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recovery

Westchester County Announces Grant Initiative of $10 Million in Funding to Local Businesses, Nonprofits

September 16, 2020 by Inside Press

Westchester County Executive George Latimer today announced a $10 million funding initiative to support small businesses and nonprofits facing challenges due to COVID-19. Westchester County Business FIRST: Financial Investments for Recovery and a Sustainable Tomorrow is a new grant program designed to offer immediate financial relief to organizations in Westchester County that have been negatively impacted by the pandemic.

L-R: Bridget Gibbons, Westchester County’s Director of Economic Development; George Latimer, Westchester County Executive; Dr. Marsha Gordon, Business Council of Westchester President/CEO

“We are at a critical point in Westchester County’s history – and such times call for leadership and innovation,” said Latimer. “The Westchester County Business FIRST Program will provide urgent financial assistance to businesses and nonprofits now, and set the foundation to rebuild our economy as we work toward a sustainable future.”

The Westchester County Business FIRST Program is being administered by the County Office of Economic Development through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The Program is open to businesses and nonprofits that employ 99 or fewer people and whose primary business location is in Westchester County. Eligible business and nonprofits can apply for grants of up to $49,000.

Applications will be accepted from September 21 through September 30, 2020 at https://westchestercatalyst.com/business-FIRST-programs/

“These are difficult times, but as ‘The Catalyst’ for economic growth and vitality, the Office of Economic Development is here to support County businesses and nonprofits,” said Bridget Gibbons, Westchester County’s Director of Economic Development. “These organizations help fuel our economy and provide quality jobs in our communities. This funding is designed to help them recover and get back to business.”

To be eligible, organizations must be in good standing with Westchester County and are required to demonstrate revenue losses of at least 25% from March 7, 2020 to present due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The applicant must establish that the organization was a financially viable operation prior to March 7, 2020, the date Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Executive Order 202 declaring a disaster emergency. The organization must have been open as of Feb. 1, 2020, currently be in operation, or closed temporarily and plan to reopen for business in 2020.

Business Council of Westchester President/CEO Dr. Marsha Gordon said: “The Business Council of Westchester (BCW) is extremely supportive of this program and applauds the leadership of County Executive George Latimer and Director of Economic Development, Bridget Gibbons in developing this initiative for small business and not-for-profits in Westchester.  These sectors have been especially hard hit and desperately need these financial resources to survive.  The County is also analyzing which sectors have been hardest hit, so that these resources can be deployed most effectively. It will be important to make sure that all businesses are aware of this opportunity , so outreach via business organizations, community- based organizations and churches will also be important, as well as outreach in different languages to ensure that as many as possible are aware. The BCW will certainly work to share with our outreach to our over 1000 members and robust database of County businesses and not for profits as well as through social media.  This is a ray of hope for those organizations struggling to stay alive.”

Westchester County Association President & CEO Michael N. Romita said: “So many of Westchester’s businesses and non-profits suffered significant economic hardship as a result of the pandemic crisis.  As our local economy begins to transition from reopening to recovery, programs like Westchester County’s Business FIRST initiative will go a long way towards helping businesses regain their economic footing.  We applaud the County Executive and his economic development team for its innovative use of CARES Act funds and look forward to helping spread the word to eligible organizations.”

Nonprofit Westchester Executive Director Jan Fisher said: “Nonprofit Westchester is grateful for our partnership with Westchester County Government during these unprecedented times. We thank the County Executive and his team for this grant opportunity, and for ensuring that there are county resources available to support nonprofit organizations as they continue to provide essential services to Westchester’s most vulnerable residents.”

Certain entities are not eligible to apply for Westchester County Business FIRST grant, including units of government; real estate holding companies, businesses or nonprofits that generate revenue through passive real estate; adult entertainment establishments; gas stations; and businesses or nonprofits that have defaulted on federal debt, including loans from the Small Business Administration.

