinate the initial care of trauma patients, said Charles Brenon III, Jefferson

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 23

COV E R STORY County EMS coordinator.

“All the regional hospitals are part of a medical control system,” Mr. Brenon said.

“Emergency medical providers in the field will contact physicians in the emergency rooms to help determine if a patient should be taken to a local hospital or transported directly to Syracuse.”

A hospital medical control system, “such as the one at Samaritan Medical Center, is a key part of the process,” he said.

“A field provider will call medical control before leaving the scene,” Mr. Brenon said.

“They are not making the decision on their

24 | NNY Business | August 2015

own, although they may tell medical control what they believe would be the best option for the patient, because they are right there.”

Local hospitals often help stabilize patients for transport to Syracuse, particularly if they have an “unmanaged airway,” Mr. Brenon said.

“In that case, the patient is taken to the closest facility to get the airway stabilized” before an attempt is made to transport the victim to Syracuse, he said.

An unmanaged airway could be the result of an obstruction, massive facial trauma, or a crushed trachea, he said.

“The quicker we get a critically injured victim to a Level One Trauma Center, the better the odds of survival,” Mr. Brenon said. “That’s why we worked so hard to get the helicopter service back, because seconds count.”

In 2007, Fort Drum’s Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic program, along with its medical emergency helicopter that had been serving the north country, was reassigned to Fort Lewis, Wash.

After that departure, the region had been served by helicopter units from outside Jefferson County.

In 2012, it was announced that Air Methods Corp., Englewood, Colo., would operate the emergency helicopters under the name LifeNet of New York. The company uses a fee-for-service model that requires no additional government or hospital funding.

The helicopter will respond to the scene of an accident, or a pre-established loading zone, and it can also land at Samaritan Medical Center’s helipad on top of the hospital’s parking garage. A trip between the Watertown hospital and Syracuse takes approximately 28 minutes.

Another factor that will help reduce the need for emergency transports to the Syracuse hospital is the expanding field of telemedicine, said Denise K. Young, executive director of the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization “Many specialty services are available in our region and they are growing all the time,” she said. “Telemedicine capability is also growing. Each of the hospitals and many of the primary care clinics now have telemedicine capability.”

The growth in telemedicine has been the result of a large fiber network established through the Development Authority of the North Country. The field is expected to grow even faster as a result of state legislation that will go into effect Jan. 1, 2016, requiring private insurers to reimburse facilities for telemedicine services, she said.

“We expect to see a significant expansion in the availability and usage of telemedicine,” after Jan. 1, Mrs. Young said.

North country hospitals and health care facilities in Jefferson and Lewis counties have already been using telemedicine services for specialties such as psychiatry, psychology and pain management, said David C. Johnson, certified telehealth liaison with the FDRHPO. The organization is “progressing quickly with a teletrauma project between Upstate Medical and the six regional hospitals around Fort Drum,” including SMC, Carthage Area Hospital, River Hospital, Alexandria Bay; Lewis County General, Lowville;

C O V E R S T O RY Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, Ogdensburg and Massena Memorial, he said.

“The teletrauma equipment is in place in all these hospitals, training has been completed on that equipment, and we are simply awaiting credentialing and various paperwork measures,” he said.

“We are hopeful that by the end of this year, patients will be well served through this project” that will allow video conferencing and examinations of trauma patients in the emergency departments between physicians at local hospitals and Upstate, Mr. Johnson said.

By using telemedicine to treat patient, “the geography goes away,” he said.

“This gives the patients access to care they normally would not have,” Mr. Johnson added.

Upstate Medical Center is also encouraging the practice of medicine in rural areas through its Rural Medical Education Program, referred to as RMED, said Mrs. Royer.

The program is offered through Upstate’s Department of Family Medicine, and places third-year Upstate medical students to work and train in rural primary care settings.

Samaritan is a participant in the RMED program, which offers students a unique clinical education, “working side-by-side with local physicians in small communities,” said Ms. Kittle.

The Watertown hospital also offers third and fourth-year students at several other medical schools the opportunity to rotate in a variety of specialties, and a Graduate Medical Education Program with training options for new physicians in areas such as osteopathic family practice, she said.

Dr. Benjamin Rudd is a graduate of the RMED program and works in the Samaritan Family Health Center network. Although his primary location for training was Lewis County General Hospital, he was based at Samaritan for more specialized training in areas such as Ear, Nose and Throat, Ophthalmology and Urology.

“As I was finishing my residency in Illinois, I was looking to this area for a position because my family is here,” he said. “I looked at several area hospitals, but I was extremely interested in staying academically involved in medicine.”

“I believe that teaching is an integral part of the physician’s role: teaching our patients, community members and future health care practitioners,” said Dr. Rudd, who spends time each week supervising Samaritan’s resident clinic. “Samaritan allowed me to pursue this interest.”

Dr. Rudd added “I’ve been able to create a rewarding balance of supervis-

ing resident physicians, teaching medical students, and caring for patients.”

Other north country educational partnerships with Upstate include the Nurse Practitioner Master’s Programs at Jefferson Community College, offered through Upstate’s College of Nursing.

Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and Family Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (FPMHNP) programs are also available, along with part-time education for working nurses with bachelors in science degrees, Mrs. Royer said.

A Physician Assistant Master’s pro-

gram is offered through Upstate’s College of Health Professions, which has students commit to practice in rural areas and share clinical sites with Rural Medical Education students.

Respiratory therapy and medical technology education is also offered through special programs at Jefferson Community College, with participation by hospitals in the Fort Drum region, Mrs. Royer said. n NORAH MACHIA is a freelance writer who lives in Watertown. She is a 20-year veteran journalist and former Watertown Daily Times reporter. Contact her at norahmachia@gmail.com.

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 25

H E A LT H C A RE

Emily Bachmann shows the hyperbaric chamber, which oxygenates the body and facilitates healing, at Samaritan Medical Center’s new outpaitent Advanced Wound Care Center on Coleman Avenue, Watertown.

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

Healing local wounds

Samaritan’s new center offers broad range of care

By Eli Anderson

P

NNY Business

eople living in and around Jefferson County who struggle with recurring or unhealed wounds now have a convenient location for specialized care.

Last month, Samaritan Medical Center opened an outpatient clinic specifically for treatment of chronic wounds. The Advanced Wound Care Center, just off Arsenal Street at 165 Coleman Ave., offers a broad range of services including debridement, surgery and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Dr. James V. Stillerman, the center’s medical director, said treatment offered at a wound care center is different from at a traditional hospital or doctor’s office.

“We concentrate on just the wound, which is a little bit different from when you go and see your family doctor,” he said. “We have the capacity to treat them,

26 | NNY Business | August 2015

local patients who usually commute to debride them and, more importantly, we Syracuse, Ogdensburg or farther. follow them, usually once a week until “In the wintertime, or if you are they’re healed.” elderly, you can’t imagine doing that “This gives us a continuity of care every week,” he said. “Most wound clinthat is unique and specialized,” he said. ics have semiretired general Dr. Stillerman said he surgeons that work two days a pitched the idea for the center week. The thing that is unique to Samaritan last year, citing about here is that I’m here five similar centers in Syracuse, days a week.”

Ogdensburg and Utica as Dr. Stillerman is assisted at inspiration. the center by several others, “It’s a growing field, and including a program director, there’s a big need for it,” care coordinator, hyperbaric he said. “I think wounds in technician, nurse and clerical general really don’t get the Stillerman staff. attention they should.”

The clinic features five Dr. Stillerman is boardstate-of-the-art examination rooms, one certified in general surgery and advanced of which is designated for more advanced wound care. Before he came to Samaritan in January, he practiced general surgery at treatments.

Just down the hall from the exam rooms Lewis County General Hospital, Lowville, lies a large room that contains two hyfor about 12 years. perbaric oxygen chambers. The two glass He said having a wound care center capsules provide an oxygen-rich environin Watertown will mean shorter trips for

ment to help boost healing for people with ulcers and other chronic wounds.

“You change the pressure in the chambers, and 100 percent oxygen is delivered,” Dr. Stillerman said. “What that does is put more oxygen in your blood. Over time, this is a way of getting nutrition and allowing those tissues to start to heal.”

For diabetics, particularly those with diabetic neuropathy, this technology can be extremely beneficial, Dr. Stillerman said.

“

In the long run, you keep people out of the hospital.

That’s kind of the way medicine is going. The idea is that if you can pick a wound up earlier, you’re ahead of the game.

— Dr. James V. Stillerman, medical

director, Advanced Wound Care Center “Diabetes is a major problem in the United States,” he said. “With a diabetic, they are more prone to ulcers and wounds, and when they have them, their healing capacity is less than the normal person.”

According to data collected by the Jefferson County Public Health Service in 2013, more than 11 percent of adults in the county have diabetes, which is higher than the state rate of 9.4 percent.

“If you have long-standing diabetes and it is poorly controlled, your cells that fight infection don’t work as well when your blood sugar is high,” Dr. Stillerman said.

Apart from providing a needed medical service, the addition of the specialized clinic further reinforces the region’s commitment to the state’s Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment, or DSRIP, program, which calls for increased outpatient care and decreased hospital visits.

“In the long run, you keep people out of the hospital,” Dr. Stillerman said. “That’s kind of the way medicine is going. The idea is that if you can pick a wound up earlier, you’re ahead of the game.”

Call the center at 779-5003 or visit http://wdt.me/wound-care. n eli anderson is a Johnson Newspapers staff writer. Contact him at eanderson@wdt.net or 661-2442.

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 27

H E A LT H C A RE

Closing a gap in rural care DaVita proves divine for Lewis County dialysis patients

By Joleene Moody

T NNY Business

he rally to bring dialysis services to Lewis County began a decade ago with a petition started by local dialysis proponent Edward Ingersoll.

The signatures totalled more than 2,400 and, with the help of Mr. Ingersoll, eventually landed on the desks of Lewis county legislators.

It was the first step of many that would face a series of issues, including a lengthy certificate-of-need process that seemed to linger at the state level far too long, ultimately causing Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare in Utica, a potential dialysis partner, to pull out of any possible enterprise with the hospital.

But local officials forged on, with Mr. Ingersoll’s constant encouragement, to bring to the county a service that was very much needed. In 2011, the search for partnership ended when Lewis County General Hospital met and contracted with DaVita, a Denver-based integrated health care company.

Dawn Berry, a registered dietician, is the facility administrator at the DaVita Lowville dialysis center. She came on board shortly after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility in March 2014. She first experienced DaVita when she lived in Iowa with her husband, covering maternity leave for one of team members there.

“I fell in love with the company because of the way they treat their patients and the people who work for them,” Mrs. Berry said. “None of us were considered staff members, we were considered teammates. It’s the same here in Lowville. We care for our patients and teammates with our head, hands and heart. This is our core value.”

DaVita opened its eight-station dialysis center at the county-owned hospital in a 7,200-square-foot addition off the west side of the Medical Arts Building last March. Mrs. Berry said patients who uti-

28 | NNY Business | August 2015

SPECIAL TO NNY BUSINESS

Jillian Ringwald-Dale sets up patient James Freeman for a dialysis session at the DaVita Lowville center at Lewis County General Hospital in this October 2014 file photo. Mr. Freeman, a two-time kidney transplant recipient, said he’s happy to be able to receive dialysis treatments locally, rather than having to travel to Watertown or Utica.

lize the center are appreciative of the convenient location. Before the center rented space from the hospital, patients in need of this specific kind of care had to drive to Watertown or Utica for treatments.

“If someone has to be treated three times a week for three to five hours, the last thing they want to do is add a 45 min-

ute drive or longer, there and back,” Mrs. Berry said. “Dialysis can be a scary thing, so less drive time takes some pressure off. We love our time with our patients.

We spend so much time with them, they become like family. You learn about who they are and they learn about you. It creates a special socialization that some of

DaVita Lowville n To learn about dialysis and how it works at DaVita, the center provides monthly education classes for family members and patients.

WHERE: 7785 N. State St. Ste 1, Lowville PHONE: (315) 377-3090 WEB: DaVita.com

our older patients don’t otherwise have.”

The partnership with the hospital has proved to be more than Mrs. Berry could ask for. While DaVita is not actually a part of Lewis County General Hospital, the faculty administrator says the hospital takes care of them as if they were.

“If we need something, they are there.

Even if we need a light bulb checked, they help us out. They send a maintenance person over from the hospital to take care of it. It has been an incredible partnership and we are very grateful for it, “Mrs. Berry said.

“

We care for our patients and teammates with our head, hands and heart.

This is our core value.

— Dawn Berry, facility

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(8) To date, the center has catered to 27 patients, all of whom are residents of Lowville and the surrounding areas. For Mr. Ingersoll, the petitioner who got the ball rolling to bring a dialysis center to Lewis County, it is a proud place to be, but not one he stands in alone.

“I’m really glad this is over and I’d like to thank the people who made this possible,” Mr. Ingersoll said during the ribbon-cutting last March.

Lewis County General Hospital Chief Executive Officer Eric R. Burch is one of those people he thanked, saying,” Mr. Burch has done more and worked harder to get this going than anyone else.” n Joleene moody is a creative coach, author, freelance writer and comedic speaker based in Oswego County. She lives in Pulaski with her husband and daughter. Contact her at joleenemoody.com.

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August 2015 | NNY Business

| 29

H E A LT H C A RE

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

Samaritan Medical Center, Watertown, is starting a new advisory council that will include former patients as members. The health care provider aims to receive feedback from people who have experienced care as consumers so hospital officials can better address patient needs and solve problems.

Patients as partners Samaritan seeks members for new advisory council

By Joleene Moody

T NNY Business

here’s a new advisory council on the horizon at Samaritan Medical Center and when it’s all said and done, a panel of 10 to 12 community members will be prepared to advise the hospital, it’s leadership and staff on ways to enhance the experiences that patients and families have when seeking medical services and care.

“We want to include patients as partners,” said Rachel Holmes, Samaritan’s manager of patient engagement and community relations. “This is becoming a best practice for health care organizations nationally. It’s crucial we include patients and family members in the decisions of a

30 | NNY Business | August 2015

hospital. To do so, we need to get feedback in an open forum.”

While the Affordable Health Care Act encourages hospitals across the country to create advisory boards, it is not mandated in New York State.

At least not yet.

