EQUIPPED TO LEAD

Gary S. Horan, FACHE, President and CEO, was featured in an interview in NJBIZ. In his cogent observations of the health care scene in New Jersey, Horan expressed his long-abiding belief in the value and importance of “safety net” hospitals such as Trinitas. He also offered his insider perspectives on the impact of the Affordable Care Act on health care delivery around the state. For a copy of the article send an email to: dharris@trinitas.org.

WELCOMING RETIREMENT

James Lape, former Senior Vice President of Behavioral Health & Psychiatry and Long Term Care, (third from right), capped off a decades-long career with a retirement dinner held at Galloping Hill Country Club.  Well-wishers including state, county and local dignitaries joined Jim and his family in the well-deserved send-off to retirement.

CUBS WIN

Cub Scout Den 3 Pack 260 recently visited DCH Millburn Audi. The Cub Scouts were given a tour of the Service Department and shown how Audis are serviced and repaired. It was a great experience for everyone.

Back Row: Miguel Rivera, Alan Palma (Service Mgr), Alfred Khouri (GM), Kevin Anderson (Den Leader). Front Row: (Brayton School Cub Scout Den 3 Pack 260): Jack Wilson, Justin Anderson, Patrick Murphy, Jack Holmes, Christopher Del Rosso, Lucas Stocks, and Oliver Relf. Den Leader Aileen Stokes was not available for the photo.

HEALING RULES

The fourth annual Wound Education Day at Trinitas showcased the state of the art treatments used at the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine which achieves 90% heal rates for hard to heal wounds.  For information about successful and effective wound care at Trinitas, call (908)  994-5480.

20 YEARS… STILL RESPONDING

Pre-Hospital Services at Trinitas celebrated its 20th anniversary with special guests including Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage (center). The Mobile Intensive Care Unit estimates it has responded to more than 15,000 calls and traveled more than 750,000 miles to reach patients and transport them rapidly to the Trinitas Emergency Department.

TAKING COMMUNITY ACTION

Joe McTernan, Senior Director of Community and Clinical Services, has been named to serve on the Union County Human Services Advisory Council (HSAC) through 2017. He will help influence a variety of community human services initiatives on the county level and those of the New Jersey Department of Human Services and the Department of Children and Families.

40 YEARS…STILL ADVANCING

Janine Graf-Kirk, RN, has been awarded a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree from Walden University. She is the first nurse at Trinitas Regional Medical Center and the Trinitas School of Nursing to earn this advanced degree, which coincides with her 40th year as a nurse. Graf-Kirk also holds a Master’s degree in Nursing Education from New York University in 1988.

PREPARED TO LEAD

Upon the recent retirement of James Lape as Senior Vice President of Behavioral Health & Psychiatry and Long Term Care, James McCreath, PhD, has been appointed Vice President of Behavioral Health and Psychiatry. With 35 years of leadership experience, McCreath most recently served as President and CEO of Cerebral Palsy of New Jersey. A graduate of Seton Hall University, Jim also holds a Master’s from Columbia University School of Social Work and a Ph.D. from the NYU School of Social Work.

SECURE AROUND THE CLOCK

For its adoption and implementation of an innovative security system, the Trinitas Security Department was recognized as a “Power Player in Security Leadership” by Security Magazine. Pictured, left to right: Security Officer Westley Wallace, Glenn Nacion, VP of Human Resources, John Dougherty, Director of Security, Gary S. Horan, President and CEO, Security Capt. Alberto Ortiz, and Scott Janks, Security Manager, proudly display their award.  The Trinitas Health Foundation funded the security system.

The Trinitas Emergency Department will double its size by the end of 2017.

By Caleb MacLean

Trinitas Regional Medical Center celebrated its 15th anniversary last month by unveiling plans to renovate and expand its Emergency Medicine Department. During the decade and a half since the merger of Elizabeth General and St. Elizabeth Hospital (which created TRMC), ER visits have been steadily increasing. The $18 million makeover will add 24,000 square feet of space and take place in three stages, to be completed some time in 2017.

“In 2013, we saw nearly 72,000 emergency department visits,” says Trinitas President and Chief Executive Officer Gary S. Horan. “With the expansion, we’ll be better able to continue to offer the highest level of patient care possible.”

Mercedittas “Mercy” Mallari, RN, MSN, Director of Nursing, Emergency Department, Gary S. Horan, FACHE, President and CEO, Maribeth Santillo, RN, MS, Senior Director, Emergency and Ambulatory Care, and John D’Angelo, DO, Chairman/Emergency Medicine, display the architectural rendering of the new Emergency Department expansion and renovation project that is expected to be completed in 2017.

The expanded Emergency Department, adds Horan, will offer patient care more rapidly and efficiently through new equipment that is positioned much closer to Emergency Department treatment areas.

“The expansion will include a new ultrasound room and a CT Suite for a 128-slice CT Scanner, which will reduce the need to transport patients to other testing areas.”

Besides doubling the number of treatment areas from the current 26 to a total of 52, the new facility will also provide an environment to reduce patient anxiety and offer a private area for families needing quiet time. The staff, meanwhile, will be trained to direct potentially disruptive patients to an area where they are less likely to distract doctors and other ER patients. A new lounge will also be created for First Responders from the various EMS squads that transport patients to the hospital.

Why the steady climb in emergency visits? According to Dr. John D’Angelo, Chairman of Emergency Medicine, many in the community do not have easy access to a primary-care physician. “They rely on Trinitas for treatment of the flu and urinary tract infections that might be more commonly treated in routine visits to a primary care physician,” he explains. “Also, with a population that is growing older, we see more cardiac and stroke cases due to age-related factors.”

Trinitas has successfully integrated advanced emergency lifesaving treatment methods into the emergency angioplasty treatment process, Dr. D’Angelo points out. “Our team effort uses a ’30-30-30’ rhythm. 30 minutes for EMS responders to reach the patient, perform an EKG, and get the patient to us.  30 minutes for the Emergency Team to receive, stabilize and transport the patient to the cath lab. Then, 30 minutes for the Catheterization Team to open the occluded artery.”

“Simply put,” he says, “every minute we save means a better outcome for patients.”

Colon cancer rates drop as screenings increase.

By Christine Gibbs

This February marks the 15th anniversary of the start of Colon Cancer Awareness Month. President Bill Clinton made it official in the final year of his presidency and, in the ensuing decade-and-half, nationwide initiatives have gotten the word out on the importance of exercise, healthy eating and regular screenings for individuals 50 and over. That being said, there is a long way to go.

Colon cancer is often used synonymously with the larger group of cancers that is more accurately named colorectal cancer. Although both colon and rectal cancer affect the large intestine, they are distinguished by both location and function (colon cancer affects the higher portion and rectal the lower portion). Colorectal cancer ranks #2 in the U.S. as a cause of cancer deaths and #3 overall in terms of the number of cases diagnosed.

Despite its prevalence, the early symptoms of colon cancer still frequently go unnoticed. The good news is that it is among the most treatable (and preventable) cancers, so as awareness continues to grow, there is every reason to believe that the number of deaths will decrease…dramatically. Currently, these are the facts—as collected by the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• About 1 in 20 (or 5 percent) of all Americans will develop colorectal cancer.
• 90% of new cases occur in individuals 50 years or older.
• People with a close relative (parent, sibling or child) with colon cancer are 2 to 3 times more likely to develop it themselves.
• Median age at diagnosis is 69.
• While the number of cancer diagnoses in older adults has dropped since 1985, studies by the National Cancer Institute indicate that the rate for those under 50 has risen. Why? “More people over age 50 are getting colonoscopies, resulting in a higher number of pre-cancerous polyps being discovered in that population,” explained Andrea Zimmern, MD, Colorectal Surgeon at Trinitas Regional Medical Center.
• It has been estimated that 60% of deaths could be prevented with screening.
• The annual cost of colorectal cancer treatment recently in the US is $8.4 billion.

UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS

The news isn’t all bad. A recent study showed a decrease of 30 percent in cases (and also deaths) in adults 50 or over. This change is being attributed primarily to the increase in the number of colonoscopies per year. There are actually more than 1 million colorectal cancer survivors in the US today. The American Cancer Society has outlined several major factors that impact dealing with Colon cancer:

www.thinkstockphotos.com

Genetics

Certain tests have been developed—including Oncotype Dx Colon Cancer Assay, ColoPrint, and ColDx—to examine the role of genetic influences in forming colon cancer tumors in order to identify individuals who have a higher risk that an existing cancer will spread. Other tests are available to identify a predisposition to such tumors. According to studies by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, about 5 to 10 percent of all colorectal cancers are caused by a genetic mutation that can be passed from parent to child. For those individuals with a strong family history, professional genetic counselors can be consulted to help assess the level of potential risk.

Staging

Staging describes how far the cancer has spread in the body. For colorectal cancer, the stage is identified by whether the cancer has grown into the intestinal wall or other nearby structures, or if it has spread to the lymph nodes or distant organs. The importance of staging is that it helps with prognosis and treatment options. The staging process involves a physical exam, biopsies, and imaging tests such as CT or MRI scans.

The daVinci Robotic Surgery System is used at Trinitas for a wide variety of procedures, including colon and rectal surgery.

Treatment

Surgical options are constantly being evaluated and improved. It is the early-stage cancer that is best addressed with surgery. Approximately 95% of Stage I and 65%-80%of Stage II are surgically curable, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. Laparoscopic and robotic surgeries are becoming more widely used than invasive traditional techniques.

www.thinkstockphotos.com

Chemotherapy involves administering specific drugs that have been shown to kill certain cancer cells. Delivery can be via injection, intravenously, or even in pill form. Unfortunately, the drugs not only can kill rapidly growing cancerous cells, but healthy cells as well, which can cause debilitating side effects. Targeted therapy involves newer drugs that attack the specific cancer with fewer side effects. These are typically administered to advanced cases and can be very expensive. Research is also being conducted on immunotherapy alternatives, which involve developing vaccines that can boost the patient’s own immune system to help fight the cancer. Radiation therapy is another option, although it is used much more often for rectal cancer, according to Dr. Zimmern.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SCREENING

In the majority of cases, colorectal cancer is eminently treatable in its early stages, and even preventable through regular screening. Since its symptoms can go undetected, prevention requires attention and action. Popular TV anchor and personality, Katy Couric—whose husband succumbed to Stage IV colon cancer—became a well known advocate for colonoscopy screening by allowing her own procedure to be televised in March of 2000.

Colon cancer begins as a small, easily removed polyp growing on the lining of the colon or large intestine. A colonoscopy is the surest way to detect such a growth in its very early pre-cancerous stages. For anyone who is squeamish about this relatively painless outpatient procedure, investigating the computerized virtual colonoscopy may be worthwhile, although Dr. Zimmern advises caution. “Regular colonoscopy is still the best and only option that is both diagnostic and therapeutic. If we see a polyp we can remove it on the spot.” On average, a screening colonoscopy will discover polyps in 25 to 50 percent of asymptomatic patients, according to The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons Textbook of Colon and Rectal Surgery. “This means that up to 50 percent of people who have a computerized virtual colonoscopy will need to go in for a regular colonoscopy afterwards,” Dr. Zimmern explains.

