Monthly Archives for October 2017

Radio Talk Show Host St. Pierre to be Inducted into Pawtucket Hall of Fame

Published in the Woonsocket Call on October 22, 2017

After 40 years, the life’s work of Ron St. Pierre, who grew up on Vine Street in Pawtucket’s Darlington section, has not only stood the test of time, for he has become a longtime fixture in the Rhode Island broadcast community. One of his most shining achievements was being inducted into the Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame in 2010. This Pawtucket native has certainly gone a long way in his broadcasting profession and its particularly rewarding to hear his local pride is still there, as he tells stories on-the-air about growing up here.

The Pawtucket Hall of Fame is extremely proud to welcome St. Pierre into the Pawtucket Hall of Fame, who will join 7 other award recipients on Friday October, 27, 2017 at the Pawtucket Armory Arts Center beginning at 6 pm. This award is given to those individuals who have gone “above and beyond” in helping their community and/or have been a vehicle to shine a positive light on the city. This is a way of recognizing those pertinent and outstanding contributions.

A Four-Decade History of Achievements

Once he got into the broadcasting profession, St. Pierre turned his talents up to full throttle. During his time at Rhode Island College, he began to learn the ropes of TV production as a weekend cameraman for WJAR TV10 in Providence. He started his radio career at WNRI in Woonsocket in 1977 and never looked back. His first major position was as Program Director for 920 WHJJ AM from 1982 to 1988, now known as NewsRadio 920. He was also part of The WHJJ Morning Show at that time, eventually serving as Program Director for both 920 WHJJ AM and its sister station, 94 HJY FM during the last year of this tenure.

During his time at WHJJ, St Pierre literally helped revolutionize talk radio in Rhode Island in terms of listenership and ratings. He recruited then-mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci for his first stint as a talk-show host at this time, while working with other local radio stalwarts such as Steve Kass.

In his “spare” time, St. Pierre served as a weekend sports anchor for WPRI TV-12. During the early and mid 1990s, he managed several stations in Providence, before taking a series of management positions in West Palm Beach and New York City. He returned to Rhode Island radio in 1997. Now, he began with a highly successful on-air and program-management tenure at WPRO 630 AM, again enabling his chosen station to rise to the apex of listenership and ratings in our state’s highly competitive radio market. The station’s hosts at that time included the legendary Salty Brine, along with the return of Buddy Cianci to the airwaves — with whom he co-hosted a highly successful afternoon drive-time show.

Fittingly, Ron St. Pierre’s career has now come full circle as a popular morning-drive host at NewsRadio 920 (formerly 920 WHJJ). His unassuming, authentic style and natural quick-wit are enjoyed daily by a wide expanse of radio listeners in Rhode Island and neighboring Southeastern New England.

The early genesis of a creative spirit

Anyone who knew Ron St. Pierre back at Pawtucket-based Saint Raphael Academy was pretty sure that he would in up in the broadcasting business. It would also most likely be in front of a microphone — where his personality, wit and intelligence could take him quite far.

“In his high school yearbook profile, at St. Raphael Academy in 1973, Ron said his life’s goal was to become a sportscaster. So a career in broadcast was always in his mind. But he opened it up a lot wider than any of us could imagine,” says Ron Fournier, an advertising copywriter and musician who’s known the WHJJ talk show host for over 40 years.

During high school and college days, St. Pierre was already working magic with his reel-to-reel tape recorder. He would create uproariously funny audio bits, in the style of the classic National Lampoon and Firesign Theatre albums at that time. He was already setting himself up to be a voice talent and producer back then.

“Ron is a virtual encyclopedia of comedy who’s studied all the greats — from the Marx Brothers to the present day,” Fournier adds. “That’s where his quick wit comes from. On the air, you never know what kind of quip or one-liner is coming next. But you know it’ll be a classic in his trademark. tongue-in-cheek style of humor.”

St. Pierre now lives now in East Greenwich with his wife, Patti, and their dog, Hazel.

