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It was moderated by WRFA Public Affairs Director Julia Ciesla-Hanley.

The discussion was broadcast live on WRFA radio, with video streaming available on the WRFA Youtube Channel – www.Youtube.com/WRFALP.

Funding for the Community Conversation is made available by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s American Rescue Plan Act stabilization grant fund.

Around 20 people attended the hearing that started off with a presentation by County Mental Hygiene Grants Director Steve Kilburn. Kilburn said the three high risk populations when it comes to marijuana use including youth, those vulnerable to mental illness, and those who are at risk for, or currently have a substance use problem.

Several of the residents who voiced support for not opting out cited how access to marijuana may help reduce opioid use including resident Jaron Pollino who said recent studies support this, “And if we were to look at those, they would reflect that there is a direct correlation in between using marijuana and being able to get off of this stuff permanently without having to use suboxone or whatever else you might be addicted to long term. So this would be one of the biggest things to help combat our number one problem in this county.”

Others in support cited the financial benefit to the village including resident Emily Garrick, “You’ve already multiple times during this meeting expressed some anxiety about the budget and I think that this is an extremely lucrative taxable industry that could be beneficial to the village. And I also think that by opting out you would be actively driving business away from the village, not just for potential dispensaries but for other village businesses.”

Several members did request the board provide information on potential revenues the village may realize if the sale of cannabis was allowed in Lakewood.

Resident Jim Larson‘s opinion was shared by several voicing support for opting out of allowing cannabis dispensaries, “I don’t want to see increased criminal activity and I don’t want to promote more drugs to young kids so I’m against it completely.”

Resident Dorothy Larson concurred with her husband, “Number one, I don’t find many good things about having it. We don’t need to make money off of it in Lakewood. We’re doing just fine where we are. And I haven’t heard enough positives things to bring it here.”

The Village Board took no action on the issue and will hold another public hearing on whether to allow cannabis dispensaries and consumption locations at 6:45pm, Monday, August 23rd.

County Mental Hygiene Grant Director Steve Kilburn said this year’s conference will explore the theme “The Art of Hope and Healing,” “By which we are highlighting the ways in which creativity of all sorts, art and other creative expressions, can be a means of help for people in recovering from mental health or addiction issues a kind of safe care for those providing services or supports to those sorts of people.”

Prevention Works Executive Director Melanie Witkowski said there will be a section of “FRED” Talks which will feature eight different speakers talking about art, “So we have somebody that is actually a PhD student from a rock background that is actually going to be one of the FRED talks from London and we have someone coming to talk about Seat to Supper and then we have someone who is talking about how they use rap in poetry to cope. So we have all these different strengths that people have that they utilize to cope throughout this pandemic as well as substances.”

The Hope and Healing Conference is free and people can register to attend at hopeandhealingconference.com

The annual Hope & Healing Conference takes place June 10th. WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley talks to County Mental Hygiene‘s Steve Kilburn and Prevention Works Executive Director Melanie Witkowski about this year’s virtual conference.

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley talked to County Mental Hygiene‘s Steve Kilburn and Evergreen Health‘s Ian Eastman about how drug overdose deaths are up significantly for 2021.

Kilburn said when it comes to fentanyl the illicit drug supply in the county is deadlier than ever.

Evergreen Health Exchange Coordinator Ian Eastman said fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are 50 to 100 times more powerful than heroin, “When a person has more of an opioid in their system than their system can tolerate, it’s going to shut off the breathing, right, it’s going to retard that breathing and create that emergency situation.”

Eastman said having Narcan available can help prevent fatal overdoses, “It’s probably easier than ever to get Narcan. Some of the ways that you can do is that you can access that by going to my program at Evergreen Health. We’re located at 320 Prather Avenue. We’re there 10 to 4. We can train a person in how to use Narcan and prevent an overdose. It only takes ten minutes to learn how to do that.”

Kilburn said what needs to happen now is increasing the availability of Narcan as well as proven harm reduction programs like the Mental Health Association‘s OD Map Peer Response project, “This project is one in which when the MHA are made aware of an overdose, they make an attempt to reach out to the individual and their family, offer resources support. You might imagine that the receptivity to that varies from perhaps from ‘No thank you’ to ‘What’s out there, what can I do?'”

Kilburn said a full range of local resources can be found online at CombatAddictionCHQ.com.

