Esteemed Reader
Living in the Long Now
Publisher Jason Stern questions people's capability to look beyond themselves, long after they've died or within the scope of the world.
By Jason Stern
Aug 1, 2020
Tags: Esteemed Reader jason stern
Museums
Hudson Valley museums adapted to life under lockdown by going digital, now they are slowly reopening with abundant safety precautions, reduced capacity, and the lessons of virtual programming under their belts.
By Nikki Donohue
Jul 13, 2020
Tags: Museums mass moca covid-19 coronavirus Web Only
Chronogrammies
A spotlight on Adam Kane, Chronogrammies winner in the Health and Wellness category.
By Anne Pyburn Craig
Jul 1, 2020
Tags: Chronogrammies shaman adam kane
Esteemed Reader
History's Peaks and Troughs
Publisher Jason Stern tries to stay alert and aware as in meditation, during these trying times.
By Jason Stern
Jul 1, 2020
Tags: Esteemed Reader jason stern
The Future Is Now
Three local changemakers explain their ideas for responsive, resilient, hyperlocal wellness.
By Wendy Kagan
Jul 1, 2020
Tags: The Future Is Now
General Wellness
Now that the Hudson Valley has entered the warmer seasons amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some yoga programs and studios have moved their classes from the virtual platform to the outdoors. Here's five programs offering outdoor yoga classes this summer.
By Nikki Donohue
Jun 27, 2020
Tags: General Wellness yoga outdoor yoga social distancing Hudson Valley
Visual Art
Amy Wu, Award-Winning Journalist and Filmmaker, Documents Her Neighbors During the Pandemic
Award-winning journalist and filmmaker and Rhinebeck resident Amy Wu has been interviewing one neighbor a day during the pandemic and taking their portraits, for a series in collaboration with the Starr Library called "Witness to History."
By Chronogram Staff
Jun 4, 2020
Tags: Visual Art covid-19 portraits amy wu witness to history rhinebeck Web Only
Esteemed Reader
Reconciling the Heaven and the Horror
Publisher Jason Stern struggles with the duality of our circumstances; life and nature springing up while a pandemic is keeping us in.
By Jason Stern
Jun 1, 2020
Tags: Esteemed Reader jason stern
Coronavirus
Two potential treatments for the novel coronavirus are taking root, right in our backyard. Dr. Richard Horowitz of Hyde Park islooking into alternative remedies and Regeneron in Westchester has shifted significant resources into COVID-related projects.
By Wendy Kagan
Jun 1, 2020
Tags: Coronavirus Covid 19 vaccine
Books & Authors
The Conflicting Guidance on Reopening Libraries in NYS
A library is a space for quiet reflection and research, but it also provides a sense of community: a safe space where children and teens can enjoy afternoon programs, a free resource for adults to further their careers, a haven for introverts who enjoy the calm of being among neighbors without the mundane small talk. Though virtual book clubs and celebrity-video story hours have become fun COVID-era trends, deep down we’ve all been looking forward to the glimmer of normalcy that the reopening of libraries will bring with it.
The libraries which are government institutions have received the green light to begin their first phase of reopening, given they have an official safety plan and follow state guidelines. Curbside pickup is encouraged, and those who can open are typically starting there. Grinnell Public Library in Wappingers Falls, for instance, offers contactless pickup as of June 1. “Library patrons can browse the online catalog from home and request items from our collection by phone or email,” explains Executive Director Fran Harrison. Also reopening in June for pickup only: Fishkill’s Blodgett Memorial Library on June 2, the West Hurley Library and Field Library in Peekskill on June 15, and the Woodstock Library is aiming for the week of June 22.
The Hurley Library is going a step further, offering both curbside service as well as a series of socially distant outdoor events on the library lawn starting June 15. “We have a phased approach with opening and will continue offering virtual programming,” says Library Director Kristen Campbell. These online events include Facebook art classes and a virtual Lego club. The outdoor series kicks off with the Bagels and Bios Book Club to discuss Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II by Robert Matzen; attendees are encouraged to bring their own coffee and refreshments.
The Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS), a cooperative system of 66 public libraries, created a status page to show which of the area libraries are opening and when. But many are still listed as “closed until further notice” since there has been a discrepancy in reopening policies according to library designation.
“The state's guidance for libraries is uneven at this time, which is an oversight I'm sure. They only authorized the opening of three of the four types of libraries in New York State, and that fourth type—association libraries—are the predominant type of library in the region,” says MHLS director Rebekkah Smith Aldrich. “We’re actively advocating with the governor's staff to help get the guidance for libraries into alignment so it’s clear that all libraries are authorized to start curbside pickup.”
