SYRACUSE — Cleveland, Ohio–based KeyBank (NYSE: KEY) in early 2017 announced its five-year, national community-benefits plan that includes $16.5 billion in investments across the communities it serves.

The blueprint “addresses concerns expressed by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and NCRC member organizations, in light of KeyBank’s … acquisition of First Niagara,” according to a description on the KeyBank website.

The Washington, D.C.–based NCRC works with “community leaders, policymakers and financial institutions to champion fairness in banking, housing and business,” according to its website. 

KeyCorp, the parent company of KeyBank, acquired Buffalo–based First Niagara Financial Group in 2016, adding to its presence in Central New York and the broader upstate New York region.

Local impact

KeyBank expects to allocate up to 35 percent of the overall $16.5 billion figure in the overlapping KeyBank and First Niagara markets in upstate New York and Pennsylvania.

“That’s where we expect more than a third of … the $16.5 billion to go to,” says Don Graves, Jr., head of corporate responsibility at KeyBank. He spoke with CNYBJ on May 2 at the KeyBank office at 201 S. Warren St. in Syracuse.

“The $16.5 billion is focused on low and moderate-income communities in our footprint,” Graves notes.

In the program’s first year, KeyBank spent close to $30 million in 2017 in supporting affordable-housing projects in the Syracuse area with low-income tax credits and affordable-housing loans, says Stephen Fournier, market president for KeyBank in Central New York. Fournier joined Graves for the CNYBJ interview on May 2.

The projects include the Harborbrook Apartments near the Centers at St. Camillus in Geddes. The bank also made about $1.2 million in donations to nonprofit organizations, including a $200,000 donation to the Syracuse Rescue Mission last October to help cover costs in its $6.5 million renovation and expansion of the organization’s food-services center.

The KeyBank Business Boost & Build program on May 1 announced it had awarded $115,000 to CenterState CEO. The funding will help expand its UP Start Syracuse program in collaboration with the Upstate Minority Economic Alliance (UMEA). It’ll also help its support of the South Side Innovation Center (SSIC) at 2610 S. Salina St. in Syracuse and Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (WISE). 

Types of investments 

The KeyBank plan in its overall footprint includes $5 billion worth of investments in mortgage lending and $8.8 billion of investments in community-development lending.

“These are for projects that help build and sustain communities, mixed-use projects, affordable-housing developments,” says Graves.

The plan also includes $2.5 billion in small-business investments, along with $175 million that KeyBank plans for philanthropic investments across the footprint. It also includes an additional $3 million that the bank has set aside for innovation projects.

Graves joined Fournier to visit with a local advisory council for input on what local projects and issues KeyBank’s plan could benefit as the program continues. Fournier says the council includes the City of Syracuse, the Gifford Foundation of Syracuse, and Syracuse–based Home HeadQuarters Inc.

Fournier called it a “collaborative process” as KeyBank works with community stakeholders to figure out how to get people out of poverty and have a “broader impact on the community.” 

It’s a group that Graves hopes will “give me a better flavor of the types of issues that folks are dealing with and everyday challenges.” 

In his new role as KeyBank’s head of corporate responsibility, Graves is succeeding Bruce Murphy, who is vacating the position. Graves is working with Murphy as he transitions into the role. His office is in Cleveland, Ohio, he says.

Graves has worked for KeyBank for more than a year, originally hired as senior VP and senior director of corporate community initiatives and relations, according to his LinkedIn page. 

UNION — A firm based in Saratoga Springs, north of Albany, will lead a consulting group in conducting a redevelopment study on 600 Main St. in the town of Union, the former site of the defense contractor BAE Systems.

The Agency selected Elan Planning Design and Landscape Architecture to lead the group, it said in a May 3 news release.

The Agency is the entity that governs the Broome County Industrial Development Agency and the Broome County Local Development Corporation.

Elan has included two Binghamton–based firms — Griffiths Engineering, LLC and Woidt Engineering & Consulting, PC — in its consulting group. Both firms have “extensive” experience with post-2006 and 2011 flood-mitigation efforts, the Agency said. 

Elan will also work with Venue Strategies, which has offices in New York City and Buffalo, to conduct an economic analysis of potential uses, the Agency said.

The Agency also expects to work closely with Town of Union’s economic-development and planning departments to ensure that uses identified align with the town and the county’s comprehensive plans, the organization said.

“Critical” priority

The Agency has identified the redevelopment of 600 Main St. as a “critical” economic development priority in the year ahead, the organization said. 

“This property is in the center of our urban core and it’s imperative that we identify the right development opportunity,” Stacey Duncan, deputy director of community and economic development at The Agency, said in the release. “Elan has put together a great team and understands our goals for this study. We are looking forward to working with them.”

The U.S. Air Force in 2017 demolished the BAE building, which was “devastated” by flooding from Tropical Storm Lee in 2011, the Agency said. 

The Agency now owns the property and will work with Elan’s team to identify site-development costs; assess flood-mitigation needs; and conduct economic analyses for potential uses. The Agency expects to issue a developer request-for-proposal later this year.