But in an effort to stay ahead of the curve and respond accordingly to the needs of the community, Ms. Holmes said the council needed to form.

“We want to include voices from all population pockets. If we miss some of those pockets, we’re missing a portion of the clientele that we serve. We want a good representation of people from across the community,” she said.

Using the power of social and local media, the medical center put a request for

applications out in the spring, ending the selection process in June. One of those applicants was Erin Loomis, an employee of the Children’s Home in Jefferson County.

Ms. Loomis said she hopes to be selected, primarily so the community can be made aware of the number of no-cost services available to them.

“I’ve been working in mental health for six years. Before then, I never knew what was available,” Ms. Loomis said. “I had a personal experience years ago where I needed immediate surgery. The insurance company deemed it elective surgery and I had to pay. Had I known Samaritan had a patient assistance program, it could have saved me from serious financial burden.

We need to inform the community of of what is out there and how to access it.”

Samaritan advisory board n The first meeting is slated for September.

Anyone interested in becoming a future member should email info@shsny.com, subject line: Patient/Family Advisory Board.

Ms. Loomis’ application is one of 29 received. The hospital is still in the process of interviewing candidates.

“There isn’t one applicant in the bunch that we don’t believe can bring something to the team,” Ms. Holmes said. “Whittling them down to make sure we have equal representation throughout the community will be difficult, because they all bring great perspective.”

Four to six hospital staff members will also be a part of the council, in place to share perspective and answer any questions the council community may have.

“

This is a great opportunity for leaders to hear what the community has to say.

— Rachel Holmes, manager of patient

engagement and community relations, Samaritan Medical Center “We want to hear stories from patients about their experiences,” Ms. Holmes said, “positive or not so positive. It’s vulnerable for us as an organization to have people tell us what they think. This alone is an indicator of Samaritan’s willingness to change and become better than they already are.”

Ms. Loomis is ready to share her experiences so community members don’t face the financial challenges she faced.

“This has been a long time coming,” Ms. Loomis said. “It’s important that the community and the organization take it seriously. This is a great opportunity for leaders to hear what the community has to say. It’s frustrating when you have a grievance or even something positive you want to share, and you never get any feedback. I want to hear them say, ‘We heard you, and this is what we are going to do to fix it.’” n Joleene moody is a creative coach, author, freelance writer and comedic speaker based in Oswego County. She lives in Pulaski with her husband and daughter. Contact her at joleenemoody.com.

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 31

H E A LT H C A RE

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

Carthage Area Hospital Chief Executive Officer Richard A. Duvall and Hospital Board of Directors President Gary E. Rowe in the hospital emergency room last month. After a fiscally challenging four years, the celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

A golden anniversary Facing challenges, Carthage Area Hospital perseveres

By Lorna Oppedisano

C

NNY Business

arthage Area Hospital has had a rocky past couple years, 2011 putting the organization on particularly bumpy ground. In October, the hospital board of directors was presented a statement citing a $1 million gain in profit. After reevaluation, it was found that hospital had actually lost money that year. By the end of December, it was about $7.6 million in debt.

Now, a mere four years later, the light at the end of the tunnel seems to finally be in view for an institution that was established as a rural community hospital in 1965. And the positive trajectory couldn’t have come at a better time, as employees and the community mark the hospital’s 50th year with an eye toward celebrating a future that was in doubt

32 | NNY Business | August 2015

little more than a year ago.

“It was a fast turnaround, but it’s because a lot of people stepped up to the plate,” Gary E. Rowe, president of the hospital’s board of directors, said.

The financial free-fall really began in 2010, Chief Executive Officer Richard A. Duvall explained, and was caused by a few different factors that led to the hospital’s instability.

First, the organization had spread itself too thin.

It simply couldn’t sustain the nearly 30 clinics it operated under its umbrella sprawled across just 50 miles.

There was a reduction in reimbursements from TRICARE, the health care program of the Defense Department’s Military Health System, and also a change in reimbursement philosophy on the part of Medicare, both of which delivered

negative impacts. At that point, the hospital wasn’t really set up to handle those reimbursements, Mr. Rowe said.

On a larger scale, the nation was shifting focus from acute to primary care.

The hospital was also in the midst of implementing a new electronic medical record system, the issue to which Mr. Duvall said most of the public attributed its struggles. With this change, another issue became apparent: there were problems in the billing department.

“Because of that, there was a large amount of care that was delivered and wasn’t actually billed,” Mr. Duvall explained, adding that the problem was noticed in 2011, and traced back to 2010. In November 2011, the Watertown Daily Times reported that former patients owed the

H E A LTH C A RE hospital more than $15 million.

Finally, a great amount of change in leadership poured salt in the wound. In 2011, Chief Information Officer Philip “Skip” Edie, Chief Financial Officer Mark B. Hills, Primary Care Administrator Zachary K. Chapman and Administrator of Patient Care Services Roger E. Bull each resigned. At the end of the year, then-CEO Walter S. Becker retired under pressure from the board after working at the institution for 14 years.

Clearly, there was need for change before the situation would improve. Shortand long-term strategic plans were implemented.

“The first thing we did was right-size the organization to a point where we could gain control,” Mr. Duvall said.

This meant transferring control of a number of hospital clinics to other organizations, such as its Harrisville outreach clinic to Lewis County General Hospital and clinics in Adams and Cape Vincent to Samaritan Medical Center. In some cases, like the its Sackets Harbor Clinic, officials chose to close facilities all together.

In the end, what should prove to be the No. 1 saving grace is the hospital’s recent designation as a critical access care facility, Mr. Duvall said. Such institutions are rural hospitals that maintain 25 or fewer beds and receive federal reimbursement funding of 1 percent above the cost of providing care.

Carthage Area Hospital applied for this designation in April 2014 and received it a few months later in July. To meet the criteria, the organization had to make a few changes.

First, it had to shrink the bed count from 78 to 25. Next, officials had to pay mind to a mileage restriction, limiting the number of clinics they could operate. By this point, officials had already cut the majority of these clinics, Mr. Duvall said.

He explained that the hospital took a number of other steps to fix its fiscal house that had the organization hemorrhaging cash. A benefit program was restructured from the rich plan the hospital had previously offered to meet statewide benchmarks, he said. Performance-based contracts with providers replaced standard employee agreements that had been the norm in the past.

“There’s a certain level of production that is expected of the providers to meet,” Mr. Duvall said.

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H E A LT H C A RE care organizations, including critical access hospitals, were expanded to include emergency room and some surgical procedures.

Mr. Duvall also cited revenue cycle improvement as a corrective action taken.

This essentially began in 2011 when the issues in the billing department were brought to light and experts were hired to address the situation.

“I think there’s always room for improvement,” he said, “but we have the problem 97 percent fixed.”

The last fix Mr. Duvall cited is affiliations with other local health care organizations and consulting groups. Carthage Area Hospital has partnered with St. Joseph’s Hospital with its Franciscan Group Sleep Lab and Durable Medical Equipment and with SUNY Upstate Medical University for its Stroke Center. The hospital shares a nursing home administrator with Lewis County General Hospital, and hopes to work with other regional partners soon, the plans for which should pan out in the next six to 12 months, Mr. Duvall said.

Carthage Area Hospital worked with Stroudwater Associates, a Portland, Maine,-based firm that works with critical access hospitals across the country. The hospital was also involved with the New

34 | NNY Business | August 2015

CAH / By the numbers annual operating budget $44 million YEAR 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011

OPERATING LOSS $1 million (projected) $2 million $4.1 million $5.7 million $7.6 million

annual payroll $22 million staff 430 hospital employees 333 full-time 55 part-time 42 per diem 114 RN/LPNs 21 providers IN-PATIENT beds 25 — down from 78 SOURCE: Carthage area hospital

York State Critical Access Hospitals Performance Improvement Group.

“We were able to sit with the same designated hospitals and we’ve worked together as a group to start benchmarking performance,” Mr. Duvall explained,

adding that the group has looked at how hospitals should deal with regulations.

So will these remedies fix the problems for the long-term? Carthage Area Hospital is not the only rural hospital in the region to suffer from a pattern of financial ups and downs.

“Honestly, I’m not sure it ever will stop,” said Thomas H. Piche, president of Carthage Savings & Loan.

Mr. Piche served on Carthage Area Hospital’s board for about 10 years prior to 2007. When he was involved with the organization, it reached a low, but then bounced back to achieve the position of one of the most financially stable hospitals in the state by 2007, he said.

“It’s not unique to Carthage Area Hospital,” he explained. “It’s just the [health care] business model.”

Mr. Piche said that he’s happy to see that hospital administrators didn’t “just throw in the towel,” and that the organization seems to be on a good path once again. He explained that the larger region, including Fort Drum, needs more than just one hospital.

Mr. Rowe agreed that the hospital is on an upward path, mentioning that it’s the most stable and optimistic he’s seen things since he began serving on the board in 2007. He was named president of the board last October.

So far this year, the hospital has seen positive cash flow, he said. He added that the next step is to make the organization stronger, so it actually shows a profit.

Positive effects from the critical access hospital designation should start to become apparent at the beginning of 2016, Mr. Duvall said. It should equate to $7 million to $10 million in funding from Medicare, Medicaid and military insurance that will replace grant money that has kept the hospital afloat in the past, he said.

Mr. Duvall cited funding from the state’s Interim Access Assurance Fund as particularly helpful. The program was designed to sustain hospitals while they work toward a more sustainable model.

The hospital had originally been awarded $10.3 million but, after improving operations, it required just $8.5 million.

Mr. Rowe agreed that state funding helped with the transition of the hospital to the new designation.

“They gave us the money so we could pay National Grid,” he said. “They gave us the money so we could pay payroll.”

Since efforts began to move the institution to solid ground, the numbers have improved. In 2014, the hospital shows a loss of $2 million, as opposed to the $7.6

HE A LTH C A RE million loss in 2011. Following its pattern of improvement, the forecasted financial outcome for this year is $1 million, so the gap to profitibility is closing.

Patient satisfaction has also improved.

Based on internal reports, Carthage Area Hospital was rated “good” or “great” for overall satisfaction by 100 percent of patients surveyed in obstetrics and surgical, 95 percent in orthopedic and 87 percent in the emergency department. When the hospital’s future was murky in past years, staff and patients alike were concerned, Mr. Duvall said, explaining that, “the psychological effect on customers is if they’re losing so much money, are they able to provide good health care?”

Looking to the future, money from the critical access hospital designation will play an especially important role in keeping the hospital’s technology updated. In a small, rural hospital, affording state-of-theart equipment is a challenge.

“There’s a need to do that to provide high-quality care,” Mr. Duvall said. “You have to find a balance between what’s right, and if you don’t offer that, who can you send those patients to to receive that care?”

Throughout the struggles, one constant has remained: community support.

“The community has stuck behind us,” Mr. Duvall said. “They recognize the importance of keeping the facility here and keeping care here.”

People have given money, showed support at events and lobbied political leaders, he said.

As one of the largest employers in the community, if the hospital dramatically changed form or closed, the community would no longer be the same, Mr. Piche said. He added that it wouldn’t absolutely devastate the town and surrounding areas, but that at this point, the health care center is an important part of the community’s economic structure.

With no hospital on post at Fort Drum, the base also relies heavily on Carthage Area Hospital, both for care and employment of soldiers’ family members, Mr. Rowe said. If the community as a whole didn’t support and utilize the services of the organization, there would be no need for the hospital, he said.

The community will always rally behind the hospital, Mr. Piche said.

“If the chips are down, people in this community get behind it,” he said. “And I don’t think that has changed, and it never will.” n LORNA OPPEDISANO is a staff writer and editorial assistant for NNY Magazines. Contact her at loppedisano@wdt.net or 661-2381.

NNY BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Nominate someone for the annual NNY Business magazine

20 Under 40 Awards

who meets the following criteria:

n A role model in his or her profession

n A leader in his or her business and community n Dedicated and successful in his or her vocation n Active volunteer and community participant

Nomination FORM Nominee name Title Age Company name (nominee) Address City

State

ZIP

Nominee phone Nominee email Nominated by Nominator’s phone Nominator’s email On a separate sheet, please answer the following three questions about your nominee: 1. Why do you think this person will be among the north country’s future leaders?

2. What are the nominee’s top three professional achievements?

3. Describe the positive impact this person has had on his or her community.

n Nominees must live and work in Jefferson, St. Lawrence or Lewis counties, and be between the ages of 21 and 39 on or before Dec. 31, 2015. Nominate online at nnybizmag.com, email to: nnybusiness@wdt.net or mail to: 20 Under 40, NNY Business, 260 Washington St., Watertown, NY 13601. For mailed entries, type or print directly on this form. All information provided will be held in confidence. Limit one nominee per form. ALL NOMINATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 5 P.M. FRIDAY, SEPT. 25, 2015. Employees of Johnson Newspaper Corp. and its affiliates and their immediate family members are not eligible for consideration. Selectees will be honored during a luncheon at the Hilton Garden Inn, 1290 Arsenal St., Watertown, on Thursday, Dec. 10. Complete luncheon details and registration will be published after nominees are selected and announced.

nnybizmag.com August 2015 | NNY Business

| 35

he a lth c a re

photo special to NNY BUSINESS

Samaritan Medical Center Hospitalist Program director Dr. David J. Flint cares for a patient at Samaritan Medical Center. The Watertown hospital has 10 such medial professionals on staff who care for the most critically ill while giving primary care physicians a break from being on call.

Critical coverage

‘Hospitalists’ help deliver primary care to most ill

By Gabrielle Hovendon

I

NNY Business

f you talk to Dr. Naveel Qureshi, the former chief medical resident at Albany Medical College, about his work at Samaritan Medical Center, you’ll quickly realize it’s not your standard 9 to 5 job.

“For a typical shift, our pager turns on at 7 a.m., and most of us come in at least an hour before that,” said Dr. Qureshi, a native of Niagara Falls, Canada, who joined Samaritan Medical Center last August. “We have a list of patients that we’re responsible for, and usually that first hour is spent looking at their overnight events, their blood work, their test results. We usually start the day in the medical intensive care unit, then move

36 | NNY Business | August 2015

to the progressive care unit and medicalsurgical care, seeing patients in order of most sick to most stable.

“It’s a lot of running around: you’re going back and forth between different nursing units and levels of care. But a lot of us find that — although it’s very intense working when you’re on — you have a nice break when you’re off. You know that your colleagues are taking care of your patients, and you can relax.”

