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SARATOGA SPRINGS – The city Finance Department submitted to the City Council on May 5 the First Quarter Financial Report of 2020.

The submitted material is as follows:

Please note that this report is prepared on a cash basis and no adjustments have been made for receivables or payables.

REVENUES:

General Fund Revenues

Property taxes in the General Fund are recognized as revenue for the full amount levied at the time the tax roll is posted to the general ledger. The Finance Office has reviewed the payments made as of 03/31/20 and 57% has been collected or $9,137,251.

Last year at this time 55% was collected. You will recall that property taxes can be paid in four installments with the first installment due March 1. However, the City offers a discount of 2.25% if the full year is paid on or before March 1. This accounts for the greater than 25% collection rate after only the first due date has passed.

As of 03/31/20 the City has not received many of the larger revenue streams.

– Sales Tax figures include only one month since February and March collections are not distributed to the City from NYS Taxation and Finance until April and May, respectively.

 – VLT Aid is paid in June.

– Hotel Occupancy Tax is paid to the City from the County on a quarterly basis. The first quarterly payment for 2020 will be received in April.

– County surplus distribution is paid on a quarterly basis too, with the first payment due in April.

– NYRA Admissions Tax is paid annually after the racing season has closed.

– The bulk of Franchise Tax is paid annually, in the last quarter of the year.

– State Aid Revenue sharing is distributed in two installments, September and December. The largest share is received in December.

– Mortgage Tax is paid semiannually in May and November.

Finance – When actual revenue is adjusted to reflect actual property tax receipts, then the Finance Office is at 24% collected.

Please note that Recreation revenues are only 11.8% as of March 31st. Recreation implemented a new online registration and payment system on January 13th. The company is required to provide a daily file that can be imported into the City’s financial software. As of 03/31 this process had not been completed and so revenue is not reported in the year to date budget report.

Taking into consideration the property tax revenue recognition issues, approximately 25% of revenues were actually received as of 03/31/20. In 2019 the adjusted approximate revenue collected was 26%.

Water and Sewer Revenues: The first quarter water and sewer bills for 2020 are mailed in April for a May 15th due date.

Capital Revenues: The City will issue a General Obligation bond in June to finance the 2020 capital projects.

EXPENSES:

General Fund Expenses

Mayor’s Office – Many contributions to outside organizations and events have been paid in full as of 03/31/20. Most other expenses are fairly consistent.

All – Liability insurance has been paid in full for the year. Additional expenses would be for claims or additional coverage. Most departments’ expenses are running at about 25%, which is on target for 03/31/20 and is consistent with the first quarter of 2019. Variances are due to seasonal expenses and grants.

Capital Expenses

Capital expenses are usually larger in the months where weather is more conducive to construction. In addition, large vehicle purchases often take many months to be built according to bid specifications.

Community Development

Since the Community Development block grants are awarded on a different schedule than the City’s fiscal year, no budget is established.

Submittal Date: May 5, 2020

In 2017, Jim Calhoun had no idea he was about to embark on a life-changing journey.

He was an outgoing guy who just liked to have a good time. 

The First Down

For 15 years, Calhoun worked full-time as a Human Resources Assistant at St. Peter’s Health Partners, while helping to build bathrooms, porches and decks in his spare time. He loved music, being outdoors, and trying out different craft beers. 

He was taking it easy that Labor Day weekend. He was vacationing with his family at their New Jersey lake house, but his father had just passed away two weeks prior and he wasn’t feeling the greatest. 

Falling asleep at 5 p.m. that evening, he woke at 11 p.m. and went to the bathroom. While washing his hands, he blacked out and hit his head on the granite countertop. It was only a small cut, but his face was badly bruised. 

At the hospital, blood tests revealed that Calhoun had acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

“I couldn’t believe it. I felt normal,” he said. 

The Greatest Gift

Jim Calhoun’s life changed overnight. 

“My focus was beating it and starting the process to get through it,” he said. 

Because he was 44 years old at the time he was diagnosed, in addition to chemotherapy treatments, doctors told him he was also going to need a bone marrow transplant. His name was put on the Be the Match national marrow registry. 

There was a 30-percent chance of finding a suitable donor match.

Over the next year, Calhoun was in and out of the hospital often, contracted pneumonia, and was battling fevers of 106 to 108 degrees. 

“My birthday is on Christmas and by that point I thought I just couldn’t fight anymore,” he said.

