The panel at the Salisbury Forum March 21 included, from left, State Rep. Maria Horn, D-64, SVNA Home Assistance Director Meghan Kenny, Sharon Hospital President Christina McCullough, Community Health and Wellness Center CEO Joanne Borduas, Foundation for Community Health President Nancy Heaton and it was moderated by Salisbury Forum President Patricia Jenny.
FALLS VILLAGE —March’s Salisbury Forum brought community healthcare leaders to Housatonic Valley Regional High School for a thoughtful and timely discussion on the Northwest Corner’s “healthcare crisis.”
Nancy Heaton, who is President and CEO of the Sharon-based Foundation for Community Health, began the discussion by describing the region’s healthcare landscape as equally challenging for patients and providers alike.
“Two of the main challenges of providing rural healthcare are low population base and travel distances,” Heaton explained, factors which have compounding effects on workforce availability, patient accessibility and many other logistical issues that impact every level of the healthcare process.
“These two factors alone ensure that without innovation, each unit of rural service is likely to be more expensive to deliver than in an urban setting,” she emphasized. She further explained that government reimbursement programs for service providers, such as Medicaid, often aren’t designed with a rural setting in mind.
“These reimbursement rates really have not kept up with costs, and our providers are hurting,” Heaton said.
When Heaton opened the floor, Medicaid emerged as a significant concern shared by the panelists.
Joanne Borduas, CEO of the Community Health and Wellness Center, a Torrington-based federally qualified health center (FQHC) that recently opened a facility in North Canaan, maintained that the future of Medicaid in the current federal climate is “very concerning.”
As an FQHC, Community Health and Wellness Center is obligated to turn no one away, and as such approximately 60% of patients seeking services are on Medicaid — services which are at risk.
Borduas explained that Connecticut pays out approximately 30% less than neighboring states for Medicaid services, which means many practices cannot afford to see most Medicaid patients. Borduas warned that if further cuts are made at a national level, then drastic changes will need to be made in the state’s reimbursement strategy to ensure providers are able to continue to offer their services.
Borduas also chairs non-profit Community Health Center Association of Connecticut, which recently took legal action against the state Department of Social Services for insufficient Medicaid reimbursement.
State Rep. Maria Horn (D-64), who also sat on the panel, shared Borduas’ worry about funding from Washington drying up. She described the situation as “shadow boxing with what might happen at the federal level.”
Other panelists brought up more regionally focused obstructions to adequate and accessible care, with Meghan Kenny citing a lack of affordable housing as prohibitive to maintaining a workforce. Kenny is the director of SVNA Home Assistance and Litchfield County Home Assistance and says her work’s vital role of bringing care to homebound patients is jeopardized by losing employees who are priced out.
Christina McCullough, who is the President of Sharon Hospital, reported that attracting a workforce to the hospital — which she described as a “critical and vital” component of Northwest Connecticut’s healthcare landscape — has proven to be a real challenge, alongside financial insecurity and patient scarcity.
Borduas pointed out that rural healthcare is plain hard work, and doctors in the countryside are often overworked and burned out. Many younger physicians coming out of medical school are pursuing specialized careers, she reported, while the reservoir for family doctors — especially those willing to live and work in rural communities — is drying up.
While the situation may seem grim, all is not lost, the panelists affirmed. Concluding the Q&A session, which was conducted via anonymous index cards, Heaton chose to read a unique submission: “What can this audience do to help you?”
The entire panel chimed in to respond, with Borduas emphasizing a “strength in numbers and power in advocacy” approach to activism.
Horn encouraged civilians to utilize the modern convenience of remote testimony to make their voices heard in Hartford.
McCullough championed self-education and participation, and Kenny echoed her call for education.
“I do think now, more than ever, people need to be engaged,” said Heaton as a final remark for attendees to chew on as they made their way out of the school and into the cold night.
Celebrating the completion of his Eagle Scout leadership project to benefit Angels of Light on Friday, March 21, Jayden Loibl, 17, was joined by Angels of Light co-Executive Directors, Lori Cassia-Decker, left, and Danielle Mollica.
MILLBROOK — Capping a lifetime of scouting achievement, Jayden Loibl, 17, has earned the rank of Eagle Scout, completing a community project to handcraft outdoor benches and tables for the local nonprofit Angels of Light building at 28 Front St.