What Dr. Qureshi is describing is the job of a hospitalist, a relatively new medical profession. Hospitalists, who are typically full time internal medicine physicians, specialize in caring for acutely ill, hospitalized patients who don’t have a primary care physician available to them — either because the patients lack a family doctor in the north country or because

that doctor is currently scheduled with other patients.

Thanks in part to this profession, you’re now guaranteed to find a physician at Samaritan Medical Center 24 hours a day, seven days a week — including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Since its start in late 2003, Samaritan’s hospitalist program has grown from four to 10 members, and it has proven invaluable to the many north country patients in need of critical care.

“These are physicians who only practice right here in the hospital,” explained Krista A. Kittle, hospital spokeswoman.

“Their focus is caring for the most critically ill patients who require hospitalization, and they have the experience to treat that acuity.”

In addition to delivering expert care,

he a lth c a re hospitalists also help patients avoid long wait times in the emergency room. Without a hospitalist, sick people would have to wait for their primary care physicians to come to the hospital to admit them, which often wouldn’t happen until a break in office hours or at the end of the workday.

“Although the hospitalist isn’t the doctor that they’re used to seeing in their office, he or she is in close communication with that primary care doctor,” Ms. Kittle said. “Daily — or even more frequently — the hospitalists are in touch with the patients’ primary care providers to make sure they have full patient histories, that there isn’t any additional information they need to know, and that the provider is aware the patient has been admitted.”

The hospitalists at Samaritan Medical Center are also crucial in serving the significant portion of the north country population that does not have a primary care doctor, and they aim to help patients find a new doctor before they are discharged.

“As a hospitalist, I specialize in helping hospitalized patients get better, but in order to keep them healthy and help them stay out of the hospital in the future, the primary care doctor is super important,” Dr. Qureshi said. “We do everything we possibly can to ensure the patients get established with someone and have an appointment set up before they leave. We want to make sure they’re going to have good follow-up care.”

Among the conditions that Dr. Qureshi sees most frequently at Samaritan Medical Center are congestive heart failure, emphysema, diabetes, and infections ranging from pneumonia to cellulitis. He said there is incredible diversity among the patients he encounters, with anyone from 18-year-old soldiers to 100-year-old nursing home residents showing up in the emergency room on a given day.

“What’s very rewarding about being a hospitalist and what drew me to the profession is that you’re very closely involved with these patients,” Dr. Qureshi said. “They come into the ER and they’re very sick, and you have the chance over 48 or 72 hours to really make an impact and help them get better and see them improve. That’s the best part of the job, doing interventions, helping them get better, and, in most cases, being able to discharge them and send them home. It’s such a sense of accomplishment.

“The most challenging part of the job is that, dealing with such sick patients, you also see some people who are just too sick.

You reach those limits, and there’s nothing more that you or modern medicine can

do. Having to deal with those situations emotionally with patients and their families is always very challenging.”

Despite the job’s difficulties — including the long hours, fast-paced days, and constant movement between different care units — many hospitalists find the career very rewarding. It’s also a job that rewards local primary care physicians, helping them avoid being constantly on call and allowing them to focus more closely on their private practice patients.

And even though many area physicians continue to have inpatient rounds at the hospital, Ms. Kittle said that more and more have been signing on with Samaritan’s hospitalist program. Knowing that someone will be at the hospital 24-7 to care for their patients gives physicians freedom and flexibility, improving both retention and recruitment rates in the north country.

“It does offer not only that life balance but also the opportunity to spend more time in their offices with their patients,” Ms. Kittle said. “And with the younger physicians who are coming out of training, the work-life balance is very important to them. Years and years ago, the doctors from the quote-unquote ‘old

school’ would be here around the clock, they’d come in at night, and they might even do house calls, but that’s changing.”

For the time being, Samaritan Medical Center plans to keep its hospitalist staff at 10, but Ms. Kittle said the hospital will continue to assess patient needs and add more physicians when necessary.

As for Dr. Qureshi, he’s in no hurry to leave his hectic, fulfilling field. Half an hour before he spoke with us, he was busy sending a patient for a cardiac catheterization after a sudden decline in condition — an intervention that no outside physician would have been able to perform as quickly, or as effectively, as someone already stationed in the hospital.

“Hospitalist medicine is a relatively young career path in medicine, but it’s something that I really do enjoy doing and that I intend to do long-term,” Dr. Qureshi said. “Primary care work is absolutely important, but for now I really enjoy the pace of hospital medicine. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.” n GABRIELLE HOVENDON is a former Watertown Daily Times reporter, north country native and freelance writer who is pursuing a Ph.d. at the University of Georgia in Athens.

Email her at ghovendon@gmail.com.

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 37

he a lth c a re

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

Dr. Katie M. Clough-Perin in an exam room of her Watertown dental practice at 1340 Washington St. The Watertown native opened her own practice May 5.

Homegrown smiles Watertown native ‘takes plunge’ with own dental practice

By Lorna Oppedisano

K

NNY Business

atie M. Clough-Perin never questioned her future. She would be a dentist, live and work in Watertown and one day run her own practice.

After completing dental school at New York University and getting nine years of experience in Watertown under her belt, Dr. Clough-Perin opened her own office at 1340 Washington St. on May 5. Looking back, she would have only changed one thing: she would have thrown caution to the wind and branched out on her own sooner.

“If it’s something that you really want to do, just take the plunge and go for it,

38 | NNY Business | August 2015

because it’s never going to get any easier,” she said. “And it’s never going to be something that’s just going to happen. It’s turning out to be just what I wanted.”

Growing up in Watertown, Dr. CloughPerin was never one to just sit on the sidelines. She was involved in sports and other local activities; it’s that community atmosphere, along with her family, that drew her back to her hometown after college. She explained that with Fort Drum’s proximity to the city, there’s a lot of growth in the area, adding that most people are excited to lend their support to new businesses.

During her tenure at Watertown Dental Health Group and Fondak Dental Office, Dr. Clough-Perin pondered the idea of ei-

ther being partner in or running her own practice. While she didn’t dislike working for other people, she loved the idea of creating a positive environment for a staff.

The concept of ultimate ownership and responsibility appealed to her as well.

“At the end of the day, it’s mine,” she explained. “And if I mess up it, it’s my own fault.”

Once she committed to the idea, sitting down and actually developing the business plan was the biggest challenge, she said. With the help of the Small Business Development Center and advice from her brother, she sorted out exactly what she wanted the practice to look like, and pinpointed an ideal location across from Watertown High School

he a lth c a re The Katie M. Clough-Perin file AGE: 36 FAMILY: husband, Kurt; children, Rory and Quinn, 5; Sully, 2. professional: Watertown Dental Health Group; Fondak Dental Office; private practice HOMETOWN: Watertown EDUCATION: Immaculate Heart Central High School; bachelor’s in biology from Siena College; Doctor of Dental Surgery, College of Dentistry at New York University book you’ve read & would recommend: “Jane Eyre”

by Charlotte Brontë

in the recently expanded North Country Neurology building.

Now that the dream is realized, the day-to-day isn’t without its struggles.

Being a newly established business that is still accepting new patients, the most difficult part of the job is making sure the schedule is filled, Dr. Clough-Perin said.

But that shouldn’t be a challenge for long. After a long weekend, the staff came back to find at least 10 messages from new potential patients, said office receptionist Kathy M. Christman. This might be due to Dr. Clough-Perin’s reputation and demeanor with clients.

“She takes time with her patients and listens to them,” Ms. Christman said. “A lot of her patients have anxiety and she’s very calming.”

Dr. Clough-Perin is especially skilled at putting children at ease, Ms. Christman said. Earlier this summer, a 4-year-old boy had an appointment. As he hopped into the chair, the parents seemed more anxious than the patient, Ms. Christman said with a laugh.

Dr. Clough-Perin and Ms. Christman have worked together in multiple locations for about nine years. According to Ms. Christman, Dr. Clough-Perin has succeeded in creating that perfect office atmosphere; this is the first office in which Ms. Christman has worked that everyone gets along, she said. For the women in Dr. Clough-Perin’s practice, being at work is like being with family.

“Having people surrounding you that want to bring you up instead of pull you down just makes the environment more professional,” Dr. Clough-Perin said. “Patients see a big difference in that as well.”

Through the process of starting the practice, family has been her no. 1 supporter and inspiration, she said. Her

parents were always present, and instilled in her the importance of hard work. Like any mother, Dr. Clough-Perin hopes to provide more for her three children than she herself had growing up, but also aims to hand down that lesson of diligence.

Find the balance between work and home life can be a challenge, but she and her husband make it work.

“Although my career is amazing and I love it, my kids are more amazing,” Dr. Clough-Perin said.

Amidst that juggling act, she’s never felt

pressure to conform to gender roles, she said, explaining that dentistry has come in a long way for women, and is a great field for a woman to pursue as a career.

Since beginning her path in dentistry, Dr. Clough-Perin has loved her job.

“You never really have the same day twice,” she said. “I like making people want to smile and improving their confidence in some way.” n LORNA OPPEDISANO is a staff writer and editorial assistant for NNY Magazines. Contact her at loppedisano@wdt.net or 661-2381.

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August 2015 | NNY Business

| 39

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RE A L E STAT E RO U ND U P

New forms to affect buyers, sellers

O

ct. 1 will be a big day for real estate professionals, buyers and sellers, lenders and the legal profession when new disclosure forms created by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be used for mortgage transactions.

The Truth-in-Lending Act/RESPA Integrated Disclosures creates timing requirements for disclosures that lenders need to make to consumers. Not only will the new forms be used in transactions, but the relationship between the lender and other parties like the mortgage broker is now altered because the lender can be liable if certain costs exceed the tolerance limitations set forth in the act. In addition, the changes may also delay a transaction if certain changes occur near closing, as the act requires a three-day waiting period before closing and certain changes may cause lender delays.

Two new closing forms, a Loan Estimate and a Closing Disclosure, will replace three forms presently used, the HUD-1 Settlement Statement, the Good Faith Estimate and the Truth-in-Lending disclosure form.

The purpose of the new forms, which the bureau created with input from consumers and industry groups, including the National Association of Realtors, is to consolidate information and make it simpler for consumers to compare how close their costs are to what was originally estimated by the lender. The first page of the new Loan Estimate and the new Closing Disclosure are formatted in exactly the same way to allow easy comparison of costs and note any changes.

Although the information required isn’t much different, some of the compliance requirements are new.

This could prove challenging for two reasons.

First, the CFPB is requirLance Evans ing the closing disclosure to be given to the buyer three days before closing. That’s to allow consumers time to look carefully at any deviations from the original estimates rather than make them consider the changes while the closing is underway. That’s a positive change for consumers, but will mean more planning ahead to accommodate the new rules.

If there are any changes to the loan product or the interest rate once the closing disclosure has been given to the buyer, it could trigger a new three-day waiting period. Other changes requiring lender approval could add even more time to the waiting period. The additional holding period can be waived in certain emergency situations, such as an impending bankruptcy.

Given the possibility of changes triggering another waiting period or a last-minute change requiring lender approval, experts are saying to assume it will take an additional fifteen days to complete a closing. As the industry adjusts to the changes, those additional days might no longer be necessary. But for now, real estate professionals should

plan for a longer process. n

n n

On June 9, Danny Conlin of All American Real Estate, Karen Peebles of Berkshire Hathaway CNY Realty, Jennifer Stevenson of Blue Heron Realty and I participated in the New York State Association of Realtors Albany Lobby Day. Mr. Conlin and Ms. Peebles are JeffersonLewis Board of Realtors members and Ms. Stevenson is a St. Lawrence County Board of Realtors member.

We were joined by hundreds of Realtors from around the state. Our group met with Assembly members Addie Russell and Marc Butler and state Sens. Joseph Griffo and Patty Ritchie. Assemblyman Blankenbush was called away to a committee meeting just before our time with him. Realtors from other associations met with state Sen. Betty Little and Assemblywoman Janet Duprey.

Some of the issues we spoke in favor of were legislation putting a definition for real estate teams into the real property law and a tax credit for the installation of residential fire sprinklers. We also urged them to support extending the 2 percent tax cap as well as relief from unfunded mandates and a tax-free first-time homebuyer savings account. We asked them to reject an effort to double fines for license law violation and make them civil penalties which would bring violations into the court system. n LANCE M. EVANS is the executive officer of the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors and the St. Lawrence County Board of Realtors. He has lived in the north country since 1985. Contact him at levans@nnymls.com. His column appears monthly in NNY Business.

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 41

RE A L E STATE

Region sees gains in Q2 home sales

By TED BOOKER

More certainty about Drum boosts ’15 outlook

econd quarter home sales in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties are up from the same period last year.

The number of homes sold in Jefferson County climbed slightly from 211 to 212 units, according to the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors. Lewis County home sales increased by 14 units, or 34 percent, from 41 to 55 over the same period; in St. Lawrence County, sales climbed by 13 units, or 9 percent, from 145 to 158, according to the county Board of Realtors.

Lance M. Evans, executive officer of both the Jefferson-Lewis and St. Lawrence boards, said statistics show that real estate agents across the three counties have sold more homes during the first six months of this year than they did in the first half of 2014.

“I think we’re seeing demand con-

Median home sale prices

S

NNY Business

n Change in second quarter median home sale prices from 2014 to 2015: Jefferson: $145,000 to $160,500 — up 10.7% Lewis: $109,000 to $100,000— down 9% St. Lawrence: $95,000 to 90,000— down 5.6%

tinue from last year,” Mr. Evans said, adding that both Jefferson and Lewis counties posted more home sales in 2014 than in 2013. “I would say that sales will most likely be stronger during the second half of this year.”

Compared with the first half of 2014, home sales from January through June climbed in Jefferson County by 16 units, or 5 percent, from 343 to 359; in Lewis County by two units, or 3 percent, from 76 to 78, and in St. Lawrence County by 19 units, or 8 percent, from 229 to 248.

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Mr. Evans said that area real estate agents expect their sales to rise as a result of the Army’s decision to spare Fort Drum from major troop cuts. The Army announced earlier this month that it plans to cut only 28 soldiers at the post as part of its move to trim 490,000 active soldiers nationwide to 450,000 by the end of the 2017 fiscal year.

