From rabbittransit

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The Chamber 2019-20 fiscal year began on April 1, and with that, the 2019-20 Board of Directors began its year-long term. There are a minimal number of changes on the Chamber board this year, as just two members depart and one new member comes on.

Joining the board as the new chair of the Foundation of the Columbia Montour Chamber board is Tom Kapelewski of SEKISUI SPI. Departing the board are former Foundation board chair Harry Mathias, who is retiring at the end of the school year as the superintendent of the Central Columbia School District, and Vic Klein, former chair of Columbia Alliance for Economic Growth, which was dissolved earlier this year.

The board expresses its appreciation for both Harry and Vic’s service.

2019-20 board officers are:

Karen Wood, Chair, Service 1st Federal Credit Union
Dan Knorr, Vice Chair, Bloomsburg University
Denise Stone, Treasurer, Key Partners Realty
Mark Gardner, Immediate Past Chair, M&T Bank
Fred Gaffney, President

From PA Chamber of Business & Industry

Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office recently unveiled an analysis of revenue proposals in Gov. Tom Wolf’s 2019-20 state budget plan, including an immediate increase in the minimum wage to $12 an hour and ultimately to $15 and elimination of the tipped wage.  The report includes a look at findings from prominent minimum wage studies over the last several years, including from the Congressional Budget Office which found that an increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would result in the loss of 500,000 jobs nationwide, and possibly up to 1 million.  In summary, the IFO found that a $12 hourly rate would lead to 34,000 fewer jobs throughout the Commonwealth.  It also found that some employees would see a reduction in hours; consumers would see some price increases; and businesses would have less money to reinvest into their operations. 

PA Chamber President Gene Barr issued a statement last week after the release of the report that focused on the negative consequences the proposed minimum wage mandate would have on employers and low-wage workers.  He also pointed out that the IFO report concludes the proposal will make it more difficult for inexperienced workers – namely part-time high school and college students – to enter jobs where they often learn critical workplace and employability skills.

“We continually hear from small businesses that these ‘feel good’ mandates have real-world consequences for both the employer and their workforce.  Once again, their anecdotal insight is backed by independent, nonpartisan analysts – in this case the IFO, but previously by countless other independent studies,” Barr said.  “Obviously some individuals benefit from minimum wage increases; but the fact is, many others would be harmed – including some of the very low-income, lesser-skilled workers whom advocates claim they want to help.  We urge lawmakers and advocates to work in a bipartisan way to advance policies that help low-income families without risking jobs.”

• The United Way of Columbia and Montour County’s free basic tax help to low and moderate-income residents in the community runs through tomorrow, April 4. This program will be held today from 2-6 p.m. and Thursday from 4-8 p.m. at Wesley United Methodist Church, located at 130 W. 3rd St., Bloomsburg (use the rear entrance). No appointments are necessary, only drop-offs and walk-ins will be accepted. For questions, call the United Way at 570-784-3134 or email, and see the flyer for additional information.

• Commonwealth Health – Berwick Hospital Center is presenting a free six-week educational series titled “Six Weeks to Better Health” running each Wednesday through April 17, from 12-1 p.m. at the Hospital’s Conference Room 1 and 2, located at 701 East 16th St., Berwick. The final session in the series will be held from 5-6 p.m. on April 17. Titles of the remaining sessions are: Solutions for Leg Pain and Swelling; Dealing with the Symptoms of Menopause; and Advanced Directives and Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST). For more information, see the flyer, and to RSVP, call 570-759-5337.

• Michael Mwenso and the Shakes will perform a unique blend of jazz, funk and soul on Tuesday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Weis Center for the Performing Arts. 
  

  Michael Mwenso and the Shakes

  The performance is free and tickets are not required. Mwenso and the Shakes are a unique troupe of global artists who present music that merges the highest form of entertainment and artistry, while commanding a formidable timeline of jazz and blues expression through African and Afro American music. Hailing from Sierra Leone, London, South Africa, Greenwich Village in New York City, Madagascar, France, Jamaica and Hawaii, the members of The Shakes now call Harlem, N.Y., their home.

