Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano

(Aliquippa, Pa.) Joseph “BOZ” Costanza died  last week, he was a former fire chief and he was remembered by council .  His funeral is private today and Mayor Dwan B. Walker will present a city flag to the family.

(West Mifflin, Pa.) Kennywood debuts its all-new Halloween event, Phantom Fall Fest this weekend. The full Play All Day, Fright All Night experience offered by Phantom Fall Fest arrives on Saturday, after a fright-filled Friday night featuring five haunted houses, four scare zones including the new Manor Estate Sale and Hellbilly Hollow, and Kennywood’s signature roller coasters and thrill rides. Visitors will enjoy not-so-spooky thrills and family-friendly fun on Saturdays and Sundays, with the Phantom’s scream team arriving on the scene as the sun goes down.

(Photo provided by AHN)

(Wexford, Pa.) It’s a big Day for AHN as the long awaited AHN Wexford will open today. The new hospital will bring comprehensive, high-quality health care closer to home for residents of communities north of Pittsburgh. Located along U.S. Route 19, the $313 million, 345,000-square-foot, full-service hospital is the single-largest new facility investment in AHN’s history. The hospital’s opening marks a significant achievement in Highmark Health’s and AHN’s multi-year strategy to improve access to high-quality, patient-centered health care services across the western Pennsylvania region. The hospital will be open to patients starting at 9AM today.

Keystone State News Connection

Emily Scott

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania implements a new, evidence-based prevention plan on Friday, to help kids at risk of out-of-home placement stay with family when possible.

The Family First Prevention Services Act, passed by Congress in 2018, moves funds away from foster care and group-home settings to focus instead on keeping families together. It requires states, including Pennsylvania, to submit a five-year plan, known as Title IV-E, in order to receive reimbursement for their prevention work.

Terry Clark, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth and Family Services, said the approach is a way to help children grow up in their communities without being uprooted.

“It’s of course looking at trying to be able to help families be stronger,” Clark explained. “Strengthen those families by providing all kinds of proactive support, so that the likelihood that they’re going to be abused or neglected is really reduced. And then, of course, you don’t have to separate them from their family.”

Some evidence-based programs selected for Title IV-E include Functional Family Therapy and the Nurse-Family Partnership. The plan also includes reimbursement for kinship navigator programs, to help relatives raising children in need to access resources as they take on guardianship.

Rachael Miller, policy director at Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, said Family First has seen some unintended consequences, including limiting the programs eligible for funding. She hopes the law will allow the state to include services in non-abuse categories that sometimes lead to child-welfare placement, such as poverty.

“The law does not currently allow for federal reimbursement for programs that show promising results but might not meet the rigor of evidence-based review,” Miller pointed out. “So, expanding these types of services to be allowable for reimbursement would be beneficial for children and families that we’re serving.”

Pennsylvania’s Office of Children, Youth, and Families submitted its plans to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in August, and will implement them for the first time on Oct. 1.

(Pittsburgh) The National Aviary continues to search Pittsburgh’s Northside and surrounding communities for Kody, the Steller’s Sea Eagle. Beginning on Saturday, the Aviary launched a coordinated effort to find and bring Kody home. Animal care staff, volunteers, and even administrative staff members have been working in teams to search for Kody and respond to sightings reported by the community. Other staff members have stayed at the Aviary, caring for the other birds and animals onsite, mapping sightings, preparing snack bags for search teams, answering calls with sightings from the public, and reaching out to our community partners to help spread the word.

The Aviary said in an updated press release yesterday that they are incredibly grateful for the community’s support as they work to get Kody home safely. If you see Kody, please do not approach him. If you can keep an eye on where he is and call the National Aviary at 412-323-7235.

The National Aviary will remain closed today. The release said “We are taking this day-by-day, and hope to reopen soon.”