As with many cancers, lifestyle changes can also help to prevent colon cancer. It’s no surprise that increased risk factors include a diet of high-fat animal foods, being overweight, smoking, and inactivity. The secret to avoiding colon cancer is simple: stay healthy, stay informed…and get scoped!

Andrea S. Zimmern, MD, FACS

Colorectal Surgeon

908.994.8449

Emergencies can arise any time, day or night, any time of the year. By definition, you never know when you, a friend, relative or co-worker—or a complete stranger—will need emergency assistance…and if you will be the one who has to make the call. In 2015, the number of 911 calls made in the U.S. is likely to top a quarter-billion. The number of emergency calls has continued to rise as cell phones become more prevalent, which puts a lot of pressure on the 911 operators who field those calls—especially in a medical emergency. To make sure you get the help you need fast, the key is to remain calm and be precise. Dr. John D’Angelo, Chairman of TRMC’s Emergency Medicine Department, answers EDGE readers’ questions on emergency calls.

When should I call 911?

You should call 911 for any emergency situation, defined as an injury to a person, animal or property. The emergency situation should be called in while in progress. It’s important to place that call as quickly as possible as the emergency is happening. You should not wait to call 911 after an event has occurred. If someone is not breathing, unconscious, bleeding profusely, seizing or convulsing or experiencing some other life-threatening situation, make the call—even of you are in doubt.

What medical emergencies in adults are “time-sensitive” and should generate a 911 call?   

Let’s talk a little bit about “alarming symptoms.” If you or someone around you experiences chest pain, shortness of breath, weakness in an arm or leg, or a speech deficit, you should call 911. Heart attacks and strokes are especially time-sensitive disease entities. Heart attack and stroke patients who present early to the Emergency Department fare much better than those who come in after a long delay. Abdominal pain in the elderly is another time-sensitive disease. The longer such pain in the elderly goes undifferentiated, the greater the likelihood for a poor outcome.

How about children? When should I call 911 for them?

Alarming symptoms for children are generally respiratory in nature. Alarming signs observed by a parent or caretaker include a child with nasal flaring, grunting, retractions, and new or refractory wheezing. All warrant a call to 911. Ingestions of any possible harmful or toxic solutions or products are another reason to call 911.  In this situation, I recommend you also place a call to a poison control center. The New Jersey Poison Center number is 1–800–222–1222.

What should I bring to the ER?

In the case of a child who has swallowed something harmful, bring the container or a picture of the ingested agent with you to the emergency department. This is important because all caustics—such as household cleaners, presciption and over-the-counter medications—are not created equally. The poison center, as well as your emergency providers, need as much information as possible to adequately explore an effective antidote. Also, it is imperative to obtain as much information as possible from caregivers regarding the time of ingestion and quantity consumed.

Who answers my 911 call?

It really depends on your geographic location. When you call 911, your call will be fielded by either a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) or a Public Safety Dispatch Point (PSDP). The 911 call-taker will ask you, “What’s your emergency…?” They will then handle the call themselves or transfer you to the local Emergency Dispatch Center that can best manage the emergency. In New Jersey, most 911 calls are handled by the local municipalities.

What other questions should I be prepared to answer when I call 911?

Where is the emergency taking place? Who is involved in the emergency? When did the emergency occur? The key to answering these questions is to be concise. The Emergency Medical Dispatcher is listening for what service a caller needs. They will take the information you give them and connect you with the appropriate dispatch unit—Fire, Emergency Medical Services or Police.

What if the person calling 911 is not fluent in English?

Municipalities actually contract with multilingual vendors who can assist with any language.

Does it make a difference if I call 911 from a land line or my cell phone?

It could. A land line ensures rapid dispatch to your exact location. If you call from a cell phone, your call may be picked up by the closest tower, then rerouted or transferred to the local municipality capable of handling the call. If possible, use a land line.

Why do you have to “stay on the line” while waiting for help to arrive?

Emergency Medical Dispatchers will assist you with pre-arrival instructions. They may assist with CPR instructions, basic life support, or fire safety. They will also help you to remain calm until help arrives, or answer questions if the emergency situation suddenly changes.

COLOR ME READY

You never know if a child will be the person making the call in a 911 situation. The state of New Jersey’s Department of Human Services actually offers a coloring book with simple language and images

for children, showing them how to respond to emergencies.  You can download this helpful teaching tool at state.nj.us/911/kids/book/911book.pdf.

Do you have a hot topic for Dr. D’Angelo and his Trinitas ER team?

Submit your questions to AskDrD@edgemagonline.com

Editor’s Note: John D’Angelo, DO, is the Chairman of Emergency Medicine at Trinitas Regional Medical Center. He has been instrumental in introducing key emergency medical protocols at Trinitas, including the life-saving Code STemi, which significantly reduces the amount of time it takes for cardiac patients to move from the emergency setting to the cardiac catheterization lab for treatment.

News, views and insights on maintaining a healthy edge.

Experimental Drug Looks Good vs. MRSA

Antibiotic-resistant superbugs that have hospitals and doctors gravely concerned, including MRSA, may have a new superhero in the form of the experimental drug, Staphefekt. In a recent trial conducted by the Dutch biotech company that makes it, five of six patients with the MRSA infection on their skin were cured. Staphefekt works differently than traditional antibiotics, which need to penetrate bacteria to be effective. Staphefekt latches onto the wall of the bacteria and releases an enzyme that eats a hole through the membrane to get inside. The hope is that bacteria won’t be able to adapt to this type of attack. “This is an exciting new concept in our fight against harmful bacteria,” observes William Farrer, MD, Chief of Infectious Disease at Trinitas. “However, I would stress that Staphefekt can be used only on superficial Staph skin infections such as acne and impetigo, not on more serious infections such as abscesses, pneumonia, or blood stream infections.

William Farrer, MD Chief of Infectious Disease 908.994.5455

” Hopefully, adds Dr. Farrer—who also serves as Associate Professor of Medicine at Seton Hall’s School of Health and Medical Science—the technology will be extended to other bacteria and for systemic use. Indeed, some scientists believe this type of antibiotic can be “trained” to kill only bad bacteria and not the beneficial bacteria in our bodies.

A Blunt Assessment of Marijuana

As state after state legalizes marijuana, the medical community is looking more closely at the effects of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, on human brains. It is well accepted that THC impacts short-term memory and that marijuana-using adolescents can experience long-term impact on the developing brain. A recent study conducted jointly by Northwestern and Harvard Universities showed that the concentration of THC in marijuana may be a key contributing factor. The researchers noted that currently available marijuana is three to four times more potent in terms of THC concentration than 20 years ago. College students who used marijuana four times a week underwent brain scans and all were found to have slight structural abnormalities of the nucleus accumbens—an area associated with pleasure and pain and, by extension, motivation. “This may explain the amotivational syndrome that has been described in earlier literature as a complication of marijuana use,” according to Anwar Y. Ghali, MD, MPA, Chairman of the

Anwar Y. Ghali, MD, MPA Chairman, Psychiatry 908.994.7454

Department of Psychiatry at Trinitas. “Also, studies have demonstrated that marijuana use accelerates the precipitation of schizophrenia in 40 percent of patients who developed that illness. In addition, studies also have shown that many of those who use marijuana go on to abuse other and more addictive substances.” One of the Harvard-Northwestern study co-authors commented, that if he were to design a substance that’s bad for college students, “it would be marijuana.”

Obesity and the Brain

More bad news about the effects of a poor diet—this from the November meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. New research findings presented during Neuroscience 2014 suggest disturbing connections between obesity and brain function. For example, exposure to a high-fat diet in the womb may alter a child’s brain “wiring” in ways that alter eating habits later in life. Another study suggests that being overweight is associated with shrinkage of a part of the brain involved in long-term memory of older adults. “We are aware there is an association between obesity and the brain, and how the food we eat plays a major role in our overall health and well being,” notes

Ari Eckman, MD
Chief of Endocrinology and Metabolism 908.994.5187

Dr. Ari Eckman, Chief, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism. “What is not clear is what the exact mechanism of that association is. Since none of these findings is conclusive, further research is needed to determine the impact of obesity on the brain, but this information presented at Neuroscience 2014 certainly sheds light on another possible danger of being obese.” One more bit of alarming research from the conference hinted that a high-fructose diet during adolescence could affect the brain’s response to stress and also exacerbate depressive behavior.

…and 21 other expressions that drive me crazy.

By Mark Stewart

I have issues with I have issues. In my career as a writer and editor, I find myself sideswiping people in the financial, legal, medical, tech, sports, publishing and public relations industries who subject me to what I consider to be an inordinate number of expressions that either don’t say what they mean, don’t mean what they say, are utterly redundant or are subject to serial misuse.

I’m not talking about industry-specific jargon; that at least has a cultural component. The words and phrases that burrow under my skin are ones we all employ on a regular basis without even listening to the jibberish spilling out of our mouths. Perhaps the most annoying aspect of these overwrought expressions is that I catch myself using them all the time. Like the rest of the world, I have my lazy, semiliterate moments—even though I am paid not to.

So here are my Top 20. How many do you hear in a given day? Be honest…how many are you guilty of using?

Absolutely!

This is often the one-word response to something that requires nothing more than the word Yes or even a simple head-nod. I’ve noticed that a lot of service people have started using the word. “May I have some water when you come back to the table?” Absolutely. It’s become a kissing cousin to the word Obviously, which people use when something is not at all obvious.

At the end of the day…

I don’t know about you, but the end of my day rarely brings resolution to anything other than being awake. I wonder, do people who work the night shift ever say At the end of the day…? If so, wake me up so I can slap them. Actually, this expression has some history behind it: In the early 1800s, when the day ended, there was only (poorly lit) night, so everyone had to stop whatever they were doing until it was light again.

At this point in time…

Just to be clear, this is really code for Until I tell you otherwise, because it covers way more time than a single point in time.

Everything happens for a reason.

Well, technically this is true. My issue with the phrase is that, while brilliant minds like Einstein and Hawking spend their lives trying to express this concept in mathematical terms, the rest of us dullards use this old saying when we have no clue what the reason for something is.

If I would have…

This is a tense with which I am unfamiliar. It’s like a mad twisting of the subjunctive. In truth, it’s not a tense at all. The correct construction is either Had I… or If I had…

I have to say…

Fine. Go ahead. You don’t need anyone’s permission.

I have issues with…

If these issues are important topics of debate, I’m all for a lively discussion. If these issues are only inside your head, work them out and get back to me.

I mean…

Wait. Did you just say something you didn’t mean?

I’m not comfortable with…

Your comfort is not my concern, so find another way of saying I disagree or That’s a bad idea.

It is what it is…

Annoying because it relieves the utterer of any responsibility for analyzing or responding meaningfully to a situation. Doubly annoying because often it is not what it is, but something entirely different.

It’s all good.

Rarely, if ever, is it all good.

No-brainer

So are you saying this is a good idea or a stupid one? Or that it’d be stupid not to think it’s a good idea? Or that giving it more thought would require no brain? Now my head hurts.