For more information on the application process, visit https://westchestercatalyst.com/business-FIRST-programs/

 

News Courtesy of the Office of the Westchester County Executive

Filed Under: Surviving COVID-19 Tagged With: COVID-19, Economic Development, financial, grant, recovery, Small businesses, Westchester County

The Recovering and the Recovered

April 18, 2020 by Amy Kelley

Our author brings us up to date on her own gradual return to good health after falling ill with coronavirus–and shares the harrowing but similarly miraculous journeys to recovery experienced by, as it happens, two well-known, Chappaqua-based musicians.

During this terrible time in American history, we brace ourselves to digest the latest news each day as to how many fellow New Yorkers are suffering and dying; this week, public officials announced well over 10,000 had died in New York City alone. It’s a tragic, frightening statistic, and as Governor Andrew Cuomo regularly reminds us, there are real faces behind the numbers and devastated families who cannot properly care for those hospitalized or later deceased or adequately address their own grief.

But every day, there are also more than twice as many people recovering from COVID-19, the novel coronavirus.

Le Jardin du Roi
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As dire as the situation certainly is, it’s important to remember, too, that many New York residents are also getting better, and many experts predict at least a year of subsequent immunity follows, although inadequate widespread testing remains an ongoing challenge.

A few weeks past my own last symptoms, solidly recovered from COVID-19, Mount Sinai Hospital  scheduled myself and my 18-and-up family members to donate plasma.

I feel very lucky.

I can walk into the pharmacy without fear and get takeout coffee without fearing invisible germs on the cup. And when I line up outside the grocery store. I’m meticulous about social distancing–but that’s because I don’t want to worry anyone else, not because I worry about myself.

There are more and more of us every day–the recovering and the recovered. (Editor’s Note: The jury is still out on the degree of  immunity to coronavirus infection, post recovery too. Please speak with your doctor.)

We’re not all young, either. I’m 50, and the Chappaqua residents I interviewed for this article– by phone, because both were not totally well yet–are a bit older. I also have a minor heart condition and asthma.

People always want to know more about my asthma so here’s a description that, under normal circumstances, would be oversharing and plus would bore you to tears: I’ve had asthma since I was seven.

My asthma is idiopathic, meaning that there’s no known cause. I’m on the highest dose of Symbicort, twice daily, and use my albuterol rescue inhaler more than I’m supposed to. Not a day goes by that I don’t think, several times, about my difficult breathing.

Yes, my heart condition was exacerbated by the virus–that’s why I was hospitalized and tested. But my lungs remained clear while hospitalized, and when I developed more significant shortness of breath a few days later at home, I wasn’t worried.

As a lifelong asthmatic, I know when to worry, and it just didn’t get that bad.

The editor asked me to share my recovery story as a follow up to my ‘being sick’ story https://www.theinsidepress.com/area-journalist-diagnosed-covid-19-positive-and-quarantined-with-family/  but also to speak with two members of the Chappaqua community, both of whom happen to be accomplished musicians who had contracted coronavirus. Each had become seriously ill, but each also appears to have fortunately recovered as well. She asked if I’d check in with them:

Jon Cobert: “My Wife Tried to Revive Me… then she Called 911”

Jon Cobert

I personally never lost my sense of taste and smell, which has become one of the telltale signs of coronavirus, but my husband and two of my sons did.

So did this Chappaqua resident, music legend Jon Cobert. His wife and son caught the virus as well, and they too lost their senses of taste and smell.

Cobert, 65, a five-time Grammy nominated musician who has played with John Lennon, Tom Chapin, Harry Chapin, Laura Branigan and many others, first called his doctor in mid-March. “I had a headache and a fever on March 16 after dinner, and I kind of knew,” he said, adding that he doesn’t usually get headaches or fevers, and his doctor said to keep an eye on things.

When Cobert developed a cough, though, his doctor arranged for him to have his lungs looked at on March 20, and he was tested. He got the call that the test was positive on March 23.

