SHARON — The first of three public roundtables coordinated by the Save Sharon Hospital (SSH) citizens’ organization to rally support in opposition to planned cuts in services at the hospital was held on Friday, Sept. 23, at St. Bernard Church in Sharon.
The event attracted 12 residents to hear presentations by Nick Moore, SSH board member, and two Sharon Hospital physicians, Howard Mortman, M.D. (OB/GYN) and David Kurish, M.D., (Internal Medicine and Cardiology).
Based on their decades of practice at the hospital, the physicians presented their own accounts of the high quality of care jeopardized by the planned cutbacks, pleading with the community to join in a campaign that will culminate in a Save Sharon Hospital rally on the Sharon Green on Sunday, Oct. 16.
That rally will lead into a critically important state public hearing scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 18, on Zoom, through the Office of Health Strategy (OHS), an independent review body that will decide on the Nuvance proposal to limit services at Sharon Hospital.
SSH urges residents to view the hearing and offer comments either in advance or during the hearing, as well as to contact state representatives asking that they act to preserve Sharon Hospital services.
Both New York state and Northwest Corner residents are potentially impacted.
Introducing the discussion, Nick Moore, who serves on the seven-member SSH board, recounted that in 2018, Health Quest (now Nuvance) purchased Sharon Hospital in a public-private partnership, with Nuvance promising to maintain all services for a period of five years, under a Certificate of Need agreement.
Within that period, Moore said, Nuvance has sought to reduce services, citing financial pressures, an aging population and safety concerns, all three of which he said are arguable.
Save Sharon Hospital came into being in 2018 to resist an earlier attempt to eliminate maternity services. That campaign was successful.
In September of 2021 Nuvance announced plans once again to eliminate maternity services and to reduce services relating to the surgical department and the Intensive Care Unit. Once the service cuts were announced, Dr. Kurish reported, the doctors voted 25-1 in opposition to the plan.
“We are counting on the community to show support,” Dr. Kurish told the audience, drawing on his more than 40 years of service to the community and the hospital. “Our facility is outstanding,” he added. “The community will need to rally to maintain services.”
“For 31 years I have been practicing here,” said Dr. Mortman of his length of service and devotion to the hospital community and to his patients. He referenced national studies highlighting the critical importance of providing increased access to high-quality maternal health care, particularly in rural areas.
Speaking of his early years, Mortman said, “When I came up here, Sharon Hospital was everything I could have dreamed of.” He described the broad diversity of patients treated without regard to their insurance status, only that they needed care.
“Every patient could be my family,” Mortman said. “If you take away the bureaucracy,” he added, “our hospital is as good as it gets. We offer comprehensive health care.”
Mortman pointed to Sharon Hospital’s 5-star rating, one of only three in the state with that distinction in terms of mortality, safety, and timely and effective care.
“There is nothing safe about practicing obstetrics in a facility without full services,” Mortman added, going on to describe cases with positive outcomes only because the hospital was fully equipped to respond.
“You cannot put someone in an ambulance, if that patient is not safe to transfer,” Mortman argued. “With neo-resuscitation cases, you don’t have time,” he added.
Moore spoke about the tangible value of the hospital’s medical professionals living in the community and how their family members add community strength by making their homes here, serving on local boards, volunteering for organizations and enrolling their children in the schools.
During public discussion, residents clarified the effects of the changes, speaking also of Windham Hospital, owned by Hartford HealthCare, having curtailed its services.
One resident countered a locally voiced opinion that reduced maternity services would have no effect on their lives or wellbeing if they are not planning to have a child. In fact, she said, elimination of maternity has a ripple effect. With no maternity department, the surgical department and the intensive care area are not required within regulations to offer full capabilities, equipment and staffing.
Mortman called for a cooperative solution to be found to bring Nuvance and Sharon Hospital to accord. “It has to be about money, because it is not about care,” he said.
“The state needs to step up and help us,” Mortman said, urging residents to speak with their neighbors, attend the upcoming rally on the Sharon Green on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 2 p.m., write letters to public officials, and provide written or oral testimony at the OHS public hearing on Zoom, Tuesday, Oct. 18, beginning at 3 p.m. when public testimony begins.
The next SSH roundtable will be held on Thursday, Sept. 29, at the Scoville Memorial Library in Salisbury, beginning at 4 p.m.