Announcing the 2017 Pawtucket Hall of Fame Inductees

The Pawtucket Hall of Fame cordially invites the public attend its annual Pawtucket Hall of Fame Banquet and Induction Ceremony on Friday, October 27, 2017 beginning at 6pm (reception), 7pm (dinner) at the Pawtucket Armory Arts Center 172 Exchange Street, Pawtucket, RI. Tickets may be purchased at the Blackstone Valley Visitor’s Center, 175 Main Street, Pawtucket, RI, open 7 days a week from 10-4pm. Our Master of Ceremonies for the evening will be Anchor/Reporter, Alison Bologna from WJAR NBC10.

This year’s 2017 Pawtucket Hall of Fame Inductees are: (civic activist) Janina “Jean” Babiec; (American film director) Kevin Lima; (the late) coach and coordinator Robert K. Neill, Sr.; and (legendary Rhode Island radio broadcaster) Ron St. Pierre. Also, being recognized this year as “historical inductees” are (the late) Dr. Ellen R. Jolly and (the late) Edwin Darling. In addition to these inductions, the tradition of presenting the “Person of the Year” award, which began three years ago as a special award given to recognize the person(s) the committee believes has made an outstanding contribution over the past year will be shared by two recipients this year: Mayor Donald R. Grebien, City of Pawtucket and Adrienne Marchetti, Director of the Pawtucket Soup Kitchen.

Tickets are $45.00 per person (cash or check only) and must be purchased in advance. Tables of (10) may be purchased to accommodate a group or family, and should be purchased early and as available. Tickets will not be sold at the door. Tickets may be purchased at the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center, 175 Main St., Pawtucket, RI – open 7 days a week from 10-4pm. Checks should be made payable to: Pawtucket Hall of Fame Committee.

The Pawtucket Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization established in 1986 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Pawtucket as a city. The purpose of the Hall of Fame is to honor the contributions of people whose efforts, in any line of endeavor, have added to the heritage of the City of Pawtucket.

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Senate Aging Panel Calls for Improved Emergency Preparation and Response

Published in the Woonsocket call on October 8, 2017

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” — George Santayana, a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist

In the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, after the death of at least nine nursing facility residents due to heat-related illness due to sweltering heat at a Hollywood, Florida-based facility that had lost power to run its air conditioner, the Senate Special Committee on Aging put the spotlight on the challenges facing seniors during natural disasters at a hearing on Sept. 20, 2017.

News coverage of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey provided heartbreaking reminders that seniors and persons with disabilities are particularly vulnerable during a natural disaster. On Florida’s Gulf Coast, an assisted care facility for dementia patients lost electrical power for three days, causing 20 seniors to suffer from high indoor temperatures. Meanwhile, in Dickinson, Texas, a widely-shared photo showed elderly residents of an assisted-living center awaiting rescue as flood waters rose waist deep inside the facility.

Heeding the Lessons from Past Disasters

When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast 12 years ago, more than half of those who died were seniors, according to a report from the National Institutes of Health. Since that devastating storm, disaster response officials have placed much emphasis at the national, state, and local level to better protect older Americans during an emergency.

“As we have learned from Hurricanes Irma and Harvey as well as past catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina, some of our neighbors – especially seniors – face many obstacles during a crisis, and we must focus on the attention older adults may need,” said Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Aging Committee in a statement announcing the Senate panel hearing held in 562 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

In her testimony, Dr. Karen B. DeSalvo the former health commissioner for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit the city in 2005, noted that medical records for most patients at the time of Katrina were kept only on paper and were destroyed, “turning to useless bricks,” or lost because of the disaster. For clinicians, treating patients who lost their medicines became a major challenge, she said.