Not long after that, he got a text message saying he had a donor match.

“I called everybody I could think of, I was so excited!”

A Match Made in Marrow

Admitted to the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Care Center on January 26th, 2018, Calhoun spent three days getting high doses of radiation before his relatively painless transplantation procedure. 

A year later, he was able to meet his donor. 

“I was pacing around the house for two hours before I could call him. Once I did, it was like I’d known him forever,” said Calhoun.

Christian Montano lost several people close to him to cancer, so when the football team he was on at Brown University all decided to signup to be on the registry, he did too. 

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That simple cheek swab revealed that he matched all 12 genes for transplant compatibility with Calhoun. Extracting the marrow from his pelvis was much harder. 

The doctors told him afterwards that being a football player made it so tough to get through his muscles. Their drill had worn blisters into their hands. Still, he was in and out of the hospital in a day. 

Unfortunately, the fire alarm at his hotel went off that night and he had to walk down seven flights of stairs to get out.

“Christian said it was the worst pain he’d been in, in his entire life,” recalled Calhoun.

Celebrating Survival

The following year, when Calhoun and his family reached the gate at Montano’s Connecticut home for a “Celebration of Life” party, he had to turn around.

“I left for a little while to collect my thoughts. I was so nervous. Inside, I was crying like a baby. I could never thank him enough for saving my life and making it so that I could spend more time with my wife and children,” said Calhoun.

Now an offensive lineman with Tulane University, Montano is a soft-spoken, humble, kind, generous kid, said Calhoun. Montano’s family began referring to Calhoun as “Uncle Jimmy” and his parents call him “son.”

In this Together

It’s friendship that has made Calhoun’s more than two-year journey through cancer manageable. His niece, Magen Whalen, held a community fundraiser, and local businesses and organizations have pitched in to help Calhoun pay for medical bills and travel expenses. 

Teaming up with others, he’s held several successful blood and marrow donor drives. He’s also reached out to other adult patients with support. 

“I try to help who I can to make them feel better and stay positive,” he said. 

Calhoun’s immune system is still compromised, so other illnesses continue to crop up, but he is trying to stay active and hopes to be able to work again soon. 

“You have to ask yourself, ‘Do I sit here and wait for the cancer to come back or keep on living?”

To offer financial help, donations are being accepted at any Adirondack Trust bank branch to the #CalhounStrong account. 

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday announced that portions of the state may be able to reopen on May 15 when the New York on PAUSE order expires. 

The potential reopenings will occur in phases by “regions,” and only if regions meet a series of benchmarks. 

The measures that need to be in place refer to the monitoring capabilities of new infections,  securing there is adequate capacity in the health care system to deal with potential new illnesses and hospitalizations, increased diagnostic testing, and having contact tracing in place to lessen the spread of the disease.      

Saratoga County is incoporated into the Capital Region – an eight-county area also consisting of Warren, Washington, Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Columbia, and Greene counties.

The criteria to reopen is comprised of seven headings. The Capital Region currently meets five of those. Those five include: a 14-day decrease in hospital deaths or fewer than five deaths over a three-day average; less than 2 per 100,000 new hospitalizations over a three-day rolling average; having ample hospital beds available – 41 % of total beds and 44 % of ICU beds where a minimum of 30% is required for each, and exceeding the metric requirements for the number of contact tracers needed.

The regional shortcomings, as depicted in a slide presentation by the governor on Monday, are in two categories. Those are: showing a 14-day decline in hospitalizations or under 15 new hospitalizations, and having a minimum of 30 per 1,000 residents tested monthly. Both the categories are taken as a three-day average.

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Using Saratoga County specifically as a reference point, the number of hospitalizations has remained below the 15 person threshold since mid-April, although the county falls short in the testing criteria –  which would require approximately 700 Saratoga County residents be tested every three days. Recently the average number of residents being tested has been just under 500.

Still, it is important to note that Saratoga comprises just one of the eight counties in the Capital “Region” directive. Numbers from all counties must be collected an analyed, and the governor said Monday that regions believing they can start to reopen May 15 must first conduct their own analysis and ensure they meet the approriate criteria. “These are the facts they have to have in place to do it,” Cuomo said. “Start now with the analysis; don’t wait until May 15.”   

The  reopening would happen in stages.