No worries!

I’m sorry. Are you Australian? I didn’t think so. For future reference, It’s okay or Don’t worry will do just fine.

Old school

The more I think about this adjective, the more it annoys and confuses me. First of all, it should be hyphenated, yet never is. Second of all, its meaning is different when a young person uses it and an old person uses it. Third of all, let’s face it, young people have almost no concept of what old people were doing when they were young. And fourth of all, if you took courses at the New School in New York City back in the 1980s, is everything you learned now considered Old School?

Personally…

C’mon, is this any way to start a sentence? I assume whatever observation or opinion you are about to offer is personal, because you are saying it.

Same difference

Thankfully, people don’t use this much when they’re being serious because, seriously, does anyone really understand what it means?

Thanks in advance…

I am guilty of using this phrase in the manipulative way it was intended, as a means of saying to someone In case you were thinking of not doing this annoying thing I want you to do, forget it—you now have no choice because I’ve already thanked you. It’s like warning someone not to go back on a promise they haven’t even made yet.

That’s a great question.

This is a very “versatile” response. It can mean Wow, I never thought of that and I probably should have or That question was idiotic, but you’re my boss or client and I’d rather not be fired today. Often, it is a way of drawing someone timid into a group conversation, which I guess is a fairly benign use of the phrase. Ironically, there is one time when you almost never hear people say, “That’s a great question”—when someone actually asks a great question.

To be honest…

Hold on a second. At what point were you not being honest? When I hear someone say this, I instantly assume that some part of what they are about to say might be a lie.

What’s done is done.

Technically true, but that’s no reason to give up on something you might still be able to change or fix.

With all due respect…

There are certain people who’ll begin a sentence with With all due respect… and you just know that what’s coming next is going to be the most disrespectful thing you have heard all day. Admit it, you know at least one person like this.

YOLO

Short for You only live once. I don’t hang out with people who actually use this word, but it irritates me just to know that these people exist. I wonder if Hindus ever say YOLO…because I’d have an issue with that.

Editor’s Note: In case you were wondering, the author’s #23 most annoying expression was My bad. Visit the EDGE Facebook page to add your pet peeves to the list—including Pet peeve (which came in at #32).

Issue-Resolving Personal Products 

FETCHING FASHION

The stylish ThunderShirt by Thunder Works transforms crazed canines into calm ones by exerting gentle pressure during stormy weather.  Available at petexpertise.com.

BEAT GENERATION

The EMWave2 is Heart Math’s newest personalized biofeedback device, which enables users to monitor their heart rate and even display it on a computer screen.  Available at heartmath.com. 

VISION QUEST

Precision-designed  Haus Computer Glasses are the answer to digital eye fatigue. Is that actually a thing?  Available at gunnars.com. 

FINANCIAL AIDE

The feathery light and super-strong, identity theft-thwarting Carbon Fiber Wallet blocks radio waves to keep hackers out of your purse or pocket.  Available at hammacher.com. 

LIGHTEN UP

The Philips  Wake Up Light Plus uses UV-free halogen illumination to bring dawn gently into your bedroom and also mimics the fading light at dusk to help you fall asleep. Available at philips.com. 

GET SMART

The Smart Home Kit by Little Bits Electronics offers home automation solutions for the do-it-yourselfer. Available at  littlebits.com. 

Stress-Relieving Personal Products  

INTO THE WOOD

The Tabletop Wood Stump Fountain is an artisanal take on an age-old secret for reducing stress. Available at builddirect.com.

ON THE BALL

The  Ergo Desk Chair features an award-winning lo-tech/hi-tech design that promotes balance, posture and rock-hard abs. Available at theergochair.com. 

WARMING TREND

The Feel Good Hug rice-heated  Ginger Body Wrap soothes the soul with ginger and lemon essential oils. Available at origins.com. 

LOBE STORY

Me Stressed Earrings are a fashionable way to remind friends, family and co-workers to just chill out. Available at cafepress.com

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BACK TO THE FUTURE

Sit straight, shoulders back, head up—your Mom was right, but she probably didn’t have the Swarovski-studded Lumo Lift Posture Alert in mind. Available at lumobodytech.com. 

SWEET DREAMS

The Wrap-A-Nap is a combination neck/headrest, eye- and ear-covering that helps you fall asleep almost anywhere. Available at wrapanap.com.

Products for the Leg-Weary 

LEG CANDY

Step out in style while supporting circulation with these kicky Compression Knee-Highs. Available at supportplus.com.

GYM DANDY

The breathable, flexible and perfectly cushioned Asics Gel Harmony TR 2  was picked by Fitness magazine as the top cardio/cross-training shoe for women in 2014. Available at asicsamerica.com. 

THERE’S THE RUB 

The Soothera Foot Massager proves you don’t have to break the bank to bring a little Shiatsu action into your home. Available at amazon.com.

PAIN MANAGEMENT

There’s nothing fun about a foot or ankle injury, unless you count MediFashions’ line of  Medical Boot Accessories. Available at healinstyle.com.

UP IN THE AIR

Kangoo Jumps combine the latest spring technology with athletic training footwear to provide a crackin’ good workout. Available at kangoojumps.com.

TOE HOLD

Bella Grip Socks are a colorful and sure-footed way to get through your next yoga class. Available at toesox.com. 

Selling your plugged-in kids on summer camp.

By Diane Alter

The current crop of 6-to-16-year-olds represents the most connected generation in human history. And the most disconnected. We have social media, gaming, smart phones and the Internet to thank for that. We also have those things to thank for the fact that our kids may never fully appreciate the sounds of frogs singing, crickets chirping and cicadas humming. They will likely miss out on trekking through unknown territory (without GPS help), the smell of liberally applied bug spray and what happens when you move too suddenly in a canoe. They will be camera-ready at all times, to be sure, but by the time they want to relive their childhood summers, it’ll be too late to realize that those cameras were mostly pointing the wrong way.

Fear not. Thanks to a robust group of thriving summer camps, unplugged and idyllic times are still possible. Camps offering unspoiled days starting with quiet, dewy dawns and ending with dusk’s pale pink and bright orange skies do exist. As for the kids who prefer to tap their inner selves and take a more cerebral approach to summer, the specialty camps that cater to this market also do a good job getting them out in the fresh air (albeit occasionally against their will). Study after study shows that kids exposed to camp experiences and outdoor sports at an early age are likely to continue them for the rest of their lives. They also have better self-esteem and tend to do better in school than non-campers.

“The benefits include everything from improved mental health to brain restoration to community building,” confirms Laurel Peak, program manager and mentor at Wild Whatcom—a popular adventure camp in the Pacific Northwest.

Seeing as this is the time of year most parents finalize their plans for sleep-away summers, it’s a good idea to get a feel for the range of offerings around the United States. These 10 do an excellent job of promoting outdoor experiences. Some are thousands of miles away, while others are a relatively short drive away.

The Appalachian Mountain Club, founded in 1876, promotes the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the mountains, forests, waters, and trails of America’s Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions—with the goal of making kids lifelong stewards of the great outdoors. With chapters from Maine to Washington, D.C.—including groups in Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia—young people enjoy activities like hiking, paddling, cycling, and skiing. “AMC is committed to getting kids outside, enjoying the time spent outdoors and fostering a closer connection with nature through our many offerings,” says Rob Burbank. “Without question, it’s a challenge to get kids outdoors. But we offer a number of enticing programs that enable kids to interact with the outdoors and achieve a deeper connection with a great big world that’s void of cellphones and computers.”

Avid4Adventure in Boulder, CO teaches hiking, biking, climbing and paddling—building skills, grit and determination. “Kids from all over the country come for our outdoor adventures,” says Ileana Street. “Stand-up paddle boarding, rock climbing, and mountain biking are just some of our activity offerings. We make sports inviting not intimidating. It’s empowering to master a new skill and it’s a confidence-booster.” Campers stay in comfortable (but not cushy) cabins, and meal-wise, Avid4Adventure accommodates any kind of diet. Programs change every year so that repeat guests are introduced to new challenges.

Bold Earth in Golden, CO, offers teenagers an adventure-travel summer camp filled with exploration, learning and discovery. The camp focuses on small groups and promotes leadership, teamwork and excellence in a supportive environment. “We introduce kids, in a very successful way, how to be in the game instead of simply playing the game,” says Abbott Wallis. “There are no locked doors, no HBO, and it’s all super-honest. We teach kids how to connect with others. We turn the entertainment on while turning the computers off. In bringing out laughter, dancing, and singing, we make sure that when kids return home they have a big story to tell—It was incredible…I was incredible.” Since 1976, over 15,000 students from 50 states (and more than 55 countries) have attended Bold Earth. Parents and teens are actually interviewed before being accepted.

Camp Harmony in Warren, NJ has both day-camp and one-week sleep-away programs. It offers a safe and friendly environment where girls and boys can make friends, discover new passions and learn to be independent. Activities include archery, arts and crafts, computers, cooking, drama, earthlore, gaga ball (a type of pinball), hip-hop dance, karate, music, miniature golf, tennis and other sports. “Camp Harmony and its staff dedicates itself to the mission of ensuring the safety and well-being of every single child, while providing a fun, unique and creative learning experience that fosters unforgettable moments, lasting friendships, an unrivaled sense of belonging and lifelong memories,” says  Carol Amedo. The goal, adds her husband, Jerry, is to create the “ultimate summer of their lives.”

Hi-Hills Day Camp at Gill St. Bernard’s in Gladstone, NJ offers a variety of programs for children ages 3 to 15 across 10 summer weeks. Whether a family’s goal is enrichment, academics, sports, fine arts or traditional camp programs, Hi-Hill has become quite good at offering something for everyone. Traditional camp activities include instructional tennis, yoga, archery, pottery, nature, technology, swimming, and dance. Teen travel programs (for ages 13 to 15) offer a mix of day camp activities and travels to nearby attractions, plus one five-day overnight trip. Enrichment programs includes academics, athletics, creative and performing arts—all which can be combined with any of Hi-Hills day camps. “What makes Hi-Hills unique,” says Allyson Day, “is that we are one of the most flexible camps. We recognize that summer is just as busy, if not busier, than a hectic school year. With that in mind, children can attend one or more of our programs for a half-day, half-week or whatever fits into their schedule.”

International Ivy offers summer enrichments programs at 11 New Jersey locations. It was established to give kids creative, hands-on and intellectually stimulating learning experiences during the summer. International Ivy offers 50 week-long, full- and half-day classes that run the gamut from computer programming to biomedical engineering to the engineering of ice cream to golfing to chess. “Our ultimate goal is to help our students find their passion,” says Lily Wong. “Once they find it, they are self-motivated to learn and explore further. For students who opt for our indoor classes, we build in two 30-minutes breaks each day for some outdoor activity and sun.” A former head of innovation at Pfizer, Wong makes sure International Ivy’s classes always feature the latest technology. The Caldwell branch offers residential housing for international students.