These confusing guidelines affect cities like Hudson, where the association library provides relied-upon community services like youth programs, job searches, free internet, and other support. For the purposes of reopening, both Greene and Columbia counties are being considered part of the Capitol Region, not the Mid-Hudson Valley. “We are looking to begin offering curbside service as soon as possible, but we have not received guidance from the state as to which phase libraries such as ours will fall under, and when our region will enter the next phase,” says Emily Chameides, director of the Hudson Area Library. “Currently, libraries in the Capital Region are able to open if they are government facilities. Our library, and the majority of libraries in Columbia County, are association libraries and thus not permitted to open. We're not sure when the Capital Region will enter Phase Two, or if association libraries will even be included in that phase—and, if we are, what guidelines will be in place at that time.”
The Millbrook Library is another association library waiting on these restrictions to be lifted; they, too, have planned an initial phase of curbside service but have no clear guidance on when they’ll be allowed to implement it. “Association libraries account for more than half of the libraries in the state, therefore impacting millions of New Yorkers,” says Interim Director Thomas Finnigan. “The uneven guidance currently provided is creating an undesirable situation in which only a handful of libraries in the region are authorized by the state to open, which could result in residents seeking library services to overrun the few libraries that can open.”
...
By Melissa Dempsey
May 30, 2020
Tags: Books & Authors library public library mid hudson library system covid-19 Web Only
General Wellness
Elaine Ewing of Rhinebeck Pilates utilizes some of Joseph Pilates' original equipment that was patented over 60 years ago to teach the authentic Pilates method.
By Abigail Foster
May 28, 2020
Tags: General Wellness Pilates exercise Rhinebeck Web Only
General Wellness
Hudson Valley essential workers share their experiences with COVID-19 as they risk their lives to help others
Some names have been changed to protect the anonymity of individuals.
For Melissa Walsh, a nurse at Orange Regional Medical Center, the worst part of being a health care worker during the COVID-19 pandemic is having to tell hopeful family members that their intubated loved one’s health is declining. “I have to talk to the family members on the phone as they're hysterically crying and give them updates about their loved ones who might not make it,” says Walsh. “It’s the worst feeling ever.”
Currently, over 10,000 people in Orange County have tested positive for the virus and 419 people have died. Orange County has the second highest number of Coronavirus cases in the Hudson Valley, after Westchester.
Walsh, who has spent every shift since February working with COVID-19 patients, is surprised by the virus’s versatility. She has seen some patients come in with the classic signs of a Coronavirus infection like a fever and coughing, while others complain of fatigue and shortness of breath but never experience a fever at all.
Her typical shift is 12 hours long and the number and length of breaks depend on how busy you are, which, as of late has been very. Walsh wears a fitted N-95 mask for the entire shift, which usually rubs the skin on her face raw. “By the time I take that off, I've got indents all over my face and behind my ears get all red and irritated,” she says.
Before Walsh returns home at the end of the day, she changes out of her scrubs. At home, she puts her clothes straight into the wash and hops into the shower. Walsh’s boyfriend, whom she lives with, is to stay away until she’s sanitized everything. “He stays away from me until I throw my clothes in the wash and jump in the shower to scrub my whole body down,” she says.
Despite all of the PPE that Walsh wears, and her rigorous at-home disinfecting regimen, she is still baffled how she hasn’t been infected. “I don't know how I haven't gotten [the virus] already, because I am constantly around it,” she says.
According to NPR, almost 9,300 health care workers in the US have contracted the virus since mid February, a figure that the CDC admits is most likely under counted. Over half of the infected health care workers surveyed believed that they had contracted the virus from work.
Jane Doe, a psychiatric nurse from Poughkeepsie, is one of them.
Doe works at the Four Winds Hospital in Katonah, where she says staff were only provided cloth masks in March due to the nationwide shortage of N-95 masks, but they weren’t required to wear them.
One day, a coworker was complaining of a headache. Doe took his temperature and blood pressure, both of which read as normal. Writing it off as a sinus infection, Doe didn’t realize that her coworker was actually experiencing symptoms of a COVID-19 infection. “I didn’t think he had it, because a sinus infection isn’t a symptom,” she says. The next day, Doe found out her coworker had tested positive for COVID-19.
Despite having had direct contact with this coworker, Doe was asked by her employers to continue coming into work, but to wear a mask in case she was indeed infected. “Literally that night I started spiking a temperature of 101 degrees,” she says. Five days later, she tested positive for the virus.
At the end March, when Doe tested positive, the number of confirmed cases in Westchester County stood at around 10,600. That number is currently 32,517.
For 20 days, Doe experienced a high fever, severe body aches, an inability to taste and smell, and fatigue. Two weeks after the onset of her symptoms, Doe was allowed to return to work at Four Winds provided that she wear a mask. According to Doe, Four Winds now has surgical masks to distribute to their employees.
Despite the severity of her symptoms, Doe admits that her experience with the virus was mild compared to other accounts. “It was like having the flu,” she says.
Newburgh resident Ryan Griffiths was not so lucky.