Phase 1:  Construction, Manufacturing and wholesale supply chain, Select Retail – curbside pickup. 
Phase 2: Professional services, Finance and Insurance, Retail, Administrative Support, Real Estate/ Rental Leasing.
Phase 3: Restaurants/ Food Services, Hotels/Accomodations.
Phase 4: Arts/ Entertainment/ Recreation, Education. 

The regional approach would require input from, and the coordination of a variety of people – elected officials and hospital officials, among them. Details regarding the formation of a regional group, or the composition of its members is not immediately known.     

Northern Saratoga County

• GLENS FALLS HOSPITAL   
   100 Park Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801
   Criteria for Testing: Symptomatic or Exposure to Positive Case
   Schedule an Appointment: Working with Warren County Public Health.
   See Warren County Municipal Center.

• HUDSON HEADWATERS HEALTH NETWORK
   9 Carey Road, Queensbury, NY 12804
  Criteria for Testing: Symptomatic or Exposure to Positive Case 
  Schedule an Appointment: Call your Hudson Headwaters provider for evaluation. 
  Visit www.hhhn.org/ for more information. 

• WARREN COUNTY MUNICIPAL CENTER
  Criteria for Testing: Symptomatic or Exposure to Positive Case 
  Appointment and referral are required. Providers and local county health departments
  must complete and sign Infectious Disease Requisition (IDR) form and contact Warren
  County Public Health to make appointment. Appointment calls are taken Monday-
  Friday from 8 a.m.- 4 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Drive-thru site is
  open Monday- Friday, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Those without signed IDR form will be turned away.

• SARATOGA HOSPITAL 
  211 Church Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
  Criteria for Testing: Symptomatic or Exposure to Positive Case
  Appointment and referral from physician or local health department is required. 
  Contact your doctor for assessment. Providers may call 518-587-2397 to set up
  appointment. Tent hours 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Central Saratoga County

• SARATOGA HOSPITAL 
  211 Church Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
  Criteria for Testing: Symptomatic or Exposure to Positive Case
  Appointment and referral from physician or local health department is required. 
  Contact your doctor for assessment. Providers may call 518-587-2397 to set up
  appointment. Tent hours 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

• ST. MARY’S HEALTHCARE
  427 Guy Park Avenue, Amsterdam, NY 12010
  Criteria for Testing: Symptomatic
  Call 518-770-7521 for evaluation, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

• CAPITAL DISTRICT MOBILE TESTING CENTER
  University at Albany, Colonial Quad, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12206
  Criteria for Testing: Symptomatic or Exposure to Positive Case
   Appointment is required. Go to: covid19screening.health.ny.gov to take the online
   assessment, or call 1-888-364-3065. Drive-thru site.

Southern Saratoga County

• ELLIS HOSPITAL
  1101 Nott Street, Schenectady, NY 12308
  Criteria for Testing: Symptomatic or Exposure to Positive Case
  Appointment is required. Call the Ellis Medicine COVID-19 Hotline at 518-831-7070.  
  Drive-thru or walk-up site. Site location varies by day.

• CAPITAL DISTRICT MOBILE TESTING CENTER
   University at Albany, Colonial Quad, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12206
  Criteria for Testing: Symptomatic or Exposure to Positive Case
  Appointment is required. Go to: covid19screening.health.ny.gov to take the online
  assessment, or call 1-888-364-3065. Drive-thru site.

• COMMUNITY CARE PHYSICIANS
  711 Troy Schenectady Road, Latham, NY 12110
  Criteria for Testing: Community Care Physicians patient or Community Care 
  Physicians Urgent Care patient with Symptoms or Exposure to Positive Case.
  Appointment is required. Call your Community Care Physicians provider to schedule a
  telehealth appointment to be evaluated. Drive-thru site.

• ST. PETER’S HOSPITAL
  310 Manning Boulevard, Albany, NY 12208
  Criteria for Testing: Symptomatic or Exposure to Positive Case
  Call 518-525-1132 for evaluation. Appointments are scheduled at the Capital District  
  Mobile Testing Site.

OTHER

• ALBANY STRATTON VA MEDICAL CENTER
  113 Holland Avenue, Albany, NY 12208
  Criteria for Testing: Enrolled Veteran with Symptoms.
  Appointment is required. Call primary care physician for evaluation and referral.
  Drive-thru site.