Otter Bar Lodge Kayak School on the Salmon River in Northern California is a premier kayak school. Its location may be remote, but the atmosphere is intimate and friendly. “Our concept is simple: keep it small, personable and first-class,” says Peter Sturges. “While we specialize in river kayaking, we also offer a number of other outdoor activities. Some kids come as kayak newbies, while others are experienced. Many come back year after year.” There is no Internet service for the kids, adds Sturges’s wife, Kristy, and they aren’t allowed to bring any electronics. “We keep them busy from dawn to dusk, so they don’t miss their smartphones or video games,” she says. “We have found over our thirty years in operation that given the choice, kids would rather be outdoors, learning or perfecting a new sport than typing away on electronics.” She adds the kids actually enjoy the remoteness, church-like silence and absence of tech distractions.

Sandborn Western Camp in Florissant, CO has been hosting boys and girls from all over the world for six decades. The western-themed camp offers horseback riding, rock climbing, canoeing, swimming, tubing, archery, pottery and more. For many suburban campers, Sandborn is the first time that they know what it really means to be content without electronics. “We offer outdoor adventures that are appropriately challenging,” says Mike MacDonald. “We have over six thousand acres for kids to explore. They find great value and power in being outdoors.” Kids learn to become truly aware of nature’s bounty, he adds, and that awareness stretches their minds and helps them grow as people. “They’re eager to ‘climb the mountain’—whatever the mountain might be—and find out just how unique and strong they are.”

EXPLORE MORE

For more information on the camps in this section, log onto the web addresses below. Camps in (or close to) New Jersey are in bold:

Appalachian Mountain Club • outdoors.org Avid4Adventure • avid4.com

Bold Earth • boldearth.com

Camp Harmony • campharmony.com

Hi-Hills at Gill St. Bernard’s • hihills.com International Ivy • iisummer.com

Otter Bar Lodge • otterbar.com

Sandborn Western Camps • sandbornwesterncamps.com Wilderness Adventures • wildernessventures.com

Wild Whatcom • wildwhatcom.org

www.thinkstockphotos.com

Wilderness Adventures has dedicated the last 41 years to helping teens from all over the globe become responsible adults through challenging and meaningful year-round outdoor adventures—from surfing to snowboarding. With each passing year, the company finds it must focus more and more on what used to be considered the “basics” of the camp experience. “Many young people today don’t know how to communicate face-to-face,” says Mike Cottingham. “We show them how. We’ve been electronics-free from the beginning; these days it can be difficult to convince kids that escaping the comforts of home will open them up to a new world that’s far more fun than the one they leave behind. Yet we do. Our students experience beauty beyond description, and become valuable contributors to our small groups. They establish lifelong friendships and many discover who they really are for the first time in their lives.” Wilderness Adventures camps are located in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, California, Hawaii, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and in several international destinations.

Wild Whatcom in Bellingham, WA immerses boys and girls in exploration of the Northwest’s vast forests, wild rivers, mountainous meadows, tumbling waterfalls and pebbled beaches. “We aim to help kids discover their capabilities through suitable challenges, to better understand themselves and others,” says Laurel Peak. Wild Whatcom campers hike the Cascade ridges, watch the sunset over the Pacific, sleep under a star-studded sky, and play games that promote meaningful connections and new discoveries.

Editor’s Note: After working for many years on Wall Street covering for brokers, Diane Alter started covering the markets for print and electronic media in 2009. She is a regular features contributor to EDGE and other publications and web sites. When not writing, she is likely running.

Last year, Diane Alter wrote a story for EDGE about Extreme summer camps. You can find it at edgemagonline.com in the Family section. Also in that section is a helpful How-To story by Chris Gibbs on picking the right camp for your child.

Good girls don’t trade a future in medicine for a career in comedy. If that’s not an old saying, maybe it should be. Or maybe not. Retta, who stars with Christina Hendricks and Mae Whitman in the NBC “dramedy” Good Girls, veered off the pre-med track at Duke to work as a stand-up—and then parlayed her success on the stage into an iconic role on Parks and Recreation. Though not exactly a prescription for Hollywood stardom, in Retta’s case, it produced a positive outcome, and the rest is history. The daughter of Liberian immigrants who settled in the Garden State, she brings a unique work ethic to the characters she plays and, as Gerry Strauss discovered, a healthy dose of Jersey swagger, too.

EDGE: How have you been keeping yourself safe and sane during the pandemic?

RETTA: I’m a big old scaredy-cat, so at the beginning of quarantine, every little thing I thought I had it. Sniffles? Oh, I got it. Cough? Oh, I got it. I got an ache? Oh, I got it. My eye’s twitching? [laughs] It’s COVID! So then I had a friend tell me to download the Calm app and meditate, so I did that for a while. What really helped me was just that I didn’t watch the news anymore. Honestly, that helped me a lot. But in late November, I had knee replacement surgery. So I went back into stress mode. It’s been a real ride!

EDGE: You’re dealing with things from a West Coast perspective now, but fans of yours know that you are originally a Jersey girl. Any thoughts on growing up in the Garden State?

RETTA: I think it was pretty typical in that you just tried to fit in, tried to get to the mall on the weekends where all the kids hung out. I have immigrant parents, so home was a little different than my friends.

EDGE: How so?

RETTA: Like with schoolwork. I remember friends getting cash for grades. You get $10 for an A, and $5 for a B, and a dollar for a C. [laughs] I was like, first of all, you get money for a C?

EDGE: Did you not enjoy yourself in school?

RETTA: I liked school, but it was very much centered around doing well so that you could go to college. So school was very important for me. I think it’s part of the immigrant life. Not that I didn’t socialize, because I was very active in school—I was on student council and the choir and a cheerleader. French club, math club. So I was busy, but I didn’t party or anything like that. So, in that regard, I didn’t really experience the high school partying life, but I was so busy with everything else I don’t know that I really even noticed it until I was older. I got the high off of the good grades.

EDGE: Success in science and in comedy both require a lot of hard work and patience. Do you think the work ethic you developed for one helped you in the other?

RETTA: It did in that I’m an empirical thinker. I’m that person: If you want to do something, what are the steps to do it? My goal was to have my own sitcom. So I watched a lot of sitcoms. I noticed that most of the leads in sitcoms used to be stand-up comedians, which is why I started stand-up. I was like, Oh, that’s the path that Roseanne, Tim Allen, all these people took. That must be the way to do it. So that’s why I started. Also, I’m a big fan of checking things off of a list. That’s something that has stayed with me since high school, where it’s like you have all these things to do, and if you don’t do them, you’re not going to get the grade. So that’s another thing that I still do. I love a list, and I love checking stuff off of a list. That kind of thing has stayed with me. I certainly feel like I work harder now, just because being a lead in a show requires more work. You have to spend more time learning lines. You spend more time on set, that kind of thing. But because I know this is what I really want to do, it’s not hard work to me. I get to go do the work I love as opposed to “needing” to study.

EDGE: It doesn’t sound like you had a mentor or a role model when you launched your entertainment career.

RETTA: I don’t know that I got any advice, really. I used to read Entertainment Weekly and People magazine cover-to-cover, and I would just hear different things. One thing I remember was that people would always say Sandra Bullock was really great with the crew. It made sense to just be a good person and be the kind of person people would want to be around. That was something that stuck with me—but it wasn’t necessarily an advice thing. I will say, while working with Amy Poehler [on Parks and Recreation], one of the things I realized that we had in common was that we always believed it would happen. There was never a doubt that I would get to where I wanted to go in this industry. For me, it was just an anxiousness as to when. How long was it going to take? I remember being in the hair and makeup trailer one day when we were at work, and Amy and I had a conversation about how we always just knew. I think it made it easier to deal with whatever struggles we had on our way up because, in the back of our minds, well, we knew it’s going to happen. I think that made being here and living in a studio apartment or sleeping on a friend’s floor fine, because it was just an interim part of what was to come.

EDGE: Speaking of Amy, how did you first get cast on Parks and Recreation?

RETTA: I got a message from my manager at the time that I had an audition for a new sitcom. It was going to be kind of like The Office in that it was a mockumentary, and one of the creators was the creator of The Office. I went in, I read for the room, which included Mike Schur and Greg Daniels and a couple other people and some casting folks. I was never a great auditioner. I hate auditions. I get sick to my stomach. But I’m good in a room just chatting. At the end of my audition, I had just gotten this watch and it was very blingy. It was one of those things—they call them toy watches—and they’re just super shiny, they’re ridiculous. I remember Mike Schur being like, “Hey, cool watch.” Oh my God, I gave him a good ten minutes on the watch: “You have to be invited to be a member. If you email me, I will submit you to be invited.” He was like, “I’m all good on the watch.” But I was chatty, and I think he thought it would be funny, like he could bring that into the character. Now, mind you, my character Donna did not turn out to be the chatty lady who was trying to sell you a watch, but I think it made me seem funny in the room outside of the read. So I credit my audition success to me being able to talk about this stupid watch for so long. [laughs]

EDGE: Donna grew into a primary character on the show. What did you admire about her?

RETTA: I love that she was very independent. She knew what she wanted and there was nothing that was going to change her mind. She wasn’t going to be persuaded out of something. I appreciated most of the characters in the show—how loyal they were to each other and how supportive they were. I loved that about the friendships in general on the show, and that Donna knew what she wanted and she was going to get it by crook or by hook.

EDGE: Fans of Parks and Rec—and of internet memes in general—are familiar with one of the show’s most famous catchphrases: TREAT YO’ SELF. Did you ever think that this made-up holiday would stand the test of time?

RETTA: Nope. Sure didn’t. I was not really good at reading. I just tried to make it real for me. I never could tell when something was going to be funny. I remember my friend, Brittany, was on set that day visiting me, and she was there for the talking heads with me and Aziz [Ansari]. She was like, “Ooh, that’s going to be really funny. That’s going to be huge.” I was like, Really? It’s just silly Tom and Donna stuff. And she’s like, “No, trust me, it’s going to be huge.” I was working this one night, and I just remember getting a lot of tags on Twitter. I was like, What is going on? because I didn’t really do Twitter that much, but I just remember getting blown up. When I got home, I saw that it was that episode. Then I looked on Twitter and I saw that everybody was tweeting TREAT YO’ SELF and tagging me. I was like, Whoa. Right!

EDGE: You do a ton of voice acting. What makes that type of work appealing to you?

RETTA: Well, the best thing about voiceover work is no hair and makeup. I don’t even have to leave the house now! But voiceover is something that I really wanted to do, particularly when I was doing stand-up, because when you first start out, you’re not making a whole lot of money. If you can get voiceover work, or commercials, you can kind of like float by while you’re still trying to make the stand-up work. So it’s something that I really wanted, but I didn’t really get a lot of opportunity. I didn’t have a voiceover agent. I didn’t really know exactly how to do it. Once you start getting viability from things like Parks and Rec, then stuff starts coming in, so I started getting more auditions. I think the first thing that I booked was a Nickelodeon thing, and I was so excited, but I had been auditioning forever. It finally clicked like five or six years ago. And even so, it wasn’t like I was getting a whole lot of regular gigs—I just got my first commercial voiceover during quarantine, and it was the most exciting thing ever, doing the Rocket Mortgage commercials. I’m like, Woo-hoo, that’s me! I literally pause it and watch it. I watched the commercials to hear my voice. It’s like, you’re on TV, you have a show that comes on weekly. But there’s something about the voiceover commercial that excites me.

