The Peru Gazette

Source: Six UVM students test positive for COVID-19

Source: Plattsburgh restaurant rescues neighboring eatery with ‘kitchen takeover’

Posted November 4, 2020. Does not include absentee ballots.

Click here for results. 

Source: City & State Coronavirus Update

Colorado
Fighting Wildfires: On Nov. 3, DEC welcomed back the State’s fourth team of volunteer wildland firefighters from the Divisions of Forest Protection, Lands and Forests, and Fish and Wildlife that were deployed to help battle and contain wildfires raging in western states. The crew flew to Denver, Colorado, on Oct. 17 for deployment from the Rocky Mountain Coordination Center and were initially assigned to the Cameron Peak fire for nighttime operations, patrol, and structure defense. Their second assignment was at the East Troublesome fire for daytime operations. The crew was reassigned to Cameron Peak due to sub-freezing temperatures and heavy snow. The returning crew includes a DEC Forest Ranger crew boss and nine firefighters:

• Scott Jackson, Forest Ranger, Crew Boss, Oswego County
• Mark Brand, Forest Ranger, Ulster County
• James Canevari, DEC Division of Fish and Wildlife, St. Lawrence County
• Aaron Graves, DEC Division of Lands and Forest, St. Lawrence County
• Tyler Kulikowski – DEC Division of Lands and Forest, Steuben County
• Kramer Kwaczala – DEC Division of Lands and Forest, Albany County
• Gary Miller, Forest Ranger, Hamilton County
• Tyler Mitchell, Forest Ranger, Schenectady County
• Joseph Nelson – DEC Division of Fish and Wildlife, Otsego County
• Arthur Perryman, Forest Ranger, Warren County

Commissioner Seggos (right) welcomed back the latest firefighting crew upon their return on Nov. 3

Wildland firefighting techniques used in Colorado over the last two weeks

Be sure to properly prepare and plan before entering the backcountry. Visit DEC’s Hike Smart NY and Adirondack Backcountry Information webpage for more information.

Town of Johnsburg
Warren County
Wilderness Rescue: On Oct. 26 at 9:37 a.m., Warren County 911 transferred a call to DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch reporting an injured hunter on a ski trail near Gore Mountain in North Creek. Further information indicated the injury was a broken leg due to entrapment under a boulder. Forest Rangers Kabrehl, Donegan, and Quinn responded to assist. At 11:06 a.m., Rangers Quinn and Donegan reached the injured man, removed him from the boulder entrapment, and performed advanced wilderness first aid to a badly damaged leg with severe lacerations and a compound fracture. Forest Rangers and members of the North River Fire Department carried the 31-year-old hunter from Hudson Falls off the ledge in a litter to a location with ATV access. The hunter was transported to a local hospital for further medical treatment.

Town of Fine
St. Lawrence County
Wilderness Search: On Oct. 29 at 5:32 p.m., DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a hunter reporting an overdue member of his party. The caller stated that a 24-year-old man from Brooktondale left to hunt at 9 a.m., and should have been back at their campsite by 11 a.m. Forest Rangers Benzel, Shea, Morehouse, Hogan, and Baldwin responded to the High Falls trailhead in Wanakena with two, six-wheel ATVs to search the area. At 8:20 p.m., Ranger Benzel advised dispatch that Ranger Shea had located the hunter and brought him to the group’s campsite.

Town of Bolton
Warren County
Wilderness Rescue: On Oct. 31 at 1:28 p.m., Warren County 911 transferred a call to DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch requesting Forest Ranger assistance with an ill hiker on the trail in North West Bay on Lake George. The caller advised that a 27-year-old woman from Katonah was conscious, but not responsive. Forest Ranger Donegan responded, along with members of the Bolton Fire Department and EMS squad using their fire boat from Green Island. The hiker was located at 2:15 p.m., and carried onto the fire boat by Forest Rangers, members of the Lake George Park Commission, and Bolton Fire and EMS. On the boat, the subject was transported to the landing zone to be airlifted to a local hospital by New York State Police Aviation. The incident concluded at 4:15 p.m.

Town of Wells
Hamilton County
Wilderness Search: On Oct. 31 at 11:57 p.m., New York State Police (NYSP) contacted DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch requesting Forest Ranger assistance with two overdue hikers from Johnstown. State Police were able to ping one of the hunters’ cellphones, which showed their location on West River Road. Forest Ranger Thompson responded to the location to assist, and at 6:56 a.m., advised that the hunters had been found and were being walked out of the woods. The hunters reported they had run out of daylight and decided to build a fire one-third of a mile from their vehicle. The pair declined medical treatment and were reunited with their families at 8 a.m.