Photo of a Stellar Sea Eagle Provided by Aviary so everyone can see what Kody looks like)

(Pittsburgh, Pa.) The National Aviary of Pittsburgh said in a press release that they are continuing  to search for Kodiak, the Stellar Sea Eagle that escaped through a small whole in the netting of his outdoor enclosure over the weekend. The Aviary is asking for support from the community, as sightings of Kody are extremely beneficial to the success in bringing him home. Kody is a Steller’s Sea Eagle, which is a large brown bird, with a yellow beak, a white tail, and white feathers under his wings.  He is larger than a bald eagle. The Aviary  believes he is in the Northside or surrounding communities, and ask that any sightings be reported to the National Aviary by calling 412-323-7235. Please do not approach Kody if you see him. Do not open doors, windows, or make noise, as this will cause him to fly away. Maintain your position and your view of Kody and call the Aviary. The Aviary staff is extremely grateful for the community’s ongoing support during this very difficult time as they continue to focus on his safe return home.

(Photo provided by AHN)

AHN utilizes the latest innovative technology for minimally invasive head & neck surgery

PITTSBURGH (September 28, 2021) – Plastic surgeons at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), the flagship academic medical center of Allegheny Health Network (AHN), are the first in the region to perform a tongue reconstruction procedure utilizing the da Vinci® SP surgical system. The minimally invasive, robot-assisted technology is the latest advancement in the field of reconstructive surgery aimed at rebuilding hard-to-reach areas of the body often affected by aggressive cancer therapies.

After a stage three cancer diagnosis in the mouth and neck, a 50-year-old woman from North Huntington underwent the new robotic reconstructive surgical procedure on August 18 after a tumor was removed from the base of her tongue.

The da Vinci® SP surgical system’s three fully articulating instruments and camera allows AHN surgeons to perform complex cancer surgeries and reconstructions transorally. This approach eliminates the need to make large incisions to the lips, neck or split the jaw for surgical access—resulting in decreased scarring, shorter recovery times and hospital stays, reduced pain and less narcotic use. Compared to traditional methods, the technique also increases patient safety by reducing potential complications. These outcomes were recently documented in a 2021 study published in Cancers (“Current Advances in Robotics for Head and Neck Surgery—A Systematic Review” doi: 10.3390/cancers13061398).

The advanced procedure at AHN is performed by a team of surgeons at the hospital, beginning with the resection of cancerous tissue and tumors by AHN otolaryngologists Warren Swegal, MD,  Elias Hilal, MD, and Erik Interval, MD.  Once the tumor is removed, Daniel Murariu, MD, FACS, director of Microsurgery and Lymphatic Surgery at AHN, uses the robotic system to perform the tongue reconstruction using tissue from the patient’s thigh. This procedure improves the patient’s swallowing and speech post-surgery.

The improved surgical access afforded by the da Vinci SP enables the AHN team to treat cancers more effectively in the tongue, tonsils and voice box, among other areas.

“Very few surgical programs in the country have developed the expertise to perform reconstructive surgery with the da Vinci system, particularly transoral procedures like tongue reconstruction,” said Dr. Murariu. “The single-port robotic technique can significantly improve a patient’s quality of life post-surgery and that is immensely important to us.”

The da Vinci® SP robot is widely recognized as a pioneering technology in the field of laparoscopic and minimally invasive surgery. AHN surgeons have used the system for more than two decades to advance surgery across many disciplines, including heart surgery, urologic procedures, general surgery, gynecologic surgery and more. The new generation single port da Vinci technology is currently being used at AHN for urology, ENT, colorectal and plastic surgeries.

In 2021, more than 54,000 Americans were diagnosed with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers, which includes cancer in the tongue, tonsils, oropharynx, gums and other parts of the mouth[1]. Most patients in need of specialized reconstructive surgeries are currently undergoing cancer treatment that includes chemotherapy, radiation and/or surgical treatments. While head and neck cancers are rarer, making up about 4% of cancers in the U.S., AHN’s Cancer Institute has extensive experience caring for patients with these diagnoses.

AHN cancer patients are cared for by a compassionate, multidisciplinary team of oncologists and other caregivers from the AHN Cancer Institute. Clinicians from various cancer disciplines, including medical, surgical and radiation oncology, work together closely to determine the most effective course of treatment to meet a patients’ long-term health goals and needs.

For more information on the AHN Cancer Institute or AHN Plastic Surgery division, visit ahn.org.