Route 25A in Setauket and Port Jefferson, pictured above in 2020, included numerous potholes and was in severe disrepair. File photo by Rita J. Egan
After a summer of slowdowns due to roadwork, it’s finally smooth sailing down Route 25A from Nicolls Road to Main Street/East Broadway in Port Jefferson.
State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) said he’s delighted the work is completed.
“It’s been something we’ve been advocating for a number of years, and it’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally here, and it’s a beautiful job that they’ve done,” he said.
Before roadwork could be carried out by the New York State Department of Transportation, National Grid had to perform gas main replacement work, which involved maintenance of the underground distribution system. Work in East Setauket was scheduled to be completed by Memorial Day and in Port Jefferson by the end of June, according to a National Grid spokesperson. In August, National Grid returned because work took longer than expected in some spots.
The utility company’s work was necessary before milling and repaving of Route 25A by the DOT could begin. The project restored the road’s pavement by removing the existing asphalt overlay, repairing any damage to the underlying base and resurfacing with new asphalt.
Englebright said last week there were still small spots here and there that still needed residual work done by the DOT, and crews were at the locations.
“There were a number of holdups and glitches and delays,” Englebright said. “Quite frankly, the DOT did its best to overcome them, but there were some things that they didn’t really anticipate and found to be more complicated than they thought.”
The assemblyman said even though the work took a little longer than anticipated it was still done in the fall time frame that the DOT originally hoped for with the job.
In January 2020, formerGov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced $151 million in new funding to complement $743 million in direct state aid provided through the PAVE NY Initiative for local road and bridge projects. Of the allocation, $6.6 million was planned to help renew the Route 25A stretch, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
Englebright brought the severity of local road conditions to the attention of the state DOT. The designated areas have been subjected to serious degradation due to water seepage into road seams and large clusters of filled potholes creating rutted, uneven and unsafe surfaces. One of the worst sections was the roadway near the East Setauket Post Office to CVS, but other sections had deteriorated rapidly, including the hill from Poquott into Port Jefferson.
With the Food and Drug Administration expected to vote this week on boosters for Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines for COVID-19, local doctors suggested the current studies may support some switching, particularly for those who received a single dose of Johnson & Johnson.
“There is preliminary data that has demonstrated that mixing and matching the vaccines may be beneficial,” said Dr. Sunil Dhuper, chief medical officer at Port Jefferson’s St. Charles Hospital.
Indeed, recent studies suggested that people who received the J&J vaccine had a considerably higher increase in their antibody response from a Moderna booster than from a second J&J shot.
“There may be some merit” to switching from the traditional method J&J deployed to create an antibody response to the mRNA-based approach from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, Dhuper added.
Dr. Adrian Popp, chair of Infection Control at Huntington Hospital, added that data from studies with J&J are “showing that folks who received the initial J&J vaccine may benefit from receiving a booster with Pfizer or Moderna as this may lead to a very high immune response.”
As for side effects from the boosters, Popp explained that the reactions are similar to those for the initial series of vaccinations.
In an email, Popp noted that the Moderna booster is half the dose of the original shots, which “may lead to a decrease in side effects.”
Dr. Susan Donelan, medical director of the Healthcare Epidemiology Department at Stony Brook Medicine and assistant professor of Infectious Diseases in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, is pleased that “many people are quite eager to obtain boosters. This bodes well for enhanced protection as we enter the indoor/ holiday season.”
In another encouraging sign, the percentage of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Suffolk County continues to decline, with the seven-day average falling to 3% as of Oct. 19, which is down from 4.2% a month earlier, according to the Suffolk County Department of Health.
Sporting events
Meanwhile, people have been attending college and professional sporting events in large numbers, often without masks. These competitions haven’t yet produced documented superspreader events.
“Outdoor venues overall provide a reduced opportunity for spread compared to indoor events,” Donelan explained in an email. “If proof of vaccination or a negative test within a set time frame (e.g. 72 hours) before the event is required for entry, it is reasonable to anticipate that inadvertent spread can be limited.”
Other health care professionals also suggested that outdoor events, despite thousands of people standing and shouting to urge on their teams, presented lower risk than indoor gatherings.
“In an outdoor event, the virus would get diluted within seconds,” said Dhuper. “You’re not going to get a high dose” of any viral particles at such a gathering.
As for the bigger picture, Popp said he is “happy to report that, as of Oct. 6, the fully vaccinated rate is 69% in Nassau and 65% in Suffolk. It is not as high as we would like to see, but it is an increase of 7% to 8% since July 29.”
Health care professionals urged residents who haven’t already done so to get a flu shot soon.
