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| Press Release: December 20, 2007 | ||
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| OLVER ANNOUNCES FINAL PASSAGE OF OVER $10 MILLION FOR VARIOUS NORTH WORCESTER COUNTY PROJECTS | ||
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman John W. Olver (D-1st District) announced today that the fiscal year 2008 omnibus appropriations bill approved by Congress last night includes a little over $10 million in federal assistance for various projects in north Worcester County. Congressman Olver is a member of the Appropriations Committee and Chairman of the Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee and worked to include the funding in the omnibus spending legislation. The omnibus represents 11 annual appropriations bills pulled together into one package. The bill will fund most of the federal government’s domestic activities in 2008. Olver declared, "This federal funding will help our excelling North Central organizations continue to do their important work." The projects and their included dollar amounts are: $263,444 for Barre Family Health Center’s Expansion This funding will contribute toward the Barre Family Health Center’s expansion from 8,000 square feet to approximately 15,000 square feet. Such an expansion would allow the Center to accommodate an increase in patient volume to approximately 35,000-45,000 patients per year and provide an appropriately sized, safe, medical working area. In addition, the expansion will allow the health center to expand its scope of clinical services available, including cardiology and imaging services. "The Barre Family Health Center is the only center for urgent care and emergency services for ten communities in the Quabbin," Congressman John Olver said. "This expansion will allow the Health Center to not only serve more patients, but also to offer more services. It is critically important that people have access to services like mammography and bone density testing that this expansion will allow the Center to provide." Contact for more information: Gary Lapidas, Senior VP of UMass Memorial Health Care, 508-334-0250 $5.88 million for MBTA’s Fitchburg-Boston Rail Line This funding is part of a $150 million project to improve the current MBTA commuter line from Fitchburg to Boston. Funds will be used for the final design of the project as well as construction. The project should eventually decrease the number of cars that would otherwise be commuting into and out of greater Boston. The goal of the project is to reduce travel time from a maximum of 90 minutes to approximately 60 minutes, to improve reliability from 83% to over 95% on-time schedule adherence, and attract new riders to MBTA. "Commuter rail access is important to the residents in the North Central region," Olver said. "Significant infrastructure improvements to the rail line will mean a faster commute with more reliable and more convenient rail service. And, better commuter rail service will generate both economic and environmental benefits for the region." For more information, contact: Bill Steffens, Vice President, McMahon Associates, 617-725-0099. $470,000 for On-Site Academy in Gardner This funding will support On-Site Academy's Law Enforcement Counseling Program in Gardner. The program treats first responders who have experienced traumatic stress related to their work by providing a variety of treatment and counseling programs for law enforcement personnel and their families. The program also serves returning combat veterans who are law enforcement officers, helping to prepare them to return to their regular law enforcement jobs. "With national statistics indicating 1 in 6 returning combat soldiers suffering from depression or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, On-Site’s work is critical for returning veterans looking to get back to their regular law enforcement jobs," said Olver. Contact for more information: Hayden Duggan, On-Site Executive Director, 978-895-3257 $493,500 for City of Leominster Law Enforcement Sharing Network This funding will allow the city of Leominster to expand the Law Enforcement Information and Analysis Sharing Network to include additional communities in North Central Massachusetts. The Network links together community systems in participating departments to access and share information on a real-time basis. Currently, participating communities are Fitchburg, Leominster, Gardner, Ashburnham, Winchendon, Lunenburg, Westminster and Shirley. This funding will allow the departments in Orange, Athol, Ashby, Sterling, Hubbardston, Templeton and Fitchburg State College PDs to be added. "I am pleased to provide funding to allow additional police departments to further enhance the cooperative partnerships that have been established," Olver said. "The additional information this technology will provide will undoubtedly make street officers that patrol our communities, as well as the citizens who live there, safer." Contact for more information: Police Chief Roddy, City of Leominster PD, 978-534-7560 $980,000 for Advanced Freight Locomotive Safety and Monitoring Systems Implementation in Fitchburg The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), working in conjunction with Foster-Miller Company, based at Putnam Place in Fitchburg, will use this funding to accelerate the implementation of advanced locomotive safety and monitoring systems. Freight railroad is a critical component of U.S. interstate and international commerce. A root cause of preventable accidents in freight railroad is inadequate real time information to the engine crew on the condition of the moving locomotive parts such as the wheels, rotating axles, and brakes. Sensor technologies have been commonly implemented in aircraft, ships and trucks and initially adapted to freight locomotives. The FRA is now working to evaluate and verify operating and maintenance cost reductions is necessary to make these improvements economically viable for freight railroad. "I am pleased to support a public/private partnership between the FRA and Foster-Miller that has brought jobs to Pittsfield. This work could have both local benefits and far-reaching positive impacts on an industry in our country," Olver said. Contact for more information: Bill Ribich, Foster Miller, at 781-684-4018 $318,000 for Creation of Gardner Community Health Center (Mary Kane Building Renovation) This funding will go towards Community Health Connection’s (CHC) renovation of 3 floors of an elementary school in downtown Gardner to create a community health center. The Gardner Community Health Center will be a comprehensive facility for primary health care, dental services, mental health and pharmacy services to greater Gardner area residents, without regard to insurance coverage or ability to pay for services. Four health care providers trained as family practitioners, two dental providers and 1.6 full-time equivalent mental health providers will staff the Gardner Health Center. "An estimated 12 percent of Gardner area residents have no health insurance. When you include people who have inadequate health insurance coverage, that number rises to about 29 percent. The need is great," remarked Congressman Olver. "Community health centers are one of the most efficient ways to provide quality health care to the poor and underserved. They provide critical services, including preventative care, to the most vulnerable populations who aren’t receiving necessary medical services elsewhere." Contact for more information: Robert Johnson, CEO CHC Family Health Center, 978-665-5965 $588,000 for Community Transit Services (CTS) in Athol This funding will allow CTS, a non-profit public transportation provider based in Athol, to provide transit services to residents in the North Quabbin region to access employment, job training, education, medical care, and other quality of life services, as well as late night, early morning, and weekend service for work trips. CTS's service area includes the rural communities along Route 2 commonly referred to as the Northern Tier and its ridership has continued to increase each year. The CTS Dial-A-Ride program provides feeder service to the G-Link system operated in the Northern Tier as a fixed-route scheduled transportation service connecting Greenfield and Gardner. "Services provided by CTS are particularly important to people with disabilities, senior citizens and the working poor who are unable to use the fixed route service because of the distance from their homes to the bus stops," Olver said. Contact for more information: Fran Gromelski, Director of CTS, 978-575-0805 $502,313 for Mount Wachusett and other Northern Tier Community Colleges "SIMS" The funding will be used to expand the simulated instructional mannequin system (SIMS) within the community college system along the Northern Tier, allowing for all areas of healthcare to utilize SIMS as a training tool. Participating colleges will include MWCC, Greenfield Community College and Berkshire Community College. "These ‘virtual hospitals’ are excellent training opportunities for healthcare professionals. They should prove to be a real draw for these schools," Congressman John Olver said. Contact for more information: Edward Terciero, MWCC, 978-632-6600 $1 million for MART construction projects $250,000 of this Montachusett Regional Transit Authority funding will go towards the Leominster parking garage and $750,000 of the funding will be used for the new Gardner maintenance and Park and Ride facility. Contact for more information: Mohammed Khan, Administrator, MART, 978-345-7711, ext. 2233. |
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