As a result of the uncertainty about potential cuts at Fort Drum, Mr. Evans said, some military families probably decided to rent apartments instead of buying homes. But the Army’s announcement that the post will lose only 28 soldiers has changed that scenario, as military members know they won’t be leaving the area.

“I think some military families were renting and will now buy,” he said, adding that lots of housing activity in the area was probably “on hold” before the Army made its announcement.

Compared with the second quarter of last year, the median home price increased in Jefferson County this year over the same period by $15,500, or 11 percent, from $145,000 to $160,500, Mr. Evans said. The median price dropped over the same period in Lewis County by $9,000, or 8 percent, from $109,000 to $100,000; in St. Lawrence County, it dropped by $5,000, or 5 percent, from $95,000 to $90,000.

Statewide, home sales increased during the second quarter by 2.7 percent, or 709 units, from 25,849 to 26,558, compared with a year ago, according to the New York State Association of Realtors.

The second-quarter statewide median sales price was $225,000, up 3.5 percent, or $7,640, from the 2014 second-quarter median of $217,360.

A total of 46,866 homes were sold statewide in the first half of 2014, up 3.4 percent from the same period in 2014.

The Jefferson-Lewis board has 335 Realtor members and the St. Lawrence board has 192, Mr. Evans said. n TED BOOKER is a Johnson Newspapers staff writer. Contact him at tbooker@wdt.net or 661-2371.

T O P T R A N S A CT I O NS Parcel 1) 0.229 of an acre more or less, Parcel 2) 0.04 of an acre more or less, bounded by Franklin Road, Matthew B. and Stephanie L. Rose, Waddington, sold to Matthew D. and Kerri E. O’Brien, Waddington.

Top 10 property sales by price recorded in the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office in May 2015:

Crownsville, Md., sold to Hiram Garcia-Rivera, Watertown.

$2,930,000: May 19, Town of Watertown: 5.10 acres, 20768 County Route 200, EGM Northstar LLC, Miami, Fla., sold to Aviagen North America Inc., Huntsville, Ala.

$401,000: May 19, Town of Watertown: No acreage given, Deer Run Path at Cagwin Road, Thomas P. O’Connor, Watertown, sold to Kenya K. Cain and Jacklyn F. Cain, Watertown.

$2,737,000: May 14, City of Watertown: No acreage, Ives Street at Harris Drive, Maple Court Apartments II L.P., Detroit, Mich., sold to Maple Housing Development Fund, Scarborough, Maine.

$391,000: May 21, Town of Brownville: 1.63 acres, South Shore Road, Michael R. Davis and Tammy A. Davis, APO AE, sold to Jie He and Chen Jiang, Staten Island.

$220,000: May 28, Town of Gouverneur: 19.95 acres more or less, bounded by Little Bow Road, Jerry A. and Michelle S. Pearson (trustee), Pearson Family Trust, Gouverneur, sold to Richard R. and Nancy M. Welch, Gouverneur.

$2,300,000: May 28, Town of Ellisburg: Seven parcels, 298 acres more or less, highway from Belleville to Sackets Harbor, John D. Lassen and Elizabeth G. Lassen, Adams, sold to Shel Land Properties 2 LLC, Adams.

$377,000: May 13, City of Watertown: 0.722 acres, Ten Eyck Street, Derek D. Brown and Gretchen F. Brown, Watertown, sold to Malcolm H. Wilkerson, Charlottesville, Va.

$210,000: May 15, Village of Louisville: Unknown acres, Lot 113, Joseph D. and Krasimira K. Yannello, Cheektowaga, sold to James M. Millhausen, Laredo, Texas.

$650,000: May 15, Town of Adams: 4 parcels, 227.77 total acres, portions of Marsh Farm, Sorenson Farm, Home Farm-Harrington and Edmonds Farm, Frank M. Graves and Sharon M. Graves, Adams Center, sold to Hillcrest Farms LLC, Woodville. $450,000: May 27, Town of LeRay: 1.38 acres, no address given, Mercer’s Quik Stop Food Stores Inc., now known as Stewart’s Shops Corp., Ballston Spa, sold to CST Development LLC, Watertown. $420,000: May 21, Town of Alexandria: 0.46 acres, Point Vivian Road, Peter J. Schwan and Susan M. Schwan, Alexandria Bay, sold to Severin Gonnella, Cicero, and Carol Murphy, Jamesville. $415,000: May 29, Town of LeRay: 0.559 acres, River Bend Drive, M. Kathryn Buchanan,

Top 10 property sales by price recorded in the St. Lawrence County Clerk’s Office in May 2015: $500,000: May 21, Town of Potsdam: 2 parcels, 1) 24.37 acres more or less, 2) unknown acres, Section 46, bounded by Potsdam-Canton State Road, Scott E. and Mary Jane Smalling (Smalling Associates), Hannawa Falls, sold to Om Ganesh LLC, Potsdam. $242,000: May 22, Town of Canton: 5.3 acres more or less, bounded by Country Farm Road, Steven J. and Amy W. Jo, Jamison, Pa., sold to Andrew D. and Melissa F. Richards, Blacksburg, Va. $225,000: May 19, Village of Massena: 2 parcels, unknown acres, bounded by East Hatfield Street, Roger B. Clough II and Robin L. Clough, Walton, sold to Stacey J. Holcomb, Massena. $225,000: May 29, Village of Waddington:

$210,000: May 28, Town of Pierrepont: 5 acres more or less, bounded by Anderson Road, Lawrence and Debra Costa, Potsdam, sold to William N. and Rondalyn V. Whitney, Potsdam. $205,000: May 19, Town of Massena: Unknown acres, bounded by North Grass River Road, Karen Thompson, Thorofare, N.J., sold to Brandee and Jonathan Monacelli, Massena. $202,000: May 1, Town of Russell: 10 acres more or less, in Great Tract 3, bounded by County Route 25, Ethan L. and Amanda L. Reynolds, Canton, sold to James R. and Melanie L. Horrocks, Potsdam. $197,000: May 15, Town of Oswegatchie: 2.79 acres more or less, bounded by County Route 6, Becky A. Green, Ogdensburg, sold to Jason P. Mills, Harlingen, Texas.

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20 q u estions

melanie kimbler-lago | NNY BUSINESS

A vision for rural health care

T

he north country’s health care system has undergone major changes in the recent years, from provider consolidations to the complex reforms mandated by the federal Affordable Care Act that address efficiencies with an emphasis on prevention. For our annual health care issue, St. Lawrence Health System and Canton-Potsdam Hospital’s CEO David B. Acker sat down to discuss what health care reform means for the dozens of rural communities in St. Lawrence County and beyond, how new models for the delivery of care are morphing and his goals for his organization’s future.

1

NNYB: There’s has been a lot of change in health care in the past eight years, especially in rural areas. Through all this change, what’s one positive constant that’s emerged at your hospital?

ACKER: The constant is that you’re always trying to elevate the quality of the care and you’re always tracking back to, “What are you trying to accomplish here?” So that’s sort of the polestar.

2

NNYB: What notable changes have you seen?

ACKER: What we’re seeing is a pretty significant change in how health care is delivered and the vehicles through which it’s going to be delivered. People will ask, how many beds do you have? It’s not a terribly important question these days. And I’m going to predict in probably 24 to 36 months, less than 20 percent of our revenue is going to come from people being in inpatient beds. Right now, it’s in the 20s. This construct that we have mentally of what a hospital is, which is all built around beds, needs to change.

The system has changed. I’m not sure that the recognition’s changed.

3

NNYB:: Since the passage of the federal Affordable Care Act, there are things that have been reevaluated. Are we on a path of perpetual refinement of reform or is there a light at the end of the tunnel for providers to see that they’re going to reach an endgame?

ACKER: The Affordable Care Act is just one component of a far larger movement that preceded its passage and that was driven by pretty fundamental factors. One was the inability of the employer

44 | NNY Business | August 2015

n David Acker, St. Lawrence Health

CEO sets pace to improve system

community to withstand the double digit increases in premiums. The second was compounded by the recession. You’ve seen the emergence of retail medicine. You’ve seen a de-emphasis on institutional care, more outpatient push and a lot of experimentation with different models of care.

We’re involved with a couple, and they’re fascinating to watch. If you look at Northern New York just as an illustration, we have more beds than we need. Excess capacity has cost, and there hasn’t really been a concentrated effort to ask the question, ‘What’s the infrastructure that’s needed and how do we get the infrastructure in place that is needed and subtract the infrastructure that’s adding cost without adding value?’

4

NNYB: Where do you see this rightsizing of rural care in your part of the north country?

ACKER: Investments need to be made in primary care development. They need to be made in transport. And they need to be made in information technology and in care coordination. I understand the economic importance of organizations to individual communities and the ties that communities have to hospitals where most of the people were born. You have all of those deep emotional investments. But you have to ask yourself: ‘Does the vehicle as it’s now structured best enable us to accomplish that mission?’ And if the answer is no, then you have two choices. You either change your mission or you change the vehicle.

5

NNYB: With all the change that’s been delivered from the highest level down to the most basic local level, what could be said to reassure consumers that it’s both necessary and it’s going to be a better system?

ACKER: Its necessity is affirmed from a variety of perspectives. If the country’s spending 18-plus percent of its gross domestic product on health care, it’s an outlier. If you look at the outcomes in our country compared to other industrialized nations, they’re bad, if you look at the huge

number of medical bankruptcies in this country. Those sorts of warning lights are flashing all over. So people know that things have to change. What people are less familiar with is what they have to change to. It has to be easily accessible. It has to be affordable. And it has to have high quality. And it has to adhere to certain levels of service expectation. That’s what the consumers are going to move to.

6

NNYB: The ACA encourages people to educate themselves on preventative health care. Where then is the new model in terms of sustaining the business of health care?

ACKER: Unless there’s going to be some backfilling of those dollars, you’re going to see this increasing fragility in hospitals. And you’re seeing some investments, but not significant, in things that really are going to make a difference. It’s going to take time. A community hospital in and of itself in rural America today, its highest and best purpose is to act as a catalyst for change.

It still needs to be there to provide those services which are even, looking down the road, probably anchored to the hospital, but those services that probably have to be anchored to a hospital are not large. They’re capital intensive but they’re not large. So if you’re going to have that organization serve as the driver of that change, you have to support them in making that, not with competitive grants, but with a baked-in reimbursement system that pays for those things that you want to be done and that supports those things that they are no longer doing until this can be built.

7

NNYB: What about the old adage, ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it to drink.’ You can offer the education and the tools, but how do you fundamentally change that way of thinking that it’s bad to not take care of yourself?

ACKER:: Well you have the carrot, which is you’re going to get cheaper, but you also

2 0 q u estions have some societal decision-making. So not that we’re not going to treat you when you have cancer; we are. But are we going to authorize sending you to a tertiary care facility where you have a 1 percent chance and it’s going to cost $500,000? People would call it rationing, but the way I look at it is for all the dollars that you spend on the person that comes to your ICU four times, because they won’t take their blood pressure medicine, take those dollars and say, ‘Let’s repurpose them to giving people behavioral health access or paying for their medications.’ That’s the sort of hard decision-making that needs to go on.

8

NNYB: Would the change that Congress mandated have been any more painful or less painful had it been structured around a single-payer system?

ACKER: It would have been better if it was structured around a single-payer system. I don’t find it’s terribly painful. I don’t think what the Affordable Care Act did is having the impact on hospitals that some would suggest.

9

NNYB: Is there more panic in it because consumers hear the national press beating the drum that the sky is falling? Is it really that bad?

ACKER: No, I don’t think so. If you talk to the hospital folks, they’ll tell you they want the Affordable Care Act. It’s the demagoguery that’s going on and the vilification of it that’s really creating the background noise. If you come to a community like this, most always the hospital is one of the biggest or the largest employer. It’s the most organized, most well-capitalized health care organization. It’s got the most employees.

10

NNYB: Do you ever foresee within St. Lawrence County further consolidation and affiliations?

ACKER: You have 300 beds in a county that needs 130. And if you look at all these facilities, some of them are new. Some of them are acceptably modernized. Mainly, they’re old. And they’re all trying to run in a fashion that’s different than the others. There’s no standardization, or not much. There’s a tremendous amount of waste that’s intrinsic in that structure. I have always seen that the smaller ones are probably going to head over the cliff first, and then all of us are going to fall; that’s the predictable end. But if you’re going to avoid that, you have to be willing to say, ‘The perpetuation of this organization is not a goal that’s worth pursuing.’ You have to say, ‘The mission is this.’ For example, at our hospital, many years ago, our board said, ‘If we continue in our present form, we will have failed.’ This is not about conquering other people. This is about surrendering your autonomy to participate as one of many in a larger endeavor that has adequate critical mass to really improve health care for the 12,000 people in this county. That has tremendous potential. But time’s kind of running out.

11

NNYB: The hospital’s level three trauma designation was announced in May. How significant and important is that for Canton-Potsdam Hospital?

ACKER: It’s very, very important. St. Lawrence County is the most isolated county from tertiary care of any county in the state by a lot. We’re not ever going to have a tertiary facility here. But we’re going to have a need to get them to a tertiary facility. And so someone has to step in and

melanie kimbler-lago | NNY BUSINESS

St. Lawrence Health System president and CEO David B. Acker talks about health care reform at his Potsdam office.

The David B. Acker file AGE: 62 FAMILY: Wife, Linda; twin sons, Aaron and John, 33, and Jacob, 26.

JOB: President and CEO, St. Lawrence Health System, Canton-Potsdam Hospital and CantonPotsdam Hospital Foundation professional: Attorney in private practice for 15 years; general counsel to Charles Cole Memorial Hospital, Coudersport, Pa., 1994-1996; CEO, Charles Cole Memorial Hospital, 1996-2007; Canton-Potsdam Hospital CEO, 2007-present HOMETOWN: Potsdam EDUCATION: Bachelor’s in history, University of Montana, Missoula; Juris Doctor, Penn State University — Dickinson Law, Carlisle, Pa.; fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives Last book read: “The Liberation Trilogy”

by Rick Atkinson say ‘We’re not going to be doing lots and lots of trauma surgery. We’ll do some.’ But the majority of people who are going to come here because we’re a trauma center are going to come here because we’ve invested in the infrastructure to make sure that when those people hit our door, we have them as quickly as possible assessed, stabilized and ready for transport, and transport them.

