New York Homes and Community Renewal awarded the funds to help communities throughout the state to safely reopen and restart their local economies in the wake of COVID-19.

Three Jamestown organizations will receive the funding. As explained by Jamestown Director of Development Crystal Surdyk to City Council in December, The Chautauqua Center will receive $500,000 as part of a $729,000 project, “To expand their Jamestown facility, not the building itself, but to finish the build out of the facility and to expand their behavior health programming.”

The Chautauqua County Health Network will receive $100,000 out of a $223,000 project, “They are looking to do a public health campaign, so they would be working in collaboration with a number of agencies, including the County Health Department, to do some additional vaccination information and education, but then also a general public health campaign.”

And Strong Starts Jamestown will receive $322,300 dollars toward a $1,114,205 project, “And that is a program that is focused on assisting, really focusing on children and prepartum and postpartum health of babies who are born to mothers who may have substance abuse challenges and a number of other things.”

The funds will be awarded directly to the City which will then distribute and work with partner organizations on the awarded projects.

Jamestown Director of Development Crystal Surdyk Address City Council Housing Committee

A public hearing has been set for three Jamestown projects that have applied for almost a million dollars in Community Development Block Grant funds due to COVID.

New York Homes and Community Renewal is awarding $60 million dollars in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) funds to help communities throughout the state to safely reopen and restart their local economies in the wake of COVID-19.

Jamestown Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said Homes and Community Renewal have vetted and approved the applications. She said The Chautauqua Center has applied for $500,000 as part of a $729,000 project, “To expand their Jamestown facility, not the building itself, but to finish the build out of the facility and to expand their behavior health programming.”

The Chautauqua County Health Network has applied for $100,000 out of a $223,000 project, “They are looking to do a public health campaign, so they would be working in collaboration with a number of agencies, including the County Health Department, to do some additional vaccination information and education, but then also a general public health campaign.”

Surdyk said the third applicant is Strong Starts Jamestown who has applied for $322,300 dollars toward a $1,114,205 project, “And that is a program that is focused on assisting, really focusing on children and prepartum and postpartum health of babies who are born to mothers who may have substance abuse challenges and a number of other things.”

The public hearing will be held at 7 p.m., Monday, December 27 in Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall. The public may review the project documents on the city’s website on the Department of Development’s page.

The Community Health Assessment (CHA) and Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) were submitted to the NYSDOH in December 2019 and they are now available to the public through the CCDHHS website: https://chqgov.com/public-health/public-health.

The State Prevention Agenda is the blueprint for state and local action to improve the health and well-being of all New Yorkers and promote health equity across populations who experience disparities. It envisions New York becoming the Healthiest State in the Nation for people of all ages, and designates five priority areas:

• Prevent chronic diseases;
• Promote a healthy and safe environment;
• Promote healthy women, infants, and children;
• Promote well-being and prevent mental and substance use disorders; and
• Prevent communicable diseases.

Just as New York State assesses the health of residents, so do counties.  The Community Health Assessment is a core function of public health agencies and a fundamental tool of public health practice.

The Chautauqua County Community Health Planning Team (CCCHPT) consists of representatives from CCDHHS, the three local hospital systems (Allegheny Health Network Westfield Memorial Hospital, Brooks-TLC Hospital System, Inc., and UPMC Chautauqua), Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene, Chautauqua County Health Network, The Chautauqua Center, The Resource Center, Prevention Works, Chautauqua County Office for the Aging, and Population Health Collaborative of Western New York.

The team met on several occasions to gauge the community’s perceived health priorities, assets, and needs through a web-based and paper survey, and numerous community conversations. It then examined secondary health data provided by the NYSDOH and other key sources to determine the three County priorities to address:

• Prevent Chronic Diseases;
• Promote Healthy Women, Infants, and Children; and
• Promote Mental Well-Being and Prevent Mental and Substance Use Disorders.

The CCCHPT worked together with community partners from all sectors to determine what programming interventions, related to the selected priority areas, were already being implemented in Chautauqua County. Rather than adopting new programs and activities, the local health department and community hospitals desired to embrace the concept of “Public Health 3.0” by working to strengthen the efforts currently underway and better connect community partners.  Interventions focus on a variety of disparity populations, including low-income, seniors, youth, Amish, and those with a substance use disorder or mental health diagnosis.

“This extensive review of health and social conditions in Chautauqua County helped to strengthen relationships between partners and paints a beautiful picture of a ‘Health Across All Policies’ approach in Chautauqua County,” said Director of Health and Human Services Christine Schuyler. “As with the rest of New York State, obesity, poor eating habits, lack of exercise, and nicotine use continue to burden a large proportion of Chautauqua County residents. The problems of mental health and substance use disorders are present across the County and are a focus area for CCDHHS and many community partners.”