EDGE: What do you enjoy about Good Girls and your role on the show?

RETTA: It was the first time I felt that I got to play a fully realized character. When I read it, I knew exactly who the character was based on in the pilot script. I literally cried reading what she was going through. It gives me so much joy and satisfaction to feel like I’m playing a person that lives in the world. I was all about comedy when I first came out to LA, so it wasn’t something that I really even thought that I would need. But I read this script and was like, God, I would love to play her. It just excited me that there was a chance that I would get to play this character that had her family, and loved her husband, and was going through trials and tribulations, but was still trying to be happy—and none of it was based on her weight or anything like that.

EDGE: Good Girls has built a following thanks to its drama and dark humor. With Season 4 here, for those who are late to the party, why should they binge the first three seasons to catch up?

RETTA: It’s got heists. There are cliffhangers. There’s comedy. And you’re right, it can get dark—particularly Season 3, where even we were freaked out when we were reading the scripts. I think it takes you on a ride that you don’t expect.

EDGE: A lot of parents of college-age and twenty-something kids read this magazine so I have to ask, how do you go from Duke pre-med to stand-up comedy?

RETTA: When I went to school for the first time, living out of my parents’ house, the first time making my own decisions—when to do laundry, when to go to bed, that kind of thing—I liked that. I got to kind of learn about myself and what made me happy. When I graduated from Duke, I still wanted to go into medicine, but I kind of wanted a break. I knew that [med school] was going to be intense, so I wanted a break before. I took the year off, but I was too afraid to leave science, so I stayed in North Carolina and did chemistry. I mean, some people would be like, really [laughs] that was your break? But that was the first time I lived alone and was left with my thoughts. Which is when I realized what I really wanted to do, which was to perform.

EDGE: Was that a difficult decision to explain to your family?

RETTA: Not so much. I mean, my parents, as immigrants, tend to be very like focused on education and going into the professional fields that are lucrative enough to support you—you know, doctors, lawyers, that kind of thing. But my they were still supportive. I remember calling them and saying, “I think I’m going to drive cross-country to LA.” I had already told them I had started stand-up. My mom said, “Don’t embarrass your father…you’re carrying around his last name.” Which is part of the reason why I dropped my last name. She also reminded me that I’d spent four years in college, so don’t waste it. “If you’re going to do it, do it,” she said. “Don’t half-ass it and just play around.” My father’s big thing was whatever you do, get health insurance…because we can’t afford to take care of you if something goes down.

EDGE: And what did he say?

RETTA: “Drive safe and don’t call us if you get into an accident.”

Editor’s Note: Retta, aka Marietta Sangai Sirleaf, was born in Newark and grew up in Middlesex and Monmouth Counties. She graduated from Duke in 1992 and launched her stand-up career in Raleigh, North Carolina. She made her TV debut on a 1997 episode of Moesha and her movie debut in the 2002 cult classic Slackers. In addition to Parks and Rec and Good Girls, Retta also had a recurring role on Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce with FOE (Friend of Edge) Lisa Edelstein.

The Garden State is fertile ground for heritage roses.

When Stephen Scanniello’s Great-Aunt Helen heard of his new role as a Rosarian, she sighed in relief that at least one member of the family had not strayed from the Catholic faith. Helen despaired for the souls of Stephen’s parents and six siblings. Not only had the Scanniellos left the Catholic Church and became devout Protestants (in reaction, he says, to a fall-out with a stern school nun); his father had taken on a second job at the local temple, where the kids spent every Friday night helping him in his custodial duties. Little did Helen know that the title Rosarian referred to Stephen’s job as curator of roses at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Scanniello

Today, Stephen Scanniello (right) is one of the top rosarians in the world.

While Gertrude Stein may have dismissed “A rose is a rose is a rose,” when Scanniello discusses heritage roses, he addresses each rose’s special, individual qualities and growing temperament as though it were a quirky, beloved member of his family (not unlike Great-Aunt Helen). In fact, Stephen’s first memories of roses can be traced to his Uncle Joe, an official rose tester for the Jackson/Perkins Rose Catalogue and his Aunt Joanne. Like clockwork, Joe and Joanne would prune their Blaze roses every St. Patrick’s Day, and then smear all the cuts with blazing red lipstick as a sealer to keep insects and larvae out. By the 4th of July, their garden was ablaze with magnificent, patriotic red roses.

Scanniello never dreamed of becoming a rosarian while growing up in the Bergen County town of River Edge. He practically stumbled into it.  After majoring in biology and working in a medical lab (which he claims was “fascinating for a week”), he was asked to photograph the lab experiments. The lab recommended he take a course in photography, where he met some BBG (short for Brooklyn Botanical Garden) employees. That led to a job in the BBG education department, after which he became a general gardener for a year. When the BBG’s rosarian retired and his successor lasted only a year, Scanniello won the job and worked there for 17 years.

Now Scanniello is curator of the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. The reach of his influence, knowledge and involvement in heritage roses spans the world. I first heard about his work when he ran a hands-on heritage rose propagation workshop for a local garden club, propagating roses from cuttings from a 19th century rose bush. In 2009, Scanniello won the Great Rosarian of the World Award. He also is President of the Heritage Rose Foundation, where he encourages a down-to-earth approach to preserving and propagating heritage roses. Loosely defined, a heritage rose is one with origins that can be traced back to the mid-1800s, before the advent of the hybrid varieties that are common today.

His thumbprints are on projects ranging from a rambling rose garden in Bellingham, Washington and a rose garden and propagation program on the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Southern Florida College campus, to a vast heritage rose collection in Chambersville, Texas and a children’s plant workshop a bit closer to home, in Harlem.

With the influx of genetically engineered roses, Scanniello’s approach to heritage roses is almost like a spiritual calling. “Rosarians have a responsibility to preserve species roses and their oldest known hybrids,” he explains. “Modern-day rose hybridizers are turning to these oldest roses for the key to creating healthy roses. Without the preservation of species and old roses, a valuable genetic link to disease resistance will be lost.”

The author of seven books on roses, Scanniello approaches his subject like a detective. His mission to find and preserve roses spans the world and is a bit of a race against time, as uneducated gardeners are planting newer breeds and eschewing the older roses. It is a mission that often leads him to some unexpected places. One source, for example, was discovered in East Germany, behind the former Iron Curtain. Sangerhausen Rose Garden—a time-warp, hermetically-sealed garden—had remained untouched from before World War II, offering healthy roses that had escaped the heavy-handed adulterations of modern-day hybridizers. Another fruitful, if macabre, source of heritage roses are old cemeteries. There, like ghosts surrounding old, unkempt graves, grow some of the best examples of heritage roses from another era.

Our own Garden State lives up to its name in this regard. Indeed, it is rich in rose history. Cities including Newark, Elizabeth, Jersey City and Rutherford were home to some of the top rose nurseries in the early 20th century. Prior to that, New Jersey was the primary source for the fresh-cut roses that brightened up the Gilded Age mansions of New York City. Lately, Scanniello—who owns a rose-covered weekend cottage in Barnegat—has been working on designing a new rose garden in a cemetery on the grounds of Christ Church, in Shrewsbury.  He also works privately in New Jersey, the Hamptons and on A-list estates.

It’s plain Scanniello loves his job. As we strolled around the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, he introduced me to beautiful, fragrant roses, their histories and peculiarities. Even the roses’ names seemed to evoke a mix of humor and pleasure in Stephen as he rattled off randy rose names—not the least of which are “Blushing Thighs of an Aroused Nymph” and “Spineless Virgin.”

Starting your own heritage rose garden, Scanniello insists, is not as daunting a task as one might imagine. For starters, he recommends planting a heritage rose in a 24-inch pot or wooden barrel, placed in a location that gets plenty of sun. It should be watered either in the early morning or late afternoon, near the mid-day sun.  He encourages New Jersey gardeners to plant roses hailing from New Jersey, such as a pink Jersey Beauty, which was created in South Orange, or South Orange Perfection, or New Dawn, a continually blooming genetic off-shoot of the Dr. van Fleet rose. Other good strains of roses that will bloom continually are the Parade or Dream Girl, bred by Martin Jacobus in Ridgefield in the 1950s and ’60s.

As for pruning, Scanniello returns to his roots, advising me to cut back the roses every St. Patrick’s Day.  Now to find the right shade of red to seal the cuts!

GETTING STARTED

Stephen Scanniello’s 2006 book A Year of Roses features tips for the suburban rose grower, including…

• Become acquainted with your local rose society. Members love roses and tend to be willing to share their vast knowledge.
• The best way to purchase roses is from mail order catalogs; the quality of the plants is superb, you will find many species you would never find in your local garden center and your dollar stretches far.
• The roses you ordered in January will arrive in April. Plant them shortly after they arrive.
• Prune roses in early March and have all pruning finished by mid-April.
• In the winter, rose bushes look spindly and stark, so when planning your rose garden,

border it with evergreen plant material, such as boxwood, to add structure and winter interest to the garden.

• When in bloom, roses require some care. They need at least five hours of sunlight per day as well as regular watering during late afternoon.

• Roses need a well-drained site with friable soil—soil that breaks up easily and allows roots to thrive and water to pass through easily.

• Weed by hand! Never use weed killers in the rose garden. They damage the roses.

• Deer adore rosebuds. In early June, start protecting the blooms by applying a deer repellent to the rose garden area.

• Whenever possible, purchase roses that grow on their own rootstock and are not grafted on to a different rootstock.

• Some reliable sources for heritage roses with their own rootstock are:

antiqueroseemporium.com

vintagegardens.com

derrosenmeister.com

rosesunlimited.com

Editor’s Note: Sarah Rossbach has written for House & Garden, The Washington Post and Harper’s Bazaar. Among her many books is Feng Shui: The Chinese Art of Placement. She is an author and feng shui consultant who has studied and collaborated with Master Lin Yun, a revered figure in Chinese culture and spirituality. The Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, designed in 1916 by landscape architect Beatrix Farrand, features 670 varieties of roses. For directions and hours log onto nybg.org.

In league with an extraordinary gentleman

Photography by Daryl Stone

Prologue

It is the winter of 2006. At a lively (read: heated) meeting of the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Committee, Alan Richman punctuates discussion with zippity-quick one-liners that smack of truth as they provoke laughter. A gavel invariably pounds on the conference room table, demanding order. At one point, Pete Wells, now the restaurant critic for The New York Times, leans over, nods at Richman and whispers to me, “Someone should follow him around with a tape-recorder.”

Eight-and-a-half years later, I finally take that excellent advice. I do so in Alan Richman’s hometown of Somerville, where the most decorated food writer in America’s history was born.

Present

Alan Richman, restaurant critic for GQ magazine, dean of food journalism and new media at the International Culinary Center in New York, author of the acclaimed book Fork It Over as well as thousands of newspaper and magazine articles, and recipient of the Bronze Star in the Vietnam War, is having lunch at Martino’s Cuban Restaurant on West Main Street in Somerville.  It is a hot summer day.