Creating Registries to Protect the Vulnerable

Since Katrina, the New Orleans Health Department has been “working aggressively, to create a medical special needs digitized registry to maintain a list of high-risk individuals, those most in need of medical assistance for evacuation during preparations or in response operations, says Dr. DeSalvo

Dr. DeSalvo called for “leveraging data and technology” as a way of creating more efficient and effective strategies of identifying the most vulnerable in a community. All communities could create such registries by using state Medicaid data to locate where residents who are electricity-dependent live. The electronic system, called emPOWER, is available for use nationally, and she recommended Congress fund training exercises to respond to disasters. response.

A witness, Jay Delaney, fire chief and management coordinator for the City of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, suggests that Congress continue to fully fund the National Weather Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Investing in surveillance tools can enhance decision making by making crucial weather data available before, during, and after a disaster.

For nursing homes and assisted living facilities, it is “critical” they have detailed shelter-in-place emergency plans, says Delaney, but for those who stubbornly choose to not leave their homes during a disaster, preparedness for those is a “tough nut to crack.”

“When you have to evacuate 15,000 people in 10 hours, you don’t have time to say, ‘Mam or sir, here’s why you have to go,’” Delaney said.

In his testimony, Paul Timmons Jr., CEO and president of Portlight Inclusive Disaster Strategies, proposed the establishment of a National Center for Excellence inclusive Disability and Aging Emergency Management to improve emergency management responses to disasters to reduce injuries and save lives. “The initial focus of the center should include community engagement, leadership, training and exercise development, evacuation, sheltering, housing and universal accessibility,” he said, suggesting a five-year, $1 billion budget.

Finally, Witness Kathryn Hyer, a professor in the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa, provided eight tips for the Senate Aging panel to protect seniors during disasters. She called for emergency plan for nursing homes and assisted living; required generators to support generators in the event of a power failure, more research on what types of patients will benefit from evacuation or sheltering in place; construction of facilities in places that minimize flooding risk; identification of and prioritization for nursing homes and assisted living communities by state and local management organizations for restoration of services; litigation protection for facilities that abide by regulations and provide care during disaster scenarios; and continued commitment to geriatric education programs.

Prioritizing Senior’s Needs in Disasters

On Sept. 26, one week after the Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on disaster preparedness and seniors, Senators Collins and Casey called for a swift federal response to the growing humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In correspondence to three federal agencies, they urged the Administration to take all available steps to act swiftly and prioritize seniors in the response to Hurricane Maria The senators also urged the federal agencies to prioritize not only patients in acute health care facilities, but individuals in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, as well as seniors living at home.

“We urge the Administration to heed the lessons of the recent hurricane response efforts in Florida and Texas and take all available steps to prioritize seniors in the response to this devastating storm,” the senators wrote. “Seniors must be quickly identified and resources deployed to ensure that no older American is left in unbearable heat without air conditioning or without water and food as response efforts continue… During this recovery period, it is even more important to multiply our efforts and deploy sufficient resources to support and rescue seniors.

It has been reported that the intensity of North Atlantic hurricanes and the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes are increasing. With a high concentration of people and properties in coastal areas were hurricanes strike, it become crucial to learn emergency management lessons gleaned from past hurricanes and disasters, from Hurricane Katrina to Hurricane Irma. The Senate Select Committee on Aging is on the right track in seeking ways to put disaster emergency preparedness on the nation’s policy agenda. Now, it’s time for Congressional standing committees to adequate fund FEMA and the National Weather Service and strengthen emergency preparedness laws.

Analysis Says That Aging Veterans at Greater Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

Published in Wonsocket Call on October 2, 2017

On Monday, October 2, at a press conference USAgainstAlzheimer’s, (UsA2), along with veterans groups, plan to release an issue brief, “Veterans and Alzheimer’s Meeting the Crisis Head on,” with data indicating that many older veterans will face a unique risk factor for Alzheimer’s as a direct result of their military service.