Cobert said he had been hoping he didn’t have it, although he recalled having worked with two musicians who later tested positive as well. His doctor said he should take his temperature and call to come in if he became very short of breath. At first, he was tired with a productive cough; but then he developed gastrointestinal symptoms.

A few days later, he passed out while sitting at the kitchen table.

“I just felt all the energy drain out of my body,” he said. “My wife tried to revive me, and then she called 911.”

Cobert said the Chappaqua Ambulance Corps was there in less than five minutes. He was taken to Northern Westchester Hospital and treated for atrial fibrillation. “They were fantastic,” he said.

Unfortunately, that overnight stay wasn’t the last Cobert saw of the hospital. On March 28, he developed chest pains and shortness of breath, and had to return.

But he was once more cleared to return home, and now his heart rate is, according to his Apple Watch, normal.

While Tylenol was hard to find, Cobert’s family was able to find generic acetaminophen. His sister-in-law gave him an oxygen meter, and he had an inhaler left over from a bout of bronchitis in the fall that he used a few times.

As of early this week, Cobert was feeling back to his normal self. “I went for a walk yesterday and it was quite therapeutic,” he said. “It was nice to get outside for an extended period and get some exercise. I highly recommend it.”

He even did his first Facebook live performance to the delight of his fans. He plans to do it weekly every Thursday.

Michael Shapiro Thought About “the Love I Feel for the People in my Life”

Michael Shapiro conducting the Chappaqua Orchestra.
PHOTO by Randy Matusow

Composer and conductor Michael Shapiro, 69, also spent time at Northern Westchester Hospital, five days, he shared, due to COVID-19-caused pneumonia, which he described as “feeling like having broken-up concrete in the bottom of my lungs.”

“They took wonderful care of me,” he said of the hospital staff. “They could not have been better. My long time doctor, Marvin Chinitz, was particularly insightful and I think saved my life.”

Shapiro, the former music director of the Chappaqua Orchestra, said he had fever as well. “I’d feel better, then it would spike, I’d feel better again, and the same thing happened. It would spike up again,” he said.

“I was constantly thinking about the things I believe in… the love I feel for the people in my life, all my family members, the things I still need to do,” Shapiro said, describing his time battling the virus.

This year’s Passover Seder, Shapiro said, was particularly meaningful as the fight between good and evil and against tyranny became less abstract for him, the Biblical made real as families hunkered down in their homes, the Angel of Death in the form of coronavirus raging across the world.

On a local level, Shapiro said he and his longtime partner Marge Perlin, her two sons and their girlfriends, most of whom tested positive but with relatively mild symptoms, depended on treasured friends and community members, who helped them in many ways.

Shapiro is on the mend now, gathering strength. Public music making is now restricted to commercial and public radio where Shapiro’s works, particularly his new Archangel Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (recorded last May by Steven Beck, pianist, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales) is being broadcast internationally, on BBC3, CBC, and radio stations across America. SiriusXM is featuring Shapiro’s music on its program Living American to be broadcast six times and downloadable the next three months.

Shapiro is starting to get back to work on a new violin concerto for virtuoso Tim Fain which they hope to record when the lights go on again.

He credits his return to good health with the support he received within the community, especially. He mentioned: “Richard Leroy, dynamically leading social action at Temple Shaaray Tefila, who arranged for two weeks of meal delivery during the household’s quarantine; Vinny Milazzo of the Village Market, who energetically provides curbside service; and Erin Teter, manager of the Quaker Hill Tavern, whose loving example is an inspiration.”

“They are special, special people and community members,” Shapiro said of Leroy, Milazzo, and Teter. “We love them, they are curing the world every day, and we hope the community supports and cares for what they do.”

Filed Under: Surviving COVID-19 Tagged With: Composer, COVID-19, Grammy, John Lennon, Jon Cobert, Michael Shapiro, Mount Sinai Hospital, musicians, Northern Westchester Hospital, Recovered, recovery, Surviving COVID-19

A Chorus of Here Comes the Sun Greets Discharged Patients Recovered from COVID-19 at Northern Westchester Hospital

April 11, 2020 by The Inside Press

With little good news these days, Northern Westchester Hospital Nurse Manager Carley Dowd came up with a way to celebrate every victory against COVID-19.