12

NNYB: Telemedicine is something that comes up quite a bit in the health care discussion in NNY. Is it one of the tools that will eventually improve health care?

ACKER: It is. It’s not in the top 10. To sort of put telemedicine in perspective: there’s been a lot of talk about telemedicine for 20 years. Telemedicine has promise, but we need to do a much better job and make further investments to realize

its promise. That said, telemedicine is only going to occupy a very small sliver of care. So let’s not conjure up that it’s going to be a significant percentage of the care that’s delivered here. Even when you talk to people that have really invested in telemedicine programs and did four hours of consults this week, it’s not game-changing. It certainly has a prospect of assisting, overcoming distances; but in the next five years, it’s not going to revolutionize health care.

13

NNYB: What are some of the top 10 tools that will revolutionize health care?

ACKER: Expanded access to primary care.

Expanded access to behavioral health and substance abuse. Coordination between those three disciplines. Focused education and health care literacy. Referral coordination. Management of navigating the system. Assisting patients with navigation is important. Moving to a lower cost of care where you can do so at the right level of quality is important. Standardization of clinical protocols to see that everybody’s treated the same way every time. Bringing some specialists here to enrich the care that’s available locally is tremendously important.

14

NNYB: How do you prioritize? How do you triage the change that’s necessary in health care and not be overwhelmed as the leader of the largest employer of St. Lawrence County?

ACKER: If you allow yourself, your head will just spin. I kind of just always ask, ‘Ok, what are we here to do?’ We’re here to improve the health status of the people who live in this county. That’s our job. And what are the few things that if you do them well can impact that? We’ve been stuck on access. Access means providers. And that’s why we have for eight years been working to expand the number of physicians within a specialty. Then we have to go down to the next level and begin to bring on some specialists. We’ve moved from 55 full-time providers to about 115 now, and the system is closer to 130. That’s access. Serve August 2015 | NNY Business

| 45

20 q u estions the public. Get people the care that they need.

What you often see in places that are this isolated is that if there’s an appointment for you for some specialist three hours away, many people tell them forget it. A lot of times you’re dealing with elderly people, people whose families no longer live here, who have limited means, who may not be able to drive. So if you can fill that void with good quality people who can provide that access, that’s what starts to change the game.

15

NNYB: In 2013, you said, ‘Changes in health care are having a profound impact on community hospitals. We’re building the foundation for the community hospital future.’ Break down what you mean by foundations for the future.

ACKER: Foundations of the future are to continue to build out access and invest in care coordination. We probably have $1 million a year in coordinating care outside of this hospital. There’s no compensation whatsoever for that. We run the health coaches programs at St. Lawrence [University] and SUNY Potsdam. You amplify your reach when you do that. Also working in new models of care and payment, having a medical home; participating in an accountable-care organization and taking risk in a bundle payment program. In many cases, the majority of the care is delivered outside of the four walls of the hospital and you have no control over it. So how do you manage that care? Viewing yourself as building more and more relationships that infuse the organization

with youth and create an educational flavor to it.

Beginning to do research is important as was getting the trauma center designation. Those are the sorts of activities to which I was referring.

16

NNYB: How much of a challenge is recruiting the right people in the right positions to this market?

ACKER: Recruitment is always difficult. We’ve been fairly successful. We realize that we’re advantaged by having the four colleges here.

It changes the complexion of the community. It changes the type of people with whom prospective physicians will interact. They can feel it and see it. So that’s an advantage to us. Primary care is the toughest.

17

NNYB:: Why is there a shortage of primary care doctors? Where does the shortage start?

ACKER: The pipeline’s not producing enough to fulfill the need. I especially see that in general internal medicine where people who are going into internal medicine residencies, they’re moving right through that into fellowships. Gastro neurology, dermatology, endocrinology, rheumatology: things that are much more lucrative.

That’s what I’m seeing general internists move to. There were surveys done periodically where you’re asking people in residency programs, ‘Would you consider going to a rural community?’ And some years, it’s 5 percent. Some years, it’s 10 percent; very, very small.

18

NNYB: Does that put the hospital in the position of having to offer incentives to attract the best?

ACKER: We have loan forgiveness. We appeal to certain types of physicians. There’s that 5 or 10 percent who are coming out who say, ‘Yeah, I want to do that.’ And then there’s another profile of people who have maybe worked their first job out in a more urban setting, maybe a larger system, and they feel as if they can have a larger feeling of ownership and impact in a smaller place.

19

NNYB: So if you had a wish list and could bring two or three things to your community, what would those two or three things be?

ACKER: I’m hopeful that we can fulfill our goals.

I’m hopeful that we can continue to provide access and fill those voids in education and care and remain progressive and agile and adapt to the new world order. That’s my goal. There’s a lot of activity that’s well-intended on a state level. Like other things on the federal level, it’s experimentation. I wish I could see a more specifically direct impact on the people of St. Lawrence County.

20

NNYB: Explain the state’s Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment program in the context of your organization.

ACKER: We’re a member of the Adirondack Health Institute Preferred Provider system. DSRIP wants to further state health improvement plan goals, reduce preventable readmissions, reduce preventable admissions, take out unnecessary emergency department visits, and we’re well on our way to doing that. They also want to have better collaboration between providers. And we may see some of that. There’s huge amounts of money being put into these.

— Interview by Ken Eysaman. Edited for length and clarity to fit this space.

46 | NNY Business | August 2015

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 47

entreprene u r ’ s ed g e

Jump in and ‘figure it out’ already

I

am a go-getter. I always have been.

When I see something I want, I go get it. I ask questions and read blogs and show up to find answers. I figure it out. When I worked in the newsroom as a reporter, one of the producers used to call me a pit bull. He would say, “Give that story to Joleene. She’s a pit bull. She’ll get what we need. She’ll figure it out.”

And I always did.

Figuring things out is how we learn. It’s how we grow and stay in the game. Entrepreneur and investor Sir Richard Branson said, “If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you’re not sure you can do it, say yes. Then learn how to do it later.”

Translation: FIGURE IT OUT. Before the first paid speaking gig I ever did, the organizer asked me, “Can you do a 45-minute talk on overcoming fear and then an hour team-building event?”

I said yes. Of course I could. It would be my pleasure. And then I hung up the phone, turned to my husband and asked, “What on God’s green earth is a team-building event?”

I had never heard that phrase in my life.

So I figured it out.

Not long after, I posted Branson’s words above my desk, I started to really pay attention to other entrepreneurs around me.

I noticed a trend. For the majority, the very thought of taking a risk to do something they had no idea how to do was too far outside their comfort zone. They just weren’t willing to go there.

To assess this observation further, I decided to challenge my one-on-one coaching clients. The challenge: “Create an audio of a talk and have it packaged to sell as a product. Have it recorded and duplicated and ready on your site in four weeks. Find a way. Figure it out. If you succeed, I’ll write

you a check for $250 dollars.”

During the course of a year, I presented this challenge to 25 clients. Every single one of them accepted. They were pumped and ready and excited about Joleene Moody the opportunity.

They would go forth, they said, and do whatever it took to make it work. And off they went.

Four weeks later, not one of them came through. Not one. When I asked why, they primarily cited lack of time, not knowing where to begin or not having the resources to do it. Basically, they didn’t try to figure it out.

For the record, I was given the same challenge a few years back by my own coach. I did it, so I know it’s possible.

Last month, I was talking to a fellow coach that bought one of my audio courses.

I asked him how he leveraged his income.

He told me, “I write eBooks. I publish them on Amazon. I have five.”

Two weeks later, I watched a video from a woman that writes eBooks. She talked about the passive income she experienced as a part-time author.

The next day, I downloaded an eBook for consumption. As I shuffled through the pages, I was suddenly struck with a thought, “Wait a minute. I can do this, too. I can write an eBook based on what I know when it comes to speaking, and sell it on Amazon.”

It was 6 a.m. when I had that thought and I leapt out of bed like it was on fire. I sat at my desk and began. During a series of days,

I read blogs, watched videos, asked questions, read more blogs, watched more videos and wrote. I uploaded. I made mistakes. I went back and watched more videos and read more blogs, asked more questions and uploaded again. Still mistakes. When I didn’t have answers, I went looking for them. When I didn’t have a designer to do the cover, I sought one out. When I didn’t have the right program to convert my Word file to an eBook file, I researched a few and found one. I figured it out. Three weeks later, my first eBook was ready. I uploaded. And it was so cool.

Shortly after its conception and my touting it on social media, a woman messaged me on Facebook asking if I could send her the information on how to do it. No. I can’t.

I cannot give you the hours I gave myself because then you won’t really know what it takes to be hungry for something. You won’t know what it takes to go after something. I messaged her back with, “The information you need is everywhere. I recommend you take the same steps I did: Google. Read.

Watch videos. Figure it out.”

I suppose, this being my last paragraph, that this is the part where I leave you with one final thought. So here it is: There is something you want. Something you want to have, to do or to be. I don’t know what that something is, but you do. Whatever it is, take a little step right now to make it come to fruition. Stop what you’re doing right this very second and figure it out.

Don’t ask me what that step is. I don’t know. But you do. You really do. The first step leads to the next and to the next and to the next and to the next. n Joleene moody is a creative coach, author and comedic speaker based in Oswego County. Contact her at joleenemoody.com. Her column appears monthly in NNY Business.

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economic a lly spe a kin g

Building our best health workforce

T

he current emphasis of health care transformation focuses on the politics, benefits, challenges and costs of health care reform. One of the biggest areas of change involves the health care workforce, where employment is growing and work roles are evolving due to a combination of things such as the Affordable Care Act, the economy, provider shortages, retirements, an aging population that needs more and different kinds of care and market and regulatory pressures related to cost and quality of care, as well the new models of person-centered care.

This new-and-reformed system is focused on high-quality, integrated care.

By incorporating medical, behavioral health, post-acute, long-term care, social service organizations and payers, we can collaboratively transform the present delivery system from one that is institutionally based to one that centers on community-based care. Each organization in this integrated delivery system will be accountable for delivering accessible, evidence-based, high-quality care in the right setting, at the right time and at the appropriate cost. These drivers require the roles of health care workers to evolve in order for our region, state and national health care system to be successful.

To produce a health care workforce of sufficient size and skill to meet the region’s health care needs requires data on the current workforce and a profound understanding of how changes in population will affect future demand. Strengthening the workforce supply through innovation in role and task allocation will be essen-

50 | NNY Business | August 2015

tial. By prioritizing, retraining and meaningful utilization of health information technology, we will expand efficiency and productivity, promote care coordination and enhance Tracy Leonard teamwork. This will increase the ability for professionals to practice at the top of their license, thus enabling them to effectively manage patients across the continuum of care. These efforts, along with others, will require creating talent pools and pipeline or training programs, career pathways, diversity, time and resources.

Promoting the health of our community in this way requires the presence of adequate numbers and types of health care professionals that will in turn create significant new and exciting employment opportunities for appropriately prepared workers. Jobs that didn’t exist only a few years ago now require training and hiring in emerging positions such as care managers, patient navigators, health information technology specialists, community health workers and certified diabetes educators, to name a few. These roles are necessary to ensure the patient receives the best quality care at the right time, in the right place and in the most cost effective way. In addition, the need to grow primary care providers, dentists, psychiatrists, physician assistants and nurse practitioners

only increases as the demand for primary care and behavioral health care increase.

We must also be ready and willing to embrace telemedicine capabilities as more people rely on the accessibility, ease and convenience of care.

In essence, building a health care workforce that is prepared, trained and eager to improve the population’s health by expanding access to quality health services and working to achieve health equity is essential. This type of planning requires collaboration and cross-functional work between the service, education, regulatory, financial and policy sectors in health care to ensure patients receive appropriate, integrated, high-quality care. Simply put, health care is changing and qualified staff is needed to fill positions. The very work roles that are transforming themselves will be the agent carrying out one of the industry’s most monumental changes.

The push for reduced readmissions, greater outpatient care utilization, improved patient satisfaction and the adoption of new models of care are high on the to-do list for our regional health planners. All of these and other changes require new health care roles to carry them out. We must work together in moving to wellness care, instead of sick care. Collectively, we have to learn how to care for people and sustain health instead of just taking care of them once they are sick. These emerging roles will help ensure the success and sustainability of our health care system. n Tracy leonard is deputy director of the Watertown-based Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization. Contact her at tleonard@ fdrhpo.org.

BU SIN E S S L AW

Know options for eviction petition

T

his is a second column in a three-part series concerning landlord-tenant evictions from the perspective of the landlord or small business owner. In the last column, I discussed the types of actions, non-payment and holdover proceedings, the required notices and methods in which the notices can be served on the tenant. The next step in most evictions proceedings is the “notice of petition” and the “petition.” Each legal document must contain certain information about the summary proceeding or the action will be dismissed as defective.

The notice of petition is designed to inform the tenant with notice of the proceeding and the remedy or remedies that the landlord is seeking. The notice of petition must state the time and location of the court appearance and the description and address of the premises which is being rented, and the tenant must assert a defense or be barred from asserting any similar types of defenses in any related legal proceedings. In north country courts, only a judge, an attorney, or clerk of the court can issue a notice of petition. Many landlords think that they can sign the notice of petition when they are acting as their own attorney, but this assumption is false.

If the landlord signs the notice of petition, it is defective and the action is dismissed.

The petition contains more information than the notice of petition. The landlord must set forth she he is the owner or has an interest in the premises, the description and location of the premises, facts about the relationship between the landlord and tenant that give rise to the action, a statement that sets forth the remedy the landlord is seeking, return of the rental premises, eviction

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which is called a “warrant of eviction,” and a monetary award for unpaid rent.

In addition, if unpaid rent is sought, the petition must state dates for which unpaid rent is owed.

Larry Covell Depending on whether the action is for nonpayment or a holdover proceeding, more specific information is needed in the petition. If the action is for nonpayment of rent, the petition must state when and how the demand for payment was made on the tenant. In a holdover proceeding, the petition must show how the predicate notice was served on the tenant and in some cases the petition must state that sufficient time has lapsed before the initiation of the summary proceeding.

Once the notice of petition and petition are complete, they must be served on the tenant. The service must be timed so that the service is complete no less than five days or no more than the 12 days before the hearing date. Service of the notice of petition and petition are can be made in three ways: personal service, substitute service or “nail and mail” service. Although anyone over the age of 18 and not a party to the proceedings can act as a process server, the best option for a landlord is to hire a professional process server.