The third and final SSH roundtable will be held in Millerton on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at the Northeast/Millerton Library Annex, beginning at 6 p.m.
For additional details, go to www.savesharonhospital.org.
Millerton News
The annual Millerton Fire Company Easter egg hunt returned to Eddie Collins Memorial Park on Saturday, April 4.
Tyler Dehoff discovers a piece of chocolate in a plastic egg at the zero to two-year-old egg hunt area.Nathan Miller
Families crowd into hay wagons for a parade down Main Street to the park before the egg hunt.Nathan Miller
Leila Hawken
AMENIA — The Town Board approved two resolutions by unanimous vote at its Wednesday, April 1, meeting, including one authorizing herbicide use at Troutbeck’s spa and hotel facility.
The second resolution awarded a contract to paint the stage area in the Town Hall auditorium.
The herbicide approval follows a recommendation from the Housatonic Valley Association, which advised allowing controlled spot spraying and removal of small patches of invasive plant growth within the property’s conservation easement area. The organization assists the town by monitoring activities within Troutbeck’s easement acreage.
Larry Weaner Landscape Associates, based in Glenside, Pennsylvania, will perform the spot spraying work.
The painting project, initially suggested by resident George Bistransin, will apply black paint to the walls and ceiling surrounding the auditorium stage, enhancing the flexibility of the space to accommodate the needs of stage productions or other performances. Invitations to bid resulted in one bidder, Jaybird Painting of Wassaic, providing an estimate of $1,685 to complete the work.
The project will cover approximately 1,264 square feet and includes surface preparation, patching, application of matte black paint, protective masking and final cleanup.
During public comment, resident Ken Topolsky said his research into fair housing laws suggests the legislation may allow municipalities to prioritize local families for future affordable housing opportunities. He cited several regulations governing priority selection systems and urged the Town Board to review those provisions.
Topolsky said families of local workers could qualify for priority status under certain guidelines.
“All code elements have provisions for a point system as long as the system is not discriminatory,” Topolsky said.
People eligible to receive points are local volunteers in fire departments or EMTs, municipal or school employees and families with children in the local public school system.
“Unless it’s codified, it cannot happen,” Topolsky told the town board, urging them to study the legal citations and continue active discussion.
In other business, the board continued discussing how to allocate revenue generated from leasing its tower space to communication service providers.
“It should be used for a specific purpose,” said resident Judy Moran, urging that the revenue not be deposited into general funds.
The board agreed to discuss the issue further at its next meeting, allowing time for more research into how it has been used in the past and any restrictions on its use.
Nathan Miller
MILLERTON — The Board of Trustees approved the coming year’s budget Monday, April 6, following no public comment.
The village’s expenses increased 15.8% over last year’s adopted budget. Board members attributed those increased costs to unavoidable spikes in health insurance rates and retirement payments.
Mayor Jenn Najdek said property assessments are slated to increase, which would provide the village with additional revenue. Najdek estimated tax increases of about $11.48 per $250,000 of assessed property value.
Tentative budget documents available on the village’s website reflect that wage increases and newly filled staffing positions further drove increases to the budget. Expenses for the Clerk and Treasurer’s office, along with the building department, each increased by more than 40% over last year. Deputy Mayor Matt Hartzog emphasized the board’s desire to provide raises to village staff.
“We have not given ourselves a raise,” Hartzog said. “But we would like to give all of our employees a raise, so that they can keep up with inflation.”
Hartzog called attention to rising medical insurance rates. Medical insurance expenses rose 15% to $38,300, representing roughly 4% of the total budget.
“Health insurance has just gone through the roof,” he said. “Nobody’s going to be happy about that.”
The Village Clerk budget increased by more than $21,000, driven by the separation of the Clerk and Treasurer line items, with both receiving hikes. The 15.9% rise, bringing the total to $70,240, represents the largest share of this year’s overall budget increase.
A similar additional line item in the Building Department expenses drove the 44% increase in that department’s budget. In addition to the “Building sec salary” line receiving a small increase, a “Building sec” line lists $11,700, contributing much of the total $11,852 increase to that department’s overall budget.
Police salaries increased by a total of $5,000. Highway crew salaries increased by $4,210 total.
Overall, the village expects to spend $975,156 this year, an increase of $132,836 over last year’s budgeted expenses.
Increases to expenses are partially offset by a $70,000 increase in expected non-tax revenue. That’s 22% higher than in 2025, but not quite enough to make up for the increased costs.