“With all the attention on COVID vaccinations, masks will come off as people are reassured that they are safer in regards to COVID, and flu will ‘take advantage’ of this scenario,” Donelan explained. “We need to be vaccinated against both viruses.”
Maria Hoffman will be the honoree at this year's gala. Photo from TVCT
The Three Village Community Trust will hold its annual Fall Fundraising Gala on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at the Old Field Club. This event supports the Trust’s year-round programs and projects.
Currently, the Trust is conducting major restoration work at the Hawkins Homestead, the Smith/deZafra House, and the three Factory Worker Houses. The Trust is also working to enhance both Patriots Rock Park and the Greenway Trail. With so many undertakings, this year’s Gala will be more an important than ever to keep the Trust moving forward to “Protect the Places We Love.”
The special guest and honoree at this year’s gathering is Maria Hoffman.An artist, photographer and naturalist, Maria is one of the most beloved and respected figures in our community and is widely known as “Everybody’s Best Friend.”Now, after three decades of community service as Chief of Staff to New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright, Hoffman has retired and, at the Gala, will reflect on her life and career in the Three Villages.
Live music by the renowned Carl Safina and the Natural Causes will fill the party air with magical jazz, and there will be chances to win some fun-filled raffle baskets. The big art raffle prize this year is an oil painting by the well-known artist Nancy Bueti-Randall, titled “Late Day at the Beach.”
Tickets to the event can be purchased on the Trust’s website, www.threevillagecommunitytrust.org. For more information, call 631-689-0225 or visit [email protected].
Steve Bellone at a recent press conference. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) announced on Oct. 20 that he tested positive for COVID-19.
“Today I tested positive for COVID-19 and will be following the recommended CDC protocols for fully vaccinated individuals,” he said. “I am experiencing mild symptoms at this point but otherwise feel in good health and spirits.”
The county executive had a reminder for residents.
“I hope this serves as a reminder to all residents that while we are making incredible progress in the war against COVID-19, we are not done just yet,” he said. “To that end, I encourage anyone who is eligible to receive their booster shot to do so.”
Leg. Kara Hahn lighting a candle. Photo by Julianne Mosher
To honor of National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day, one local woman has spearheaded a county-wide event to honor and remember the little lives lost.
Elizabeth Kennedy, of Rocky Point, shared her story nearly two years ago with Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai), sparking the Suffolk County Legislature to unanimously approve a resolution, and designate Oct. 15 as “Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Awareness Day” back in 2020.
Sponsored by Anker, it was introduced to increase awareness of the causes and impacts surrounding pregnancy and infant loss and to improve understanding, support and potential resources for those who grieve the loss of a pregnancy or an infant.
Kennedy lost her second child, who was named Grace, when she was 26 weeks and six days pregnant on Feb. 25, 2018.
Struck with grief she felt that she needed to find an outlet to help her cope with her loss, so she began researching different infant loss support groups. Through her online search, she found the Star Legacy Foundation — a national organization whose mission is to increase awareness, support research, promote education and encourage advocacy and family support regarding stillbirth, pregnancy loss, and neonatal death.
After helping to organize a virtual candle lighting — called the “Wave of Light” — on Zoom to show respect for families and loved ones who have experienced loss last year, she and her fellow organizers decided to finally host an in-person event for 2021 at Heritage Park on Friday, Oct. 15.
At 6:45 p.m. nearly a dozen people came together to mourn and share their stories for one of the county’s first Wave of Light events at the park.
“I think it’s important to have advocates like Elizabeth Kennedy to provide these types of events to help people understand that they’re not the only ones dealing with these challenges,” Anker said. “There are so many women, and even men, that need to understand they are not the only ones that have that have experienced the sense of tremendous loss.”
According to the Star Foundation, thousands of families in the United States experience pregnancy and infant loss each year. In the United States there are approximately 24,000 stillbirths, or 1 out of 160 births, a year. In addition to stillbirths, current research suggests that between 10% and 20% of medically confirmed pregnancies end in miscarriage.
While 2020 was the first year Suffolk County acknowledged the day, the month of October was proclaimed as “Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month” by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.2021 was special to Kennedy and her family, because they were able to stand together in-person.
“Compared to last year, this was so much better and it’s nice to have everybody here with us,” she said at the event.
County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) also visited the ceremony and helped light candles, too.
“No one can understand the loss of a child, but we can certainly together try to educate others and try to share our love and our support and empathy and compassion to try to help,” she said.
As for Gracie, the Kennedy family knows she’s looking down smiling.
“She continues to inspire,” Anker said.