The Elan firm is “extremely excited” to help the Agency and the Town of Union work on the redevelopment of this “key” site, Lisa Nagle, principal of Elan Planning, said in the Agency’s news release.

“Repurposing previously developed sites in our urban centers is key to the long term sustainability of our upstate New York communities. Integrating recent investments such as the Binghamton University Pharmacy School, the planned nursing school, and the Johnson City Health and Cultural iDistrict present opportunities to think broadly about revitalization,” said Nagle.

Agency officials expect the consultants to complete final recommendations for the redevelopment of the property by November of this year.

The office of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) assisted in securing grant funds from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Economic Adjustment to complete the redevelopment study and create a master plan for the 27-acre site.

The federal government approved more than $200,000 for the project, according to a Jan. 10 news release posted on the Agency’s website.

“I worked hard to deliver the federal resources to resurrect the flood-damaged former BAE site, and the selection of a firm to lead a comprehensive redevelopment study is welcome news. In no time, this vacant lot will be bustling with new development and activity, making a positive contribution to Broome County’s economy.” Schumer said in the Agency’s release. 

EZaccessMD, a Rochester–based company, on May 1 started providing mobile telehealth services in the Syracuse area, partnering with a DeWitt firm to offer them. 

EZacccessMD describes itself as a mobile telehealth provider that brings diagnostics “right to the patient.”

The firm is working with DeWitt–based K&A Services, Inc., a portable X-Ray provider,” to offer its services to area businesses and their employees.

“Our technologically advanced medical equipment and service delivery model goes far beyond traditional telehealth phone and video chat,” Lois Irwin, president of EZaccessMD, contended in a news release. “Consumers everywhere are embracing, and seeking out, services like groceries and home goods that can be delivered directly to their homes, so why not health care too? We’re offering an unparalleled level of health-care convenience that isn’t available anywhere else in the U.S., and we’re thrilled to bring it to Syracuse.”

How it works

The employer signs up with EZaccessMD for a group subscription at $15 to $18 per employee per month. The company’s employees are enrolled at no cost with no premium required. The employees can then begin using the service with physician care available “24/7/365” with no copay required.

The services include phone and video consults that can assess and diagnose, e-prescribe, order tests, and deploy the EZaccessMD mobile team.

With the mobile visits and services, providers can handle bedside exams for ear, nose, throat, and cardiac issues; basic laboratory work; electrocardiograms, or EKGs; X-rays; and ultrasounds.

The attending physician will then follow-up with a call to check on the patient’s condition.

Company expanding

EZaccessMD launched its employer model in 2016. After a “successful pilot year” with Rochester businesses in 2017, it started work to expand across New York state. 

In addition to its service in the Syracuse area, EZaccessMD will also enter the Albany and Buffalo markets with partner organizations, launching this quarter. Expansion is also planned this year across the downstate area, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, according to the release.

“We are so excited to be partnering with EZaccessMD, this unique, outside the box concept is truly innovative, and breaking the mold of ‘traditional healthcare,” Emily Duckett, director of business development at K&A Services, exclaimed in the EZaccessMD release. “The cost of health care is becoming unmanageable. It is too expensive for employers to offer. It is too expensive for employees to participate. This is an amazing new way to bring basic care to all those people. It is opening so many doors, and we are thrilled for the opportunity to be involved.”

Overcoming usage barriers

Telemedicine is seen “across the globe as the future of health care,” EZaccessMD contends, “alleviating stress” on doctor’s offices and emergency rooms. However, only 5 percent of those who have telemedicine services as part of their employee health-care plans are using it. 

A Feb. 7, 2018, article on the website of Telemedicine Magazine, titled “Three Reasons Telemedicine Utilization Remains So Low,” cited lack of education for end-users, emphasis on lowest upfront cost instead of best value, and unsatisfactory service as the main factors telemedicine hasn’t taken off yet.

EZaccessMD contends it “overcomes these barriers” by not only bringing free telehealth directly to the user with its mobile team but providing a cloud-based, mobile application platform that “does not require” subscriber codes or a lengthy log-in process to access services when needed. 

These offerings have helped drive utilization rates of “more than 50 percent, 45 percent higher than traditional telemedicine,” the company says.      

School cites growing student interest as a key factor behind the move

POTSDAM — Clarkson University has added a minor, titled “Medicine and Healthcare.”

“The medical and health-care professions are among the fastest growing in the U.S., and student interest in health-care fields is growing rapidly at Clarkson University,” Tom Langen, a professor and chair of the university’s biology department, said in a news release.

The minor will require 23 credits and is open to students pursuing any major, the university said.

Topics covered in courses for the minor degree include human anatomy and physiology, medical history, medical ethics, and health psychology. The program will also include a seminar that will introduce students to working health professionals and familiarize them with health-care careers. An experiential learning component will be required as well, the school said.

The program is overseen by Clarkson’s biology department.

“This minor provides an opportunity for students in any Clarkson program to acquire the foundations for pursuing a health-care career and highlights Clarkson’s commitment to students who will be the next generation of health-care practitioners,” Langen noted.