Griffiths didn’t think much of the headache he developed in mid-March. Figuring it was just a sinus infection, he simply took an Advil and went to work the next day. As an employee of the New York State Bridge Authority, he had delivered hand sanitizer and water to New Rochelle only a few days after the city had become New York’s first containment zone. Shortly after the trip, his headache turned into something more severe.
Griffiths started experiencing textbook COVID-19 symptoms: fever, coughing, chest pain, fatigue, profuse sweating, nausea, and chills. At its peak, Griffiths’ fever reached 104.7 degrees, where it remained for several days. He was barely able to muster the strength to make it out of bed, which he had to do a few times a day so that his bed sheets could be changed due to how much he was sweating. “I can definitely see how people are passing away from this,” Griffiths says. As a high school football official, he keeps himself in good shape and has no preexisting health conditions. “I don't smoke, I hardly drink, I work out, but [the virus] just kicked my butt.”
Griffiths had to wait four days to get tested. After a week,, the results came back as positive, and Griffiths became the 127th person in Orange County to contract the novel Coronavirus.
Staying in bed for weeks on end, only able to keep down liquids, Griffiths subsisted on a mix of Gatorade, Pedialyte, and chicken soup. He says that he lost approximately 20 pounds in under three weeks during his fight against the virus. He can’t remember large chunks of the ordeal. “When you lose three or four days of your life and you don't know where they went, that's pretty bad,” Griffiths says.
On April 13, the New York State Board of Health informed Griffiths that he was cleared to go back to work based on the number of days that had passed since he first started showing symptoms, nearly a month after he tested positive for COVID-19. “Even after they said I was cleared, it felt like someone was pushing on my chest,” says Griffiths.
Although he is most likely no longer contagious, Griffiths is using utmost caution when he leaves the house for work, wearing a mask and gloves and maintaining social distancing. “Now I’m a clean freak,” he says. “If I could tell people anything, it would be to clean your mail, the door handles, your remote. Anything you touch, you have to clean.”
Walsh also has a message for others: just stay home. “I've had people that have no previous medical conditions whatsoever in the ICU, intubated,” she says. “It’s just not worth it.”
Both Griffiths and Doe plan on donating blood, since their plasma now carries the virus antibodies that could save someone else’s life. “I’d like to help somebody out if I can,” Griffiths says.
...
By Abigail Foster
May 21, 2020
Tags: General Wellness coronavirus COVID-19 essential worker healthcare worker New York
General Wellness
A Conversation with Martin Butcher of Jacobowitz & Gubits
Attorney Martin Butcher talks about the difficulties the coronavirus pandemic is posing for people going through a divorce, or those co-parenting with a former partner or spouse during this unprecedented crisis.
By Jacobowitz & Gubits
May 16, 2020
Tags: General Wellness co-parenting coronavirus divorce courts Web Only Sponsored Content
Coronavirus
While the Hudson Valley would normally be ramping up to receive the annual rush of summer visitors, the tourism industry is at a total standstill under COVID-19 restrictions. We check in with area venues, hoteliers, and other tourism businesses to understand the current state of affairs.
By Abigail Foster
May 13, 2020
Tags: Coronavirus covid-19 tourism industry tourism Web Only
Esteemed Reader
Publisher Jason Stern looks at the definitions of 'quarantine' and compares their meaning to our current situation.
By Jason Stern
May 1, 2020
Tags: Esteemed Reader jason stern
Coronavirus
Pregnant women are experiencing unexpected challenges as the coronavirus hits the healthcare system.
By Nadine Cafaro
May 1, 2020
Tags: Coronavirus pregnancy birth
Coronavirus
Rabbi Neal Loevinger, director of spiritual care at Vassar Brothers Medical Center, talks ministering under COVID.
By Erica Ruggiero
May 1, 2020
Tags: Coronavirus Rabbi Neal Loevinger
General News & Politics
Demand for Food Assistance Programs Continues to Rise as COVID-19 Tightens its Stronghold on America
Food banks across the country are experiencing an unprecedented surge in those seeking food assistance amid the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis. With a skyrocketing demand for food assistance, food banks operating with limited staff, budget, and resources have had to scramble to continue to serve their communities.
By Annemarie Durkin
Apr 24, 2020
Tags: General News & Politics COVID-19 coronavirus food banks food pantry food assistance hunger relief Web Only
General Wellness
With folks stranded at home unable to safely socialize, pets are doing double duty comforting their human companions and simulating some sense of normalcy. Pet owners in the Hudson Valley (and around the world) are convening online to share adorable photos of their furry friends, bond, and mutually uplift each other in this difficult time.
By Karen Angel
Apr 23, 2020
Tags: General Wellness covid-19 animal therapy pet therapy pets pet forum coronavirus Web Only
Esteemed Reader
Publisher Jason Stern talks about the ever-changing roles we play in life and as the seasons shift bringing with them new possibilities, so will the current health crisis we face.
By Jason Stern
Apr 1, 2020
Tags: Esteemed Reader jason stern