“Projects like this move our hospital forward and fulfill our mission to deliver world-class care right here in Jamestown,” said Brian Durniok, interim president, UPMC Chautauqua. “This $20 million project features an improved design, additional space, more privacy and modern amenities for patients and visitors.”

The new 42,000 square-foot expansion includes:

• Four labor and delivery suites and three triage rooms;
• 12 postpartum private rooms where patients will be able to heal;
• 10 inpatient adolescent mental health beds; and,
• 20 inpatient adult mental health beds.

The expansion project was made possible by a $26.4 million state grant, part of a $1.5 billion commitment made by the state in 2016 to assist health care providers fund capital improvements and further develop health systems.

Others who offered remarks at the ceremony included County Executive George Borrello; Betsy Wright, former UPMC Chautauqua president; Peter Stark, WCA Foundation board chair; and Steve Kilburn, UPMC Chautauqua board president.

Additionally, unveiled for the first time was a baby mural wall with more than 700 baby photos submitted by former patients. “Community is a very important part of what we do here. That is why we asked our friends, our patients, to help us share some thoughts and memories that we could feature in our new units,” said Durniok. In the mental health unit, an inspirational word art display includes about 100 submissions from the community.

“We’re grateful because expansion projects like this enable our medical staff to practice in a hospital with a very rich tradition of excellent local leadership and compassionate care that also is part of a nationally ranked academic medical center, strong hospital network and one of the largest provider-led integrated health care delivery and finance systems in the country,” said Durniok.

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JAMESTOWN -The $20 million UPMC Chautauqua WCA expansion project reached another milestone Thursday when the final structural steel beam was put in place.

UPMC Chautauqua WCA officials and community leaders gather to sign the final steel beam that was put in place on April 12, 2018 as part of the hospital’s expansion effort. (Image from WCA)

Dozens of hospital employees and local officials gathered for the ceremony, which featured iron workers placing a final steel beam atop the future site of the Women’s and Maternity Care Center and Adolescent and Adult Mental Health Inpatient Units.

WCA president Betsy Wright said the new programs are fundamental to the health and safety of the region.

“UPMC Chautauqua WCA has been and will continue to be, the main source of health care for a large percentage of area residents,” Wright said. “Maintaining our hospital as a key provider in this region is critical.  The major goal of the construction project is to consolidate and enhance our current obstetrics and prenatal delivery system and bring inpatient mental health services from Jones Memorial Health Center to the Foote Avenue campus.”

The multi-million-dollar construction project began in mid-September of 2017, commencing with demolition of the existing ambulance building and verification of existing structural features for steel fabrication. Concrete foundations progressed through winter and finished on-time to allow setting of structural steel.

Funds for the project were made possible from New York State through The Essential Health Care Provider Support Program. With the integration of WCA Hospital in 2016 into the UPMC network, UPMC relieved the hospital of its debt, covered its pension obligations, and freed up significant additional monies for future developments.

The two-story WCA addition is located above the hospital’s emergency department. Once completed, the hospital will relocate labor and delivery, post-partum, nursery and an operating room to the new third floor space, while the fourth floor space will house inpatient psychiatric care, including a 10-bed adolescent unit and a 20-bed unit for adults. (Image by WRFA)

In addition, UPMC committed $25 million in capital improvements and more recently, $30 million in information systems.

Steve Kilburn, chair UPMC Chautauqua WCA Board of Directors, said the new building project will serve the growing needs of the community for years to come.

“Today marks yet another milestone in our hospital’s ongoing commitment to provide world-class health care to our region,” Kilburn said. “A state-of-the-art Women’s and Maternity Care Center will serve growing families in our community for years to come. This hospital also remains committed to providing a full-range of behavioral health services, including brand-new inpatient mental health units.  With these and other advances at UPMC Chautauqua WCA, our local health care system grows stronger, our families and communities become healthier, and our hospital’s investment in our local economy becomes even greater.”

The 42,000 square-foot expansion will meet the growing health care needs and feature:

• 4 labor and delivery suites
• 12 post-partum private rooms where patients will be able to heal
• 10 inpatient adolescent mental health rooms
• 20 inpatient adult mental health rooms, including a spacious waiting area,

The expansion will feature the design, space, privacy, and modern amenities our community residents need and deserve.

