State briefs
Plan approved HARTSTOWN, Pa. (AP) – A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has approved a plan to enable a rural volunteer fire department to emerge from bankruptcy.
The Hartstown Volunteer Fire Department had gone more than $500,000 in debt when it had difficulty paying for two new fire trucks it purchased more than two years ago.
“That started the downfall,” said Wayne Hamilton, chief of the Crawford County department. “Our bingo had started declining and that is the main source of our income.”
Under the terms of the plan, the new trucks and some other assets have been sold and the fire department has been given eight years to pay down about $270,000 in debt. The department hopes to be debt-free in less than half that time.
“The members that were here from the beginning, we totally regret any of it happening and we have put procedures in place that this kind of thing should never happen again,” Hamilton said.
Now, it’s newest truck is a 1979 model.
“We miss the new trucks,” Hamilton said. “We don’t have all the bells and whistles that are nice to have. But when you are in a position like this, those bells can wait.”
Delay sought
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A state hospital group wants to delay a plan scheduled to go into effect Thursday that would require hospitals to disclose how many of their patients develop infections.
“Jan. 1 is problematic,” said Roger Baumgarten, a spokesman for the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, which represents more than 200 hospitals. “We’re looking for a delay. Our bottom line is we support the reporting but we want it done right. If hospitals are rushed to do something, is it going to be done right?”
The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council said it has no intentions of postponing the plan it approved earlier this year.
The independent state agency has tried to collect hospital infection data since 1986 and renewed efforts after the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review highlighted the issue in an October report.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 2 million people contract hospital infections every year. Deadly germs are often spread by nurses and doctors who do not wash their hands. Nearly 100,000 patients are killed yearly as a result.
The council hasn’t determined how it will publish the data for consumer use.
Flu cases confirmed
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Allegheny County has confirmed 393 flu cases – more than double the previous record for cases in a season, according to the county health department.
“We just blew the top off the previous record, and there’s no slowing in sight,” said department spokesman Dave Zazac.
The number of cases as of Friday eclipsed the past record of 154 cases in the 1999-2000 season, according to the health department. Last winter there were 81 confirmed cases.
Although several flu victims have been hospitalized for treatment, no Allegheny County residents have died of the flu, according to the county coroner’s office.
Capsules for sale
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Sen. John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center is selling time capsules to raise money for an addition.
“At its heart, the history center is a time capsule of western Pennsylvania history,” said center President Andy Masich. “So we wanted to find a way to make that more personal for people living in the region.”
The capsules will allow the center to raise up to $1.4 million for its $27 million expansion. So far, the center has raised $22 million for the expansion. They cost between $2,500 and $10,000, depending on the number of canisters and plaque style.
Staff members came up with the idea when they noticed donors’ reaction to tiles engraved with their names on the floor in a section of the center.
“We found that people would come down and bring their families and even have family reunions here by their tiles,” Masich said. “They’d take pictures of their tiles with their toes in the frame.”
The addition includes the Smithsonian wing, the Sports Museum of Western Pennsylvania, a special collections gallery, an education center and a theater.