“Is this the $4 salad?” Richman asks. “It’d be $40 in New York.”

As he dissects the ingredients, chef-owner Martino Linares (above) comes over to the table to listen in. He personally took, and approved, our order.

“The (iced) tea is nicely composed,” Richman adds. “The lemon is already in it. It usually takes me 15 minutes to get the lemon right.”

Linares beams. “Good, heh?” he says.

“All of this might be as good as you say it is,” Richman replies, waving his arm around the food-laden table. Linares chuckles and hops off to sing “Happy Birthday” at another table.

The incognito restaurant critic continues.

“The two things I’ve always hated are empanadas and tamales. Empanadas are always grotesquely soft. But this one is great. It’s delicate. It’s also crunchy. Look at the crimping around the edges. The sauce is smoky.”

And then: “This tamale, the pork, is really good. You know, the Cubans in Cuba have forgotten how to cook. This is good cooking.”

Linares, birthday song sung, is back for more Richman, and he gets what he wants. “My girlfriend and I were looking for a place to celebrate her birthday. I’ll take her here.”

Alan Richman, 70, recalls flying to Cuba from Miami in a pre-Castro time and “eating coconut ice cream out of a coconut shell.”

“Ah! The best!” Linares, 86 going on 16, exclaims in approval.

“When I was a little boy,” Richman tells Linares, “we’d go to Miami Beach. I always wanted to stay in the Fontainebleau Hotel.”

“I cooked there,” Linares says. He’d first come to the States in 1950, volunteered for the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, was captured and spent three years in a Cuban prison. After his release, Linares returned to Miami—and cooked at the Fontainebleau. Thus began his career cooking in big-city French and Italian restaurants in America.

The Cubano arrives, sliced and served jelly roll-style on a platter.

“This is like a Cuban hoagie,” Richman says. “Real roast pork! Look at this thing!

“You know what?” says the man who has won 16 James Beard Awards for his writing on restaurants and food. “I think this is the best restaurant in America.”

Martino Linares does a cross between a jig and a tango as Richman examines the sandwich’s layers.

“This Cubano needs a few more pickles.”

Past-Life Experiences

Richman was born in Somerville in 1944. Though his family moved north to Hillside when he was 5, then subsequently to the Philadelphia suburbs, his grandparents as well as other relatives remained in Somerville. The Richmans visited regularly, which may explain the food critic’s vivid memories of “a wall of comic books in a gas station” near his childhood home on Codington Place.

“It was the Mount Rushmore of comic books. I’d sit there for hours.”

His grandparents, Rose and Nathan Rabinowitz, belonged to the Orthodox temple in Somerville, where young Richman “sat through services in 107-degree heat.” Though his grandmother “wasn’t a very good cook,” she did make a “fine kuchin.”

At the time, however, Richman fixated on hot dogs and a certain gumball machine that spat forth, if you were lucky, “rainbow-colored gum. Or something like that.” Richman-the-boy “wanted that rainbow gum because, with that, you also got a candy bar.”

From his home base on Codington Place, Richman would go with his grandmother to the old Cort Theatre (“I saw the most boring movie there—The Quiet Man”) but avoid the Hotel Somerset, whose sign still reigns over part of downtown Somerville. “It gave me the creeps.”

Somerville residents never avoided Raymar’s Center, owned and operated by Richman’s Uncle Sidney until 1976. Now it’s called Redelico’s; owner Randy Redelico worked for Raymar’s. He says that Sidney Raymar taught him “everything I know about paint and decorating.”

While Raymar’s was at its peak, brightening homes in blossoming Somerset County, Alan Richman was a student at the University of Pennsylvania (“Candice Bergen was in my class”). After college, Richman joined the Army and, in 1966, was in the Invasion of the Dominican Republic. In 1969, he was called to service in the Vietnam War.

“I was in the world’s largest Army boat company. I used to ride on the Saigon and Dong Nai Rivers, the Mekong Delta.” He claims he “didn’t do anything brave,” though he rose to the rank of captain and was awarded the Bronze Star.

“I loved Vietnam,” he says.

Newspapers were his next stop. Richman became a sports writer (Philadelphia Bulletin), then a sports columnist (Montreal Star, Boston Globe). It was at the Globe that Richman pioneered long-form writing about sports. Sports writers tend to travel to cities where games are played, so Richman started eating in various restaurants in various locales.

By the time he was on staff at The New York Times, he was working on major-league national news stories. “I covered Three Mile Island. I covered the disappearance of Etan Patz.”

Then he went to People magazine, where he was “the first person hired to report and write their own stories,” not merely a hack fashioning an item out of dispatches from correspondents.

“I did a cover story on Oprah Winfrey. I sat in Grace Jones’s living room as she was having a breakup with Dolph Lundgren. I covered the comeback of Vladimir Horowitz in Paris. There was so much money then,” which meant Richman dined well wherever he traveled.

By this time, he was writing about things culinary as a hobby and doing a regular wine column for Esquire magazine. After five years at People, he moved onto GQ.

It wasn’t long before his singular voice in food-writing drew national acclaim.

In 1991, Richman won the very first James Beard Award for food writing. His name has been called out 15 additional times at ceremonies dubbed the “Food Oscars.” There have been numerous additional honors, ranging from citations from the International Association of Culinary Professionals to a National Magazine Award.

His unique combination of wit and wisdom has dominated the culinary world for more than a quarter-century.

Epilogue

Alan Richman doesn’t have a cell phone. Well, he sort of has a cell phone, but it’s “one of those throw-away phones drug dealers use.” He can call you, but you can’t call him, in other words.

He’s explaining this as we take a break from looking for the spot that possibly could’ve been the circa-late-1940s/early ‘50s gas station with the wall of comic books. We’re in another Somerville restaurant, though Richman finds this one as offensive as the cell phone.

“The purpose of cell phones is so people can incon-venience those they are planning to meet,” he says.

Pete Wells was very right.

FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

Alan Richman’s work can be seen in GQ, both the print edition and on the web site. For information about his classes at the International Culinary Center in New York, visit internationalculinarycenter.com.

Fork It Over, published in 2004 by HarperCollins, showcases the writer’s range. It’s a little bit memoir, with a whole lot of vintage Richman commentary.

When in Somerville, stop in for lunch or dinner at Martino’s Cuban, 212 West Main Street; 908-722-8602; martinoscuba.com.

What makes a successful restaurant? Food, service, atmosphere, value—all are crucial ingredients in a winning recipe. The true measure of success, however, can be measured in repeat customers. In other words, loyalty is everything. We asked some of the region’s top chefs and restaurant owners what they would recommend to first-time customers that would be most likely to transform them into regulars…

The Black Horse Tavern & Pub • Sliced Buffalo Sirloin

1 West Main St. • Mendham

(963) 543–7300 • blackhorsenj.com

The Black Horse is one of New Jersey’s oldest restaurants, but features contemporary farm-to-table American cuisine. One of our signature dishes is sliced buffalo sirloin. It’s prepared with a blackberry brandy demi-glaze and served with roasted vegetables, lima beans and grilled pita.

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

Café Z • Stuffed Meatball

2333 Morris Ave. • Union

(908) 686–4321 • cafeznj.com

At Café Z, we are always trying new ideas and recipes. Our homemade stuffed meatball is a great example. It started out as a “daily special” and quickly became a crowd favorite. We hand-roll each and every one, bake and serve with our homemade spicy marinara sauce. The concept originated from our Bolognese sauce, a three-meat gravy we serve over pasta with a dollop of seasoned ricotta cheese. Both are simply delicious, always fresh and made on premises.

— Patricia Inghilleri, Owner

Chestnut Chateau • Pan-Seared Tilefish

649 Chestnut Ave. • Union

(908) 964–8696 • www.chestnutchateaunj.com

Our line-caught tilefish comes from the deepest part of the ocean. It is  pan-seared and served over broccoli rabe, sautéed in garlic and olive oil, and garnished with diced Kalamata olives and roasted red peppers. It’s one of my favorite dishes and our customers savor every bite—truly, it will make you close your eyes and smile.

— George Niotis, Chef

George and Martha’s American Grille • Pork Osso Buco

67 Morris Street • Morristown

(973) 267–4700 • georgeandmarthas.com

Our regulars at George and Martha’s really feel like they’re home when they order the Pork Osso Buco. It is paired with savory mashed potatoes and crispy fried leeks. Comfort can be cutting-edge if you are innovative in your technique. I enjoy taking familiar flavors and dishes and presenting them in a new and exciting way that surprises my guests.  

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

The Manor • Surf & Turf

111 Prospect Ave. • West Orange

(973) 731–2360 • themanorrestaurant.com

I pair pan-seared prime filet mignon with a butter-braised lobster, along with fresh seasonal vegetable accents, which currently include baby carrots, beets, turnips, haricots verts, and wild mushrooms. An airy shellfish emulsion and the creamiest mashed potatoes you will ever taste make for the perfect partners to this classic dish, which has helped the Manor successfully define the art of fine dining for over a half-century.

— Mario Russo, Executive Chef

Mario’s Tutto Bene • Vinegar Pork Chops

495 Chestnut St. • Union

(908) 687–3250 • mariostuttobene.com

Our vinegar pork chops feature three thin-cut Frenched chops that are coated with Italian breadcrumbs and sautéed with sweet vinegar peppers, prosciutto and garlic. They arrive with house-made, roasted or mashed potatoes. Our regulars love this entrée.  

— John Garofalo, Owner

The Office Tavern Grill • Chicken & Waffles

3 South Street • Morristown

(973) 285–0220 • officetaverngrill.com

Our most popular signature dish is the chicken and waffles. The buttermilk fried chicken is served with gruyere and applewood bacon in a maple syrup reduction. The waffle batter is infused with rosemary and thyme with a touch of cayenne pepper and the chicken is crunchy and flavorful. All these flavors—the hearty, sweet and salty—really work together.  

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

The Office Beer Bar & Grill • The Wedge Burger

411 North Ave. West • Westfield 61 Union Pl. • Summit

728 Thompson Ave. • Bridgewater

619 Bloomfield Ave. • Montclair 1–7 South Ave. • Cranford

32–34 Chestnut St. • Ridgewood

Our newest burger, The Wedge, combines two classics—the hamburger and wedge salad. A half-pound of grilled beef with blue cheese, beefsteak tomato and cheddar cheese sauce—served between two wedges of iceberg lettuce. The idea was developed when we were looking at a gluten-free burger that had a little creativity to it. Now it’s a signature item.   

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

Piattino Neighborhood Bistro • Braised Chicken & Linguine

88 East Main St. • Mendham

(973) 543–0025 • piattinonj.com

Piattino is a Manhattan-style restaurant where we can get creative and adventurous with traditional Italian food. Our braised chicken and linguine, which is prepared with a 24-hour red wine glaze, is a very popular menu item that demonstrates how we prepare Italian ingredients—tomatoes, roasted mushrooms, fresh rosemary and oregano, garlic butter—with an American technique and influence. 