• WHITNEY YOUNG HEALTH CENTER 
  920 Lark Drive, Albany, NY 12207 
  Criteria for Testing: Symptomatic or Exposure to Positive Case
  Appointment is required. Call Whitney Young Health Center at 518-465-4771. Walk-up site. Whitney Young Health Center is also testing at these Walk-up site locations:
  Bleeker Terrace Apartments, Bleeker Terrace, Albany, NY 12206 – Hours vary by day
  Capital South Campus Center, 20 Warren Street, Albany, NY 12202 – Hours vary by day
  Watervliet Health Center, 1804 Second Ave, Watervliet, NY 12189 – Hours vary by day

SARATOGA SPRINGS — As the community fights together against this viral disease, some individuals are lucky to not personally know anyone fighting the battle with COVID-19. Public knowledge of symptoms and social distancing are well known, but what happens to someone after they have tested positive?

Saratoga natives Barb and Steve Ferraro are on day 44 in their battle with COVID-19, and still counting. For this couple, symptoms of fever, cough and body ache showed up on March 16. Two days later they tested positive for COVID-19. 

“During the beginning of this when it hit this county, when we were tested there were under 20 people who tested positive, now it’s over 300,” Barb said. 

Saratoga County reported its first case on March 7, 2020 and reported to have 331 confirmed cases as of Tuesday this week. 

“Going through this has been very emotional and very scary. Luckily we are on the end side of this, but neither of us had underlying conditions. We don’t know how we got it, but it knocked us down,” Bard said. 

The Ferraro’s immediately self-isolated themselves in their condo, but while they were isolated from the community, they also had to isolated from each other.

“Steve and I have to be separated even though we are both positive. We trusted the professionals and they believe we could keep re-infecting each other,” Barb said. 

They divided the home into two parts, Barb taking the master bedroom and kitchen while Steve took the guest room, guest bath and den. Steve was still working from home, so Barb took it upon herself to be in charge of meals and medication. 

Ten days into fighting the virus, on March 25, Barb reported having a schedule through the day, knowing more of what to expect from the virus. They each became their own doctors, checking temperatures, oxygen levels and blood pressure to report to their health officials. 

“It’s an insidious beast of a virus,” Barb said. “You go one step forward and two back the next day…we are keeping an eye on our breathing which causes us the most concern. We are watching it very carefully and using our inhalers, monitoring our oxygen levels and drinking lots of fluids.”

Barb and Steve both “synced” up in terms of symptoms, learning about COVID as the rest of the community did. Barb recalled making pasta, one of her favorite meals, and having it taste like metal. That, along with the COVID-19 fog, are the symptoms the Ferraro’s experienced just as the rest of the world discovered it. 

“It’s important for people to know that everything keeps changing, which is why we still need to be safe and stay at home. Information keeps changing, COVID symptoms keep getting added to the list and the assurance of immunity remains unknown,” Barb said.

After a scare with Steve’s worsening symptoms, he was transported to the hospital for bilateral pneumonia and is still recovering. On day 19 into the virus, Barb said she was happy to report their first symptom free day. Although they both tested negative for the virus, they are both recovering and continue to experience shortness of breath and fatigue on day 44.

Despite continuous fighting with the unknown, Barb said the amount of community support they received was astounding. Neighbors would reach out to the couple and ask if they needed any groceries, and family members kept close through social media. She thanked Saratoga Hospital and Public Health workers for their daily efforts to ensure the couple was safe. 

Talk about re-opening the community has Barb worried, noticing that people are not taking to wearing a facemask when recommended. She went for a walk Tuesday this week and reported seeing very few masks on the families enjoying the Spring weather. 

“People wearing masks are just a simple thing that they can do. I think the lines are getting blurred. Think about whom you are staying home for. You are not just protecting yourself in this situation,” Barb said. 

According to their website, the CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

• Statewide, the number of total hospitalizations, intubations, new infection cases and deaths due to COVID-19 continue to stabilize or decline, although the number of new hospitalizations are flat about 1,000 per day, and the daily death count is still in the hundreds. Approximately 30,000 are tested for the virus daily across the state.     

• In Saratoga County specifically, approximately 2% of the county’s 240,000 residents have been tested. Those tests have been conducted largely with people who are health care workers, or patients who have displayed signs of illness or have come into contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. About 7.4% of those who have taken the test – roughly 350 people – have tested positive for the virus, as of mid-week.

