About 60 people filled VFW Post 1545 in Windham on June 10 for the first Mountaintop Health and Wellness Forum, where health care providers, advocates, and local organizations offered information on services ranging from hospice care and mental health support to yoga, massage therapy, and insurance enrollment.
At one table, a man applied a tuning fork to the arm muscles of a young health care worker who had traveled from Vermont. At another, a respiratory therapist demonstrated how to use a spacer with an inhaler. Locals ate watermelon, drank iced tea and ice water, and moved between tables staffed by providers and community organizations.
The forum was organized by Neighbors for Community Health, a nonpartisan group formed about four months ago by mountaintop residents working to improve access to health care in rural communities. Jonathan Gross, one of the organizers and the founder and board president of Mountain Top Cares Coalition, said he hoped the event would lead to more collaboration among providers.
“What I hope will happen is that all of the providers that were here will now create a network,” Gross said. “We will continue to band together to do another forum like this, and even to do healthcare advocacy.”
Gross said the idea grew out of a Mountaintop Progressives meeting, where residents discussed how difficult it can be to navigate health care in rural areas. He said the conversation touched on “gaps in services, gaps in communication, isolation.”
Thirteen volunteers helped organize the forum, Gross said. He also credited one of the event’s sponsors, The Healthcare Consortium, with helping connect residents to health insurance assistance.
“They brought along 7 or 8 navigators,” Gross said, referring to the consortium’s free program that helps Columbia and Greene County residents enroll in health insurance.
The consortium’s executive director, Claire Parde, also attended and gave an introduction.
In total, 20 providers and organizations staffed tables at the event, ranging from the Alzheimer’s Association of Northeastern New York to Windham Pharmacy. Mountaintop Cares Coalition offered free naloxone spray kits, while Greene County Mental Health promoted New York state’s 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and handed out stress balls and stickers.
Erin Campbell, a health and wellness coach who grew up in Windham and now lives in Vermont, attended the forum to connect with other practitioners. She received sound wave treatment from Greg Madden, a Tannersville-based massage therapist with Illuminating Wellness.
Madden said he first came to the treatment as a client after dealing with chronic fatigue. He said the therapy worked well enough for him that he began offering it to others.
Nearby, Nicole Sansone and Heidi Ruehlmann of Windham’s Mountain Breeze offered information on yoga and meditation.
“People always ask if there is a class they can take if they are stiff, and the answer is always ‘yes,’” Sansone said.
Ruehlmann said the forum was their first local outreach event because “prior to this there were no such events.”
Across the room, Herzog Law Firm offered information on estate planning and elder care law. Hospice workers provided information on support services. Representatives from Columbia Memorial Hospital raised awareness about the hospital’s satellite locations in Tannersville and Hensonville and said they’re “not going anywhere, contrary to what people are saying.”
Outside, near the end of the event, Gross spoke with Jordan Rosenberg, a Durham resident who had arrived by bicycle. Rosenberg said he came after seeing a flyer at the pharmacy.
“I was buying Tylenol at the pharmacy and saw the flyer on the door,” Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg said he had ridden up the mountain for “three hours to get a Mama’s Boy truffle burger” before stopping in Windham and attending the forum. He made appointments with Madden and a chiropractor before leaving.
“I met a lot of good people today,” he said.
Lex Sottile is a contributing writer. Send correspondence to reporting@theoverlooknews.com.
