MEASLES ALERT: The state Department of Health issued a health advisory on Wednesday warning of rising measles cases and hospitalizations in parts of the U.S. Measles outbreaks in Texas, New Mexico and Canada have raised alarms among state and local public health officials, which have gained more gravity after the first reported measles death in the U.S. occurred in more than a decade, an unvaccinated child in West Texas. The Health Department released a public service announcement encouraging residents to vaccinate their children following declining inoculation rates statewide. Two New York cases have been reported so far this year, both in the city, and 15 were recorded last year, the department said.
HOSPITAL DONATION: Westchester Medical Center received a $5 million philanthropic donation to back a small part of the construction of a new medical building at the Valhalla hospital. John and Brenda Fareri pledged the funds to go toward the $220 million project to bring a new five-story trauma and specialty care tower, which was announced last summer. The Fareris’ daughter Maria died of rabies in 1995 at the hospital, spurring the family to help fund a new children’s hospital named after her in 2004. The story caught the attention of actor David Duchovny, who played John, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based real estate mogul, in the film Louder than Words in 2014. The latest donation will rename the forthcoming tower to the Brenda Fareri Pavilion.
HOME HEALTH ACQUISITION: VNS Health, one of the state’s largest home care providers, acquired Alliance Home Services, a licensed home care services agency based in the Bronx. Under the deal, a majority of Alliance’s workforce, more than 200 home health aides represented by 1199 SEIU, will move to VNS Health, according to an announcement from the organization.