• Reopening. A plan to reopen segments of the state is underway, and the plan is to re-open in phases, and in particular regions, not statewide. This will occur after May 15, which is the date until the state remain on “pause.”  “I will extend them in many parts of the state, but in some parts of the state, some regions, you could make the case that we can UN-Pause. But we have to be smart about it,” Cuomo said. 

Criteria for potential reopening includes using CDC guidelines – that is, regional hospitalization rates must be in decline for 14 days. 

• In advance of reopening: Ensure an appropriate testing regimen, and put a tracing system in place. Tracing: identifies all who came into contact with infected person. Recommended: need at least 30 contact tracers per 100,000 people. Regions must also have plans for rooms available as “isolation facilities,” for infected residents who need to isolate, but cannot do so in their homes. Each region must appoint an oversight institution to monitor metrics. 

• Rate of infection: In New York City, right now 1 person infects 0.8 people; that rate is a little higher upstate which is at 0.9 percent, i.e.- 1 person infects 0.9 percent (less than one person). “If we keep the infection rate at less than one person that is where the infection rate continues to drop. So, we have to stay there.”

Points to watch after reopening: If hospitals hit 70% capacity OR rate of transmission of virus hits 1.1 – those are danger signs. “You must have 30% of your hospital beds available, 30% of your ICU beds,” Cuomo said. 

• Likely to reopen first is/are potentially regions in upstate New York.

• One caveat to reopening: NO attractions / openings that would draw a large number of visitors. “You can’t do anything in one region that would increase the visitors to that (reopened) region. It’s possible that you open something in Syracuse or you open something in the North Country where you now see license plates coming in from Connecticut and New Jersey, people from downstate, all coming to that area because they’ve been on lock-down and are now looking for an activity,” Cuomo said. “So that’s something we have to pay attention to. And all that is (conducted) in a multi-state context with our neighboring states and most relevant with downstate.” Identified downstate as: New York City, Long Island, Westchester.

• Gov. Cuomo also specifically discussed the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course. “You can’t open an attraction that could bring people from across the state to that attraction and overwhelm a region,” Cuomo said.  “Saratoga Race Track – I don’t think you can open unless we can open (all large-scale attractions) statewide.” 

Cuomo went on to say that a pent-up public demand to get out of the house would result in people from across the northeast region flocking to Saratoga. “Now, you could say, well, that’s great for the Saratoga Race Track – but density is not our friend…How do you do six feet apart at the racetrack?” He added that any such opening would require a statewide opening of various public attractions so as to reduce the density of people overwhelmingly flocking to just one region. 

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• On casinos: “You have to look at the industry and how they’re going to conduct their business. You’d have to do social distancing, you’d have to have monitoring. It’s going to be difficult in the context of a casino, but depending on the casino: not impossible. You’d have to look at it on an individual basis.” 

• On schools: “We will have a decision by the end of this week what to do about schools.” 

• The first phase of reopening will be in the Construction/ Manufacturing sector with low-risk. There will then be a monitoring of effects two weeks after reopening regarding the status of new infections, as that is typically the amount of time it takes for the illness to manifest. 

How to monitor after reopening, three ways: diagnostic tests (positive or negative if you are infected); antibody tests (how many people had previously been infected); number of hospitalizations. If the monitoring process reveals no new problems, then a second phase, involving more essential lower-risk businesses may be opened in that region. The governor said he is open to dialogue regarding what kind of businesses those should be. 

• Antibody testing continues. Antibody testing indicates who has had the virus.  Percent positive average statewide: 14.9%. Capital Region specifically (which includes Saratoga): 2.1%. According to the survey, 25% of the NY City population has had the virus and have now recovered. 

• According to a mapped depiction of the state broken into regions, the “Capital District” includes an eight-county region: Warren, Washington, Saratoga, Rensselaer, Columbia, Greene, Albany, and Schenectady counties. 

• Diagnostic testing statewide is about 30,000 per day. 

• Antibody testing this week will be conducted on 3,000 health care workers and 1,000 transit workers, 1,000 NYPD and 1,000 NYFD. 

• Gov. Cuomo this week requested the Board of Elections mail every New York voter a return postage paid application whereby residents may secure a voting ballot. “If you want to vote, we should send you a ballot so you can vote and don’t have to wait on line,” Cuomo said. Physical polls will still be open on Election Day.

• Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, said a regional task force of 40 people from Saratoga County has been put together and meeting virtually to address protocols for an eventual safe reopening of businesses. 

• Congressman Paul Tonko (D, NY-20) and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R, NY-21) both voted in the House of Representatives in support of advancing a $484 billion interim emergency funding package that will provide vital assistance to small businesses and protect Americans with added aid to hospitals, healthcare workers and testing. The bill was passed by a vote of 388 – 5. The Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act: Provides an additional $310 billion in PPP loans; Provides an additional $10 billion for Emergency Economic Injury Disaster (EIDL) grants; Appropriates an additional $50 billion for the Disaster Loans Program Account; Allows agricultural enterprises with less than 500 employees to receive EIDL grants and loans; Provides an additional $75 billion for reimbursement to hospitals and healthcare providers to support the need for COVID-19 related expenses and lost revenue, and provides $25 billion for necessary expenses to research, develop, validate, manufacture, purchase, administer, and expand capacity for COVID-19 tests. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — An increasingly dangerous sign of the coronavirus lockdown has come to light in recent weeks in communities across the country where there is a marked increase of people delaying seeking care when they are sick or hurt.

The issue has grown from a reluctance of people willing to go to hospitals or urgent care facilities for fear of contracting the COVID-19 virus. 

Last week, the Washington Post reported on the international phenomenon of the pandemic producing a silent sub-epidemic of people who need care at hospitals but are frightened to go to the ER. Titled “Patients with heart attacks, strokes and even appendicitis vanish from hospitals,” the article described how people with everything from inflamed appendixes to those suffering chest pains and stroke symptoms were avoiding seeking medical treatment out of fear of physically seeking care, resulting in illness and mortality concerns among the medical community. This has also played out on the local stage. 

“If you’re having a medical problem that concerns you and goes beyond what a physician in their office can manage then you should really come to the emergency department, or Urgent Care and let us take care of you. People should not wait until things can go very bad for them,” says Dr. Timothy Brooks, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Saratoga Hospital. 

“Since this started, we’ve watched our volume drop off 40 to 50 %. The number of people who would normally come in by ambulance or by foot have disappeared. Our perception is that people are terrified about coming in because they have the belief they could catch COVID-19.

 “This drop in volume really concerns us, because the disease progression that people have for all the other medical problems continues on, and what we’re seeing is people waiting far too long to come in. Instead of having a problem that might require a brief hospitalization, they are critically ill and end up on a ventilator in the ICU. And that’s happened multiple times,” says Dr. Brooks, who was born in Detroit, studied at medical school at the University of Michigan and relocated to Saratoga Springs in the late 1980s

Saratoga Hospital assures that precautions are in place to take care of all patients, and everyone admitted to the hospital is tested for COVID-19. “At the hospital and at Urgent Care – we have mechanisms in place to keep people separated and to take care of them safely. There’s not a single person in the building where we don’t know their status relative to being covid-positive or covid-negative. That way we can separate people out with COVID-19 infections,” Dr. Brooks says. “They are isolated on a separate floor and are taken care of by specific nurses, and other parts of the hospitals do not have those types of patients. Once a patient leaves our department, their room is completely sanitized with the appropriate cleaners and virus-cides.” 

Inside the hospital, the work goes on. “The day has changed in the sense that when you approach patients who may be infectious it takes a little more time and preparation before you go into each room, as well as when you leave that room,” Dr. Brooks says. “I have to say I am so proud of the staff in this emergency department. Everybody stepped up to the line.” 

Regardless of when an un-pausing or reopening occurs, Brooks says until a vaccine is introduced, he anticipates the virus will circulate among the population, and that the hospital is prepared to deal with ongoing public issues. 

As for hospital occupancy, there is ample space for people to address issues both in the emergency room and the rest of the hospital. This week, Gov. Cuomo announced he will sign an Executive Order allowing some hospitals – Saratoga Hospital among them – to resume conducting elective surgeries, a practice which he had ordered halted in March as the virus was spreading across the state.   

Saratoga Hospital currently describes three working criteria for beginning what is broadly termed “elective” surgery. The procedures are defined as: medically necessary, time-sensitive surgeries for patients with significant symptoms or serious illness, and a predicted negative health impact without the surgery. 

“Cases that needed to be done and should be done, we’re in the process of bringing those back and getting them going. We’re still holding off on some areas that I would call discretionary – cosmetic plastic surgery is a good example,” says Saratoga Hospital President and CEO Angelo Calbone. “People who are in pain, conditions that may worsen if we don’t get to them. This is work that needs to be done.”