— Kevin Felice, 40North Executive Chef

Publick House • Blackened Scottish Salmon

899 Mountain Ave • Mountainside

(908) 233–2355 • publickhousenj.com

In keeping with our Irish roots, we offer exceptional pub fare. However, we’re best known for our high-quality seafood and meats, including our pan-roasted blackened Scottish Salmon. It’s served with a pine-nut quinoa, and arrives with fresh asparagus, and a creamy carrot purée.

— Bernie Goncalves, Owner

Rio Rodizio • Roasted Meats

2185 Rte. 22 West • Union

(908) 206–0060 • riorodiziounion.com

We offer an “All-You-Can-Eat” dining experience flown straight from the streets of Rio de Janeiro to your tableside—featuring the unique ambiance of a traditional Brazilian Steakhouse. Each customer gets to witness a never-ending parade of freshly roasted meat and poultry. Our authentic Gaucho chefs come to you and carve these melt-in-your-mouth meats to your liking.

— Paul Seabra, Owner

Thai Amarin • Drunken Noodles

201 Morris Ave. • Springfield

(973) 376–6300 • thaiamarinnj.net

We prepare a wide range of authentic Thai food that you can’t find anywhere else. Our regular customers love our Drunken Noodles, a stir-fried broad rice noodle dish with a distinct flavor profile. They are sautéed in our special sweet and spicy garlic basil sauce and topped with fresh holy basil. It pairs really well with our fried cheesecake dessert. 

— Amy Thana, Owner

Two distinct menus have made Rella’s a ‘shore thing’.

There is a rule of thumb in the restaurant business: Try to be everything to all people, and the best you’ll be is Applebee’s. The worst you’ll be is out of business. That being said, Rella’s Italian Tavern proves you can serve two masters, both literally and figuratively. The restaurant’s menu offers two ways to go (as its name implies), imaginative Italian cuisine or reliable tavern fare. Co-owner Sal Chiarella knows his way around both kitchens. He created and sold both the neighborhood go-to spot Harborside Grill in Atlantic Highlands and Fratello’s, a high-end Italian eatery in Sea Girt. Both are still going strong.

What Sal and his brother, Sam, learned from these successes was how to build a menu around both types of cuisine. The majority of patrons at Rella’s pick either Italian or tavern fare; a fair number mix and match. Our group—comprised of seven veteran Jersey Shore diners—agreed to explore the Italian side of Rella’s kitchen on a busy Thursday night.

If you are one of those people who skips the starters to save room for the main course, Rella’s definitely poses a dilemma. The entrée portions are ample, to say the least, however the front side of the menu packs a surprising amount of star power. Indeed, the descriptions don’t begin to do justice to items that shine once they hit the table. Case in point: artichoke Francaise. Nutty and tart, the lightly fried bite-size portions are packed with flavor without overwhelming the palate. Another winning item is the broccoli rabe and sausage stuffed bread. Out of the wood-burning oven and piping hot, it too is done with a surprisingly light touch. With sweet sausage on one side and peppery greens on the other, the two tastes speak for themselves, with just a bit of mozzarella to pull the whole appetizer together.

The hit parade continued with rack of lamb lollipops, a selection on the evening’s specials menu (but generally available). Enough for two, especially with the accompanying swirl of whipped potatoes, the two-bite pops are exceptionally flavorful and drizzled with a balsamic demiglaze.

Two members of our dining group had eaten at Rella’s before and raved about the eggplant rollatini appetizer (as well as the eggplant parmagiana listed among the entrées). We took their word for it and opted for the fried calamari instead. Lightly seasoned and domestically sourced, it is better than most but not extraordinary in and of itself. It’s the marinara sauce that’s the eye-opener. Fresh, tangy and uncomplicated, it plays a big part in the restaurant’s popularity. It elevates everything it touches.

At our table of seven, the home run starter, by unanimous agreement, was the blackened sea scallops salad. Served on a bed of mesculine with grape tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and toasted almonds, the scallops were meaty, flavorful and done to perfection. Often, these types of salads are overdressed. Not so the ginger-soy dressing. Interestingly, no one at the table thought they would have ordered this item solely from its description. However, several said they would return to Rella’s just for a second shot at the salad.

Pizzas at Rella’s are available in traditional and personal size, with design-your-own toppings as well as tasty combinations like the two we ordered—prosciutto & baby Arugula and a basic Margherita. The crust is thin and the ingredients fresh, emerging from the aforementioned oven and rushed to the table still bubbling. Rella’s also has a “pizza bar,” which saw a lot of action on this night, when the Rangers and Flyers met to open the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Hockey, for what it’s worth, is kind of a big deal here. From late October through the May/June postseason, Rella’s is a gathering place for NHL fans, who can position themselves in front of one of eight enormous flat-screens that we counted—including one in the main dining room. Our waiter, Nick, kept a close eye on our table but we also caught him keeping tabs on the action with his other eye. Later, he told me he was a hockey player as well as a fan.

The opening courses set the bar high for what followed—a parade of imaginatively conceived and prepared main courses served family-style. Rella’s prides itself on the big dish concept. It works well for some entrée choices and not for others. Chicken and fish can be tricky to get just right when you’re feeding an entire table. On this night, we agreed that individual orders would have been preferable for the herb-encrusted red snapper and chicken & sausage Scarpariello. That being said, both of these dishes packed plenty of flavor. The Scarpariello preparation is a classic country dish featuring copious amounts of herbs and garlic in a balsamic reduction, along with spicy sausage. Rella’s offers a choice of boneless or bone-in. Bone-in is the way to go. The snapper fillets sat atop a mound of delicious spaghetti squash and were finished with a sun-dried tomato beurre blanc. We did not sample the other fish special, Blackened Tuna.

It bears mentioning that the fish entrées at Rella’s are popular year-round. The Chiarella brothers have forged long relationships with local fishing fleets; when they hook a great swordfish or tuna specimen, Rella’s often get a heads-up via cell phone as the boats hit the docks. That being said, they choose not to compete with the summer shore restaurants on the lobster front. Although lobster may appear occasionally among the specials—and is always available in sauce form as a pairing with angliotti pasta—this is not one of those ubiquitous plastic-bib joints on the other side of the Manasquan River.

For our remaining entrées, we picked two pastas and the pork osso buco. Also, we deviated from our all-Italian strategy with the addition of chicken Murphy, which was not on the menu (nor among the specials), but which we were told could be made to order. Expecting a hefty breast portion buried under an avalanche of onions and peppers, we were pleasantly surprised at the level of restraint on the part of the kitchen staff, and the finesse with which the dish was prepared. The osso buco, a generously proportioned pork shank that falls off the bone, was accompanied by a mushroom risotto. We happened to eat at Rella’s on one of those chilly nights in April, so the heartiness of this dish was appreciated. On a humid summer evening, the carnivore in your party might look elsewhere on the menu—perhaps the New York Strip or even the breaded Veal Chop.

We selected two dishes that represented the extremes of the pasta spectrum at Rella’s: the house specialty (more on this in a moment) and goat cheese ravioli. The ravioli, ordered off the evening’s list of specials, was made in-house and combined roasted garlic and sun-dried tomatoes in a light, creamy arugula pesto sauce. Of all the entrées, the ravioli got the biggest thumbs-up. Even those among us who are not normally fans of goat cheese enjoyed an eyebrow-raising experience. As with the scallop salad, the description did not do this item justice. It was the evening’s hidden gem.

When asked which pasta entrée would be most likely to turn a first-timer into a regular, Sal pointed us toward the Sunday Macaroni. A bed of sturdy rigatoni supports a sauce that includes meatballs, brasciole, Italian sausage and pork spare ribs. The gravy itself has won the local Boss of the Sauce competition so many times that, rumor has it, Rella’s has been discouraged from entering it this year. The Sunday Macaroni may not appeal to diners who prefer a light touch, but to those who embrace the meat-eating experience, it is nothing short of an event. It hit our table family-style, so it is difficult to gauge what a single serving might look like. However, from a value perspective, it is hard to imagine anything at Rella’s topping this house specialty.

Which is an important part of the story at Rella’s. When Sal and Sam Chiarella decided to open their place in 2008, they agreed that they would offer a menu with lots of value. The day-to-day entrées are almost all between$15 and $25, while “higher-end” dishes only find their way onto the nightly specials if they can be offered within those price points. Starters range in price from $5 to $15, while desserts—though extravagantly plated—are also reasonably priced.

Ah, dessert. If possible, save room—just a little room. Italian restaurants can be pretty heavy-handed in this department, but not so Rella’s. The table produced a collective groan when Nick the waiter reviewed the dessert selections, but we were assured that two of the richest-sounding items were actually light enough to pass around with multiple spoons. Nick was a man of his word. The Almond Cake had a feathery texture and a complex combination of flavors. The Chocolate Lava Cake was also surprisingly light without being overly volcanic. Rella’s also offers Mama Rella’s Cheesecake (a family recipe) and a popular Tartufo.

ON THE TAVERN SIDE

Rella’s would not be the success it is (you can barely squeeze in on most Friday and Saturday nights) without a menu that brings in a diverse and devoted clientele. The space itself offers a number of different dining experiences. To the right of the hostess station is a pair of warm, subdued rooms featuring open hearths. To the left, it’s a less formal atmosphere, with cocktail tables, booths, a u-shaped bar and the aforementioned pizza bar and scattering of flat-screen TVs. The entire menu—specials and all—is available throughout the restaurant.

An important word about wings, if that’s your thing…normally, connoisseurs of bar food steer clear of chicken wings at Italian restaurants. At Rella’s, the patrons swear by them. Besides Buffalo and BBQ wings, the kitchen also prepares them with garlic and parmesan, as well as Scarpariello style. Sliders (with a choice of meatball, sirloin or chicken parm) are also popular.

Rella’s makes a wide range of paninis and wraps, as well as a signature Prime Rib French Dip. Pizzas of all sizes and varieties fly out of the wood-burning oven, as do calzones, with a selection of toppings above-average in both quantity and quality. The wine list has good options at all price levels and there are over a dozen beers on tap.

Editor’s Note: Rella’s Italian Tavern is located at 110 Union Avenue (aka Rte 71). In Brielle. The restaurant is open at 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at 11:30 on Saturday and Sunday. Rella’s has two spaces that can be reserved for private parties or business gatherings. Call (732) 528–0034 or log onto rellastavern.com for more information. Special thanks to Gary and Joanie Brown, Terri and Tim Russell, Maria Dabroski and Sarah Wilson.

Watches with an EDGE

FIT FOR A KING

Classic styling with a fresh, casual feel make the Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph a true standout timepiece.  Available at audemarspiguet.com.

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The Ora Unica Watch, by Denis Guidone for Nava Design, tells time with the ends of the signature squiggle. Available at  shop.walkerart.org.

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A gold-sprinkled dial with the iconic signature dot helps the Movado  Bold Glitter Watch stand out in a crowd. Available at nordstrom.com.

PETAL TO THE METAL

The diamond-studded mother of pearl  Floral Watch features Art Deco styling and an interchangeable strap.  Available at michele.com.