• Boston’s Lorelei Ensemble will join forces with members of the Bucknell University Choirs to present James Kallembach’s new oratorio Antigone: the Writings of Sophie Scholl on Thursday, April 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the Weis Center for the Performing Arts. The performance is free and tickets are not required. In the first half of the performance, Lorelei Ensemble will present choral works by John Luther Adams, Maggie Payne, David Lang and Pavel Chesnokov. After intermission, the vocal ensemble will perform James Kallembach’s new oratorio for treble choir and cello quartet Antigone: the Writings of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Movement. 

• The Northwest Susquehanna Chapter of Credit Unions, of which Service 1st Federal Credit Union is a part of, recently made a donation of $515 to Camp Victory, which provides a variety of overnight camp opportunities for children and adults with disabilities and illness.
  

  Photo: front row (l-r): Janelle Seibert, Loans & Operations, Central Susquehanna Community Federal Credit Union; Jamie Huntley, Executive Director, Camp Victory; and Brenda Raker, President & CEO, Pinpoint Federal Credit Union. Back row (l-r): Bill Lavage, President/CEO, Service 1st Federal Credit Union; Devon Donahue, Member Service Representative, Service 1st Federal Credit Union; Ed Moyer, Assistant Vice President Shamokin Dam & Sunbury Markets, Service 1st Federal Credit Union; Jay Reed, Chief Information Officer, Service 1st Federal Credit Union; Kris Kauffman, President/CEO, Central Keystone Federal Credit Union; Jeff Balestrini, Chief Lending Officer, Service 1st Federal Credit Union; and Dave Shope, Assistant Vice President Business Development, Service 1st Federal Credit Union.

  During a December Chapter gathering, a Chinese auction was held to benefit Camp Victory. Each year, the Chapter selects a charity to receive the funds raised from their end of the year event.

   

• SUEZ recently completed its $9.5 million acquisition of the water and wastewater systems in Mahoning Township in Montour County, which adds 1,200 customers for its services. SUEZ officially began operations in Mahoning Township last week on March 29. SUEZ has also begun construction of an $8.5 million water transmission pipeline acros the six-mile area of Route 11 between Bloomsburg and Mahoning Township. The project will connect Mahoning to a state-of-the-art treatment facility that will provide high quality and reliable water service for years to come. In the meantime, SUEZ has committed approximately $500,000 in water and wastewater main replacements in the Mahoning systems in 2019 alone. Residents of Mahoning Township that have questions about billing or any other issues related to the change can call 888-299-8972.

• The Central Susquehanna Community Foundation recently welcomed three new members to the CSCF Board of Trustees: Richard Cashman, Jeff Hollenbach and John Thompson. Cashman served four terms as a district judge in Columbia County. Upon his retirement in 2009, he was appointed Senior Magisterial District Judge for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A native of Berwick, Dick has extensive community involvement, including leadership in the United Way, Communities that Care, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Berwick Anti-Drug Alliance, and D.A.R.E. Hollenbach is the Executive Vice President of the Susquehanna Community Bank in West Milton. He is a past Leadership Susquehanna Valley Board member, and currently serves on the Sunbury Area Community Foundation Board, the Greater Susquehanna Valley YMCA Board, the Local Loan Review Committee, and the Local Development Corporation Board with SEDA-COG. Thompson is retired from the First Columbia Bank and Trust Co., where he was the Vice-President Senior Trust Officer, and the Bloomsburg Area YMCA, where he was the CEO. His current community involvement includes serving as the Chair of the Bloomsbug Area Community Foundation, Assistant to the Board of Directors of the Bloomsburg Fair, and Treasurer of the Husky Research Corporation.