Jodi Witherell, CNO/Vice President of Quality Services at Brooks – TLC Hospital System, Inc. said, “Brooks-TLC Hospital System, Inc. is proud of its robust Community Health Program designed to support the CHA/CHIP, and has listed the document on our website under Community Health.  Clinical staff and others in our hospital system are in an optimal position to drive the health and wellness agenda as we interface with patients daily.”

The Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan 2019-2021 provides a demographic profile of Chautauqua County, a health profile organized by Prevention Agenda priority areas, identification of the main health challenges including the broad determinants of health, community assets and resources, and documentation of process and methods used for this assessment.

“The Community Health Assessment highlights the need for people and organizations from all sectors of the county—public, private, educational, non-profit, media or philanthropic—to work deliberately and collaboratively to improve the public’s health through policies, programs, and services,” said Schuyler.

More information about the New York State Prevention Agenda can be found at www.health.ny.gov. The Community Health Assessment.

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Ann Abdella (Executive Director, Chautauqua County Health Network), Dr. Robert Berke (Physician, Family Health Medical Services), Christine Schuyler (Chautauqua County Health Commissioner), Lynn Wigren (Quality Improvement Program Manager, Chautauqua County Health Network), Art Wingerter (President Univera Healthcare)

MAYVILLE – Univera Healthcare has committed $130,000 over the next three years to fund a community health initiative to make it easier for individuals with diabetes to get their recommended diabetic retinal eye exam.

The three year project that Univera is funding, Tele-Retinal Diabetic Eye Exam Project (DEEP), will be overseen by the Chautauqua County Health Network (CCHN).

Officials say patients with diabetic retinopathy have a 95 percent chance of keeping their vision if they receive treatment before the retina is severely damaged, which is why regular screening is so important.

Chautauqua County performs in the bottom 25th percentile in the nation with it comes to annual diabetic eye screenings. Just 40-to- 54 percent of the 12,500 adults in Chautauqua County who are living with diabetes are getting the recommended diabetic eye screenings. The goal of the project is to increase the network-wide rate of completed annual diabetic eye exams by 30 percent in three years by building capacity to provide high quality retinal eye scans in the primary care setting.

Univera has an office on West Third Street in Jamestown.

On Monday night the Jamestown City Council approved an amendment to the city code that bans smoking both cigarettes and e-cigarettes, along with the use of all other tobacco related products, from all city parks and public lands. That not only includes any and all areas of the various parks in the city, but also in any city-owned parking facilities and/or grounds, or while traveling in or operating any equipment and/or vehicles owned or leased by the city.

The fine for smoking on any city property will be $50 for the first offense, $100 for the second offense and $250 for the third or subsequent offenses.

The council voted 6 to 1 in favor of the amendment, with at-large councilman George Spitale voting against the measure, while both city council president Greg Rabb and Ward 5 council woman Maria Jones were absent.

Spitale said he made a decision to vote against he measure after hearing from constituents who were against the ban because it infringed on their rights.

“I received quite a few calls about it from veterans,” Spitale said following the vote. “One of the comments was, ‘I donated to the Veterans Park project and now you’re telling me I can’t go to that park, light a cigarette, smoke it, field strip and then put it in my pocket? And if I do I’m going to get a $50 fine?'”

“Another guy said we’re playing the role of big brother, like [former New York City Mayor Michael] Bloomberg did. Pretty soon the city will be telling us what size soda we should drinking,” Spitale said, alluding to New York City’s Sugary Drinks Portion Cap Rule of 2013.

Spitale also said he didn’t support ticketing and imposing a fine on people who broke the law because he felt the city police have more important things to focus on.

“We have enough problems in this city where the police don’t need to be arresting people for smoking,” he said.

Ken Dahlgren with the Tri-County Tobacco Coalition.

Prior to the vote, two members of the public addressed the city council, saying they supported the measure. Ken Dahlgren with the Tri-County Tobacco Control Coalition said he supports the ban because it would help to improve public health. 

“Recent Surgeon General reports have shown that there really is no safe level of second hand smoke, including exposure to outdoor second-hand smoke,” Dahlgren said. “I know sometimes we’re not even aware of the kinds of events that many people can’t attend [because of second hand smoke]. I know I can’t attend the city’s annual Labor Day Festival when there’s the amount of smoking that there is because it physically makes me ill.”

The only other person to publicly comment on the proposed ban was Shelly Wells with the Chautauqua County Health Network, who said that the smoking leads to a variety of health problems and given that the county has one of the highest rates of tobacco users in the state, the community needs to do what it can to try and reduce those numbers.

The tobacco ban will include the use of cigars; pipes; and cigarettes, including electronic cigarettes and vapor devices; and chewing tobacco. The ban will take effect immediately.

On Friday, CCHN officials announced that several local school districts will benefit from a five-year, $1.25 million grant from the state’s Creating Healthy Schools and Communities program. The funding is being administered through a collaboration with the health network, Erie2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES, and the Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services.