During the week of October 25, the UVM Health Network experienced a confirmed cyberattack affecting some of our systems. While we have well-practiced standby procedures in place to continue providing safe care, the attack has caused variable impacts on services at our affiliate organizations. Please see the status updates below for information on how you may be impacted.

Quick action was taken to protect patient information, following emergency procedures. We are working with state and federal law enforcement to determine the full scope of this attack. If any personal information has been compromised, we will notify those impacted and follow established protocols.

Updated November 4th at 1:30 p.m.

UVM Medical Center – Burlington, VT

The University of Vermont Medical Center is experiencing outages across a number of systems. Impact on patients is as follows:

• Our urgent and emergency care locations are open and we encourage you to seek the care you need.
• If you need to schedule a non-urgent appointment or contact us about a non-urgent matter, we ask that you wait until this situation is resolved.

Surgeries & Procedures

• We are open for emergency care. This includes traumas that come in through the Emergency Department, as well as traumas from the region.
• We are open for other types of emergency care, such as strokes, heart attacks, and for other seriously ill adults and children.
• We are also open for other emergency surgeries on a case-by-case basis.
• Some non-urgent elective procedures have been rescheduled and affected patients have been notified.
• All patients coming in for endoscopies should bring with them a current list of medications and their pre- procedure packet to their appointment.

Outpatient (Ambulatory) Visits

• Beginning tomorrow, we will be unable to access appointment schedules and some or all patient information. If you have an appointment, please bring your medication list (or bottles), any prior after visit summary you may have from a previous appointment or a discharge summary if recently discharged from the hospital.
• Patients scheduled for the following tests should call 802-847-2864 before coming in:
  • Exercise induced bronchospasm
  • Cardiopulmonary stress test
  • Methacholine challenge

Cardiology 

• Cardiology testing appointments scheduled for November 5, 6, and 9, 2020 for Echocardiograms and Nuclear Stress Tests have been canceled.
• Appointments for Exercise Tolerance Test and Cardiac Implanted Device checks are being performed. Please call 802-847-4600 to confirm your appointments.

Oncology (Hematology Oncology, Radiation Oncology & Surgical Oncology)

• Patients coming in for cancer care should call first to confirm their appointments.

Infusion

• Shepherdson 4 Infusion: Patients please call 802-318-7527 before coming in for your appointment.

Laboratory

• Outpatient lab sites will be closed beginning November 4. Our main campus site will remain open for urgent/emergent blood draws only and you must have paper orders with you. Hours are 7am – 6pm.
• All results will be delayed.
• Urgent lab results will be communicated by phone to the ordering provider who will contact you directly.
• Positive COVID-19 test results will be communicated by phone to the ordering provider who will contact you directly. Negative results will be faxed to the ordering provider. If you need results urgently, please request that your provider call the lab customer service phone line.

Interventional Pain

• We are not currently able to do interventional pain procedures in the Interventional Pain Clinic at 62 Tilley Drive. Starting 11/5, we do not have schedules to notify patients that they should not come in for their procedures. Patients should call the clinic at 802-847-3737 with questions.

Radiology

• Breast Imaging: On Thursday, Nov. 5, breast imaging will be open on a limited basis for preventative screening mammography (all locations) and screening breast ultrasound exams (UHC/1 South Prospect ONLY). If you are scheduled for either of these exams, come to your appointment at the site scheduled. Delays are to be expected. If you are scheduled for any other breast imaging exam, please do not come in at this time unless you were contacted directly. For questions, call 802-847-3443 or 802-847-6625.
• Other Outpatient Radiology: Scans are postponed. If you are scheduled for an appointment we may not be able to access your contact information to reach you. Please do not come in. We will be in touch soon to reschedule.

Sleep Program

• We are cancelling all sleep studies at this time.

Pharmacy

• Retail, Specialty, Mail Order and Home Infusion Pharmacies are operational and offering all services.

MyChart

• There is no access to our MyChart patient portal.

Visit the UVM Medical Center Site

Central Vermont Medical Center – Berlin, VT

Central Vermont Medical Center services remain available. Patients visiting practices and clinics should expect slightly longer wait times.

• If you have an appointment at a CVMC practice, please call the practice 24 hours in advance to confirm. This request is for all appointments starting on Thursday November 5 until further notice. To keep call volume steady and manageable, please wait until 24 hours before your appointment begins. For security purposes, we are unable to receive email at this time, so please be sure to call.
• Click here for a list of CVMC practices and phone numbers.
• There is no need to call to confirm hospital services such as surgeries, blood draw, lab and imaging, which are all unaffected by the cyberattack.