• There will be a free showing of the 2018 documentary about the life and legacy of Fred Rogers, titled Won’t you be my Neighbor, on Tuesday, April 23, from 7-9 p.m., at the Berwick Theatre and Center for Community Arts, located at 110 Front St., Berwick. This event is being presented by the United Way of Columbia and Montour County. For more information, see the Facebook event page. 

• PA CareerLink Columbia/Montour Counties will host its annual job fair on Thursday, May 2, from 1-5 p.m. at Columbia-Montour Area Vocational-Technical School, located at 5050 Swpeenheiser Dr., Bloomsburg. The entire event is open to both the general public and students. Employers interested in attending as an exhibitor/vendor should register online. For more information, see the flyer. 

More than 650 young entrepreneurs making up 70-plus teams were recently put to the test at Bloomsburg University’s third annual Husky Dog Pound — a Shark Tank-inspired business pitch competition hosted by the Zeigler College of Business, with $20,000 in prizes. The competition, held March 28^t on campus, included teams from Bloomsburg University as well as high schools from across Pennsylvania. The Chamber has supported the event each year to encourage entrepreneurship and connect students with local business people.

Students had just a few minutes to present their business ideas, followed by Q&A from a panel of judges. Lance Diehl, president of First Columbia Bank & Trust, was among the three-person panel judging the college finalists. A number of Chamber representatives served as judges for the high school competition, including board members Holly Morrison (Central Susquehanna Community Foundation), Denise Stone (Key Partners Realty), Sharon Wilkin (CSS Industries), and Karen Wood (Service 1st Federal Credit Union), as well as Jeff Emanuel, Foundation director, and Fred Gaffney, Chamber president.

Teams from Berwick, Bloomsburg, and Millville finished in the top 30, with a team from Selinsgrove finishing fourth.

Top finishing teams received cash prizes and the top five college teams were also offered complimentary one-year memberships in the Chamber to encourage them to connect with local businesspeople. “While the Chamber’s primary purpose is to support members, it’s also important that we encourage new business development,” says Gaffney. “We hope that, by interacting with other members, the students can make connections to bring their ideas to fruition.”

A news story of the event is available from WBRE.

More than 400 businesses and organizations belong to the Chamber to receive benefits and support efforts to strengthen their businesses and our region. Increased membership allows us to offer additional programs and benefits, have a stronger voice in advocacy and be involved in more activities and initiatives in our communities. The Chamber welcomes its newest member, Superior Shuttle Services, to help us fulfill our mission.

Superior Shuttle Services was founded by a trio of Bloomsburg University students last year, and was one of the top finishers at the 2018 Husky Dog Pound, coming in third place at last year’s competition. It provides transportation services, which to this point have been mainly to BU students, but it is planning to expand in the coming months to make its services available to a larger swath of the population. Superior Shuttle Services can be reached at 570-912-8060 or by email/email.

Lissa Bryan-Smith, chief administrative officer at Geisinger Bloomsburg Hospital and Chamber board member, talks about Geisinger’s community health improvement plan and recent Community Health Needs Assessment at a recent breakfast at the Pine Barn Inn.

Powerpoint Presentation (pdf)

Geisinger’s CHNA reports and implementation plans

Officials from Geisinger presented the findings from its most recent Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and its goals and objectives for improving community health over the next three years at a recent breakfast at the Pine Barn Inn, which was organized by the Columbia Montour Chamber and Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber.

The CHNA found that in Geisinger’s Central Region, which is made up of Columbia and Montour Counties, as well as Union, Snyder, Northumberland, Schuylkill, Lycoming, Sullivan and Clinton Counties, there were higher rates of uninsured individuals, lower primary care provider rates, lower access to specialty providers, and barriers to transportation for those rural populations. Additionally, there were higher rates of mental disorders in select counties, as well as lower mental health provider rates. In all regions, there continues to be a higher rate of deaths due to the opioid epidemic.