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Leg. Kara Hahn, Elizabeth Kennedy and Leg. Sarah Anker. Photo by Julianne Mosher
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Leg. Kara Hahn lighting a candle. Photo by Julianne Mosher
Much like Christmas, Halloween is no longer relegated to a single day. A number of Halloween enthusiasts now begin decorating at the start of October. Hijinks and autumn revelry fill the air as individuals eagerly count down to the end of the month. Though the lightheartedness of Halloween festivities, such as costumes and candy, garner the bulk of celebrants’ attention, it’s important to take safety into consideration as well.
According to the Mayo Clinic, children are twice as likely to be hit by a car on Halloween as other nights of the year. Cuts and burns also are more common on October 31. A good Halloween scare should come from costumes, not accidents or injuries. This Halloween, consider these safety measures, courtesy of Safe Kids Worldwide, the Mayo Clinic, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Make sure you’re visible when trick-or-treating. Reflective tape, glow sticks, flashlights, or camping lanterns can make pedestrians more visible to motorists.
• Pedestrians should walk on sidewalks if they are available. When sidewalks are not available, walk facing traffic and do so as far off to the side of the road as you can get.
• Drivers should be especially alert to pedestrians on Halloween. Drive slowly, as many kids scurry from house to house in search of Halloween candy.
• Pedestrians and drivers should follow the rules of the road, stopping at intersections and crossing in crosswalks.
• Consider alternatives to carving pumpkins, since the risk of being cut while carving is high. If you want to carve, leave the carving to adults. Utilize battery-operated flameless candles or glow sticks to illuminate jack-o’-lanterns.
• All costumes, wigs and accessories should be fire-resistant. Make sure that costumes do not impede your ability to walk or see.
• Test makeup to check for skin irritation before application. Remove it promptly after returning home.
• Set up a buddy system so that no one is going it alone. Agree on a specific time children should return home. Adults should chaperone young children.
• While incidences of candy tampering may be minimal, no one should snack on candy until it has been inspected. Inspections also protect against food allergies.
• The candy bounty should be rationed so no one overindulges and feels ill later on. Halloween season is a fun time of year, but safety should go hand in hand with all the celebrating on this special day.
Stony Brook Trauma Center, Suffolk County’s only Level I Trauma Center, earns Safe States Alliance's Injury and Violence Prevention Program Achievement Award for 2020.
The Safe States Alliance awarded the StonyBrookTrauma Center, Suffolk County’s only Level I Trauma Center, an Injury and Violence Prevention Program Achievement Award for 2020. The award recognizes StonyBrook’s ability to pivot and make many of its injury prevention programs available to the community despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
James A,. Vosswinkel, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Chief, Trauma, Emergency Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care, Medical Director, Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), Medical Director, Trauma Center
“This award is a thank you to the team here that works tirelessly to reach the community and provide the care they need no matter the circumstances,” says James A. Vosswinkel, MD, FACS, Trauma Medical Director and Chief of the Division of Trauma, Emergency Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care in the Department of Surgery at StonyBrook Medicine. “This is a reminder that every idea can make an impact. These programs can and will save lives.”
The StonyBrookTrauma Center offers free in-person injury prevention programs to the public, educating local communities on best practices in safety to prevent a trip to the emergency room and help save lives. In March 2020, that came to a halt when in-person injury prevention programs were cancelled due to the pandemic. Kristi Ladowski, MPH, Injury Prevention and Outreach Coordinator at StonyBrook Medicine, together with volunteers, staff, and community partners, quickly pivoted and made sure their programs could still be accessible to the community by moving to virtual programming.
“The strength of our partnerships, everyone’s willingness to quickly adapt, and our passion for injury prevention ensured that this transition was accomplished quickly and seamlessly,” says Ladowski. “We developed win-win partnerships that harmonize organizational goals, student experiential learning, and most importantly served our community needs.”
StonyBrook’s highly effective “Tai Chi for Arthritis,” a Fall Prevention workshop, immediately began a virtual schedule that allowed the team to hold more than 40 eight-week workshops, reaching over 1,000 participants. The availability of easily accessible recorded segments helped participants practice longer, more often and helped reduce attrition. Other programs such as “A Matter of Balance and Stepping On” also moved to virtual programming with great success.
School-based programs were also pivoted to virtual platforms. Programs such as Impact Teen Driver and the extremely popular Teddy Bear Clinic both promote road safety. In an effort to reach even more schools and students, the StonyBrookInjury Prevention team created a Teddy Bear Clinic video utilizing a “Blues Clues” approach to appeal to children and get more classroom participation than ever before possible. The video will reach thousands of students and potentially hundreds of classrooms every year helping keep the community safe, informed and become a great tool for parents and teachers in preventing major trauma injuries in children.