Laboratory

• If possible, please bring a written copy of your lab or imaging orders with you to our lab and diagnostic imaging departments. You will receive the written order at your clinic visit.

MyChart Patient Portal

• Access to the MyChart Patient Portal is not currently available. Please note that automated text reminders will not be sent in advance of appointments.

Visit the Central Vermont Medical Center Site

Porter Medical Center – Middlebury, VT

Porter Medical Center services remain available. Patients visiting practices and clinics should expect slightly longer wait times.

• Our urgent and emergency care locations are open, and we encourage you to seek the care you need. No access to past patient records.
• If you have an appointment at one of our practices, please call 24 hours in advance of your appointment. To keep call volume steady and manageable, please wait until 24 hours before your appointment begins. For security purposes, email is limited at this time, so please be sure to call.
• If you have any questions about your appointment, view our list of practice locations and phone numbers.

Laboratory

• Please call your providers office before going to the Lab.

MyChart Patient Portal

• Access to the MyChart Patient Portal is not currently available.
• Please note that automated text reminders will not be sent in advance of appointments.

Visit the Porter Medical Center Site

Home Health & Hospice – Colchester, VT

We are maintaining all in-home patient care services and all services at McClure Miller Respite House. Electronic communication with the UVM Medical Center has been disrupted by the outage and we are coordinating closely with the UVM Health Network to address this issue. Added safeguards have been put in place to protect our systems from external threats. This will not change patients’ experience or how we deliver their care, and we have not experienced any impacts to patient care services.

Visit the Home Health & Hospice Site

Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital – Plattsburgh, NY

Our major systems are operational and all of our patient care services are available. Our physician offices are relying on computer downtime procedures – using paper methods to communicate and care for patients. This may result in slight delays.

Safeguard measures have been put in place by our IT Department to protect our systems from external threats. These measures do not affect our patients’ experience. Our focus remains on providing the care our community needs while supporting our affiliate partner, the University of Vermont Medical Center.

Visit the Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Site

Alice Hyde Medical Center – Malone, NY

Our major systems are operational and all of our patient care services are available. Please note that our Hospital Patient Portal is down, so you will not be able to access this platform until further notice. Our Physician Practice Patient Portal remains accessible.

Electronic communication with the UVM Medical Center has been disrupted by the outage and we are coordinating closely with the UVM Health Network to address this issue. Added safeguards have been put in place to protect our systems from external threats. This will not change patients’ experience or how we deliver care. We have not experienced any impacts to patient care services.

Visit the Alice Hyde Medical Center Site

Elizabethtown Community Hospital – Elizabethtown, NY

Our major systems are operational and all of our patient care services are available. Electronic communication with the UVM Medical Center has been disrupted by the outage and we are coordinating closely with the UVM Health Network to address this issue. Added safeguards have been put in place to protect our systems from external threats. This will not change patients’ experience or how we deliver care. We have not experienced any impacts to patient care services.

Visit the Elizabethtown Community Hospital Site

2,029 voters cast ballots at St. Augustine’ Parish Center today, November 3, 2020. 

Here are the totals: 

President of the United States

Donald Trump – 1,258 

Joseph Biden – 719 

U.S. Congress 

Elise Stefanik – 1,340 

Tedra Cobb – 673 

NYS Senate 

Daniel Stec – 1,283 

Kimberly Davis – 686 

NYS Assembly 

Billy Jones (Unopposed) – 1,386 

The above totals DO NOT include 646 Peru voters who Voted Early and 669 voters who cast an absentee ballot. 

Source: COVID-19 updates: St. Michael’s College outbreak grows to 65 cases

Source: Election Night Viewer’s Guide: Why You May Need To Be Patient | NCPR News

Source: LIVE BLOG: Election Day 2020 | NCPR News

Almost 16,000 Clinton County voters cast early ballots Source: By the numbers: Cl. Co. early voting, absentee totals | Coronavirus | pressrepublican.com

Click here to view the 2016 story 

Source: More Than 2.5 Million New Yorkers Voted Early

Source: Single foster dad adopts five children on Hamilton County adoption day

Source: St. Regis Mohawk Tribe warns of potential COVID-19 exposure | NCPR News

Source: Don’t Be Confused by Spotted Lanternfly Look-alikes this Fall – – The Adirondack Almanack