A community health improvement plan includes a three-prong strategy for addressing these issues include the areas of access to care, behavioral healthcare and chronic disease prevention and management. Each area has a stated goal, which includes:

Access to care
Goal: Ensure residents have access to quality, comprehensive healthcare close to home

Behavioral healthcare
Goal: Model best practices to address community behavioral healthcare needs and promote collaboration among organizations to meet the health and social needs of residents

Chronic disease prevention and management
Goal: Reduce risk factors and premature death attributed to chronic diseases

Each goal also includes several regional objectives.

The entire presentation can be viewed at the link above.

From ChamberChoice and Smart Business Pittsburgh

As technology develops, so too have the improvements and capabilities with the delivery of health care.

“Telehealth innovations in the health care industry are a significant step forward in mitigating rising health care costs,” says Ron Carmassi, client advisor at JRG Advisors.

He added that technology can lead to better outcomes and lower costs, thus saving time and money for the patient, provider and insurance company.

Smart Business spoke with Carmassi about how telehealth can be a supplement or temporary substitute for traditional medical care.

What is telehealth?

Telehealth utilizes technology to facilitate communication, whether real-time or delayed, between a doctor and patient.

One advantage is that medical evaluation, diagnosis and treatment can be accomplished without the doctor and patient being in the same location. In other words, telehealth accomplishes the virtual doctor vist. It also facilitates the exchange of medical information from one location to another so that the evaluated patient can seek treatment in a convenient clinical setting.

How does telehealth help both doctors and patients?

Telehealth offers numerous benefits for doctors and patients. Here are a few of the advantages.

■ Remote accessibility — The primary functions of telehealth are efficiency and convenience of the communication between the patient and doctor. With this technology, doctors can reach patients in remote, rural and underserved areas where there might not be an available doctor or hospital.

Additionally through telehealth, patients can access doctors for routine visits, emergency care or diagnostics from a specialist from the comfort of their home or the convenience of their workplace.

■ Specialist availability — Telehealth also provides increased access to specialists. Even when patients live in urban areas with numerous doctors and hospitals, specialists for some health conditions may not practice in the area. This technology enables patients in both rural and urban areas to easily connect with specialists who may be hundreds of miles away.

■ Cost savings — Patients save money for routine and specialist care because they do not have to pay travel expenses for distant doctors or take excessive time off from work. Additionally, many health plans offer telehealth visits at lower copayments than a primary care physician or specialist visit.

Doctors participating with telehealth also can serve more patients in a day, which can reduce overhead and related costs. With remote monitoring through telehealth services, the larger costs associated with hospitalization, in-home nursing and chronic conditions management can be significantly lessened. For example, remote monitoring provides proper supervision of a patient following discharge from the hospital, which reduces hospital readmissions.

■ Convenience of care — For some patients, the comfort and convenience of consulting with a doctor from their homes is a tremendous advantage. The convenience also can improve care. For example, whereas patients often forget to bring medications with them to a traditional office visit, when patients are at home they have ready access to the information necessary for the doctor to diagnose and prescribe.

Also, because the patient is at home, it is often easier to take notes or even include a family member who can help retain important information from the doctor.

Fueled by technological advances and answering the demand for consumer-convenient care, telehealth is widely offered through all insurance companies and delivers many advantages. Although not the same as sitting in an actual doctor’s office, a telehealth visit with a doctor can prove beneficial by warding off further illness or disease, stabilizing a condition until a patient is able to reach a hospital or monitoring a patient at home.

Telehealth is not a complete replacement for face-to-face health care, but it can be a helpful supplement and even a temporary substitute for traditional medical care.

From Talen Energy

Operators at the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station disconnected the Unit 2 reactor from the electrical grid on Saturday, March 23 to begin its scheduled refueling and maintenance outage.  The unit’s refueling outage occurs every two years and helps ensure that the station runs safely and efficiently, generating reliable “always on” carbon-free power to the grid.  During this outage, Susquehanna’s Unit 1 reactor remains in operation.

