SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras and Randi Cosentino, president of USNCC, made the joint announcement.

SUNY’s inaugural class of nearly 130 students will enroll in the Naval Leadership and Ethics course as well as the Introduction to Literature, Introduction to College Writing, and Contemporary Mathematics courses for the spring term at SUNY Empire State College. 

Citing “its experience in military-supportive education,” SUNY Empire State College will provide online course delivery and student-support services, with SUNY Online providing additional coaching and support for USNCC students.

SUNY Empire State College says it serves more than 450 active-duty, guard, and reserve students stationed around the world, and about 600 veterans of all branches of the military. 

“We are very excited to make this announcement,” Cosentino said. “Working with institutions, like SUNY Empire State College, will bring to the members of our maritime-service community programs that are going to be of high value to them and help them achieve their educational goals. The pilot will allow us to collect important data that will inform the development of the USNCC. Working with leading colleges will help us explore outcomes around the design of the program, the processes involved, working relationships and overall impact.”

The concept of USNCC came from a study seeking to identify opportunities to better prepare enlisted service members and to support them throughout their career. Naval leadership directed the USNCC to begin pilot programs to identify the best way to help enlisted naval service members access “naval-relevant education opportunities.”

Health insurer CDPHP is working with Ankeny, Iowa–based Mom’s Meals to offer home-delivered meals “at no cost” to Medicare Advantage members returning home from a stay in a hospital.

CDPHP is an Albany–based, nonprofit health plan serving more than 385,000 members in 29 counties in upstate New York. The counties include Broome, Tioga, Chenango, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Madison, and Oneida, per its website. 

Mom’s Meals, a provider of home-delivered meals nationwide, offers “nutritional and condition-appropriate” meals delivered to the homes of CDPHP members who will require additional support after returning home from the hospital, per a Jan. 5 news release. The benefit seeks to address “food insecurity concerns and reduce caregiver burden,” CDPHP said. 

The nutrition benefit is now available to all CDPHP Medicare Advantage members.

Studies consistently show that “medically tailored” meals support patient recovery after hospitalization and reduce instances of readmission, as well as help patients manage chronic conditions, avoid hospitalizations, and preserve health and independence, the health insurer noted. 

Programs implemented through Mom’s Meals have seen up to an 80-percent reduction in inpatient stays 30 days post-discharge. The statistic is based on a study from the AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia and Mom’s Meals program that analyzed 138 members for 30 days who were enrolled in the program between Nov. 1, 2017 and Feb. 7, 2018, per the CDPHP release.

“This partnership is an important extension of an in-hospital program CDPHP launched in 2019, which works to ensure our members are prepared for a successful transition from hospital to home,” Dr. John Bennett, president and CEO of CDPHP, said. “By offering Mom’s Meals, we give our Medicare Advantage members the nutritional support they need to make a meaningful recovery.”     

GEDDES, N.Y. — The New York State Fair Expo Center is among five state-run COVID-19 vaccination sites that started administering shots on Jan. 13 to those eligible individuals who had made appointments.

Some campuses of the State University of New York will also soon serve as vaccination sites.

State-run vaccination sites

Besides the State Fair Expo Center, the other sites involved include the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City; Westchester County Center; Jones Beach off Long Island; and SUNY Albany, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Jan. 12. The state also plans to announce additional vaccination sites “in the coming days.”

To “further accelerate” the vaccination rate of priority health-care workers, and begin the vaccination of newly eligible New Yorkers, such as people ages 65 and over, New York has established a network of distribution sites that will “supplement” the work that hospitals are doing to prevent any one hospital from becoming overburdened. 

This network includes the five state-run sites that opened Jan. 13, along with 15 more that hadn’t been announced yet. This new network will also utilize doctors’ offices, federally qualified health centers, county health departments, ambulatory centers, and pharmacies to get eligible New Yorkers inoculated. 

More than 1,200 pharmacies have already committed to participating in this network, with nearly 400 scheduled to come online by Jan. 15. Pharmacies will be provided vaccines for New Yorkers ages 65 and older, while hospitals will continue vaccinating phase 1A health-care workers, and local health departments and union-organized efforts will serve essential workers in phase 1B. 

Since federal supply “severely limits” the ability to distribute vaccine, Cuomo’s office encourages New Yorkers to “remain patient” and advises citizens to not show up at vaccination sites without an appointment. 

New York’s distribution network and large population of eligible individuals “far exceed” the vaccine supply coming from the federal government, which is arriving at a rate of about 300,000 doses per week, the state says.

As such, eligible New Yorkers should be prepared to receive an appointment date “as far as 14 weeks or further in the future.” 

SUNY campus involvement

In a Jan. 11 statement, SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras recognized SUNY campuses that volunteered to serve as vaccination sites. They include Binghamton University, SUNY Potsdam, and SUNY Cortland.

“In the weeks and months to come, eligible New Yorkers will make appointments and arrive at these SUNY campuses to receive the vaccine and protection from COVID-19. I am proud of these institutions for mobilizing so quickly, and of our university system as a whole for continuing to offer major contributions in the battle against this virus.”

Binghamton University’s mass-vaccination site will open on a university property in Johnson City, according to Broome County Executive Jason Garnar.

SUNY Potsdam’s vaccination clinic will be hosted at the Maxcy Hall Athletic Complex, according to the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department.

Malatras said SUNY Cortland is partnering with Cortland County and Guthrie Cortland Medical Center on a large-scale clinic.

Broome Community College will also be another vaccination site, he said.       

WATERTOWN, N.Y. — Samaritan Medical Center on Jan. 4 opened a new specialty practice, called Samaritan Orthopedics. 

It is located in the Washington Summit complex at 22567 Summit Drive, Building II, in Watertown, per a Dec. 22 news release from Samaritan Health, the parent organization.

Dr. Scott Mollison, who joined Samaritan Medical Center in 2018, leads the practice. He specializes and is fellowship-trained in sports medicine and upper-extremity procedures including shoulder replacements and trauma. 

Mollison is certified by the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada (FRCSC) and has completed the first of two steps required for American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) certification. 

Samaritan is “actively” recruiting for new orthopedic surgeons to join the practice, per its release.

Samaritan Orthopedics joins Samaritan’s existing specialty practices. They include Samaritan dermatology; ear, nose, and throat; gastroenterology; general and vascular surgery; plastic surgery; urology; and wound care.  

“Over the past few years, there has been an outward migration of orthopedic patients who seek services in the Syracuse area rather than locally,” Thomas Carman, president and CEO of Samaritan Health and Samaritan Medical Center, said. “We’re pleased to continue offering these services to the North Country under the Samaritan umbrella, keeping orthopedic care accessible and convenient right here in Watertown.”

Carman went on to say that Samaritan currently handles more than 900 surgical orthopedics cases per year and hopes to continue to grow so fewer patients have to travel out of the area for care. 

“We have a full spectrum of services available to our orthopedic patients, including a pre-surgical joint camp workshop for patients who need knee or hip surgery, a dedicated unit in the hospital for post-surgical care, outpatient physical therapy services and experienced staff to help patients throughout the entire journey. We are excited about this expansion of our specialty services and to continue working with local private practices, like the North Country Orthopaedic Group…”