For the 13th consecutive year, members of the Skidmore College community are joining together through the Skidmore Cares community service program. 

Through the program, the Skidmore community has donated more than $90,000 in monetary gifts and more than 28,000 items to nonprofit agencies throughout Saratoga County.

The program was founded in 2006 by Skidmore President Philip A. Glotzbach and his wife, Marie Glotzbach, in an effort to bring staff and families together in a meaningful way during the holiday season. They reached out to the Skidmore community to raise donations of food, provisions and school supplies to assist those in need in Saratoga County. 

Nearly 150 Skidmore faculty and staff members, along with representatives from 10 Saratoga-based community service agencies, attended an energetic kickoff luncheon on campus. This year, contributions will benefit Shelters of Saratoga, Franklin Community Center, Mary’s Haven, Wellspring, Corinth Central School District, The Latino Advocacy Program, Salvation Army, Saratoga Center for the Family, Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council and  Saratoga Springs City School District PATHS.

By Christine Graf

The Malta YMCA opened the doors to its brand new $5.2 million facility in June. The two-story, 55,000-square-foot building is located off of Northway Exit 12. 

Before relocating to the new facility, the YMCA’s fitness and childcare centers were located in two different leased spaces in Malta Commons. Both centers are now housed under one roof in the new building. 

Construction of the facility received support from major donors including Stewarts, the Dake family, Adirondack Trust Co., the DeCrescente family, and Ballston Spa National Bank. 

The Malta YMCA is located next door to the Malta Med Emergent Care/Saratoga Hospital Medical Group building in the 140-acre Saratoga Medical Park. It was constructed through a joint partnership between the Saratoga Regional YMCA and Saratoga Hospital. The hospital leases approximately one third of the space in the new facility. According to Regional YMCA CEO Andrew Bobbitt, the YMCA entered into a “nonprofit-friendly lease partnership with the hospital.”

Firefighters bravely run into fires when everyone else is running out. Yet the biggest danger they face isn’t fire or smoke the group says. It’s suffering from a sudden cardiac event while on duty.

Denise L. Smith, director of the First Responder Health and Safety Laboratory at Skidmore College, has been researching firefighter heart health for more than 20 years along with colleagues. Now a $1.3 million FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) will enable Smith and her team to put their findings into practice and help save firefighters’ lives.

The grant will fund a two-year project in which Smith’s team will work with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, leading cardiologists, fire chiefs and other experts to implement a pilot program to screen more than 2,000 firefighters for cardiac risks, then develop and distribute evidence-based enhanced screening guidelines and training/education materials to fire departments nationwide.

“Firefighters put their lives on the line to serve the communities they protect,” said Smith, a Tisch Family Distinguished Professor. “This project will help ensure that they are armed with the scientific information and medical screenings they need to protect themselves.”

In a large AFG-funded study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association on Sept. 5, Smith and colleagues found that the vast majority of firefighters who died from cardiac events had evidence of both enlarged heart and coronary heart disease revealed during autopsy.