In addition to overseeing the construction of sturdy benches and tables that invite passersby to try them out, Loibl’s major project also created a Love Lock Pillar, and finished off the project by making stencil templates of the nonprofit’s logo to be used to identify the space and invite visitors.
“It makes the space more inviting,” said Danielle Mollica, co-Executive Director of Angels of Light.
To become an Eagle Scout, Loibl explained that he had progressed through six ranks, the final being Eagle. Community service hours are required along the way, with the final leadership project being the Eagle Scout project. As he progressed through the scouting ranks, Loibl said that he had earned 34 merit badges.
“I started Cub Scouts in first grade,” Loibl said, “and I have been in scouting every year since.” He moved up to Boy Scouts in the fifth grade.
For his Eagle Scout project, he chose Angels of Light because he and his family have been volunteering within their programs for several years.
The new Love Lock Pillar wrapped in chain link fencing invites the community to add padlocks, dedicating the lock to a child or family facing hospitalization or illness.
The chain link fencing was donated by Superior Fence and Rail in Pleasant Valley.
A lifelong Millbrook resident, Loibl attended Millbrook schools through the early grades before enrolling at Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie to take advantage of their academics and to participate in Varsity Hockey, Soccer and Tennis.
Having received letters of acceptance from four colleges and universities, he is awaiting decision letters from two more. Planning for undergraduate studies in Industrial Engineering, Loibl’s interest in mathematics will guide his choice of graduate work leading toward math modeling of data or risk analytics.
Continuing the scouting tradition, Loibl’s younger brother, Justin, 15, has earned the rank of Life Scout and currently serves as a Senior Patrol Leader.
“I am very proud of him,” Loibl said.
For more information about Angels of Light, go to www.angelsoflighthv.org.
AMENIA — Pedestrians will soon be able to walk safely between Broadway and Beekman Park, now that a construction contract has been awarded.
The planning process continued for many months, culminating in an invitation to bid. The Town Board voted unanimously at its regular meeting on Thursday, March 20, to select the lowest bidder, clearing the way for work to begin.
The contact was awarded to Southern Industries Corporation of Tarrytown, New York, the lowest of three bids received and reviewed by Engineers LaBella Associates of Poughkeepsie.
The project that will extend the sidewalk along Route 44 to provide pedestrians with access between the hamlet center and Beekman Park will cost $234,326.50, according to the bid documents. The amount will be paid from the town’s Capital Project Fund.
With several local committees working on town planning activities, the Town Board discussed ways to find commonality and cooperation among those various deliberations.
Town Supervisor Leo Blackman reported that he had attended the recent Century Boulevard planning meeting in Millerton and had found it instructive. He recalled that in 2004 Amenia had worked with landscape architect Mark Morrison who created a design proposal that upon Blackman’s review, seems relevant to the community today. Researching further, Blackman reported that he had found that there have been 13 reports done over the years by architects and landscape designers, each with ideas that could be useful in local planning.
In an effort to find commonality among the many reports, Finance Director Charlie Miller prepared and presented a summary of plans and visual depictions of overlap.
Miller said that he focused on the Morrison plan from 2004, the Recreation Department’s plan from 2006, Leo Blackman’s plan from 2016, and the Fountain Square plan and the Amenia Green plan from 2024.
Grants are available for communities seeking to improve walking convenience, connectivity, access, parking and passive recreation, Miller reported. He saw value in bringing residents together to hold planning discussions.
Blackman saw the importance of coordinating such planning with the current work of updating the Comprehensive Plan that is now underway and sharing ideas with the community planners about to begin work with the comprehensive plan committee.
A goal, Blackman said, could be to work toward qualifying for a state New York Forward Grant program.
“The initial part would not cost money,” said councilmember Rosanna Hamm.
Councilmember Nicole Ahearn observed that the timeline between community input and grant application seemed “ambitious.”
“It’s a matter of pulling all of this together,” Miller responded. The slide presentation will be posted on the town’s website.
General discussion continued, touching on the town’s ongoing needs for downtown pedestrian safety, ease of access, community enhancement and revitalization.
Blackman reported that he has spoken with the Department of Transportation about imposing a parking time limit in front of the post office and accommodating parking for handicapped drivers.
Crosswalks are a concern also. Blackman felt that where there are presently two along the stretch of Route 343 between the traffic light and Mechanic Street, there should be four.