Susquehanna’s employees, together with approximately 1,800 supplemental workers, are scheduled to perform approximately 10,000 maintenance activities while replacing about one-third of the unit’s fuel during the outage. These 1,800 workers help boost the local economy by visiting local restaurants, stores and hotels and taking advantage of services throughout the community.  

“While refueling Unit 2, we will also complete proactive maintenance work to keep Susquehanna generating dependable, carbon-free energy safely and efficiently to meet the needs of our stakeholders,” said Kevin Cimorelli, site vice president. “Our goal is to complete the outage on time and with zero reportable injuries.”

Each of Susquehanna’s two reactors undergo planned refueling and maintenance outages once every 24 months.  As a result, Susquehanna, along with other nuclear plants, can supply reliable power no matter the weather or conditions, even when plants running on fossil fuels may be hindered by delivery issues.  Susquehanna schedules refueling and maintenance activities when seasonal temperatures are mild and power demand is lower, to minimize market impact. 

The Susquehanna plant, located about seven miles north of Berwick, is owned jointly by Susquehanna Nuclear LLC and Allegheny Electric Cooperative Inc. and is operated by Susquehanna Nuclear. Its two units generate 2,600 megawatts of carbon-free electricity, enough to power two million homes.  For information, visit www.susquehannanuclear.com.

Susquehanna Nuclear LLC is one of Talen Energy’s generating affiliates. Talen Energy is one of the largest competitive energy and power generation companies in North America. The Company owns or controls approximately 15,000 megawatts of generating capacity in well-developed, structured wholesale power markets, principally in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southwest regions of the United States.  For more information visit www.talenenergy.com.

From PA Chamber of Business & Industry

Last week, the state House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a slate of bipartisan workforce development-related bills that have earned the PA Chamber’s backing.  The PA Chamber is helping lead an effort with the Wolf Administration, the General Assembly, state agencies and the private sector to build a more competitive workforce and close a jobs skills gap by empowering Pennsylvanians with knowledge about in-demand jobs and the skills and training required to obtain them.  To that end, our organization supports legislation that strengthens the Commonwealth’s workforce development programs and expands access to the tools that can help individuals accelerate their career path. The following PA Chamber-supported bills passed the House with overwhelming support:

• H.B. 297 – Sponsored by Rep. Zach Mako, R-Northampton and requires the state Dept. of Education to develop materials outlining workforce needs, including training opportunities and future earning potential; and also calls for schools to allow community colleges and trade and technical schools to attend career and college fairs.
• H.B. 334 – Sponsored by Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, and codifies into law a program to expedite classification of instructional programs; task PDE with establishing a standard application for schools wanting to establish or renew a CIP; and issue guidelines for students to apply certain courses toward credit for completion of a program at a vocational or technical school.
• H.B. 393 – Sponsored by Rep. Patrick Harkins, D-Erie, and requires the Depts. of Education, Labor and Industry and Agriculture to develop and maintain a comprehensive online career resource center for students, parents, educators and school officials.
• H.B. 394 – Sponsored by Rep. Gerald Mullery, D-Luzerne, and requires PDE and L&I to inventory existing workforce development programs, with goals of sharing best practices to improve the delivery of these programs.
• H.B. 395 – Sponsored by Rep. James Roebuck, D-Philadelphia, and allows career technical education programs or a cluster of programs to establish occupational advisory committees at the Intermediate Unit level, to serve multiple districts or Career and Technical Centers.
• H.B. 396 – Sponsored by Rep. James Roebuck, D-Philadelphia, and requires each local workforce development board to include in its membership at least one administrator of a career and technical center whose attendance area is covered by the service area of the WDB.
• H.B. 425 – Sponsored by Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh, and requires the Department of Labor and Industry to create CareerBound – a program that would aim to strengthen the connection between Pennsylvania’s students and the next generation of high-priority careers, providing those students with early exposure to a wide array of career opportunities.

The PA Chamber thanks the sponsors of these bills for promoting legislation that will help to train the next generation of skilled workers across the Commonwealth.  All of these bills now await consideration by the state Senate.