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Millerton News
MILLERTON — The NorthEast-Millerton Library is set to host a free repair café on Saturday, April 25, in the library’s annex on Century Boulevard.
Fixers will offer free repairs for small electronics, clothing and textiles, and minor bicycle repairs among other things such as lamps and knife sharpening.
The event will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Repairs are limited to two items per person. Five knives count as one item.
The Millbrook Library will also be hosting a repair café on April 25 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. That event coincides with Millbrook’s community-wide yard sale.
Nathan Miller
MILLERTON — The North East Town Board will add a workshop meeting to its regular monthly schedule after members said an additional meeting could help advance projects more efficiently.
Councilwoman Rachele Grieco Cole first proposed holding two meetings per month at the board’s March meeting. The discussion was continued at a workshop meeting on Wednesday, April 1, with council members agreeing to regularly hold a workshop meeting on the first Wednesday of every month at 5:30 p.m.
The additional meeting will provide time for discussion and planning, while the regular business meeting will continue on the second Thursday of each month. Council members supported the change, citing major projects and grant opportunities that would benefit from additional discussion.
Natalia Zukerman
Blues musician James Montgomery
When the Rock n’ Roll Circus rolls into Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk on Saturday, April 11, it will bring together an all-star lineup of musicians and a mission that reaches far beyond the stage.
Presented by Rockin’ 4 Vets, this concert will benefit the United Way of Northwest Connecticut’s “Stock the Shelves” program, which supports food pantries across the region. The United Way, part of a national network founded in the late 19th century, has long worked to mobilize communities in support of local health, education and financial stability initiatives, efforts that continue today through programs like Stock the Shelves, which helps ensure families have access to essential food resources.
It’s a dual mission that founder of Rockin’ 4 Vets Jim Tirabassi described simply: “We put on the show for a dual purpose — to make people happy and to support local causes.”
What began in 2015 as V is for Veterans has evolved into Rockin’ 4 Vets, a production company built around benefit concerts supporting veterans and community needs. Tirabassi, a former rock tour manager, said the work is less about music than mission. “I love building things and I love the idea of building these shows for a purpose.”
This year’s purpose has shifted a bit. “We are seeing that veterans and non-veterans have the same issues in terms of food access,” Tirabassi said. “So, we figured we’d make it a broad-based thing and do it for the food pantries throughout New England.”
The show itself promises to deliver on its “house party” promise with high-energy, high-octane rock and blues featuring Grammy-nominated guitarist Jon Butcher, former Epic Records artist Steve Gaspár and New England blues legend James Montgomery, along with a horn section and a rotating cast of accomplished players.
“It’s a bunch of people who actually like each other which is always a good starting point,” Montgomery said. “In the case of me and Jon Butcher, we’ve been playing together for something like 50 years.”
That chemistry extends beyond the stage. “We get together a few times a year and brush up,” Montgomery said. “We’ve been doing this long enough to understand how to put something together in sound check that’s actually gonna really gel.”
For Montgomery, who has performed with everyone from B.B. King to The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt and James Brown, the spirit of the event is as important as the music. “We have a superstar lineup and then the added feature is we raise money to put food on the shelves.”
The collaboration has a long history. Montgomery was an early supporter of Tirabassi’s effort to assist veterans; an effort rooted in Tirabassi’s own service. “I was in the Army in the early ’70s,” Tirabassi said, adding that his organization now focuses on issues like PTSD, addiction and homelessness.
“I am a very fortunate person,” Tirabassi said. “My wife and I live fairly well and don’t have to worry about where our next meal’s coming from, but we were on a trip through New England last fall and we saw so many food banks with police directing traffic. People just trying to get some food. It was so bad and it broke both our hearts,” he continued. That moment of clarity became a driving force for this year’s show.
“What we’re trying to do is help society in general,” he said. “And when people come to the show, they’re part of that.”
Montgomery, a lifelong road warrior and harmonica player known for his work with artists from Muddy Waters to Gregg Allman, still lights up when talking about the energy of live performance and the connection it creates.
“It’s a really, really great place to play,” he said of Infinity Hall. “It feels really intimate when you play there.”
And in that intimate setting, the Rock n’ Roll Circus aims to do what it does best: bring people together through music while helping make sure more families have food on their tables.
Doors open at 7 p.m., with the show beginning at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at infinityhall.com.
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