Columbia Memorial Health (1) Careers

70 residents, 20 staff at Barnwell test positive for virus

In News, News - Columbia, The Columbia Paper
May 5, 2020
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HUDSON—“Seventy residents at The Grand at Barnwell have tested positive for COVID-19 as of this afternoon,” Columbia County Department of Health (DOH) Director Jack Mabb said in the county-issued Covid-19 update press release Tuesday, May 5. “That’s one-third of the current resident population of 216.” More than 20 staff have also tested positive at this point, Mr. Mabb added. The Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at Barnwell is located at 3230 Church Street, Valatie.

May 1, the county DOH reported 37 positive Covid-19 cases at Barnwell and just 7 Barnwell residents were reportedly positive April 28.

“Barnwell has been doing everything they can to mitigate this—they have been very responsive. They’ve taken the situation seriously and been aggressive with testing. I also feel good that the state has sent down a team to help with the testing. It’s a real chore to perform this many tests,” Director Mabb said in the release.

The testing process continues at Barnwell, with all residents and staff to be tested.

County-wide as of May 5 at 3 p.m.,16 Columbia County residents have died as a result of Covid-19; the county has 260 positive cases of the virus; 107 of the 260 cases have recovered; 9 of the positive cases are hospitalized, 3 of those hospitalized are in the ICU. The county DOH has received 1,719 completed test results for Columbia County residents; 180 residents are under mandatory quarantine and 22 under precautionary quarantine.

As of Tuesday morning, 58 testing slots remained open for the drive-through testing clinic scheduled for this Friday, May 8 at Columbia-Greene Community College, 4400 Route 23, Greenport. The plan is to conduct 100 tests on that day and so far 42 individuals had registered for the DOH/Columbia Memorial Health clinic, Mr. Mabb said in the release. “I would encourage those who have not yet signed up to do so.”

Priority for testing will be given to people who meet the following criteria: fever, cough, difficulty breathing, loss of taste or smell, and any symptoms consistent with Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines.

Residents that meet the criteria for testing are asked to fill out the online screening form at https://forms.gle/afxfrFaDkrV7m1DF6. Once completed, the form will be evaluated by county DOH staff and residents will be prioritized for testing. CCDOH staff will call residents who qualify for testing and provide them with their appointment time and PIN number. The PIN number and a form of identification must be presented at the testing site. Residents being tested will stay in their vehicle at all times. Two registrants per car will be permitted.

The testing site will be open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. by appointment only. Law enforcement will be on hand to manage and direct traffic flow. Anyone coming to the site without an appointment will be instructed to leave the parking lot immediately.

The office of the Columbia County Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is closed, yet “services are available on a limited basis,” County Clerk Holly Tanner said in the May 5 release.

Those who need to conduct business with the county DMV should visit the department’s webpage on the Columbia County website: https://sites.google.com/a/columbiacountyny.com/columbia-county-clerk/ or visit Ms. Tanner’s Facebook page at Holly Tanner, Columbia County Clerk/DMV, for additional information. Until further notice, driver’s license and automobile registration renewals are suspended, along with automobile inspections, she said.

Anyone who wants to donate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), such as N95 masks, face shields, and gowns, are advised to contact the Emergency Management Office at 518-828-1212. If there is no answer, leave a message and someone will return the call.

Food donations should be directed to the county Office for the Aging 518-828-4258 and local pantries.

Monetary donations for the purchase of much-needed equipment for emergency responders, medical personnel and others on the front lines of the coronavirus fight can be sent via check in care of Columbia County, with coronavirus noted in the memo field. Mail the check to the Columbia County Controller’s Office, 401 State Street, Hudson 12534. All money received is being placed in a dedicated account.

A hotline has been established for the elderly and vulnerable in the county, including those with medical conditions or who are disabled and would welcome a deputy checking on their well-being on a daily basis. The number for the hotline is 518-828-0601 X 1400.

For the most up-to-date, accurate information visit the County Department of Health’s website at https://www.columbiacountynyhealth.com/home/coronavirus-covid-19 or their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Columbia-County-Department-of-Health-469399129790791/. The state’s coronavirus website, with up-to-the-minute information, can be found at https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/home.

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THROUGH THE WOODS: Turtle adventures

In Communities - Columbia, The Columbia Paper
July 18, 2023
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By NANCY JANE KERN

Snapping turtle. Photo by Nancy Jane Kern

YEARS AGO, I FOUND a magnificent common snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina, on a dirt road. It lay there in the sun sort of sprawled out, possibly laden with eggs. It did not want to move, and the curious turtle was very cooperative and posed in several positions for my camera. Eventually, a car came along, and the turtle decided this was not a good place to be. It rose on its claw-covered toes and with surprising speed moved off the road and disappeared into the grassy ditch.

This brought back memories of my first encounter with a “snapper” during an afternoon of bullhead fishing with my maternal grandfather, “Gramp.” He often took me fishing and spent many hours teaching me the proper ways of doing it. That day was going well, and we had lots of fish for supper. Suddenly, the worm baited hook and the fishing line bobber slowly sank and the line was pulled deep and away. The hook was set with a flip of the rod, and the fight was on. This was a strong and huge fish. Normally we were lucky if we got a fish larger than a pound in weight. It was pulled up on shore and to our surprise there was a big turtle, not a fish.

My experience had been with smaller harmless painted turtles so this one caused no alarm. Walking up to it was a big mistake as a foot-long neck shot out of the shell, and a piece of rubber was bitten out of my little black boot. I jumped backward. Gramp picked up the turtle by the fishing line and put it in the back of the pickup truck and we took it home. My uncle had also been fishing and had caught a batch of yellow perch. He knew what the turtle was and somehow worked the hook out of the turtle’s mouth with a long piece of wood. He cleaned his perch and wanted to show me the features and behavior of the turtle, so he took a perch skin and held it out some distance from the turtle’s head. The neck shot out again and the turtle snapped the skin right out of his hand, narrowly missing his fingers. A snapper can easily amputate a human finger with its beak and powerful jaws. The well-fed turtle was later released near a farm pond.

Canada geese are always watching for them. In addition to eating vegetation, fish, worms, frogs and small mammals, the snapping turtle will pull birds underwater and eat them too. A pair of geese will herd their goslings between them through the water and put their heads down to ensure safe passage. Unless you have special training, these turtles should be left alone and observed from a distance. A feisty small hatchling managed to nip my finger, and adults can even reach back over their shell and snap you if held by the tail.

They are fast and powerful. They can live 40 to 50 years or more and weigh 50 pounds. Snapping turtles are used by many people in turtle stews and soups. Snapping turtle shells were used in many ceremonies among Native Americans. The shells were dried and mounted on handles with corn kernels inside for use as rattles. Iroquois mythology maintains that the earth rests on the back of a turtle.

The NYState Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has studied them for contaminants like PCB’s because of their diet and long life to accumulate them. You can get quite close to female snappers while they are digging nest holes to lay their leathery-shelled eggs. It is possible to sit quietly nearby and watch the whole process. Days later the eggs may have been dug up by raccoons or other animals and eaten. These intriguing, dinosaur-like reptiles once inspired a birthday gift to a great-nephew of a Peterson “Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians” by Roger Conant. It was received with enthusiasm, and at age nine it was time for him to learn how to avoid getting a hole in his boot, or worse, while fishing.

Times change and now he has a smartphone with apps to identify many things including our turtles. The common snapping turtle became our New York State reptile in 2006.

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