(Ambridge, Pa.) Pa State Rep. 16 th Rob Matzie announced that $77,155.00 was awarded to three local schools in his district to boost fresh fruits and vegetables for grade-schoolers.

Matzie said in a release that the funding awarded under the USDA’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program includes $36,140 to the Aliquippa School District, $20,800 to the Ambridge Area School District, and $20,215 to the Rochester Area School District.

He went on to add that “Fresh, nutritious food helps kids learn.” “Securing this funding is going to allow school cafeterias to offer fresh produce to more grade-schoolers in our schools.”

The grants are part of a package of more than $7 million awarded to 288 elementary schools statewide under the FFVP. Funding priority was given to the schools with the highest rates of students eligible for free and reduced-price meals.

Keystone State News Connection

August 5, 2021

Emily Scott

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvanians are growing worried about the environmental consequences of natural-gas drilling in the state, according to a new poll released by the Ohio River Valley Institute.

It showed the majority surveyed support Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s recommendations to tighten regulations on fracking, including 77% who support assessing sources of air pollution and 82% in favor of requiring safer modes of transporting waste.

The poll, conducted by Data For Progress, surveyed nearly 650 voters from across the state.

Ralph Kisberg, co-founder of the Responsible Drilling Alliance, said the results of the poll show it is time for the state Legislature to make efforts to better transition to clean energy.

“We need to move faster,” Kisberg asserted. “The people understand this, they understand that it’s all tied in with the climate situation and that will get extremely expensive for the country unless we deal with it. And the country is beginning to deal with it, but if Pennsylvania wants to hold onto its position, it’s going to jeopardize its economy, frankly.”

Pennsylvania is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the U.S. Gas giant Shell is building a $6 billion dollar ethane cracker plant northwest of Pittsburgh. A majority of voters polled were against tax breaks for the plant.

In contrast, the Pennsylvanians polled approved of public spending on clean-energy projects, with 77% saying they believed it would have a positive impact on the state.

Kisberg noted there are ways the state could move forward with its clean-energy transition, including a severance fee on the natural-gas industry.

“We can take that revenue and use it for subsidies for lower-income people to make the transition in their homes with energy efficiency,” Kisberg suggested. “And get everybody involved in this transition based on the fact that we have some low-hanging fruit in the tax world that we don’t take advantage of in the state.”

Kisberg added interested individuals should contact Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, who chairs the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. Earlier this year, Yaw introduced a municipal “energy choice” bill, which some environmental advocates argued could protect polluting forms of energy such as coal and gas.

(Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Curtis Walsh)

(Chippewa Township, PA) The Blackhawk School District held a special meeting tonight to discuss their health and safety plan for the upcoming school year.  Superintendent Dr. Robert Postupac led the 3 hour meeting and started off by saying that Blackhawk intends to open the 2021-2022 school year with five full days of in person instruction at 100% capacity.  The district will follow CDC guidelines to an extent if there would happen to be substantial transmission of the virus among the district including the possibility of required masks for students and staff.  Students will only be allowed to participate in virtual learning if they are sick.  Dr. Postupac stated that the district will go against FAA regulations which require students to wear masks on buses, saying that neither the district or the bus company will enforce the rule.  Students that are symptomatic will be required to get tested before returning to school.  Coach Zach Heyward stated that as of the moment, there has been no guidance on any mandates relating to sports.  Members of the public were divided into groups to give their ideas on assigned relative topics.  One group suggested that masks should not be reintroduced unless 10%, roughly 80 people, are confirmed positive in the high school, and for self contained classrooms, such as in the elementary school, 20%, approximately 4 people.  A group that was assigned the topic of hand washing, quickly answered that they do in fact believe hand washing and sanitization efforts should continue.  Dr. Postupac repeated one phrase frequently throughout the night, which was “This is where we are today”.

(Slippery Rock Twp., Lawrence County, Pa.) Pa State Police in New Castle are reporting that they were dispatched to a home on Eckert Bridge Road in Slippery Rock Township yesterday at 6:16 AM for a report of vandalism.

Upon arrival Troopers spoke with a 51-year-old male who told then that someone dumped horse manure on his front and back porch. The unknown person or persons also stuffed manure in his mailbox. Troopers said in the release the individual or individuals fled the scene in an unknown direction and are asking anyone with information relating to this incident to call the New Castle Barracks at 724-598-2211.

(Glasgow Boro, Pa.) Pa State Police in Beaver are reporting that an arrest warrant has been issued for 46-year-old Shahna Roberts of Midland for an incident that occurred on Saturday July 31, 2021, at 3:00 AM in Glasgow,  Boro. Troopers state via release that Robert’s shoved 24-year-old Sierra Rozich also of Midland. Troopers stated that Roberts also threw a piece of glass which cut Rozich’s left knew. Troopers were not able to locate Robert’s after the incident and thus they obtained a warrant for her arrest. Troopers stated that charges are pending in the incident.

(photo courtesy of AHN)

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.)The abdominal transplant team at Allegheny Health Network’s (AHN) Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), has joined a select group of medical centers around the country that perform living donor liver transplants, a highly sophisticated procedure that provides an additional life-saving option for some patients with end-stage liver disease.

After nearly a nine-year battle with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) the condition of James “Jim” Platzer, a 52-year-old man of Johnstown, PA, continued to worsen. The cirrhosis of his liver turned cancerous, and the severity of the illness put him on the national transplant waiting list. Only a few days after being listed, Platzer received a call that his friend, Matt Schraeder, with whom he volunteers with in the charity organization, 501^st Legion, was a match and willing to be a living donor.