Approximately 3,000 people work under the Saratoga Hospital banner. At the hospital, there are approximately 170 licensed beds. 

“This has been a learn-as-you-go situation. We know how to run a hospital. We know how to respond to emergencies. This has been a new struggle challenge for all of us. I can tell you the staff here have been beyond remarkable, gearing up, understanding the new protocols. They’ve done a wonderful job,” Calbone says. “Frankly what has been a challenge has been the lack of testing materials, getting access to personal protective equipment for our staff and the bottleneck supply chain that emerged. That really threw a wrench into every institution’s ability to respond to this. But how our staff managed COVID in the building isn’t that different to how they managed every infectious disease. I think the entire industry was startled as to short supplies and access to supplies and how limited testing was at the time we needed it most. That’s what made this unusually challenging.

“We have had our heads down, seven days a week, making sure this hospital is well-positioned and capable of taking care of the community. Hospitals and health care providers are very used to taking care of infectious diseases – we know how to do that. And we’ve taken great strides making this a very safe environment. We’re confident and comfortable saying to our entire community: if you need to access health care, this is as safe of an environment as you will enter anywhere in the community. Being afraid to come in, isn’t a good reason to avoid care,” Calbone says. 

“We get concerned when we see patients end up in our ER with conditions that have worsened and potentially even threatened their lives that could easily have been managed if they sought care – as they would have – three months ago. That’s a message we’re been trying to get out there.”

CORINTH — Like many rural communities, Northern Saratoga County has seen an increased need for emergency food assistance and Hudson River Community Credit Union (HRCCU) along with its local partners stand ready to answer the call.

In an effort to provide much needed food assistance to area residents, HRCCU and Corinth CSD in partnership with the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York will team up to host a drive-thru food pantry for area residents on Thursday, April 30 starting at 9 am in the Corinth Elementary School campus parking lot (356 Center Street).

This no-contact, no-cost, food distribution event was set up to provide residents with an additional opportunity to receive fresh produce, dairy and frozen meats along with non-perishable items. Food will be available while supplies last. 

To ensure the safety and health of all involved, there will be a drive-by distribution process. Residents are advised to stay in their vehicle until they are prompted to receive their food. Seniors living in Corinth, Hadley and Lake Luzerne can also fill out a form on the HRCCU website to have food delivered directly to their home.

The drive-thru food pantry is the result of a partnership between HRCCU, Corinth CSD, Regional Food Bank of Northeastern NY, Saratoga Regional YMCA, Corinth’s First Presbyterian Church, Corinth Food Pantry, and the Capital Region Community COVID-19 Response Fund. 

“This event is a great example of how collaborations between businesses, government and nonprofit organizations can come together to rapidly address issues like food shortages in our area,” said Sue Commanda, CEO of Hudson River Community Credit Union. “We want people to know that whoever you are, wherever you are, if you need food, we are here for you.”

BALLSTON SPA — The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors discussed extra pay for essential employees at their April 21 meeting. 

After much discussion, the supervisors adopted a resolution to send the extra pay plan to the Human Resources Department for consideration. The goal is to gain more details including how much the extra pay will cost the county and who the extra pay was promised to. 

Since mid-March, the board has been torn over the extra pay plan. According to the March 17 meeting minutes, Town of Moreau Supervisor Theodore Kusnierz asked the County Administrator, Spencer Hellwig, for the salaries and rates of pay. Hellwig responded the cost per week is approximately $350,000.

The county became more divided when earlier this month, the newly formed bipartisan Saratoga County Public Health Northway Corridor Task Force held an informal meeting. Task force members include Clifton Park, Halfmoon, Malta, Wilton, Moreau, Ballston and the City of Saratoga Springs.

The task force had the initial plan, which would cost the county over $300,000 per week be reconsidered and stated they were not getting any answers on the extra pay plan. They voted to push the plan to an independent investigator. However, many of the supervisors from small towns opposed the independent investigator, not having an estimate on the cost. 

The board approved to have an outside investigation conducted into the extra pay plan. The resolution was by Clift Park Supervisor Jonathan Schoef. Supervisors said they wanted to push this issue behind them and focus on the COVID-19 restrictions placed on the community, which has extended through mid-May.