Now, whenever a COVID patient is discharged, speakers play  the chorus of The Beatles’ Here Comes The Sun throughout the hospital

This YouTube video shows hospital staff lining the hallway and applauding  as Westchester resident Rita Rooney, age 88, is being discharged after a 14-day hospitalization for COVID-19.

“During these dark days, it lifts our spirits to celebrate when a COVID patient is well enough to go home,” says  Dowd.  “This is a tough time for health care workers on  the front lines of the pandemic, so every victory is sweet.”

Since NWH started “Code Sun”  this week, the response has been so positive that other hospitals in the Northwell System have instituted the program.

News courtesy of Northern Westchester Hospital.

About Northern Westchester Hospital

Northern Westchester Hospital (NWH), a member of Northwell Health, provides quality, patient-centered care that is close to home through a unique combination of medical expertise, leading-edge technology, and a commitment to humanity. Over 650 highly-skilled physicians, state-of-the-art technology and professional staff of caregivers are all in place to ensure that you and your family receive treatment in a caring, respectful and nurturing environment. NWH has established extensive internal quality measurements that surpass the standards defined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) National Hospital Quality Measures. Our high-quality standards help to ensure that the treatment you receive at NWH is among the best in the nation. For more information, please visit www.nwhc.net and connect with us on Facebook.

About Northwell Health
Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, about 750 outpatient facilities and more than 13,600 affiliated physicians. We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 70,000 employees – 16,000-plus nurses and 4,000 employed doctors, including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners – are working to change health care for the better. We’re making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. We’re training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Filed Under: Surviving COVID-19 Tagged With: Code Sun, COVID-19, Northern Westchester Hospital, recovery

Mountainside to Offer Holiday Support in Anticipation of “Drinksgiving” and Winter Stressors

November 25, 2019 by Inside Press

Chappaqua, NY – Thanksgiving is traditionally a time for reconnecting with loved ones over food and drinks, but for those in active addiction or recovery, it can present unhealthy temptations and added stress. With the Thanksgiving break quickly approaching, Mountainside treatment center in Chappaqua, NY will provide a free helpline and Virtual Recovery Support Groups for those in need of assistance for themselves or their loved ones this holiday season.

For people in recovery, the cold weather and shorter days of winter can lead to boredom and isolation, increasing their risk of relapse. Additionally, binge drinking over the Thanksgiving weekend has become increasingly popular, with Thanksgiving Eve even being nicknamed “Blackout Wednesday” or “Drinksgiving” as many Americans pack local bars to celebrate the long weekend. With this in mind, Mountainside’s 24/7 Holiday Helpline will be available from November 25 to January 6 for all community members who are considering recovery or need help maintaining sobriety.

Mountainside is also providing virtual meetings for those battling addiction as well as people in recovery who are unable to attend a local support group in person during the holidays – whether due to distance, time, or inclement weather. The virtual groups will take place between December 3 and January 7 on Tuesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 PM EST. The groups will offer peer-to-peer support and allow people to share their experiences on a broad array of timely and engaging topics, including navigating the stress of the holidays. Meetings will be facilitated by Nicole Cordani, Recovery Support Clinician at Mountainside.

“The hustle and bustle of the holidays can be exciting, but can also be triggering for those who are trying to safeguard their sobriety,” says Amy Sedgwick, Mountainside’s Director of Clinical Operations. “By offering these services to the community for the very first time, we can give at-risk people the critical support they may need during the winter holidays.”

For additional support this holiday season, contact Mountainside’s Holiday Helpline at 833-200-6665 or visit mountainside.com/holiday-support to participate in a Virtual Recovery Support Group.

