Littauer celebrates World Breastfeeding Week with an event Posted on July 27, 2016 by Dakota PikeGLOVERSVILLE – Nathan Littauer Hospital, led by World Breastfeeding WeekNancy Quinlan, RN, IBCLC is celebrating World Breastfeeding Week, Aug. 1 through 7, with an event on Aug. 3, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.at the Littauer Surgical Center., located in the hospital at 99 E. State St., in Gloversville. Supporters, new or expectant moms with families are invited to attend. Refreshments will be served and mothers are welcome to share their stories and socialize.Littauer’s lactation services allows for a comfortable place for breastfeeding and pregnant families to get professional breastfeeding support, check baby’s weight and milk intake, and connect to community resources. Nancy Quinlan is a Registered Nurse and an International Breastfeeding Certified Lactation Consultant at Littauer. She has helped countless new mothers nurse their babies with breastfeeding classes or one-on-one consultations.“Breastfeeding is the one gift that only a mom can give her baby that will have a lifelong effect on them both,” said Quinlan. “Breast milk keeps your baby healthy and breastfeeding keeps the mother healthy.”By June, Qunlan had already celebrated 50 consultations for the year at Nathan Littauer Hospital, and her visits are constantly growing.This year’s World Breastfeeding Week theme, “Breastfeeding: A Key to Sustainable Development,” is about how breastfeeding is a key element in getting us to think about how to value our wellbeing from the very start of life, how to respect each other, and to care for the world we share.For further information or an appointment, call Nancy Quinlan at (518) 775-4101.
Littauer announces new Director of Community Education Posted on July 19, 2016July 20, 2016 by Dakota PikeGLOVERSVILLE – Littauer is proud to announce Tammy Merendo, RN, as the next Director of Community Education working for Littauer’s HealthLink. She is filling a position recently vacated by the retired Sue Cridland. Merendo currently is a nurse manager at the Nathan Littauer Hospital Nursing Home.“I am looking forward to transitioning into this exciting role,” said Merendo. “HealthLink offers so much to the community, and this is such a pivotal time to be in public health.”Merendo is a tireless patient advocate and enjoys helping people negotiate their health care needs. “I love working in the community and I look forward to linking people to the many health services offered, including some they may not even know about.”Prior to Littauer, Merendo has worked as an RN case manager specializing in HIV/AIDS and Hospice. She has led community projects through the Creative Connections Art Center, and assisted with programs such as Adirondack Friends in Need, Red Ribbon Partnership, and Flash Forward 4H group.Merendo is also the recipient of the 1998 Excellence in Nursing Award and the 2001 Most Honorable Student for the Health Science Department from Southern Union Community College, 2007 Nurse of Excellence Award for Fulton-Montgomery Community College, and the 2015 Gregory Hoye Caregiver Award from Mountain Valley Hospice.“I am thrilled to welcome Tammy as our new director at HealthLink,” said Littauer VP of Communications and Public Relations, Cheryl McGrattan. “Our mission is to bring healthcare into the community. Our neighbors will definitely benefit from Tammy’s integrity and enthusiasm.”Merendo attended Southern Union Community College in Opelika Alabama to receive her Associate Degree in Nursing. She is currently enrolled in Utica College working toward her Bachelors in Nursing. She grew up in Broadalbin and lives in Amsterdam.Merendo will assume her new position in August at HealthLink, Littauer’s Wellness Education & Resource Center, located on 2 Colonial Court in downtown Johnstown, (518) 736-1120.Littauer Community Educator, Tammy Merendo, RN
Littauer expansion will temporarily move providers Posted on June 14, 2016 by Dakota PikeGLOVERSVILLE – Nathan Littauer Hospital is pleased to announce the renovation and expansion of their Gloversville Medical Arts Building. The offices, located at 99 E. State St. on the hospital’s first floor will be temporarily moved to accommodate the construction. The following providers will be assigned to temporarily practicing at other Littauer Primary & Specialty Center as indicated:David Pesses, MD, will be at Johnstown Primary & Specialty Care, phone 775-4201James Vacek, MD, will be at Johnstown Primary & Specialty Care, phone 775-4201Rainer Feyer, PA, will be at Caroga Lake Primary & Specialty Care, phone 835-2341Crystal Baker, PA, will be at Perth Primary & Specialty Care, 883-8620 “We anticipate this transition will go smoothly, and the project will produce optimal results for our patients,” stated Littauer Vice President of Marketing and Communications Cheryl McGrattan. “We expect the new offices to be completed by fall.” Please contact your provider with any questions.
Littauer Primary Care has weekend hours Posted on June 14, 2016 by Dakota PikeSummer is here, and because illness and injury can happen any time, Nathan Littauer Hospital Primary Care offers weekend hours. On Saturdays and Sundays, you can trust your healthcare with the providers you already know and trust. Weekend hours are available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days at Littauer’s Primary Care Center located at 99 E. State St., in Gloversville. For questions or an appointment, please call 773-5690.
Gazette story features Littauer provider Melissa Bown Posted on April 8, 2016 by Dakota PikeUNUSUAL TIMINGFlu season running late this year in Capital RegionBy Vanessa Langdon/For The Daily Gazette, April 6, 2016 Littauer Photo by Sara SchrumMelissa Bown, employee health/infection prevention manager at Nathan Littauer Hospital in Gloversville, pictured, expects the late flu season to die down in the next couple of weeks. CAPITAL REGION — Winter started late this year and so did the flu season, according to Megan Helmecke, infection preventionist with Albany Medical Center. The late season flu hitting the Capital Region is more unusual in its timing than its severity, she said.“We had a high level of confirmed flu cases in the last weeks and [it’s] starting to decrease in the last couple of days,” she said.The late uptick in flu cases has been reported statewide.“We really didn’t see flu cases pick up until early February,” Helmecke said. “Seems to be we peaked in mid-March, which seems to be the same that New York state is reporting.”The late season flu is being felt in area schools, too.“Like the snow we saw yesterday [that] we usually see in February, it’s just hitting later than usual,” Robert Hanlon, a spokesman for the Scotia-Glenville School District, said Tuesday referring to Monday’s snowfall.Similar to what’s being reported at local hospitals, the district is starting to see relief.“We usually see this level in mid February — it kind of peaked last week and now we’re seeing it drop back off,” he said.Hanlon said that this peak is nothing like the situation they saw during the swine flu outbreak.“What we ran into with swine flu is half of a classroom would be out. It’s kind of spread out all over the place now,” Hanlon said. “Schools aren’t even required to keep track of their numbers — the only time schools were required to track numbers were [during] the swine flu.”The outbreak at Scotia-Glenville has not required the district to do any special cleaning.“It wasn’t across the board so we didn’t do anything more than we normally do, nothing intense, nothing with special chemicals or anything like that,” he said.“With the flu you have to just burn it through you and recover.”This late season flu is a strain that is protected in the vaccine, according to Helmecke, so the spread should be controlled.“People don’t usually think of the flu in April but with the late onset, the peak is at a different time period,” she said.At Nathan Littauer Hospital had only had nine confirmed cases of flu this season but they have heard about a late-season outbreak in the community.“I had heard of some reports that our Lexington Community Houses had an outbreak of the flu,” said Melissa Bown, employee health/infection prevention manager at Littauer. The Lexington houses are state-run group residences for people with disabilities.According to the state reports, the 2015 peak for the flu occurred about the first week in January for hospitalized patients and the last week of January for out patients. This year the peak was the third week in March for the state, said Bown.“I would say we would start to see it die down overall in the next week or two and it’ll continue down,” she said.“We should get another couple weeks of it and then we should be in the clear.”