“Our expectation is that we will have a more vibrant downtown and the way to do that is for people to not be afraid for their lives when they cross the street,” Blackman said.
Hamm suggested flashing lights at crosswalks and Ahearn saw the need for reflective paint marking the crosswalks, noting that the existing lines are faded.
Spring has officially arrived with freezing night time temperatures forecast through the first week of April.
Victoria Kelly, Cary Institute Environmental Monitoring Program Manager and Senior Ecologist, prepared this report.
MILLBROOK — Since 1988 the weather station at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in the Town of Washington has been keeping track of our local weather — precipitation, temperature, wind, air quality, etc.
The News asked Cary’s Victoria Kelly what records showed about this winter. Were these months colder and snowier than last year? How do they compare to historic winters? Is this a normal winter?
December’s average temperature was 30.3 degrees Fahreneit, 1.3 degrees below the 1991-2020 average, which is what weather people refer to as “normal.” The January average temperature was 25.2 degrees, 1.1 degrees below normal, and the February average temperature was 28.4 degrees, 0.3 degrees below normal. So, it’s not your imagination, this has been a cold winter. Note that the 30-year average used to determine “normal” changes every 10 years and doesn’t include the warm winters of the last few years in the comparison.
The record high winter temperature was a balmy 78 degrees Fahrenheit on February 21, 2018, and the record low was a very chilly minus 27 degrees Fahrenheit on January 27, 1994.
Overall, the winter of 2024-2025 has been colder with less snowfall than normal. It’s not over yet though. Remember the blizzard on March 14, 2017? Or the April Fool’s Day blizzard March 31-April 1, 1997? March has been known to go out like a lion before, it could very well do it again. Total snowfall this winter so far is 22 inches. Our last accumulating snow was February 15-16. As with many of our events this winter, it began as snow and changed to ice and then rain. We call that mixed precipitation. If we get no more accumulating snow this winter, it will be the fourth winter in a row with less than average snowfall. Our record low snowfall was 13 inches in the winter of 2015-2016. Our record high snowfall was 92 inches in the winter of 1994-1995.
Reports from the suppliers or heating oil and propane estimate that demand increased 15% to 30% so far this winter confirming the findings of the Cary Institute.
The North East Fire house on the south side of Century Boulevard.
MILLERTON — The commissioners of the North East Fire District recently held their monthly meeting at the firehouse to discuss their current needs and general business.
Discussion centered around the current work on the 2025 budget and proposed expenditures, which ranged from upgrading their heating/cooling system to the possibility of replacing car no. 3.
The possibility of obtaining a new vehicle, such as a pickup truck, was also considered. In the end, the discussion was put on hold with chair Dave McGhee saying, “We have time.”
Updates on planning and training were discussed. Fire chief Keith Roger reported that 15 calls for medical assistance came in for the previous month, two calls came in for motor vehicle accidents, one call for a fire and one call came in for a propane issue which was quickly resolved. There were 35 calls for downed wires.
Physicals were also a topic of conversation. The fire district currently has 47 members, some of whom still need physicals. The district’s plan is that all members will be caught up on physicals by autumn.
The Easter egg hunt to be held on April 19 was discussed in addition to the need to look into hay wagons for the event.
As part of the chief’s report, Roger discussed equipment. Hose-testing is scheduled to be conducted on April 9. He also stressed the need to order brush equipment and side mirrors. Roger stated he needs to figure out exactly what is needed to fill department needs, but “bib overalls, radios and wands,” are on his wish list as well as new labels for equipment.
The discussion then turned to two events. On March 27, assistant county executive Gregg Pulver will be holding a closed meeting to discuss EMS issues. On April 18, Kelly Roger will be utilizing the firehouse for an event. Building use was approved for both events.
The subject of air packs then came up as one had sustained damage. Chief Roger also reported he is looking into which responders are in need of new equipment. Additionally, he has been trying to meet with new vendors. He has also started a log book for recordkeeping purposes around equipment to enable the department to track its movement and usage throughout the department.
Responder Chris Reyes discussed his work on the annual dinner and requested that $15,000 be made available for associated expenses. A motion was made to allow, which was officially passed.
No new members have recently joined the fire department, but recruitment efforts remain ongoing with interested parties being encouraged to come to the fire district on Monday evenings at 6 p.m. to learn more.
The next meeting at the firehouse will be a workshop on April 1. A regular meeting will be held on April 15.