Personal service is deemed the best method of serving court papers on anyone since the process server personally gives the notice of petition and petition to the

tenant. Substitute service occurs when the process server has difficulty locating the tenant and, as a result gives the notice of petition and petition to someone of “suitable age and discretion” at the rental premises. A person of “suitable age and discretion” can be a spouse, mature child or other adult at the premises. Additionally, the process server must mail a copy by regular first class mail and certified mail to each named tenant in the notice of petition and petition.

The third method of serving the eviction papers is called “nail and mail.” It is not the preferred method of service. The method requires the process service to visit the premises at least twice at different times of the day. The process server must affix — “nail” — the notice of petition and petition in a conspicuous location and mail a copy by regular first class mail and certified mail to each tenant named in the notice of petition and petition. Under “nail and mail,” a landlord cannot seek unpaid rent unless the process server has made three attempts at servicing the tenant at different times of the day. This type of service can lead to a lot of confusion on the part of the landlord. If the process server fails to make the proper attempts to serve the eviction papers, the landlord can get the warrant of eviction, but s/he must initiate a money judgment action in small claims court to get any unpaid rent.

In my next column, I will discuss the various options of the tenant in the eviction process. n LARRY COVELL is a professor of business at SUNY Jefferson and an attorney. Contact him at lcovell@sunyjefferson.edu. His column appears every other month in NNY Business.

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August 2015 | NNY Business

| 51

commerce corner

Advance your networking skills

I

n business and in leadership it is so important to develop professional relationships, whether it is with colleagues or customers. One aspect of developing a personal connection is by remembering and recalling a person’s name. How many times have you said or thought, “Wow, he remembered my name,” and been impressed. How many times have you approached someone thinking, “I know this person. Why do I know this person? What is their name?!” And then you are on the spot and must reintroduce, or avoid names all together.

People feel special when you know their name, and if you are trying to develop yourself as a leader and as a company that provides excellent customer service, take note of the following tips.

Name associations At the time you are introduced to a new person try to pay close attention to their name, not just their face. As soon as possible, try to identify a word using the same letter or sound as their name that will help you remember that person. It may be an identifying word, such as blue-eyed Bill or crazy hat Kathy, or something random that connects to their personality, like fishing Frank. You can add any descriptive word to the name, such as Michigan Sally or Toyota Robin, or think of someone you already know well with the same name: “Cynthia, like my neighbor.” Try to play with these tricks to see what works for you. When you leave the person, try to repeat that name in your head and picture their face.

Write it down If someone gives you his or her card, find the first opportunity to write the name of where you met them, and topics of conversation or associations that you

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made with them. For example, “NNY Business 20 Under 40 Luncheon, Watertown” and the date. And then “daughter at Cornell,” “loves to can peaches,” and “follow up Brooke Rouse on 2015 visitor statistics.” Any little details that will help to remind you of the individual person. This will also help you to remember the person when you look back through your cards and follow up with a personal greeting: “It was great to meet you at the marketing meeting last spring. I hope your daughter is enjoying her senior year at Cornell.”

This will make you appear to have a great memory and will actually be helping to build your memory of the person. If you have a customer service management program or a contact book or online database, type in the business card when you return to the office and send a follow-up email, especially if it is a good lead. Immediate connection will help in the long run.

Research and be ready Before you attend a meeting or a conference, look over the invite list if available.

Do some research on the people attending through company websites or social networks like LinkedIn. If you can find out more about them or find a profile photo and have face recognition in advance, you are more likely to remember their name and can focus on meaningful conversation when you meet in person.

The awkward reintroduction Everyone has the experience of not remembering a name when faced with an already-introduced person. If you know you are bad with names and have not yet perfected the above tips, here are a few ways to turn the situation around.

Bring a “wingman”; in this instance, think of this friend or colleague as the “social butterfly,” “networking” kind of wingman. Prep your partner ahead of time by admitting your weakness and ask that they be forthcoming with their handshake and name when you introduce them to people.

This is your chance to hear the name when they respond. When you depart that conversation, be sure to use the person’s name — “Great seeing you again John” — and then practice the above tips to solidify it in your brain for the future.

Alternatively, if you are flying solo, just be brave and reintroduce yourself: “Hi, I’m Brooke from the chamber. We met at a previous meeting. What is your name again?”

By reintroducing yourself, they are thankful and will kindly appreciate your reminder.

If you know names are a weakness, the best way to improve your skills is to put yourself in as many practice situations as possible. Networking is really important in today’s world, where word of mouth and personal connections go a long way.

One great place to practice is through business associations such as chambers of commerce where networking events are hosted frequently.

n Brooke Rouse is executive director of the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Promotion Agent. She is a business owner, holds a master’s degree in tourism and is a former SUNY Canton Small Business Development Center Advisor. Contact her at brouse@ stlawrencecountychamber.org or 386-4000.

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52 | NNY Business | August 2015

ag ri bu siness

Protecting the fabric of agriculture

O

ne warm evening recently, my son and I drove to Black Pond Wildlife Management Area to take his dog, Jeter, for a swim in Lake Ontario. As we drove across Route 178 from Adams to Route 3, I noticed several small roadside stands for fresh vegetables and fruit. Driving back from the lake, I swung south and picked up Route 193 back across the countryside from Southwick Beach State Park to Route 11 in Pierrepont Manor. Again I noted several vegetable stands along the road. I reflected to myself about a phone conversation I had earlier in the day about what is agriculture and what tools exist to protect and enhance the industry.

The route I drove to Black Pond and back actually brought me by several farms of many sizes. Along the way, my son and I passed one of the largest beef operations in the county. We saw hogs being lazy in the summer heat. We saw dairy farms ranging from 60 to 900 cows. Chickens ran around outside two places and sheep grazed in one of the fields we passed. And as noted earlier, several roadside stands sold eggs, vegetables, cut flowers and fruit. These farm operations ranged in size from maybe a couple acres to several hundred acres, and the revenue they generated for the families that owned them ranged from maybe a couple hundred dollars during the growing season to millions of dollars throughout the year.

Two of the questions posed during my phone conversation earlier in the day were what is considered agriculture and what is important to our agriculture

industry? Basically, agriculture is a broad term used to refer to any person, group, business or entity that grows or raises products used for food or fiber production, the beautification Jay Matteson of property or the enjoyment or restorative therapy of people. Whether you are driving by a home with a small farm stand in the front yard selling eggs and vegetables, a new farm distillery or a major dairy operation, it’s all agriculture and part of our industry.

So then what’s important? What’s important to protect and enhance as part of our industry and community? All of it.

Obviously the small backyard farm raising chickens and selling vegetables at a roadside stand doesn’t have the same economic impact as a dairy farm with a couple hundred cows. But, that backyard farmer may purchase the small compact tractor at the local agriculture equipment dealer which helps fill some of the gaps between when larger farms walk through the door to make a big purchase.

Also, those small roadside stands help the non-farm public connect with agriculture, which is so critically important. Not many people stop in to a dairy farm these days to buy fresh milk, but those roadside stands catch people heading to their cottage for the weekend or the beach for the day, and the customer connects with the

person who grew their food, if only for the few minutes during the purchase.

The last question asked concerns applying tools, such as the New York State ertified Agricultural District program, to different types of agricultural operations.

Should there be a limit to the types of farming operations to which these tools can be applied?

Wasn’t the Agricultural District program meant to protect just farmland? Section 305-a of New York State Agricultural and Markets law is very clear on what the Certified Agricultural District program is meant to do. It is meant to protect the viability of agriculture through the inclusion of parcels of land in the agricultural districts program that are directly used in growing, raising or production of products from agricultural enterprises, including land that supports those efforts.

The certified agricultural district program in the state is one of the best tools we have to maintain the land base that supports agriculture, but not just farmland itself. Agriculture is a fabric of businesses that need the protection of the Certified Agricultural District Program in New York.

It is also important, however, to not let the law be corrupted for individual business interests that may fall outside the law’s intent. It is a fine line that must be considered carefully. n Jay M. Matteson is agricultural coordinator for the Jefferson County Local Development Corp. He is a lifelong Northern New York resident who lives in Lorraine. Contact him at coordinator@comefarmwithus.com. His column appears monthly in NNY Business.

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| 53

b u siness tech by tes

Plan for future digital demands

N

ow that the Fourth of July is over and the last of the fireworks have been lit, the third quarter is looming already.

No time is better than now to look at your business’s IT capability to support your digital demands for 2015 and beyond. Do you have the IT infrastructure to support the demand? Have you explored the risks? Before you simply install the latest security tools, you should evaluate the latest technology trends and the possible impact on your business, IT department and employees.

Not when, but how, digital will transform your business is the question. The information technology research and advisory firm, Gartner predicts, “Within the next 10 years, every industry will be transformed by digital business.”

Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of Schenectadybased industrial giant General Electric, is proposing, “the vision of the industrial Internet, combining people, things and information with the opportunities of digital business, hoping to drive a transformation as great as the industrial revolution.”

Digital business is a trend that will continue to blur the physical and virtual worlds as GE envisions. It will influence every aspect of your business model, from your products and services to back-office processes, driving demand for innovative technologies and creating new opportunities. Your business needs to continue to blend business and technology. You can deliver innovation throughout your organization by using data analytics to serve the appropriate portion of your organization the right decision, service, product or information at the right time.

Your customers will adapt and adopt.

54 | NNY Business | August 2015

They are using technology, too.

Digital business has already changed how people experience the world in their daily lives, and therein lies opportunities for new business and operating Jill Van Hoesen models. Digital technologies are built on innovation. Be ready for the unexpected. There is no longer any right way or answer. You and your business must be agile and ready to acclimate.

According to a January 2015 Gartner Report, “The shift of computing off the desktop and into the mobile world continues with a shift of computing all around us, with screens everywhere and computing embedded in virtually everything.

The world around us becomes the computer, and we are walking through it and interacting with it 24/7. More and more information technology is surrounding us.

Our society has become dependent on the technologies that permeate our professional and personal lives to the point where it has become a fundamental human right to access information over the Internet.

Beyond the smartphones we rely on, computing power in our automobiles, clothing, light bulbs, toasters, thermostats and more are assisting us in almost everything we do. It seems that almost everything that can be instrumented will be instrumented. This trend is what we refer to as ‘computing everywhere,’ and it

extends well beyond the post-PC mobile world that has been the focus for the past several years. Computing everywhere is not one particular technology but the convergence of many technologies that are fundamentally changing our life experiences.

In addition to the computerization of the things around us, these technologies are extending our natural human ways of interacting with the physical world, such as using gestures, voice and eye gazing. Just as computing advanced from the desktop to handheld systems, allowing us to take computing anywhere, it is expanding further from handheld systems into wearable systems, such as eyeglasses, smart band aids or fitness trackers to deliver computing everywhere. In this new mobile world, the focus shifts from the device to the human. Devices are not mobile. People are mobile. Mobile strategies must focus on the mobile person with computing everywhere around them, which will radically change how we design, build, deliver, manage and secure solutions.”

Make sure your business is leading your customer’s digital experience. Discover new ways to enhance both the user’s work and play. Create interfaces and applications that are designed to be simple to use, while fascinating and intriguing. Screens are no longer only on your desktop but have moved into the world all around us, where almost everyone and every device are connected and responsive.

What new business scenarios are being made possible for you by everyone computing everywhere? n Jill Van Hoesen is chief information officer for Johnson Newspapers and a 25-year IT veteran. Contact her at jvanhoesen@wdt.net.

Her column appears monthly in NNY Business.

sm a ll bu siness s u ccess

Branch out beyond social media

I

n the past couple of years, I have noticed a great increase of network marketing companies in our area.

For items from personal care to kitchen equipment, and even to electricity sales, it seems like network marketers are everywhere. So what exactly is network marketing, and how can the Small Business Development Center assist network marketers to be successful in their businesses?

Network marketing programs are companies who use commission-based sales people to sell a product line directly to their personal contacts. People who are involved in network marketing companies are supported by an “upline” of mentors and trainers within their organization, sell product to customers and then recruit other consultants into their “downline” and earn a commission on sales made by their team. In an article for About.com, Scott Allen identifies network marketing businesses as “micro-franchises.” The draw for many for network marketing organizations is that there is usually a low outlay of start-up expenses, and there is support from a team of sales people and a large organization.

Network marketing companies have passionate supporters, but often equally passionate detractors. In an article for Forbes.com, Robert Laura supports the strong growth of network marketing, saying that he believes, “the entire industry is poised for explosive growth.”

Critics of network marketing companies cite concerns that they are a pyramid structure, with those at the top making

money only by enrolling new sales people and not through selling product. If you are considering becoming a consultant with a network marketing company, you will Jennifer McCluskey need to do your research on the company to make sure a real product is being sold to consumers.

Richard Bliss Brooke writes, “the true test of a legitimate network marketing company is whether most of the product is sold to consumers who are not earning any commissions or royalties from the opportunity.” The lack of franchise-type legal regulation in this industry also concerns some critics.

You will want to be aware of these critiques if you are thinking of becoming a consultant with a network marketing company. You will want to be clear on the policies of your organization. You will want to make sure to review any contract carefully, and possibly seek the outside opinion of an attorney to make sure you are not getting in over your head. Be careful about sales pitches from unethical recruiters promising instant wealth. While people can make money in network marketing, it requires the same skills, drive and passion that lead to success in a more traditional business structure. Before joining a network marketing company, you

will want to investigate their ownership, product sales structure, history, company values and policies. You will want to make sure they are offering a product that you are passionate about, because you will have to care about the product in order to sell it to others and to create a sales team. Before joining a network marketing company, you will also want to learn about how saturated your local market is with similar products and companies.

Just as anyone should do before starting a business, a market analysis can be key to determine if you can succeed in this area.

People in network marketing businesses still need to learn many of the same skills as other kinds of more traditional business owners. Branching out beyond your own social networks to find new customers is essential. You also have to be able to develop mentoring relationships and train others on your team to better sell the product. This is where seeking outside business development assistance, like that provided at no charge by the Small Business Development Centers, can help you grow your network marketing business. Also, you will want to touch base with an accountant to make sure that you are paying your taxes correctly. Additionally, like any other home-based business, you should be aware that your homeowners insurance will likely not cover business-related products and equipment, so you may want to look into additional liability insurance. n JENNIFER McCLUSKEY is a certified business advisor with the New York State Small Business Development Center at SUNY Canton.