 

 

Mountainside Treatment Center

Mountainside is nationally recognized for the effectiveness of its drug and alcohol addiction treatment programs. Our Integrative Care Model provides a comprehensive set of treatment and care offerings coordinated by a multidisciplinary treatment team to best fit the unique needs and interests of each client. We are lauded for our ability to partner with each client and the client’s family and healthcare professionals in developing and executing individualized treatment plans that promote long-term sobriety. Learn more about Mountainside at mountainside.com.

Filed Under: Holidays with our Sponsors Tagged With: Addiction, Drinksgiving, Holiday Support, Mountainside, recovery, Support Groups, Winter Stressors

Midpoint: Recovering from a Hip Replacement

April 21, 2016 by The Inside Press

image002By Susan Hodara

I was optimistic. I could make the six weeks into a rare opportunity. That’s how long I was to be restricted to a walker as I recovered from a hip replacement. Unable to drive, I would have limited distractions. I wasn’t teaching, and my husband, Paul, and I had kept our social calendar empty. Other than visits from my physical and occupational therapists and from generous friends who promised to stop by with food and companionship, my days would be open. Surgery, it turned out, was a great excuse to shirk all kinds of obligations, leaving me with a rare freedom to focus on writing, reading and healing.

The first week I was fatigued, and just getting to and from the bathroom was a chore. But by the end of the second week, I could begin to think about other things, starting with an article I had been assigned to write.

I remember that day. I was still spending most of my time in the dining room, where Paul had moved one of our daughters’ twin bed until I could more confidently negotiate the stairs. It was lovely there, just off the kitchen, with the bathroom mere steps away. My view was the forest behind our house. I kept the windows opened to fill the room with summer breezes, the chirps of birds and, sometimes, the sweet aroma of newly mowed grass.

Propped up on pillows, legs outstretched under the blankets, computer on my lap, I wrote a few sentences. It might have taken me 45 minutes to an hour, but that wasn’t unusual, and besides, I had nowhere else to be. I took a break to read my book, which made me sleepy enough to curl up and nap for a bit. When I awoke, I was ready to write a few more sentences. Time bobbed calmly on the sea of the afternoon. It was perfect–well-paced, productive enough, healthy, and utterly up to me.

A week has passed since then (though it seems like much longer). I finished the article. I finished the book and started another. I have checked Facebook too many times, gone through the entire new season of Orange is the New Black and watched the final episodes of Nurse Jackie.

I don’t think twice about going to the bathroom now. I can get up and down the stairs as needed; I can fix my own meals and clean up afterwards; I can shower by myself whenever I want. I’ve taken care of all kinds of tasks that my physical limitations permit.

But the midway point has lasted a long time. I started saying it two days before the official date: “Three more weeks to go!” It is now the day after the date, and it’s still three more weeks to go. I am having trouble retaining my optimism. Funny thing is, I know it’s not the surgery. This is a too-familiar feeling. It flits like a persistent gnat around the edges of my awareness, waiting for its cue to descend. The hunger for a job to do or a problem to solve morphs in an undetectable second into a sense of purposelessness and futility that is instantly truer than whatever wellbeing came before.

It would be reasonable to attribute this malaise to six weeks at home, unable to shop, visit, exercise and do all the assorted errands that I usually resent but that give my life its consequence. But I’m reluctant to do so. I’m determined to face head-on what I live beside anyway: the relentless demand for significance, without which I sink into darkness.

Epilogue: The six weeks did finally pass, and I now appreciate daily my newfound and pain-free agility.

Susan Hodara is a journalist, memoirist, editor and teacher. Her articles about the arts have appeared in The New York Times, Harvard Magazine, Communication Arts, and others. Her memoirs are published in a variety of anthologies and literary journals. She is a co-author with three other women of Still Here Thinking of You, memoirs about mothers and daughters. www.susanhodara.com.

Filed Under: Et Cetera Tagged With: hip replacement, Inside Press, recovery, surgery, Susan Hodara, theinsidepress.com

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