To make sure clinical students at StonyBrook could still fulfill their learning requirements, the Trauma Center expanded their undergraduate and graduate experiential learning opportunities by offering student participation in virtual programs. Occupational therapy students created multiple one-hour fall prevention workshops that helped fill a need for more accessible, shorter, informational workshops. These workshops were so well received that they are being continued indefinitely along with multiple practicum opportunities for master’s in public health students.
StonyBrook University Hospital (SBUH) is Long Island’s premier academic medical center. With 624 beds, SBUH serves as the region’s only tertiary care center and Regional Trauma Center, and is home to the StonyBrook University Heart Institute, StonyBrook University Cancer Center, StonyBrook Children’s Hospital and StonyBrook University Neurosciences Institute. SBUH also encompasses Suffolk County’s only Level 4 Regional Perinatal Center, state-designated AIDS Center, state-designated Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, state-designated Burn Center, the Christopher Pendergast ALS Center of Excellence, and Kidney Transplant Center. It is home of the nation’s first Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center. To learn more, visit www.stonybrookmedicine.edu/sbuh.
About StonyBrook University Trauma Center:
As Suffolk County’s only Level I Trauma Center, StonyBrook provides the highest possible level of adult and pediatric trauma care. We are state designated as the only Regional Trauma Center in Suffolk County, treating 1,800 trauma patients annually, including 200 children. For children, we provide a dedicated 24/7 Pediatric Emergency Department adjacent to the main Emergency Department, staffed by board-certified Pediatric Emergency Medicine physicians. The eight-bed Suffolk County Volunteer Firefighters Burn Center is Suffolk County’s only state-designated regional Burn Center. To learn more, visit www.trauma.stonybrookmedicine.edu.
About Safe States Alliance:
A national non-profit organization formed in 1993, comprised of public health and injury and violence prevention professionals. Their mission, to strengthen the practice of injury and violence prevention. To learn more visit, https://www.safestates.org/page/InnovativeInitiative.
A Walmart customer donates to Stan Feltman’s fundraising efforts for fellow veterans. Photo by Rita J. Egan
Stanley Feltman of Coram, a 2019 TBR News Media Brookhaven Person of the Year and World War II veteran, died Sept. 23. He was 95.
Stan Feltman was a B-29 tail gunner in the United States Army Air Corps.
Feltman was known to many as the veteran who sold poppies at the Middle Island Walmart to raise money for his fellow veterans. Often he would have a shopping cart filled with articles and wartime photos. Some days he would take a break from his regular location and collect money at the Walmart in Centereach or East Setauket.
In a 2019 TBR News Media interview, Feltman said he had met so many generous people through the years. He usually would collect between $80 and $100 after standing there for two hours. One day a gentleman shook his hand and noticed he was cold and bought him a jacket from the store. One woman gave him a $20 bill one day saying it was for him to keep.
“I took the $20, and when she left, I threw it in the pot,” he said. “I don’t need the money.”
A member of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA Col. Mickey Marcus Post 336, Feltman would bring the donations to the post’s monthly meetings where he and his fellow members decided where the money should go. Post Comdr. Norman Weitz said over a few years they have been able to donate more than $21,000 thanks to Feltman’s fundraising efforts. The post is a regular contributor to many veterans causes, including the Long Island State Veterans Home at Stony Brook University.
“My father was more proud of what he did with selling poppies for the veterans than anything he did in the war,” his son Richard said in a recent phone interview. “That was to him most important — selling poppies was his lifeline.”
His son said he and his brother Scott were proud of his father not only because he was a WW II vet but also because he gave back to other veterans.
“The fact that he was giving back to other veterans who might need help and providing them money to be able to give them things that they may have needed — especially those vets coming back from the War on Terrorism and not necessarily getting what World War II vets got when they returned — I couldn’t be happier with my father,” Richard Feltman said.
Stanley Feltman, who was born April 5, 1926, in Flatbush, Brooklyn, was a B-29 tail gunner and double ace in the U.S. Army Air Corps, which he joined after he graduated from high school in 1944. Feltman one time after being shot down had to escape on a raft. When a fellow soldier slipped off the raft into shark-infested waters, Feltman dove down to save him and grabbed him by the collar. Feltman earned the Bronze Star Medal for saving the man’s life. The medal wasn’t the only one earned during his service, as he gained more medals in total throughout his time in the Air Corps, even though they were no longer in his possession.
Richard Feltman said local elected officials helped the family reissue many of his father’s medals when he was inducted into the Four Chaplains Society in 2020 for the work he had done selling poppies.