Contact her at mccluskeyj@canton.edu. Her column appears bi-monthly in NNY Business.

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August 2015 | NNY Business

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COMMUNITY / BUSINESS CALENDAR

Adams Sunday, Sept. 6 & Monday, Sept. 7

n Labor Day Field Days, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Sunday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Adams Fire Hall, 4 N. Main St. 5K walk/run scheduled for 8 a.m. Sunday; Labor Day parade, 11 a.m. Monday. Includes bounce houses, chicken barbecue, bingo, live music, games, raffles and more. Information: Adams Fire Department, 232-4033 or adamsfd.org.

Sunday, Sept. 13

n Fifth annual bicycle heart ride, 9 a.m., Adams Village Municipal Building, 3 S. Main St. Hosted by South Jefferson Rescue Squad.

Choice of five- or 20-mile routes. Cost: by Aug. 25: five-mile ride, $20; 20-mile ride, $30; after Aug. 25: five-mile ride, $25; 20mile ride, $35. Information/register: southjeffheartride.com.

Alexandria Bay Friday, Sept. 11 & Saturday, Sept. 12

n Fishing for Freedom Thousand Islands Bass Tournament, time Friday TBD, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Bonnie Castle Resort and Marina, 31 Holland St. Banquet scheduled Friday open to the public; tournament, Saturday. To benefit Carthage Area Hospital and USO Fort Drum. Information: Fishing for Freedom, fishingforfreedomti.com.

Carthage Wednesdays each week

n Cruise In Classic Auto Show, 6 to 8 p.m., Turning Point Park. Includes food, prizes, music and raffle. Proceeds to benefit Carthage American Legion Scholarship Fund. Slated to run through Aug. 26. Information: Richard Simmons, 493-2787.

Saturday, Aug. 22

n Christmas in August, 1 to 9 p.m., Getman Park, Franklin St. Includes poker run, raffle, auction, craft vendors, food, toy drive and more. Presented by Secret Window Photography. Information: Secret Window Photography, secretwindowphotography. com or 1- (928) 848-1990.

Cape Vincent Friday, Sept. 18

n Annual Chamber of Commerce Dinner, details TBD. Information: Chamber, 6542481, thecape@tds.net or capevincent.org.

Saturday, Sept. 26

n Oktoberfest, noon to 5 p.m., Village Green.

Details TBD. Information: Chamber, 6542481, thecape@tds.net or capevincent.org.

Chaumont Saturday, Aug. 22

n History on the Water, 5:30 p.m., Crescent Yacht Club, 27300 Independence Point Road. Celebration to honor individuals

56 | NNY Business | August 2015

receiving 2015 Jefferson County Historical Society Awards of Distinction. Cocktails scheduled for 5:30 p.m.; awards, 6:30 p.m.; dinner, 7 p.m. Cost: $45. RSVP by Aug. 18.

Information: Jefferson County Historical Society, 782-3491 or jeffersoncountyhistory.org.

Clayton second & fourth Mondays monthly

n Lion’s Club meeting, 6:30 to 8 p.m., Thousand Islands Emergency Rescue Service, 100 Union St. Information: Lion’s Club, 686-5268 or claytonlions@gmail.com.

Friday, Aug. 21

n Clambake and Cocktails Benefit , 5:30 p.m., Antique Boat Museum, 750 Mary St. Includes buffet dinner, auction and live entertainment by Sam Hopkins and Jim Burr. Cocktails scheduled for 5:30 p.m.; dinner and auction, 6:30 p.m. Advance reservations recommended by Friday. Aug. 7; tickets available at door. Cost: $100.

Proceeds to benefit scholarships for Jefferson Community College students. Tickets/information: JCC Foundation, 786-2458.

Saturday, Aug. 22 & Sunday, Aug. 23

n Thirty-third annual arts and crafts show and sale, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Cerow Recreation Park, 600 E. Line Road. Information: Thousand Islands Art Center, 686-4123.

Sunday, Aug. 23

n River Rat Triathlon, 7 a.m., Centennial Park. Proceeds to benefit Children’s Miracle Network. Consists of 600 meter swim or 3 mile kayak/canoe/stand up paddleboard, 16.75 mile road bike and 3.3 mile run.

Check in slated for 7 a.m.; kayak/canoe/ stand up paddleboard start, 8:30 a.m.; swim start, 9 a.m. Cost: by Aug. 1: individual, $50; team, $40 per person; Aug. 2 to Aug. 16: individual, $60; team, $50 per person; $10 additional fee to register race day. Register: active.com. Information: mbocciolat@shsny.com.

Friday, Aug. 28

n Scott Helmer/TIPAF Endowment Fundraiser, 7:30 p.m., Clayton Opera House, 405 Riverside Drive. To benefit TIPAF Endowment with the NNY Community Foundation. Cost: $15 to $25. Information: opera house, 686-2200 or claytonoperahouse.com.

Thursday, Sept. 3

n Volunteer appreciation dinner, 5 to 8 p.m., Antique Boat Museum, 750 Mary St. Honors people who have volunteered ten hours or more in 2015 season. Information: museum, 686-4104, volunteers@abm.org or abm.org. n Sight as Study opening reception, 5 to 7 p.m., Thousand Islands Arts Center, 314 John St. Exhibit of paintings by Mitchell Price slated to run through Friday, Nov. 6. Information: arts center, 686-4123.

Thursday, Sept. 10

Athena Award presentation and dinner, 6

to 9 p.m., 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel, 200 Riverside Drive. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres scheduled for 6 p.m.; dinner and program, 7 p.m. Cost: $50; corporate table of eight, $450. Information: Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce, events@ watertownny.com or 788-4400.

Thursday, Sept. 24

n The River Parishes Toast of the Town, 5 to 9 p.m.. 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel, 200 Riverside Drive. To benefit Christ and St. John’s Episcopal Churches. Ticket includes hors d’oeuvers for two and chances to win prizes. Cost: $100. Information: in Clayton,Tracy Brabant, 686-5118; Cape Vincent, Sharon Wiley, 654-2282 or Nancy DelBorgo, 654-4618.

Sunday, Sept. 27

n NNY Kidney Walk, 9 a.m., Cerow Recreation Park, 600 E. Line Road. To benefit National Kidney Foundation. Check in scheduled for 9 a.m.; walk start, 10 a.m.

Information: Nanette Carbone, ncarbone@ cnykidney.org or 476-0311.

Dexter Thursday, Sept. 17

n Business after hours, 5 to 7 p.m., Watertown International Airport, 22529 Airport Drive. Sponsored by Watertown International Airport. Ages 21 and older. Cost: pre-registered members, $10; non-members, $15; unregistered members at the door, $12. Information: Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce, events@ watertownny.com or 788-4400.

Hammond Saturday, Aug. 22

n Chippewa Bay Poker Run: Paddle for a Purpose, 8 a.m., Schermerhorn Harbor Marina Boat Launch. Includes live music, prizes for adults and children, food and more.

Registration slated for 8 a.m.; poker run starting at Schermerhorn Harbor Marina, 9 a.m. to noon; after party and awards ceremony at Foster’s Harbor Inn, 71 Schermerhorn Landing Road, noon. Kayaks, canoes, skiffs or standup paddleboards welcome. Cost: adults, $35; children, $35. To benefit community of Hammond. Information: facebook. com/ChippewaBayPokerRun; Hammond Chamber of Commerce, 486-9296 or visithammondny@gmail.com.

Ogdensburg Saturday, Sept. 19

n Color Me Remington, 9 a.m., Dobisky Visitor Center, 100 Riverside Ave. Color blast 5K fun walk/run on the Maple City Trail. Cost:

by Sept. 1, $25; after Sept. 1, $30; ages 6 and younger, free. Information: Frederic Remington Art Museum, 393-2425.

Saturday, Sept. 26

n Harvest Moon fundraiser, 7 to 11 p.m., Frederic Remington Art Museum, 303 Washington St. Includes food, dancing, auction and more. To benefit museum. Cost: mem-

Old Forge Friday, Sept. 4

n Plein Art Auction, 5:30 p.m., View Arts Center, 3273 state Route 28. Includes live auction of local plein air painters’ works, exhibits, consignments, raffle and more.

To benefit arts center. Free and open to the public. Information: arts center, 369-6411 or viewarts.org.

Saturday, Sept. 19

n addle for the Cure, 9 a.m., Mountainman Outdoor Supply Company, 2855 state Route 28. Two-mile paddle path on the Moose River to benefit the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund of CNY and Upstate Medical University breast cancer research.

Cost: preregistered, $25; day of event, $35; passengers, $5. Information: mountainmanoutdoors.com/paddle-for-the-cure.html; Janice Sell, 415-3157.

Sackets Harbor Saturday, Sept. 12 & Sunday, Sept. 13

n Incredoubleman Triathlon, 8:15 a.m., Westcott Beach State Park, 12224 state Route 3. Select from sprint, Olympic or halfdistance triathlons, aquabike, duathlon or relays. To earn Incredoubleman achievement, participant must complete 1.25 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run each day. In-person registration slated for 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11; race-day registration, 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. each day. Cost: $65 to $360, depending on race combination choices; non-USAT members, additional $12.

Information/register: incredoubleman.com or wayne@doublevisionracing.com.

Syracuse First Wednesday each month

n Business Innovation Days meeting, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., The Technology Garden, 235 Harrison St. Opportunity for small businesses and entrepreneurs to meet one-on-one with SBDC counselor. Appointment required. Information/register: Onondaga Community College SBDC, 498-6070 or SBDC@sunyocc.edu.

First Friday each month

n Toolkit Day with SCORE, by appointment, The Technology Garden, 235 Harrison St. Counselors provide mentoring to business owners. Information/register: Lynn Hughes, 579-2862 or Lynn@TheTechGarden.com.

Thursday, Aug. 20

n Business After Hours & Member Showcase, 5 to 7 p.m., Time Warner Cable Business Class, 3179 Erie Blvd. E., Suite 230.

Includes networking and tabletop displays

by CenterState CEO members. Cost: members, $15; nonmembers, $25. Information: Beth Savicki, bsavicki@centerstateceo.com or 470-1833.

Thursday, Sept. 10

n Business After Hours, 5 to 6:30 p.m., Courtyard by Marriott, 300 W. Fayette St. Includes hotel tours, rattles and networking.

Cost: members, $10; nonmembers, $20.

Information: CenterState CEO, 470-1800 or centerstateceo.com.

Friday, Sept. 18

n 7 Habits of 7 Highly Successful People, 7:30 to 10 a.m., Everson Museum of Art of Syracuse & Onondaga County, 401 Harrison St. Seven executives and community leaders plan to share seven career lessons. Presented

by D’Arcangelo& Co., LLP and in partnership with Syracuse Media Group. Registration and continental breakfast scheduled from 7:30 to 8 a.m.; program, 8 to 10 a.m.

Cost: members, $25; nonmembers, $35.

Information: CenterState CEO, 470-1800 or centerstateceo.com.

Thursday, Sept. 24

n Successful Business Women Awards, 7:30 to 10:30 a.m., Oncenter, 800 S. State St. Presented by Her HeartBeat. Includes guest speakers, networking, giveaways, awards program and more. Networking and breakfast reception slated for 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.; program and awards, 8:30 to 10 a.m.; networking and photos, 10 to 10:30 a.m. Cost: $30. Information: 579-3917 or jclance@bizeventz.com.

Wednesday, Sept. 30

n Syracuse Tomorrow: Meet the Candidates Reception, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., The Landmark Theatre, 362 S. Salina St. Local and state non-partisan political action committee Syracuse Tomorrow’s annual fall candidate reception aims to provide an opportunity to meet candidates for the offices of Onondaga County Executive, the Onondaga County Legislature, Syracuse Common Council and Town Supervisor. Cost: members, $25; nonmember, $40. Information: CenterState CEO, 470-1800 or centerstateceo.com.

Watertown First, third & fifth Monday each month

n Watertown Toastmasters Club, 7 p.m., Jefferson County BOCES- Charles H. Bohlen Technical Center Administration Building, Conference Room A, 20104 State Route 3. Meetings open to anyone interested in improving community and leadership skills. Information: watertown. toastmastersclubs.org.

Tuesdays, ongoing

n Watertown Evening Rotary meeting, 5:30 p.m., Paddock Club, 1 Public Square.

Information: watertowneveningrotary.org or 786-6633. n BNI-NNY Partners for Success meeting, 7:30 p.m., Comfort Inn, 110 Commerce Park Drive. Networking group. Information: President Jessica Page, 786-5032; bniupstateny.com.

Saturday, Sept. 12

n Run for Recovery, 9 a.m., Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds Agricultural Building, 970 Coffeen St. 5k run/walk and 10k run to raise money for Watertown Urban Mission Bridge Program, in memory of Gavin Tedford.

Includes lunch, face painting, music, auction and more. Same day registration, 6:30 a.m.; run/walk, 9 a.m. Pre-registration cost: $20; military or student, $18; team of six, $105; team of six military or students, $96. Same day registration: $25. Information/register: Urban Mission, watertownurbanmission.com. n Back to School 101, 9 a.m. to noon, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County, 203 North Hamilton St. Includes “How to Effectively Communicate with Schools” program for adults and activities for children. Cost: $15 per family. Information: Parenting & Family Environment Program Coordinator Leslie Cherry, lc579@cornell. edu or 788-8450 ext. 262.

Saturday, Sept. 19

n Second Annual Health & Wellness Fair, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Salmon Run Mall, 21182 Salmon Run Mall Loop West. Presented by BeFit NNY and WWNY TV7. Includes more than 20 NNY health and wellness experts.

Free and open to the public. Information: mall, shopsalmonrunmall.com or 788-9210.

Sunday, Sept. 20

n Jefferson County first annual Burgers, Brews & Blues Fest, 1 to 5 p.m., Bruce M. Wright Memorial Conference Center, 1291 Faichney Drive. Includes food, local vendors and crafters, photo booth, children’s activities, raffles and more. Cost: $7; in advance, $5; ages 2 to 10, $3; ages 1 and younger, free. Information: facebook.com/ events/371297046403250.