On June 28, 2021, Tadahiro Uemura, MD, PhD, system chief of the AHN Center for Abdominal Transplantation and surgical director of liver transplantation at AGH, removed 65% of the right lobe of Schraeder, a 41-year-old man from Morgantown, WV, through an abdominal incision. In an adjacent operating room, Ngoc Thai, MD, PhD, system director of the AHN Center for Abdominal Transplantation, successfully transplanted that liver into Platzer.

Living liver donation surgery requires comprehensive pre-transplant screening and planning protocols as well as precise coordination by the transplant team at the time of surgery.  Surgeons begin by removing part of a person’s healthy liver – up to 65 percent – and using the partial liver to replace the recipient’s diseased liver. The procedures occur simultaneously. In the following few weeks, the livers of both the donor and recipient will regrow to the size of normal livers.

Livers are the second most-needed organ for transplant in the United States, after kidneys. Both chronic and acute medical conditions such as hepatitis C, alcoholic liver disease, infection, liver cancer or other genetic disorders, can cause the liver to stop working. Until a transplant becomes available, the only course of treatment for liver failure patients is medical maintenance of symptoms.

“While dialysis can bridge kidney failure patients until a transplant becomes available and cardiac assist devices can do the same for those with heart failure, there are currently no such bridge therapies or alternative treatments for end stage liver failure,” said Dr. Uemura. “That is why we are pleased to further advance our transplant program — by offering patients in need of a life-saving transplant the additional potential option of live donation.”

In the U.S., nearly 12,000 Americans are on the waitlist for a liver transplant yet only about 5,000 deceased-donor livers are available for transplant annually. Living-liver donation provides patients with an option that may expedite their access to a life-saving transplant much sooner than waiting for a deceased-donor liver match to become available.

“Due to the shortage of organ donors, about 10% of patients die each year waiting for a liver transplant. With the launch of our living liver transplant program, we are bringing another vital resource to our community and the patients we serve that will help lower the number of people with liver disease who suffer from lack of access to a donor organ,” said Dr. Thai.

Cirrhosis of the liver is an illness close to Schraeder’s heart, as he had considered being a living liver donor to his cousin before he passed of the disease. When Gina Platzer, the recipient’s wife, posted on social media asking for blood type O positive liver donors, Schraeder knew this was his chance to make a difference. The Platzers are incredibly moved by his selflessness with this donation.

According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, recipients of living donor livers have an average of 5 percent better long-term survival rate than deceased donor livers. Living donor liver transplant recipients also tend to recover sooner from the surgery, said Dr. Uemura.

In addition to the liver transplantation, AGH is a center for heart, kidney and pancreas transplants. In 2020, the hospital performed nearly 180 solid organ transplants, the highest in more than 30 years. AGH also has a partnership with Johns Hopkins Medicine for lung transplantation, providing western Pennsylvania residents with enhanced access to one of the country’s top programs.  To learn more about AHN’s transplant program, visit AHN.org.

(Photo courtesy of AHN)

PITTSBURGH, PA (Aug. 3, 2021) – Allegheny Health Network (AHN) has named Anthony P. Mannarino, PhD, an internationally known expert in child traumatic stress and cognitive behavioral therapy, chair of the AHN Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Institute, effective Nov. 1. He succeeds Patton VanMeter “Van” Nickell, MD, who announced his forthcoming retirement earlier this year.

Dr. Mannarino is a longtime leader, clinician and researcher at AHN, most recently serving as vice chair of the Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Institute and director of Allegheny General Hospital’s Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents. He is also professor of psychiatry at the Drexel University College of Medicine.

Dr. Mannarino will lead the Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Institute’s three primary divisions – adult, child and adolescent, and psychology – its four general adult inpatient units, its two inpatient geropsychiatry units, its 13 outpatient clinics, as well as its faculty and support staff. Dr. Mannarino will also oversee AHN’s highly regarded psychiatric residency program, its child and adolescent fellowship, and its psychology internships and post-doctoral fellowships.

“We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Dr. Anthony Mannarino as chair of the AHN Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Institute,” said Donald Whiting, MD, AHN Chief Medical Officer. “He is an accomplished, innovative clinician-researcher and a compassionate caregiver to patients and their families. His deep knowledge of AHN and its people will serve him well as he guides the institute through continued growth and success.

“I would also like to thank Dr. Nickell for his long and distinguished service to AHN and to his patients,” Dr. Whiting said. “Under his leadership the Institute expanded its geographical footprint, added an unprecedented number of clinicians, launched a successful telemedicine program and added specialized programs such as the Alexis Joy D’Achille Center for Perinatal Mental Health at West Penn Hospital, the Center for Treatment-Resistant Depression and the Chill Project at AHN, a mindfulness-based outreach to local school districts.”

Dr. Mannarino has been a leader in the field of child traumatic stress for nearly three decades, having been awarded numerous federal grants from the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect and the National Institute of Mental Health to investigate the clinical course of traumatic stress symptoms in children, and to develop effective treatment approaches for traumatized children and their families. He and AHN psychiatrist Judith Cohen, MD, were among the principal developers of an innovative model of child therapy, “trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy,” which is now used by thousands of therapists across the country to care for children who have experienced physical, sexual, or mental trauma.

Dr. Mannarino has received many honors for his work, including the Betty Elmer Outstanding Professional Award, and the Legacy Award from the Greater Pittsburgh Psychological Association. He is a past president of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children.

Dr. Mannarino received his BA (psychology) from Cornell University, and his MA and PhD (clinical child psychology) from Ohio State University. He joined AHN in 1994, from the University of Pittsburgh.