During this time in the Army Air Corps, he became an amateur boxer. One day when he was being bullied by another soldier for being Jewish, he punched him. When a drill sergeant witnessed the fight and Feltman’s skill, he encouraged Feltman to take up boxing where he was undefeated. After his time in the service, Feltman went on to become a carpet salesperson.
In addition to raising money for veterans, Feltman participated in lectures at schools and senior groups, including Erasmus Hall High School where he attended while growing up in Brooklyn. He also was interviewed for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, an initiative established to collect and preserve firsthand remembrances of wartime veterans.
Feltman was predeceased by his wife, Marilyn. He leaves behind his two sons Richard and Scott and five grandchildren. Funeral services were held Sept. 24 at New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon.
Former Setauket Fire District commissioner Jay Gardiner recently received a proclamation for his service from Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn. Photo from Kara Hahn’s office
Jay L. Gardiner, of South Setauket and Bonita Beach, Florida, passed away on Oct. 15, 2021 after a hard fight against cancer.
Jay Gardiner
Born in the Bronx in 1951, he lived in Queens and Manhattan before moving to South Setauket in 1986.
Jay received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from CUNY Queens College and an MBA in management from Stern School of Graduate Business Administration from NYU in 1986.
A well-known figure in the plastics industry, having founded Gardiner Plastics in 1991, he was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 2012.The company became a well-known resin distributor and strategic consulting service.He also was a Distinguished Member of the Society of Plastics Engineers, having served as president from 1996-1997.He was also president of the Plastics Academy, Chair of the Plastics Institute of America, the Plastics Pioneers Association and member of the Board of the National Plastics Center and Museum.
Jay had a lifelong passion for emergency medical services as both a volunteer and educator. He served with the Setauket Fire Department for over 30 years and in numerous positions including EMS Director and Lieutenant.His last five years he served as a member of the Board of Fire Commissioners and chaired that board for the last three years. He taught at Suffolk County Community College and attained the rank of associate professor. He also served on the New York State EMS regional faculty, the training center faculty of Saint Francis Hospital and several other institutions. He chaired the Suffolk County Regional EMS Association from 2012-2013. He believed that his best learning came from his students, many of which went on to careers in medicine, and he was very proud of that.
Jay was an avid golfer and sports fan, following the New York Yankees, Islanders and the Pittsburgh Steelers and Notre Dame football. His greatest love, however, was spending time with his Diane, traveling, dining, playing golf and visiting places all over the world. His only regret was not having enough time to finish his life with those that he loved.
He is survived by his wife, soulmate and best friend, Diane (Mush).He is also survived by his four children Shawn (Marggorie), Sarah, Evan (Kristy) and Jeremy (Carly); three beautiful grandchildren, Zoe, Colton and Jack, as well as Cassidy and Buddy, two very loyal Jack Russell terriers.
Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Bryant Funeral Home of East Setauket. Visitation is Wednesday Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. A firematic service will be held at 8 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
With the holiday season just around the corner, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans on Friday to celebrate upcoming holidays by taking basic safety measures against the Covid-19 pandemic that still plagues the nation.
“Holiday traditions are important for families and children. There are several ways to enjoy holiday traditions and protect your health. Because many generations tend to gather to celebrate holidays, the best way to minimize COVID-19 risk and keep your family and friends safer is to get vaccinated if you’re eligible,” the CDC said in a press release.
The CDC recommended the following safer ways to celebrate the holidays:
Generally:
Protect those not yet eligible for vaccination such as young children by getting yourself and other eligible people around them vaccinated.
Wear well-fitting masks over your nose and mouth if you are in public indoor settings if you are not fully vaccinated.
Even those who are fully vaccinated should wear a mask in public indoor settings in communities with substantial to high transmission.
Outdoors is safer than indoors.
Avoid crowded, poorly ventilated spaces.
If you are sick or have symptoms, don’t host or attend a gathering.
Get tested if you have symptoms of COVID-19 or have a close contact with someone who has COVID-19.
If you are considering traveling for a holiday or event, visit CDC’s Travel page to help you decide what is best for you and your family. CDC still recommends delaying travel until you are fully vaccinated.
You might choose to wear a mask regardless of the level of transmission if a member of your household has a weakened immune system, is at increased risk for severe disease, or is unvaccinated.
If you are gathering with a group of people from multiple households and potentially from different parts of the country, you could consider additional precautions (e.g., avoiding crowded indoor spaces before travel, taking a test) in advance of gathering to further reduce risk.
Do NOT put a mask on children younger than 2 years old.
“By working together, we can enjoy safer holidays, travel, and protect our own health as well as the health of our family and friends,” said the release.
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