Thursdays, Oct. 1 through Nov. 12

n Entrepreneurial Training Course, 6 to 9 p.m., Jefferson Community College, 1220 Coffeen St. Aims to teach valuable tools and tips for business owners. Includes instruction from local professionals on accounting, advertising, insurance and legal issues. Cost: $195. Information: Small Business Development Center, 782-9262.

COMMUNITY / BUSINESS CALENDAR

bers, $40; nonmembers, $45; preregistration discount available. Tickets/information: museum, 393-2425 or fredericremington.org.

Monday, Oct. 5 through Thursday, Dec. 31

n Online Entrepreneurial Training Course.

Aims to teach valuable tools and tips for business owners through online instruction, discussions and assignments. Includes video presentations by area business professionals. Cost: $195. Information: Small Business Development Center, 782-9262.

 GOT A BUSINESS EVENT or calendar item? Email nnybusiness@wdt.net. Deadline is the 10th of each month for the following month’s issue. Visit us on Facebook at www. facebook.com/NNYBusiness or www.nny bizmag.com for events calendar updates.

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 57

b u siness scene GWNC Chamber Business After Hours at AmeriCU Credit Union

From left, Christine Martin, Classy Taxi and Transportation Solutions, and Althea McKenzie, United Realty.

From left, Shannon Smith Gonzalez, guest, and Jaime Benner, Rose and Kiernan.

LORNA OPPEDISANO PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

LORNA OPPEDISANO PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Heather Casario, Sherri Kehoe and Raechel Wheeler, all of McLaughlin-Kehow Insurance. AmeriCU Credit Union sponsored and hosted the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce July Business After Hours on Thursday, July 16, at its Arsenal Street location.

From left, Michelle Carpenter, Jefferson Rehabilitation Center Foundation, and Nicole Bertrand, Armed Forces Service Corp.

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58 | NNY Business | August 2015

Care Credit

bu siness scene New York Air Brake 125th Anniversary Celebration

Mabel and T. Urling Walker, former Watertown mayor and past New York Air Brake engineer.

From left, Michael J. Hawthorne, president, New York Air Brake, and Heinz Hermann Thiele, owner, Knorr-Bremse, Munich, Germany, NYAB parent company.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Beth E. Maguire, vice president, finance & controlling, New York Air Brake, state Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, D-Theresa, Stephen M. Hunt II, Empire State Development, and Tracy Gyoerkoe, Jefferson-Lewis BOCES.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Carolyn Morgan, husband, J. Paul Morgan, past president, New York Air Brake, and Eric Wright, New York Air Brake. New York Air Brake hosted a 125th Anniversary Celebration luncheon at its Watertown plant on Tuesday, July 21.

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August 2015 | NNY Business

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b u siness scene Carthage Area Chamber Business After Hours at Little Sisters Inn at Herrings

Johnna and Kent and Burto, Lube Express, West Carthage.

From left, Derek Davis, Slack Chemical Co., Carthage, Dan Boshart, Rite Aid, West Carthage.

SYDNEY O’SHAUGHNESSY PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

SYDNEY O’SHAUGHNESSY PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Tammy Trowbridge, Carthage, Theresa M. Lorence, owner, Music and Movement for the Extraordinary Child, Carthage. Little Sisters Inn at Herrings hosted the Carthage Area Chamber of Commerce July Business After Hours on Wednesday, July 22.

From left, Lynn Morgan, Habitat for Humanity Thousand Islands, Carthage, Peter Turner, superintendent, Carthage School District, wife, Jeanette Turner, owner, Sew What Quilt & Embroidery, Carthage.

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161 Coleman Ave., Watertown • 788-3732 60 | NNY Business | August 2015

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bu siness scene St. Lawrence Chamber Business Spotlight at Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Resort

Ed Reyes, Let’s Go Fishin’ Charter, Massena, and Candice Garcia, My Body Utopia, Nicholville.

From left, Tammy Beaudin and Jason Hawkins, Stephens Media, Canton and Ogdensburg, and Adam Paul, St. Lawrence International Film Festival.

JENNIFER McCLUSKEY PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

JENNIFER McCLUSKEY PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Raymond Swamp, Jamique Odgick, Marvin Phillips, Lawrence Cook, Emily Lauzon, Jill Benedict, Randy Isham, Terri Lee Ranson, Sheila King and Paul Francis, all of Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Resort, Akwesasne.

From left, Kaly White, Akwesasne Puppy Style Dog Biscuits, Akwesasne, Valisha Arnold and Mark Todd, Clever Toad Design, Norwood, and Daniel Gyoerkoe, Aubertine & Currier Architects, Watertown. Akwesasne Mowhawk Casino Resort hosted the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce July Business Spotlight on Wednesday, July 22.

August 2015 | NNY Business

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b u siness scene Watertown International Airport Business Center dedication

From left, Tom Brouty, retired FBO, Michael Williams, Mike Williams Flying Services and Flight School.

LORNA OPPEDISANO PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Jim Cox, retired, son of Mary Ellen Cooper Cox, Chris Well, North Country Lock & Key, and Susan Cox. The Watertown International Airport hosted a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony of its new business center in honor of Mary Ellen Cooper Cox on Friday, July 24.

62 | NNY Business | August 2015

Scott Dalton, Watertown International Airport FBO, and Cynthia Lawrence, Watertown International Airport.

LORNA OPPEDISANO PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

Lee Hector, Hector Law Offices, and Karen Stumpf, International Organization of Women Pilots.

bu siness scene River Hospital Foundation 13th annual Festive Evening at Bonnie Castle Resort

Laurie Donegan and husband, Patrick M., Alexandria Bay.

From left, Alyssa Robbins and husband, Taylor, and Lisa McAloon, all of Alexandria Bay.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Carol Recktenwald, Alexandria Bay, Amanda Rydberg, Evans Mills, Brad Frey, and daughter, Jenna, Theresa.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Jake Tibbles, John Peach, JoAnn Schwalm and Anthony Menkel, all of Alexandria Bay. Nearly 380 people attended the River Hospital Foundation’s 13th annual Festive Evening at Bonnie Castle Resort & Marina on Sunday, July 26. The hospital kicked off a $5 million capital campaign.

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August 2015 | NNY Business

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b u siness history

Dr. Samuel Guthrie, a surgeon during the War of 1812, discovered chloroform, a popular 19th century anesthetic, in 1831.

His house is pictured at left and below, a portrait of the doctor.

WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES ARCHIVES

A medical pioneer

Sackets’ Dr. Samuel Guthrie discovered chloroform

By Lenka Walldroff

M NNY Business

aybe it’s something in the water? That’s one possible explanation for the long list of entrepreneurs and inventors who have called Jefferson County home. Safety pins, bed springs, tile drains, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (better known as the S.P.C.A.), and the concept of the five and dime were all invented or created within Jefferson County’s borders. Tyler Coverlets are native to the county as are percussion caps and a mechanism for their ignition which made flintlock muskets obsolete.

But perhaps one of the best known inventions is that of chloroform.

Chloroform was a popular 19th century anesthetic discovered by Dr. Samuel Guthrie of Sackets Harbor. Until Dr. Guthrie’s discovery in 1831, the anesthetic of choice among surgeons was a combination of herbal extractions and opiates. The formularies were not standardized, however, and these sedatives were bitterly denounced as either being too weak to be effective or too strong, resulting in the death of the patient. While

64 | NNY Business | August 2015

nitrous oxide and some other chemical anesthetics had been discovered before 1831, they were not used in surgical applications until almost 1850. In this context, the discovery of chloroform almost two decades before other anesthetics were popularized was a windfall for doctors and patients alike.

Samuel Guthrie was born in Brimfield, Mass., in 1782. In 1804, he married Sybil Sexton and together they had four children.

During the winter of 1810-1811, Mr. Guthrie studied at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, known today as Columbia University, and in January 1815, sat in on medical lectures at the University of Pennsylvania. This was the full extent of his formal medical education. Nevertheless, in 1817 Dr. Guthrie moved his family to the relative wilderness of Northern New York, choosing the village of Sackets Harbor in which to open a medical practice.

Dr. Guthrie discovered chloroform in February 1831. Within months, the process to create chloroform was dually and independently discovered in Europe by a French scientist named Eugène Soubeiran and again one month later by Justus Liebig, a German chemist. The question of which scientist should be credited with the original discovery was debated for most of Dr. Guthrie’s life. What finally settled the debate was an article that Mr. Guthrie had written for Yale University’s chemistry department discussing his successful 1831 experiment.

The article was published in July 1831 and, as it predated the discoveries of both of his

European contemporaries, finally settled the question once and for all. In a letter written to his daughter eight months before his death in October 1848, Dr. Guthrie stated that newspapers were only then beginning to give him exclusive credit for the discovery of the anesthetic that was at the time already widely in use.

An excerpt from an article published by a local newspaper shortly after Dr. Guthrie’s 1831 discovery said the following about the experiment: “With the whiskey to the amount of two gallons he purchased at the tavern, Dr. Guthrie added three pounds of chlorinated lime he had been using as a disinfectant round the henhouse. Great fortitude and self-denial on Dr. Guthrie’s part were necessary, it is said, before he could bring himself to the point of consenting to spoil so much excellent whiskey. But resistance and courage won.”

The article goes on to describe the distillation process in detail. An interesting side note: in addition to his work as a physician, Dr. Guthrie also was an accomplished distiller. While today the professions of physician and distiller may seem incongruous, during the 19th century liquor was commonly used to treat ailments of all varieties, making the distillation of spirits a convenient skill for any doctor. There is no doubt that Dr. Guthrie’s home distilling was not entirely for medical purposes as he was reputed to have brewed an alcohol that was unequaled in all of Jefferson County, as much enjoyed by the healthy as the sick. A replica of the still Dr. Guthrie used for the distillation of chloroform is currently in the collection of the Jefferson County Historical Society.

With the independent discovery of chloroform in Europe only a few months after Dr. Guthrie’s successful February 1831 experiment – and apparently again a decade later in Boston as news traveled slowly in the early 19th century — its use in medical procedures on both sides of the Atlantic spread rapidly. By the 1840s chloroform was widely used to numb the pain of childbirth and, in fact, was considered so safe that it was used

by Queen Victoria of England during the birth of her last two children.

Eventually, however, as some of the side effects became known — including its toxicity — at higher doses, ether and nitrous oxide replaced chloroform. n Lenka P. Walldroff is former curator of collections for the Jefferson County Historical Museum. She is a former museum specialist and conservator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She lives in Jefferson County with her husband and two children. Business history is a monthly feature from the archives of the Watertown Daily Times. Visit watertown dailytimes.com to access digital archives since 1988, or stop by the Times, 260 Washington St., Watertown to research materials in our library that date back to the 1800s.

COMPASSIONATE PERSONALIZED QUALITY QUALITY CARE FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY Hospice of Jefferson County delivers compassionate, personalized, high-quality care. Hospice is committed to comfort, privacy, dignity and control.

SERVICES AVAILABLE IN YOUR HOME OR AT THE HOSPICE RESIDENCE

August 2015 | NNY Business

| 65

WH AT ’ s ha ppenin g here ?

Site preparation is under way at the corner of Broad and Franklin streets in the West Carthage for a new car wash.

KEN EYSAMAN | NNY BUSINESS

SELF-SERVE CAR WASH WHAT: Four-bay car wash LOCATION: 22 N. Broad St., West Carthage at the corner of Franklin Street. The new facility will border the back of Aubuchon Hardware and Price Chopper properties and be accessed from Franklin Street.

OWNER: Kent D. Burto, Carthage

SALE NOW ON!

DEVELOPER: The Lundy Group of Companies, West Carthage SITE PREP: GYMO Architecture, Engineering & Land Surveying, Watertown, completed a stormwater pollution prevention plan DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION: The Lundy Group of Companies, West Carthage COMPLETION: Construction through the rest

Now Carrying Power Recline Lift Chairs!

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of summer; opening in fall 2015 LOCAL JOBS: Several construction jobs.

FEATURES: Heated sidewalks and a cold attic design will minimize snow buildup during the winter months. LED lighting, which a sensor will activate. State-of-the-art equipment is planned for two automatic and two self-service bays, along with a detail island and vending services.

— Elaine Avallone

I

N E X T M ON T H

n our September issue, we examine the impact that the sports and sporting industries have on the north country as semi-professional athletic teams — new and old — take to local fields.

Also coming next month: n athletic innovation: A handful of things that have found their way onto the field of play, including portable safety nets and custom baseball bats, are local innovations.

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www.masseysfurniturebarn.com 66 | NNY Business | August 2015

n SMALL BIZ STARTUP: A feature story about a recently opened north country small business in Lewis County. n 20 QUESTIONS: An in-depth interview with a north country business leader. n PLUS: NNY Snapshot, Economically Speaking, Commerce Corner, Nonprofits Today, Business Tech Bytes, Small Business Success, Real Estate, Agribusiness, Business History and Business Scene. n VISIT US ONLINE at www.nnybizmag.com.

Follow us on Twitter for daily updates at @NNYBusinessMag, like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nnybusiness, and view eEditions at www.issuu.com/NNYBusiness.

WHERE

CELL PHONES FALL SHORT, DIGITAL RADIOS KEEP YOU GOING. Think cell phones are good for business? Think again. VDC Research confi rms that consumer-grade cell phones can bring greater expense and risks than ruggedized devices.1 Little surprise, given cell phones’ shortcomings: • 50 percent higher total cost of ownership over a five-year period1, • Three times more likely to fail1 costing 180 to 260 minutes of productivity per failure2, • Unavailability in emergencies when cell towers overload, • Inability to block out loud noise, and • Gaps in coverage and signal.

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All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2015 Motorola Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Sources: 1. VDC Research: Mobile Device TCO Models for Line of Business Solutions; Volume 1/Track 7: Enterprise Mobile Device TCO; VDC Research Group, Inc.; Mobile and Wireless Practice; February 2013. 2. Krebs, David.

WELLS COMMUNICATIONS TROY - PLATTSBUGH - WATERTOWN www.wellscomm.com 800-767-2346

August 2015 | NNY Business

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Greater Watertown - North Country Chamber of Commerce

2015 Save

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August 2015 | NNY Business

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August 2015 | NNY Business

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BusIness

www.nnybizmag.com

260 Washington St. Watertown, NY 13601

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED