Merrimack Valley Magazine

NoteWorthy – 12/27/20

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AROUND THE VALLEY 

Charlie & Elizabeth Daher donate $250,000 to Lawrence General Hospital

Lawrence General Hospital has received a $250,000 donation by Charlie and Elizabeth Daher of Andover. The donation will help fund construction of a new dedicated treatment unit at Lawrence General Hospital’s emergency center.

The new dedicated treatment unit will help the hospital rapidly evaluate, assess and treat patients with low- to mid-acuity medical complaints while also increasing capacity for the patients with critical care needs such as stroke, heart attack and trauma.

Charlie Daher, who was born at Lawrence General, credits the expert team at Lawrence General Hospital’s emergency center for saving his life when he recently experienced a heart attack. He views the donation as a way to both help his community and support the care team at Lawrence General.

 

Holy Family Hospital Receives an ‘A’ for Patient Safety and “Top General Hospital” Designation  

Holy Family Hospital was awarded an ‘A’, and the “Top General Hospital” designation for achieving the highest national standards in patient safety from The Leapfrog Group’s fall 2020 hospital safety grades. The designation recognizes Holy Family’s efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care.

Holy Family is one of only 29 in the nation to be awarded the elite “Top General Hospital” designation. The designation is based on hospital performance in clinical areas including preventing infections, reducing unnecessary C-sections, avoiding medication errors, maternity care, and safe surgery.

MassDevelopment Announces $390,000 In Commonwealth Places Funding to Support Economic Recovery From COVID-19 Through Placemaking

MassDevelopment announced the availability of $390,000 in funding for a new round of the Commonwealth Places program, a statewide initiative that leverages public support for placemaking projects in Massachusetts. Funding through this second special Commonwealth Places COVID-19 Response Round: Resurgent Places is being made available specifically to assist local economic recovery efforts. Meanwhile, community partners prepare public spaces and commercial districts to serve residents and visitors. Eligible projects will comply with the Commonwealth’s reopening Massachusetts plan, and may include outdoor seating spaces, sidewalk retail venues, partitions to support social distancing, and more.

Nonprofits and other community groups can apply to MassDevelopment for seed grants of between $250 to $7,500 to fund inclusive community engagement, visioning, and local capacity building that will support future placemaking efforts, or implementation grants of up to $50,000 to execute a placemaking project. For implementation grants, up to $10,000 per project may be awarded as an unmatched grant; awards greater than $10,000 must be matched with crowdfunding donations.

Expressions of interest will be accepted on a rolling basis until June 30, 2021, and are available at massdevelopment.com/commonwealthplaces. MassDevelopment will host an informational webinar about the program on January 12, 2021. Those interested can register at massdevelopment.com/cp-webinar​.

Natural Wine Shop Opens in Downtown Amesbury 

Caitlin Frame and Laura Poladsky have opened Sunny’s, a downtown Amesbury store that offers all-natural wine.

“A natural wine store is a great complement to what Amesbury already has to offer,” says Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove. “Laura and Caitlin have made such a great impression on the community, with their personalized recommendations and local delivery. Congratulations to them on opening what I’m sure will be a successful new shop!”

“COVID has certainly changed how businesses operate,” said Phil DeCologero, executive director of the Amesbury Chamber of Commerce. “One of the exciting things to see is that this environment has created a whole new breed of entrepreneurs, and Caitlin and Laura embody that new tenacity.”

Home Depot Donates to Methuen Youth Center

On Tuesday, Dec. 22, Home Depot made a $11,000 donation to the Methuen Youth and Community Center, presenting the check to state Sen. Diana DiZoglio.

Over the past year, DiZoglio has made the establishment of a formal youth and community center in the city of Methuen one of her top priorities, culminating in a 159-mile March Across Massachusetts this fall to raise awareness and support for the project. DiZoglio has noted that Methuen is among the few communities in the Merrimack Valley without a center.

The local nonprofit Inspirational Ones, in collaboration with Methuen public schools and the city of Methuen, is initiating the project, creating and implementing a curriculum model to identify and expand learning experiences and career opportunities, with a focus on engaging underserved youth. An essential component of the project is participation by the Youth Advisory Council MY (Methuen Youth) Voice, whose members have been nominated by teachers and school staff and include representatives of that underserved population.

In October, the Methuen school committee voted to approve the former Pleasant Valley School building as the location for the Methuen Youth and Community Center.

City of Lowell Conducts Parking Study

The City of Lowell is using a Housing Choice Grant award from the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) to conduct a comprehensive parking strategy.

The Lowell Parking Study will review and analyze existing parking conditions including parking inventory, utilization, policies, management, regulations and pricing, and analyze the parking supply and demand compared to existing land uses. The parking study will help ensure that the parking system is consistent with the city’s economic development and transportation planning goals, including the ongoing GoLowell Multimodal Complete Streets plan.

Please take a few minutes to help them identify what has been working and what can be improved by taking the survey, available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Khmer.

For more information on the study, you can follow them on Facebook @GoLowell , check out their website, or email them at parkingstudy@lowellma.gov.

TAKE THE SURVEY

Lowell General Leaders Join Gov. Baker on Tour of Alternative Care Site

On Thursday, Dec. 24, Lowell General Hospital (LGH) leaders toured the recommissioned Alternative Care Site at UMass Lowell’s campus recreation center today with Gov. Charlie Baker and  members of his administration in advance of the site opening to patients next week.

The Alternative Care Site will have a soft opening for LGH patients the week of Dec. 28 and will be available for regional transfers the week of Jan. 4 if adequate staffing is secured. Candidates can apply at LowellGeneralResponds.com.

The site will initially have capacity for up to 14 patients, and will scale up capacity based on need and availability of staffing. The maximum capacity would be 77 patients.

The LGH Alternative Care Site was first commissioned in late April at the height of the first wave of the pandemic. It was designed to care for recovering COVID patients nearing discharge but was ultimately not needed and taken down a month later. The recommissioned site will also treat recovering patients nearing discharge, but can provide additional services like IV medications.

Lowell General has seen its resources stretched by a significant rise in cases post-Thanksgiving, and as of Thursday had 62 COVID positive patients in its care. Hospital officials are bracing for a new wave of hospitalizations stemming from the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

 

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Robert Boley to JDCU Assistant Vice President, Business Services
Boley joined the Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union (JDCU) team in 2016 as a branch manager in Westford, before moving into business services the following year. As a business services advisor, he has played a major role in the development of JDCU’s business banking and contributed to the creation of training resources used to improve the member experience. Boley maintains a commitment to his community by serving on several boards and committees, including Mill City Grows and the Entrepreneurship Center at CTI Loan Committee.

Jessica Gadilauskas to JDCU Assistant Treasurer, Human Resources
Gadilauskas has worked at JDCU for over 10 years, having served in various roles and departments, including retail, financial education, and, most recently, in human resources as the benefits and payroll administrator. In her new role as assistant treasurer, she will take on a broader role in the credit union’s human resources department including, but not limited to, employee relations, compensation planning, and performance management.

 

Bethany Watson to JDCU Assistant Treasurer, Executive Assistant
Watson has been with JDCU for over 17 years, serving in various roles within marketing and consumer lending before coming to support the executive team in 2019. She provided her expertise to the executive team in various capacities, serving in the pandemic response planning efforts and as a liaison to the board of directors. Within her role as executive assistant, she will continue to assist credit union executives as they focus on meeting strategic goals and initiatives for key projects.

Eric Bullock named JDCU Assistant Treasurer, Branch Manager
Eric Bullock joins the JDCU team as the newest branch manager and will be leading the Westford branch on 196 Littleton Rd. He comes to JDCU with 10 years of banking experience, with his most recent position overseeing daily branch functions with Hanscom Federal Credit Union, where he was an assistant branch manager and loan officer.

NoteWorthy – 12/20/20

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AROUND THE VALLEY 

Lowell General Receives First COVID-19 Vaccines, Begins Vaccination of Staff

Lowell General Hospital received its first delivery of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday morning and began vaccination clinics for front-line staff on Wednesday. The first delivery, which came via Federal Express at 8 a.m., contained 1,950 doses of the vaccine. Lowell General and its partners in the Wellforce system — Tufts Medical Center, Melrose-Wakefield Hospital and Home Health Foundation — conducted an online town hall event for all employees and vaccinated its first five staff members.

In the first two days of clinic registration, more than 900 staff had signed on to get their vaccinations. Each staff member will receive a second dose of the vaccine approximately 21 days later.

 

 

UMass Lowell Graduate to be Honored for Research

Karin Loach, an eighth grade science teacher in Auburn, will be presented with the Best Graduate Paper Award for 2020 from the Eastern Educational Research Association at its virtual conference in February. The organization of education practitioners shares best approaches to improve formal and informal education.

Loach completed the study as part of her work toward her doctoral degree in education at UMass Lowell (UML). With her second degree from the university, she became a “double River Hawk,” having earned a UML master’s degree in curriculum and instruction for science education in 2011.

Loach’s dissertation examined how prepared elementary-school teachers thought they were to teach science to students who would soon be moving on to middle school. In her research, Loach studied third, fourth and fifth grade teachers to learn how confident they were in teaching science and achieving the state’s student learning goals.

Her results found that most of the teachers she studied lacked confidence in their ability to teach science but that being part of a teaching team improved their self-assurance slightly. Only two of the teachers in her study had ever taken a professional development course in science education.

Loach’s work has taken on even more urgency amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So far this year, Auburn Middle School students have been taught via a hybrid model of online and in-person classes, she said. She has conducted many experiments and demonstrations for class remotely, but she worries about how primary and middle-school science teachers are managing. If there are no hands-on educational activities taking place, that could hurt students, she said.

 

Elder Services Awarded National Accreditation Status for Care Management

Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley and North Shore (ESMV-NS) recently received accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). ESMV-NS has received the Case Management for Long Term Services and Supports (CM-LTSS) accreditation from NCQA for their home care program.

ESMV-NS state funded home care program is one of the agency’s largest programs and serves an average of 4,300 consumers monthly. This program supports older adults whose goal is to remain in a community setting, living as independently as possible.

NECC Dean is Leader in Paramedic Research

Scott Lancaster, the interim dean of health professions at Northern Essex Community College (NECC), took top honors at an international conference, hosted by the leading organization for emergency medical services research, on Nov. 20.

Lancaster was selected to give two of the ten presentations at the 2020 International Scientific Symposium, which was delivered virtually by the Prehospital Care Research Forum at UCLA.

Lancaster won the Best Educational Research Award for the first presentation, which focused on the effect of a paramedic’s personality when administering medications to trauma patients.

His second presentation examined the factors in a paramedic program that contribute to a higher passing rate on the paramedic licensure exam. This presentation was named Best Educational Oral Presentation, based on a vote of the 300-plus conference attendees.

A resident of Goffstown, N.H., Lancaster joined NECC in 2014. He continues to work as a paramedic for the Amherst, N.H., Fire Department.

NECC offers an associate degree and certificate in paramedic technology and an EMT-Basic course. To learn more about the 22 health programs offered at NECC, visit the website.

Middlesex Community College Receives $2 Million in Student Aid from Federal CARES Act

As part of the Federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of March 2020, Middlesex Community College (MCC) has received several grants totaling $2 million.

The U.S. Department of Education authorized more than $7 billion of Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) to go towards emergency student expenses related to the pandemic. MCC signed and returned the certification and agreement form to receive funds from the CARES Act.

Middlesex disbursed $997,070 of grant funds to 2,558 eligible students as of September 2020. An additional $1 million in grants was given out in December 2020 to 2,400 students, including $210,800 from the Governor’s Emergency Relief Fund (GREER) for 469 students and $15,008 for 34 students from the Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutional Fund (AANIPISI).

To be eligible, students must have been enrolled at Middlesex for the Fall 2020 semester, submitted a 2020-2021 FAFSA, met Federal Title IV Financial Aid eligibility requirements, and incurred expenses caused by disruption of campus operations related to the COVID-19 crisis.

 

Enterprise Bank Announces Plans for Londonderry Banking Location

Enterprise Bank will be opening its 27th banking office, within the new Market Basket Shopping Center. The center is located at 10 Michels Way, Londonderry, N.H. Construction is planned to begin in spring 2021 with an anticipated opening in late 2021 or early 2022.

The branch office will feature two drive-up lanes, a drive-up ATM, and 28 dedicated parking spaces. The interior will feature an open-concept banking lobby with pods to provide areas for personalized service. The latest technology including cash recyclers and video teleconferencing will be installed.

Enterprise Bank has 25 full-service branch offices located in the New Hampshire communities of Derry, Hudson, Nashua, Pelham, Salem and Windham and the Massachusetts communities of Lowell, Acton, Andover, Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Fitchburg, Lawrence, Leominster, Lexington, Methuen, North Andover, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough and Westford. A new branch location in North Andover, Mass., is slated to open on Jan. 4, 2021.

Wellness Wednesday – 11/11/20

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WELLNESS AROUND THE WEB

Scientists Conduct COVID-19 Concert Experiment to Assess Concert Risk

According to Pitchfork.com, a team of scientists conducted an experiment in the transmission of coronavirus at Quarterback Immobilien Area in Leipzig, Germany.

The study recruited 1,400 volunteers who were then pre-tested for COVID-19, had their temperatures taken, and were outfitted with a digital location tracker, masks and hand disinfectant laced with fluorescent dye. They were then asked to simulate different scenarios over the course of 10 hours with various levels of social distancing and safety measures.

The researchers found that the risk of spreading coronavirus at indoor concerts is “low to very low,” as long as concertgoers follow hygiene protocols and the venue has good ventilation and limits capacity.

The researchers found that ventilation is a particularly important variable in limiting the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, social distancing proved to be a significant factor in decreasing exposure to an infectious person’s aerosols.

Dr. Gabriel Scally — president of epidemiology and public health at the Royal Society of Medicine — said that he found the study’s results to be “potentially ‘useful,’” but warned that the environment may be difficult to replicate at normal events. Find the full study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, here.

 

How Inuit Parents Teach Kids To Control Their Anger

A recent article from NPR.org describes the journey of Harvard graduate student Jean Briggs, who traveled above the Arctic Circle to live in the tundra for 17 months. During her time there, Briggs, 34, discovered the Inuit’s remarkable ability to control anger, even when their patience was put to the test.

According to the piece, the culture views scolding — or even speaking to children in an angry voice — as inappropriate. Traditionally, the Inuit saw yelling at a small child as demeaning, and doing so could be viewed as stooping to the level of the child.

When a child in the camp acts in anger, there was no punishment. Instead, the parent would act out what happened when the child misbehaved, including the real-life consequences of that behavior.

The article gives an example: If the child is hitting others, the mom may ask: “Why don’t you hit me?”

Then the child has to think: “What should I do?” If the child takes the bait and hits the mom, she doesn’t scold or yell but instead acts out the consequences. “Ow, that hurts,” she might exclaim. The mom continues to emphasize the consequences by asking a follow-up question like “Don’t you like me?” or “Are you a baby?” This articulates that hitting is immature and hurts people’s feelings. All questions are asked with a hint of playfulness.

These lessons are meant to teach children to not be provoked easily. In a sense, this method of discipline acts as a chance for children to practice controlling their anger and rethink the consequences of their actions.

“Play is their work,” clinical psychologist Laura Markham explains. It is how the learn about the world, themselves and their experiences.

No Benefit to Big Breakfast 

Contrary to popular belief, researchers at Johns Hopkins University say that the “big breakfast” diet doesn’t help people lose weight, StudyFinds.com reports.

Many have long thought that eating a larger meal for breakfast, then a little less at lunch time, and even fewer in the evening helps shed pounds. But the study of 41 overweight adults over 12 weeks reveals that squeezing most calories in early has no impact on weight loss.

The study compared a group that followed strict, time-restricted eating patters — limiting eating to specific hours of the day and consuming 80% of their calories before 1 p.m. — to a group that consumed half of their daily calories after 5 p.m.

All participants were given the same pre-prepared meals for the study. The study found that both groups lost weight regardless of when they ate.

The authors are now collecting more information on participants’ blood pressure over a full day. They’ll also compile that information with the results of a study on the effects of time-restricted feeding on blood sugar, insulin and other hormones.

“Together, these findings will help us to more fully understand the effects of time-restricted eating on cardiometabolic health,” concluded study co-author Dr. Nisa Maruthur, an associate professor of medicine, epidemiology and nursing at Hopkins.

Wellness Wednesday – 10/28/20

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WELLNESS AROUND THE WEB

How to Embrace a Coronavirus Winter

After a summer of socially distanced outdoor activities, cold weather acts as a stark reminder that a coronavirus winter is upon us. In a recent article, BlueZones.com discusses the concept of “open-air living” and embracing the outdoors regardless of the forecast.

Friluftsliv is a Norwegian word that illustrates commitment to celebrating time outdoors. And it doesn’t have to be skating or skiing — it’s a long walk outside, a picnic in the backyard, a hike through the woods, a bike commute, daily dog walks, or a drink at an outdoor heated patio.

It’s been shown that spending time outdoors can boost happiness, improve productivity and reduce stress. This winter, don’t let the cold weather keep you from getting out of the house. To help motivate you, BlueZones has shared tips to help promote outdoor time even in the coldest months. Some of the tips include dress to linger (make it as comfortable as possible to be outside), put your winter boots by the door (to remind you to walk daily) and aim for at least 10 minutes of outdoor time a day.

 

Coffee and Green Tea May Lower Death Risk for Some Adults

Coffee and tea are two of the most consumed beverages on the planet. They are both enjoyed by billions of people for various reasons, and an increasing number of studies suggest they are good for you.

In a recent article, BigThink.com discusses another study attesting to the health benefits of these drinks. A several-year review of the health and dietary habits of nearly 5,000 Type 2 diabetics shows that those who drink more coffee and tea can enjoy a dramatically reduced death rate.

The study found that subjects who drank more than one cup of tea or coffee per day demonstrated lower odds of dying than those who had none. Those who consumed the most tea and coffee, more than four and two cups a day, respectively, enjoyed the most significant reductions in their risk of death. This level of consumption was associated with a 40% lower risk of death.

Most interestingly, the effects of drinking tea and coffee appear to combine to reduce risk even further. Those who reported drinking two or three cups of tea a day and two or more cups of coffee were 51% less likely to die during the study, while those who drank a whopping four or more cups of tea and two or more cups of coffee had a 63% lower risk of death.

This doesn’t mean that you should start swimming in a tub of coffee every day, but a cup or two probably won’t hurt.

Scientists Weigh in on the Great Trekking Pole Debate

Trekking poles elicit mixed feelings. Some love them but others suggest that using poles too much will sap your balance and coordination, thus raising the risk of accidents in situations like crossing ridges that are too narrow for poles.

There have actually been quite a few studies investigating the pros and cons of pole use, and they’re summarized in a new review article by Ashley Hawke and Randall Jensen in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine.

Some of the points may come as a surprise. Data suggest that trekking poles actually help burn more calories. It’s about a 20% calorie bonus thanks to the added demands of using your upper body muscles. Additionally, the use of trekking poles helps take some if the load off your joints and muscles. Poles also help you brake when you’re descending, reducing the eccentric muscle contractions that damage your muscles and leave your legs sore the next day.

L.A.’s Coast Was Once a DDT Dumping Ground

Not far from Santa Catalina Island, UC Santa Barbara scientist David Valentine decoded unusual signals underwater that gave him chills.

The LA Times report that Valentine was supposed to be studying methane seeps that day, but he discovered as many as half a million barrels filled with banned toxic chemicals littered across ocean floor.

Tales of this buried secret bubbling under the sea had haunted Valentine for years: a largely unknown chapter in the most infamous case of environmental destruction off the coast of Los Angeles — one lasting decades, costing tens of millions of dollars, frustrating generations of scientists. The fouling of the ocean was so reckless, some said, it seemed unimaginable.

From 1947 to 1982, the nation’s largest manufacturer of DDT — a pesticide so powerful that it poisoned birds and fish — was based in Los Angeles.

To read more about the history and affects of DDT and its dumping, click here.

Virtual Healing

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The State of Telemedicine During the Pandemic

Although we live in an age and place in the Merrimack Valley where cellphones, tablets, computers and smart devices are commonplace and virtual medicine has seemed like a tangible idea to many, the leap from in-center to telephonic and virtual medicine had never materialized. 

Then an unfathomable crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, came along.

“Prior to COVID-19, telehealth was a promise of the future. It just had never been operationalized,” says John Silva, president and CEO of Greater Lawrence Family Health Center. “It was a kind of dream or a vision people had that this might be a way to get more people into a system to improve health and reduce health disparities, but [the pandemic] became the laboratory where it worked, and it worked all across the country.”

 

Silva was faced with an enormous dilemma when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. At facilities such as Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, providers such as nurse practitioners, doctors and nurses couldn’t have face-to-face visits because either they or their patients could be at risk of exposure to the coronavirus. But Silva and many other leaders of health care organizations did what seems almost impossible in retrospect. “In two days,” he says, “[we were able to] convert a face-to-face health care delivery system into a telephone/telehealth delivery system so that we could continue to serve all of our patients.”

Dr. Randi Berkowitz, chief medical officer at Lowell Community Health Center, reflected on those very early days and the support from Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, who issued an executive order requiring insurance companies to reimburse health care providers for telemedicine visits at the same rate as in-person visits shortly after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. “I’m very impressed with Baker and MassHealth, who have made sure that … providers were not needing to bring people into the office inappropriately,” Berkowitz says. Because health care providers didn’t have to worry about reimbursement issues, they were able to focus on making appropriate clinical assessments, and to protect staff and patients. “It’s been a huge success story. Patients almost uniformly love it,” Berkowitz says. 

As spring turned into summer, reports came in and the benefits of telemedicine seemed remarkable. “Because we serve an underserved community, the no-show rate is high,” Silva says. “As many as 1 in 4 patients regularly do not show up for their appointments. Implementation of telehealth has shown a drop in the no-show rate, bringing it to only 3 to 4%.” 

Berkowitz echoes the drop in no-show rates for her clinic, and explains that telemedicine has been dramatically helpful for  patients who have no transportation or child care, or for patients with disabilities. Berkowitz says that the increase in accessibility to providers has also led to a decrease in patient hospitalizations, although she says it is difficult to draw a clear cause-and-effect relationship with the pandemic presenting so many variables. 

Dr. Mary Lynn Joe, medical director at Circle Health Urgent Care, explains what is not considered a suitable reason for a telehealth visit: “Any injury. Something that would require imaging like an X-ray we would want the patient to come in.” She also notes that telemedicine cannot provide “that reassuring personal touch” that providers miss giving and patients miss getting.

Berkowitz says it’s a little too early to know what to expect of telemedicine after COVID-19. “The data is not clear yet which visits should be face to face and what should be telemedicine,” she says. Her clinic, Lowell Community Health Center, has been taking an approach in which the individual provider uses clinical judgement based on the reason for the visit and knowing the individual patient. The clinic is also tailoring treatment by asking the patient for their preferences. 

A bill entitled “An Act Putting Patients First” (MALegislature.gov) was passed by the Massachusetts State Senate on June 25. It would require insurers, including MassHealth, to cover telehealth services and for reimbursement to providers at the same rate as in-person visits. The fate of the bill, which is expected to be taken up by the state House of Representatives remains uncertain, but local health care leaders feel certain that telemedicine isn’t going anywhere.     

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