Image by WRFA

“We are excited for UPMC Chautauqua WCA, Betsy, her leadership team, and hospital staff in their assurance to continue to serve this community with world-class care,” said UPMC VP and CFO of Community Services Division Edward Karlovich. “When UPMC welcomes a new hospital into its network, as we did Chautauqua WCA in 2016, we are as committed to its local communities as the hospital is committed to providing and preserving local health care. This is at the heart of what we do. Together, we advance health care and innovation now and into the future.  We are proud to be a part of this special day and the world-class expansion project that will meet the local needs as outlined today.”

Event attendees included city officials and representatives from Congressman Tom Reed’s office and New York State Senator Cathy Young’s office.

The construction project is slated to open in the summer of 2019.

At 12:30 p.m. the hospital will hold a Beam-signing and topping off ceremony to mark the completion of assembling the structural steel for the hospital’s new Women’s and Maternity Care Center and inpatient adolescent and adult mental health units.

The $26 million expansion project was announced near the end of 2016 after WCA merged with UPMC –  Pennsylvania’s largest health system. Clark Patterson Lee handled the project design and LeChase Construction is the lead contractor.

Among those who will be on hand for the occasion are UPMC Chautauqua WCA president Betsy Wright, WCA Board Chair Steve Kilburn, WCA Foundation chair Peter Stark, and State assemblyman Andy Goodell – among others.

The two-story addition is located above the hospital’s emergency department. Once completed, the hospital will relocate labor and delivery, post-partum, nursery and an operating room to the new third floor space, while the fourth floor space will house inpatient psychiatric care, including a 10-bed adolescent unit and a 20-bed unit for adults.

Funding for the project comes from a $26.4 million grant awarded in March by DOH to support sustainability efforts and infrastructure improvements.

Thursday’s event is several months in the making and follows the special ground breaking event for the project that took place in May 2017.

WCA Board Chair Steve Kilburn announces an affiliate agreement between WCA and UPMC during a special event Thursday, Dec. 17 at WCA Hospital in Jamestown, NY.

JAMESTOWN, NY – WCA Hospital will join the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), becoming the first New York hospital to join the $12 billion Pennsylvania health system.

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The announcement came Thursday afternoon from both WCA and UPMC representatives during an event at the hospital. WCA board chairman Steve Kilburn called it a big win for the community.

“Today is a very exciting big day, and a big win for WCA and for our whole community, Jamestown and Chautauqua County,” Kilburn said. “We have announced today that WCA hospital has entered into an affiliation agreement that will fully integrate WCA Hospital within the UPMC network, which is a world-class healthcare system.”

The new affiliation agreement announced on Thursday builds on a relationship that began in 2012 with UPMC when a partial affiliation agreement was reached. And while the officials from either UPMC or WCA chose to refer to Thursday’s announcement as an affiliation agreement rather than a merger, the deal moves in that direction.

UPMC will invest at least $25 million over the next 10 years to support recruitment and retention of physicians, as well as upgrades to facilities, programs and infrastructure, including information technology and electronic medical records capabilities. It has also agreed to relieve WCA’s debt and cover its pension obligations, freeing up significant additional monies for WCA development.

Kilburn said that there isn’t expected to be any immediate changes regarding hospital staff or administration, although there could be a change in the name of the facility.

“As a result of this integration, which are looking forward to finalizing in the second half of 2016, the name of this facility will become ‘UPMC Chautauqua at WCA,'” Kilburn said.

WCA Struggling Financially in Recent Years

According to Buffalo’s Business First news journal, WCA have struggled to meet state and federal reform obligations. WCA ended 2014 with a small surplus on revenue of $93 million, down slightly from $96 million the prior year, a year that also included a $1 million deficit. The hospital’s net assets dropped from $23 million to $8 million. The affiliation with UPMC is expected to help stabilize finances at WCA and eventually help to expand healthcare services at the local level.

UPMC Senior Vice President Leslie Davis said that UPMC has helped to transform other affiliate hospitals, with 18 different hospitals now being part of the UPMC network.

“UPMC really is a combination of 18 mergers and each one is fairly different. We’re very respectful of the community we work with. We’re respectful of the board and understanding that each geography is somewhat different,” Davis told WRFA following the announcement.

Hospital officials say that the state must first review and approve the affiliation agreement before it is finalized, which could take place by late spring or early summer.