The program will be used to help implement strategies to combat obesity and other chronic diseases in high-need school districts and their surrounding communities.

Six communities will be targeted with the funding, including Jamestown, Dunkirk, Cassadaga Valley, Pine Valley, Silver Creek, and Ripley.

Other partnering organizations will include the Cornell Cooperative Extension, Dunkirk Local Development Corporation, Jamestown Audubon Society, Jamestown Renaissance Corporation, and KEE Concepts Consulting.

Collaborations are expected to expand as the initiative matures in each community.

Hospice Chautauqua County and the Chautauqua County Health Network are teaming up to sponsor community dinners the week of National Healthcare Decisions Day, April 16th. These dinners, called “Death Over Dinner,” will be opportunities for people to share a conversation with their friends or family members about wishes for end-of-life care. Those wishing to complete a living will and healthcare proxy will be able to do so.

• LISTEN TO RECENT INTERVIEW REGARDING DEATH OVER DINNER

Made possible in part by funding from Univera Healthcare and the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, the Death Over Dinner events will take place at four different locations.  Dinners will be catered and a $5 charge and reservation will be required.

Dinners are scheduled to take place at the following times and locations:

• Westfield- YWCA, Tues 4/14
• Jamestown- LSS Warner Place, Tues 4/14
• Fredonia- 1st Presbyterian Church, Wed 4/15
• North Harmony- Community Center, Thurs 4/16

Facilitated discussions will take place at each dinner table on this subject, know as Advance Care Planning. For some participants, the dinners will be an opportunity to begin their conversation about end-of-life wishes; for others it will be an opportunity to finalize their living wills and healthcare proxies.

Detailed information about the dinners, locations, dates, etc. may be found at www.HospiceChautCo.org. Reservations may be made on the website as well. Those without internet access or questions about the events can call RSVP at 665-6602 to inquire or make reservations.

This past Saturday kicked off a month-long series of activities with the unveiling of the Healthy Community Market and featured nutritious food samples, cooking tips and recipes, produce coupons, and other healthy prizes.

According to a media release from the Health Network, Noeplace owner John Noe and his staff stepped up to pilot the Healthy Community Market in the eastside neighborhood. They worked with CCHN, The University of Buffalo Department of Urban and Regional Planning, The City of Jamestown, and Jamestown Renaissance Corporation to make this healthy food access initiative a reality.

The Eastside YMCA and Cornell Cooperative Extension have also joined in the effort to strengthen the community’s health by offering healthy eating presentations, nutrition classes, and activities at Noeplace.

Officials say the transformation of this store to offer fresh produce and a healthier inventory to its customers is part of a long term strategy to improve the health of the community.

Noeplace Convenience Store is located at 708 East 2nd Street, and is open every day, 24 hours a day.

The mission of CCHN is to strengthen the local healthcare and wellness deliver system.  For more information on Creating Healthy Places, go to www.cchn.net.

Jennifer Blair, Chautauqua Works/CARTS Mobility Manager; Cheryl Gustafson, CARTS Senior Project Manager; Andy Dickson, CCHN Built Environment Consultant.

MAYVILLE – CARTS buses serving Jamestown, Falconer, Celoron and Lakewood will now be able to transport riders with bicycles thanks to a grant from the Chautauqua County Health Network. Transit bike racks have been mounted on the 4 city route buses and are ready for service.

Funding for the bike racks came from the Creating Healthy Places to Live, Work & Play initiative of the NYS Health Department. The initiative, now in its fifth year, is being administered locally by the Chautauqua County Health Network and aims to reduce chronic disease by promoting more active lifestyles, as well as healthy foods.

CARTS mounted a transit rack on the two Dunkirk city buses in northern Chautauqua County last year and saw some rider usage. They are hoping for additional ridership with the good weather finally here.

For more information about CARTS, visit www.co.chautauqua.ny.us or call 716-665-6466. For more information about CCHN or Creating Healthy Places, call 338-0010 or visit www.cchn.net.

City workers and volunteers help to set up new playground equipment at Lillian Dickson Park on Saturday, May 31, 2014. (Photo courtesy of city of Jamestown)

JAMESTOWN – It was a perfect day to spend at the park this past weekend. 

That’s according to Andrew Dickson from the Chautauqua County Health Network, who’s helped to lead a group of volunteers in renovating Lillian Dickson Park on Falconer Street. Dickson says several people stopped by the park on Saturday to help install new playground equipment. He adds that a contractor is now working on installing a handicap-accessible walk-way and the City parks summer program should be underway on schedule.

The project was a coordinated effort between the Friends of Lillian Dickson Park group and the city Parks Department. Funding was provided by several local groups and organizations, including the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation and the city of Jamestown.

An official dedication ceremony is planned to take place in the coming weeks.