Clarkson University, founded in 1896, is a private, national research university whose main campus is located on 640 acres in Potsdam. The university has more than 60 academic programs in engineering, business, education, science, liberal arts, and health professions. Enrollment totals 4,300 undergraduate and graduate students. Anthony G. Collins is Clarkson’s president. 

OSWEGO — SUNY Oswego says it has received state approval to offer its bachelor of science program in wellness management as an online-only option beginning this fall. 

The university  contends the option can help students “who are busy balancing work, family and school.” the option could work for students who are “eager” to reach graduate school or the workforce ahead of the “normal” four-year timetable for an undergraduate degree. 

In a news release, SUNY Oswego highlighted the example of Jamie Walzer, a senior from Rochester with a wellness-management major with a minor in biology. Walzer is pursuing graduate school for training as a physician assistant. She took the wellness management online courses already available and is “on track” to obtain her undergraduate degree in three years.

“That’s why I did a lot of the classes in my major online,” Walzer said. “I did a whole semester over last summer.”

The all-online option for wellness-management core courses and electives has “evolved over years of improvements in instructional methods and design,” Sandra Bargainnier, chair of health promotion and wellness in SUNY Oswego’s School of Education, said in the release. The knowledge and skills students are expected to take away from each course are “equivalent” to those delivered in a classroom, she contends.

“Instructors have to add value to the experience, to bring their engaged and present and creative selves to these courses,” Bargainnier said. “It takes time to do it well.”

Courses available in the wellness-management sequence include “Introduction to Health Promotion and Wellness;” “Essentials of Exercise Physiology;” “Health Promotion Program Planning;” “Nutrition Concepts;” “Evaluation and Research in Health Promotion;” and electives in psychology, management, and marketing.

Whether students opt for face-to-face, online only, or a hybrid approach, Bargainnier said SUNY Oswego’s undergraduate degree in wellness management offers a “strong foundation” for many career and advanced-degree opportunities. The areas include public health, nursing, mental-health counseling, medical school, athletic coaching, personal training, human-services programs with health components, nutrition, physical therapy, self-enrichment fields such as yoga instructors and wellness consultants, and entrepreneurship in health and wellness fields. 

“What’s great about our program is the flexibility it gives you to go in a variety of directions,” said Bargainnier.                   ν

SYRACUSE — Could a small saliva sample aid in the early diagnosis of autism?

Researchers at Upstate Medical University say they believe they are getting close to making this happen.

Autism is a developmental disability that affects one in 68 children, often affecting their ability to learn, communicate, and interact with others. No known cure for autism exists.

No medical test that can diagnose autism is currently available, according to a March 30 Upstate Medical news release. Diagnosis is made after health-care professionals evaluate a child’s behavior. 

The purpose of the federally funded study is to explore the possible use of saliva in helping to make this diagnosis. Researchers have already collected and analyzed saliva samples from 400 children, Upstate Medical said. The study is titled, “Validation of a Salivary miRNA Diagnostic Test for Autism Spectrum Disorder,” and is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.

Saliva contains microRNA, which might affect how a child’s brain works. Finding microRNA particles with altered levels in children with autism may lead to an earlier diagnosis of the disorder and the delivery of “more efficient services” for these children.

“This study helps us understand what changes may be occurring in the brain of a child with autism spectrum disorder,” Frank Middleton, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study, said in the release. 

The ongoing study is being conducted in collaboration with Upstate Medical University alumnus Steve Hicks, M.D., Ph.D. (now at Penn State Hershey Medical Center) and is also sponsored by Quadrant Biosciences, Inc., a Start-Up NY company based on the Upstate Medical campus.

Just over two decades ago, scientists discovered a new way that cells control the different kinds of proteins that they express. This mechanism involves the synthesis of short strands of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that were called microRNA. Humans have more than 2,000 different microRNAs. Each of these microRNAs can block the expression of dozens to hundreds of distinct proteins. The specific microRNAs that are found in a biological sample can therefore indicate what proteins are being shut off, the release stated.

“The study is very close to having a finished prototype, with a performance that rivals the widely used rapid Strep or influenza tests,” Middleton said, adding, “What it will benefit the most from at this point is additional participants to further establish the validity of the test.”

The “encouraging results” are leading researchers to expand the study with the goal of enrolling another 750 to 800 children, Upstate Medical said.

The organization said the study works like this: A clinician will ask parents some questions about how the child thinks and acts, and then watch the child perform some simple games and tasks that are routinely used to diagnose autism. Finally, to measure microRNAs, a small amount of saliva will be collected from the child’s mouth using a soft absorbent swab. The study will not have any effect on how a child behaves, Upstate Medical said.

Children who are between the ages of 18 months and 6 years and who have a diagnosis of autism-spectrum disorder or developmental delays are eligible to participate in the study.

The research group recently submitted a full-length report of its work for publication based on results from 436 children, and was expected to present findings at the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in Toronto, Canada, and at the International Society for Autism Research Meeting in Rotterdam, Netherlands.