NEWS

UPMC Physician: Make an Informed Decision for Organ Donation
By: Swaytha Ganesh, M.D.
Medical Director, UPMC Living Donor Program

Deciding to become an organ donor is important, and it’s worth considering more often than when you renew your license at the DMV.

Every nine minutes, someone in the United States joins the national organ transplant waiting list. Every day, 17 people on that list die waiting for an organ because there are not enough donors. Every person who says yes to organ donation gives hope to the tens of thousands of people waiting for organ, eye, and tissue donations.

Two Routes to Organ Donation

There are two ways you can give the gift of life through organ donation:

• Living Donation: A living person can donate a kidney or a portion of their liver. Living donor transplant offers an alternative for people on the transplant waiting list and increases the number of organs available, saving more lives. The living donation process begins with an assessment at an accredited transplant center to determine eligibility. Next is the matching process. Living organ donors often have a beneficiary in mind when they undergo the suitability check. Others simply desire to save a person’s life, even if they don’t know the recipient personally.
• Deceased Donation: This simply means that you authorize medical professionals — at the time of your death — to assess your eligibility to transplant your healthy organs or tissues to someone in need. Registering to be a deceased organ donor doesn’t guarantee that you will save someone else’s life, but it does make that possible in the right circumstances. If you choose to be a deceased organ donor, you may be able to donate your heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas, intestines, or lungs. You also can donate tissues, such as your corneas, heart valves, ligaments, veins, and bone.

There are over 106,000 Americans currently awaiting transplants, and many have been seeking a donor for years. Choosing organ donation, either living or deceased, has the potential to take recipients off the waiting list and give them another chance at life.

Consider the Facts

Cherry Springs State Park is hosting a Partial Solar Eclipse Party on the afternoon of Monday, April 8^th to view the partial solar eclipse.

If you want to enjoy the eclipse, but don’t want to drive into the path of totality, stop by the park instead to view the partial eclipse! We’re celebrating, observing, and admiring the eclipse from 2 PM – 4:30 PM on Monday, April 8.

The peak of the eclipse will occur around 3:20 PM. In this free, family-friendly event we’ll be doing all kinds of activities. If crowd-sizes permit, we’ll look through our specially filtered solar telescopes directly at stages of the eclipse itself. We’ll even have eclipse glasses available while supplies last.

The Lumber Heritage Region (LHR) announces the winners of their 2024 Mini-Grant Program distributing at least $25,000 in 2024 Mini-Grant Funds.

The Lumber Heritage Region (LHR) is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2024-2025 Mini-Grant Program.  In addition to at least $25,000 to be distributed in 2024 Mini Grant Funds by the Lumber Heritage Region, these grant projects will leverage more than $63,000 in local spending to build communities and improve life for residents and visitors. 

The mini grant program is possible through the funding provided by DCNR’s partnership grant. The LHR was able to fund ten of the seventeen organizations that applied for the grant. “We are ecstatic about the number of great projects that were presented in this round of grants. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t support all of them” says Executive Director Holly Komonczi. 

Since 2001, the LHR has leveraged more than 3 million dollars in projects in the Lumber Heritage Region. It is the mission of the organization to support communities and preserve the forest products industries by making tools and assets available to visitors and residents of the fifteen-county region. 

To get involved or donate to one of the many projects in the region email info@lumberheritage.org or log on to the LHR’s website at www.lumberheritage.org

Recipients include:

•    Austin Dam Memorial Association – Potter County – $800 for Kindling Factory Interpretive Panels

•    Castanea Township Recreation Committee – Clinton County – $1,000 for Chestnut Tree and its History in Castanea Interpretative Sign

•    Clinton County Government – Clinton County – $4,000 for Bald Eagle Valley Trail Way-Finding Historical Signs

• Dubois Area Historical Society – Clearfield County – $1000 for Sidney Fuller, Lumberman – Historic Educational Panel

• McKean County Historical Society – McKean County – $5,000 For Phase III Fire Tower Restoration

• McKean County Government – McKean County – $3,000 for Route 6 Timber Treasurers: Showcasing McKean County’s Lumber Heritage with Welcome Signs

• Muncy Heritage Park – Lycoming County – $2,000 for ADA Picnic Table Project

• Redbank Valley Trails Association – Clarion County – $640.50 for Andrews Lumber Co. Historic Panel