Following the release of this issue brief, on TuesdPbulisheday evening at a reception in room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, UsA2, a Washington, DC-based Alzheimer’s advocacy group whose mission is to stop Alzheimer’s disease by 2020, will launch VeteransAgainstAlzheimer’s (VA2), a national network of veterans and their families, military leaders, veterans groups, researchers, and clinicians, to focus on raising awareness of the impact of Alzheimer’s and other dementias on active and retired military service members.

Dramatic Increase in Veterans with Alzheimer’s

Forty nine percent of those aging veterans age 65 ((WW2, Korea, Vietnam and even younger veterans, from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts in the coming decades), are at greater risk for Alzheimer’s compared to 15 percent of nonveterans over age 65, note the authors of the issue brief. “There is a clear and compelling obligation for greater support to meet the needs of veterans with Alzheimer, they say.

The issue brief pulls together research study findings released by the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA). On study estimates that more than 750,000 older veterans have Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, another noting that the number of enrollee with Alzheimer’s grew 166 percent from roughly 145,000 in 2004 to 385,000 in 2014.

The “Minority communities are at greater risk for Alzheimer’s and minority veterans are predicted to increase from 23.2 percent of the total veteran population in 2017 to 32.8 percent in 2037, says a VA study.

The issue brief also cites study findings that indicate that older veterans who have suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) are 60 percent are more likely to develop dementia, Twenty-two percent of all combat wounds in Afghanistan and Iraq were brain injuries, nearly double the rate seen during Vietnam – increasing these younger veterans’ lifetime Alzheimer’s risk.

Veterans also face a multitude of barriers to effective Alzheimer’s diagnosis and care, including a complex Veteran’s Administration health system, a lack of understanding about available benefits, and a stigma related to brain and mental health, say issue brief authors.

George Vradenburg, UsA2’s Chairman and Co-Founder, sums up the message to Congress and federal and state policy makers in the released issue brief: “We need to understand so much more about why brain injuries sustained in battle put veterans at greater risk for Alzheimer’s. We must encourage veterans to participate in clinical studies to learn about the long-term effects of brain injuries, so we can do everything in our power to mitigate the impact on those who have given so much to this country.”

A Call for Funding…

When former Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts released Rhode’s Alzheimer’s plan in 2013, to guide and coordinate the state’s efforts to care for those with debilitating Alzheimer’s and those who care for them, she called the report a ”living document, ” to be continuing updated as needed. With the 5-year update of the State’s plan being due June 2019, to be submitted to the Rhode Island General Assembly, Lt. Gov. Dan McKee and the Executive Board of the Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders working group, roll up their sleeves to meet that legislative deadline.

McKee and his Alzheimer’s plan working group are now turning to philanthropic organizations, like the Rhode Island Foundation, to fund their efforts to update the State’s Alzheimer’s plan. Yes, it costs money to do this and with the incidence of Alzheimer’s increasing in the Ocean State, lawmakers and state policy makers need an updated plan to provided them with a road map to effectively utilize state resources and dollars to provide care for those afflicted with debilitating cognitive disorder.

In 2013, 24,000 Rhode Islanders were afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders and this number will continue to grow each year. With the state being so small, every Rhode Islander is personally touched, either caring for a family member with the cognitive disorder or knowing someone who is a caregiver or patient.

Funding from the Rhode Island General Assembly and philanthropic organizations are needed to get the ball rolling on the state Alzheimer’s plan. When updating, don’t forget the needs of Rhode Island’s aging veterans.

Founded in 2010, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s has worked to secure the national goal of preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer’s by 2025 and to assist in securing nearly $500 million in additional public funding for Alzheimer’s research over the past few years. The nonprofit’s global efforts has influenced the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations, the G7, to embrace a similar 2025 goal and to call for greater levels of research investment and collaboration to combat Alzheimer’s . Finally, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s works to forge pharmaceutical industry commitments to improve efficiencies for an expedited drug discovery and approval process. For more information click here.

For details on the updating of Rhode Island’s Alzheimer’s Plan, call the office of Lt. Gov. Dan McKee at (401) 222-2371.