• Tricounty Rails to Trails Association – Elk County – $3,373.50 for Clarion Little Toby Recognition Through Signs

• Wilds Sonshine Factory: PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship – McKean County – $5,000 for Historic Educational Displays of Refurbished Sheffield Log at Wilds Sonshine Factory

Knoxville-Deerfield Vol. Fire Company

MSG: DISPATCHED: 03/26/24 21:49:50

MVAI : MVA WITH INJURIES

118 E MAIN ST, Apt , KNOXVILLE

Dept 6,5,25,26, Wellsboro UPMC medics dispatched for a motor vehicle accident reported two vehicles, one rollover. It was reported a vehicle struck a parked car and rolled over. Rescue 6-8, Chief 6-20 responded and arrived on scene reporting one vehicle on its roof.

Command reported 1 ALS patient. Engine 6-2 and Chief 6-30 responded and pulled in on the west side of the incident creating a safe zone for responders to work. Command put a helicopter on standby. Squad 5-18 arrived on the scene and assisted with patient care. Engine 5-3 arrived on the scene and was staged at the intersection to be ready to go to the LZ.

Chief 5-10 provided an update to the responding medic and it was called for the helicopter to go airborne. Command set the LZ at the airstrip in Knoxville and Engine 5-3 was Landing Zone Officer. Ambulances 26-6 and 26-7 responded as well as micu 4 from Wellsboro. After some time the helicopter aborted due to weather. The ambulance went en route to the hospital.

Fire units remained on scene for a brief time until the vehicle was removed and all units went back into service. Truly amazing TEAM work by all agencies, Dept 6,5,26, UPMC medic, TC 911, PSP, and Whites Towing

As always our thoughts and prayers go out to the patient for a speedy recovery

Please slow down when seeing emergency personnel at the scene of an emergency

Belmont, New York – At the Allegany County Ways & Means Committee meeting this afternoon, County Treasurer Terri Ross announced that the tax foreclosure auction that was scheduled to run from April 22, 2024, through May 6, 2026, has been postponed until further notice.

County Treasurer Ross stated, “In light of the current negotiations at the state level on new procedures and policies for the collection of delinquent taxes and eventually foreclosure, it was determined, in consultation with our outside and internal counsel and County Administrator, that in the best interest of the County, we would postpone our property auction sales until a later date.  We do not believe that the procedures/process will be developed for the distribution of any surplus from the auction.  We will wait until the state adopts legislation.  Waiting for the law changes to be adopted at the state level will give us the guidance that we need to meet the adopted requirements.”

Brennan Donovan is the engineering student of the week at Seneca Highlands CTC.  Brennan is a senior from Smethport Area High School.  He has been a top student academically for the past three years in the engineering program.  Brennan is a successful program completer, recently scoring the highest yet for our school on the written portion of the NOCTI exam.  This qualified him as advanced on the NOCTI.  Brennan also works at McKeirnan’s Bus Garage, performing light maintenance and custodial tasks for them.

After a fall season that included a first-place finish in the United East Fall Preview, Pennsylvania College of Technology golf coach Rob Lytle looks to use five spring outings to sharpen his team as it seeks to defend its regular-season-ending United East Championship and earn a second-straight trip to the NCAA Division III Championship.

The Wildcats open their season on Friday and Saturday in the Pennsylvania Classic, hosted by Penn State Altoona on the Penn State White and Blue courses.

“Spring practice has gone well so far. We have been fortunate to have some good spring weather to get on the course and be outside. The team has been working hard on all aspects of their games to prepare for the season,” Lytle said, entering his second full season.

How many times do we encounter hearing-impaired people and wish that we could communicate with them? As we age, we gradually lose some of our hearing. Sign language can help. Also, mothers of pre-lingual children can use sign language as a tool with their little ones. Here is your opportunity to learn basic sign language that could help you communicate with someone you care about.

On March 8, 2024, North East Mayor Bobbi Jo Morey swore in the North East Police Department’s first full-time female police officer.

The addition of Ptlm. Abbey Woodard completes the full-time complement of eight sworn police officers for the department.

Woodard is originally from Smethport, Pa. and is a graduate of Mansfield University. She then graduated from the Mercyhurst Municipal Police Training Academy in December 2023 and began her law enforcement career with the Conneaut Lake Regional Police Department before joining the ranks at the NEPD.

Article from North East News Journal.