NUMBERS GAME

Keep your eye on the hands, not the numbers, of the What Time? Watch from Rakani.   Available at rakani.com.

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The rugged men’s Block Watch is stamped in squared-off brass surrounding a circular face. Available at shop.walkerart.org.

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The Infinity Ring circles endlessly, finishing with an exquisite Japanese Akoya black pearl at its focal point.   Available at artfulhome.com.

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Mikimoto’s Spring Ring sets off a perfectly cultured pearl with a burst of sapphires, tourmalines, amethysts, and diamonds. Available at mikimotoamerica.com.

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Mark Schneider’s Montana Agate Phoenix Pendant features pavé diamonds and a ruby eye. Available at markschneiderdesign.com.

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You may not hear the ocean in these turquoise-and-diamond Anuj Carved Shell Earrings, but the oohs and aahs will come through loud and clear. Available at 1stdibs.com.

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Renee Lewis created these magnificent South Sea Pearl & Diamond Dangle Earrings as part of a collection for Barneys. Available at Barneys.com.

Nazi art thieves were no match for New Jersey’s real-life Monuments Men

Over the past year, the brave men and women who devoted their knowledge and efforts to save the looted masterpieces of Western civilization during World War II have risen—mostly from the dead—into the public eye more than 70 years later. The art-specialist soldiers known as “Monuments Men” marched out of history’s shadows and right into popular culture thanks to the movie starring George Clooney, John Goodman, Bill Murray and friends. Unbeknownst to all but a handful of historians, many of these heroic, dedicated and patriotic academics—who raced against time (and the Russians) to save the great masterpieces and hidden gems of the Western world—lived, worked and trained in the Garden State.

Columbia Pictures/Fox 2000 Pictures

Among the key players in this story who hailed from our state were S. Lane Faison, Charles Parkhurst, Patrick Kelleher, Ernest DeWald and Craig Hugh Smyth, who studied at Princeton to be art historians and curators. A handful of these distinguished men went on to be directors of the Princeton University Museum of Art.

The Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Commission (MFAA), a group of 345 men and women from 13 nations, was established in 1943 as the tide of war began to turn in Europe. Known as the Monuments Men, they were recruited and trained to retrieve, safeguard and return art masterpieces, many of which had been looted from museums or confiscated from Jewish families. The Hollywood film is an amalgam of people and events. In the race to save civilization, lives and irreplaceable masterpieces, real-life art historians and curators in Europe and the United States actually began their work more than four years before Germany even declared war, and continued their endeavors for many years after the Nazis were defeated.

In anticipation of the war, museums all over Europe toiled day and night, carefully packing up sculptures and paintings and shipping them to hiding places. It was a national effort. For larger paintings, the Louvre employed scenery trucks from the Comedie-Francaise to transport them to shelters. The Mona Lisa was chauffeured in its own private railway car to her hiding place in a French chateau in the Dordogne. In 1941, the United States followed suit. Art treasures, from the newly established National Museum of Art in Washington, for example, were shipped to the safety of The Biltmore in North Carolina, as well as Fort Knox.

THE DOCTOR IS IN

The aforementioned Dr. Smyth (pictured in uniform on the preceding page) was one of the young curators who helped to move the art. A Naval reservist with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art history from Princeton, he served as a drill sergeant and officer in the Pacific before he was tapped to head the Munich Collecting Point out of Hitler’s Munich Headquarters. Smyth’s story begins mostly when Monuments Men, the movie, ends.

According to Alexandra Smyth, his daughter, Dr. Smyth settled into Hitler’s office at the Nazi headquarters—now, appropriately, the Central Institute of Art History—as “it was the only building large enough to house the huge amounts of art for cataloguing and repatriation.” Dr. Smyth, who spoke German, immediately incurred the wrath of the U.S. military for hiring knowledgeable Germans to help with the daunting task of sorting, cataloguing and returning the tens of thousands of art treasures that were being trucked in from their hiding places—including those poorly stored in the dank salt mines shown in the 2014 movie.

“He felt it was his duty,” notes his son, Ned Smyth, “to reignite German interest in art—he considered Germany the intellectual birthplace of art history—and reawaken a positive patriotic identity of German intellectual tradition of art history…and so he hired German art experts, who were cleared by the military, to help with identifying and returning the plundered treasures.”

Eyebrows also were raised when Dr. Smyth retained the services of the German custodian who had previously maintained the Nazi headquarters for Hitler. According to his son, he wanted to get qualified Germans back to work. Later, Dr. Smyth made a point to hire German Jewish art historians to work at The Institute of Fine Arts in New York.

Photo courtesy of the Smyth family

The question of whether to return the artwork to its European owners or to send it to the U.S. for “safe-keeping” was another prickly issue. The Russians, considered any art they found as spoils of war—compensation for the devastation visited upon them by the German military—and shipped vast quantities back to Moscow. The race to seize as much of the art before it disappeared into Russian hands was one of the main plotlines in the movie.

The priceless Madonna of Bruges: loaded for transport (top) and back home in The Church of Our Lady in Belgium (bottom).

UNLIKE IKE

Dr. Smyth strongly favored returning the masterpieces to the original owners or their surviving family members. However, not all the Monuments Men agreed. John Walker, a director of the National Gallery, saw the Collecting Points as convenient way stations to appropriate European masterpieces for his new museum. He convinced General Dwight D. Eisenhower that the art should be shipped to the United States. This set up a High Noon moment that would have provided a high point for the film.

“When Eisenhower arrived at the Munich Collecting Point,” Ned Smyth recounts, “Dad had the army soldiers stationed carrying machine guns guarding the head-quarters. My dad spoke with Eisenhower…and he got the message. If anything my dad did during the war captured my young imagination, it was how he risked court-martial and the end of a promising career to save the art for Europe.”

Dr. Smyth, who passed away in 2006, lived in Alpine and went on to earn his PhD from Princeton and enjoyed a distinguished career as Director of the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU and Director of the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti near Florence. He also was an honorary trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His efforts in restoration of art in Europe earned him honors in both France and Germany.

WILD ABOUT HARRY

The last of the Monuments Men, 88-year-old Harry Ettlinger (pictured on page 71), lives in the Morris County town of Rockaway. Born in Germany to an affluent Jewish family, he escaped to America with his parents and siblings, starting their new life in a one-room apartment in Washington Heights.

“People told my father Go West,” Ettlinger jokes. “So we moved west…16 miles to New Jersey.”

When he returned to Germany during World War II, it was as a citizen of the United States and a soldier of its armed forces. As an army private, he was plucked from his company (which was heading to the Battle of the Bulge) to help translate for the Monuments Men. His take on the movie—where his name was changed to Sam Epstein and the handsome British actor Dimitri Leonidas portrayed him—is that it was entertaining and educational, but “to a degree, they have covered certain items that reflect what Monuments Men did. The rest is Hollywood.”

While we may feel it, not many of us actually can say we worked in the salt mines. But that’s what Ettlinger did after Germany’s surrender. For ten months he oversaw the removal of artworks that had been stored by the Nazis 700 feet below ground in salt mines to protect them from Allied bombs. There among the treasures, Ettlinger and the German miners—who had been okayed by the United States—uncovered the stained glass windows of the Cathedral of Strasburg as well as a Rembrandt self-portrait. In addition, he helped with art retrieval from Hitler’s private retreat, the Eagle’s Nest. He also helped recover and return works of art owned by the French branch of the Rothschild family, which had been stored in Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian Alps.

Perhaps the most meaningful moment in this experience was retrieving his grandfather Oppenheimer’s collection from a warehouse in the Swiss spa town of Baden Baden. Ettlinger, who went on to a distinguished career as an engineer, says his grandfather was a wise man, known for his humor—wonderful traits that seem to run in the family.

Neue Gallerie NYC

DEGENERATE ART

The Nazis’ aesthetic was intolerant towards modern art and termed it “degenerate.” Hermann Goering was charged with identifying and rounding up potentially important modern works to be sold to collectors outside Germany. This plan met with little success, and at one point an exhibition was held in Munich so that Nazi leaders could make fun of the paintings. After that, the art was supposedly burned. Much of what survived was only recently retrieved from apartments owned by the late Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of one of Hitler’s hand-picked Modern Art confiscation experts. The elder Gurlitt was tasked by the Nazis with selling the looted art through his network of contacts. Already, a valuable Matisse painting from that cache was returned to art dealer Paul Rosenberg’s descendants, one of whom is Anne Sinclair, the ex-wife of Dominique Strauss-Kahn (aka DSK), the former managing director of the World Monetary Fund. Earlier this spring, the Neue Gallerie in New York mounted a show exhibiting the stunning Degenerate Art seized by the Nazis from museums and private collections.

Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin

Whether The Monuments Men and its attendant publicity inspired people to come forward with knowledge of artwork looted or “lost” during World War II, it seems every week brings a new discovery and reunion of art with owner. Just this past April, a 17th Century painting missing during the war was sent from Germany back to Poland. And, of course, there was the startling headline last November about 1,500 works of art that were discovered behind a wall of canned food in a Munich flat. Thus the legacy of the Monuments Men is nothing if not enduring.

Editor’s Note: Sarah Rossbach grew up with stories of those who escaped the Nazi regime and those who, sadly, did not. One of the lucky German Jews, Robert von Hirsch, traded a 16th Century Cranach painting for the right to leave Germany alive with the rest of his collection. His brother, who collected original sheet music, received exit visas for himself and his family, but was ordered to leave the sheet music in Germany.  His wife successfully petitioned to take her everyday china. She wrapped it in—what else?—priceless sheet music by Beethoven, Brahms and Bach.

There’s a hidden gem waiting to be discovered by your college-bound teen

Photo by Mark Olencki

One of my most important tasks as an independent educational consultant is the development of a list of colleges appropriate to each student who walks into my office. I must consider the qualifications of a student—grades, the rigor of high school classes, test scores, activities, unique gifts and attributes as a candidate, and so on. I also think about the student’s preferences in colleges—big or small, East or West or North or South, highly pressurized or more laid back, religious or not. A consultant has to be sensitive to other factors, such as cost or special services. In the end, people in my profession seek that sometimes-elusive, but always crucial, love match.

Some list builders look to familiar, name-recognition colleges and universities. In some cases, this is done to the detriment of schools that—while not enjoying mainstream popularity—truly provide a transformative learning environment. There is no set list of these hidden gems; that depends on a combination of a student’s profile and a consultant’s knowledge of colleges. Making that list and checking it twice, well, even for a professional, it’s a labor-intensive process.

Let’s look at a hypothetical student, and how I go about creating a short list of hidden-gem schools. Your own college-bound teen may share many of these qualities or just a few. The important thing is to gain insight into the factors that contribute to a solid group of possibilities—so keep your eyes and minds open! I would like to credit my colleague, Dr. Steve Antonoff, for the case study summarized below—a junior whom we’ll call Emma—which we utilize in our UC Irvine online class, Principles of Educational Consulting:

Emma works hard for her grades at a moderately competitive public high school in a suburb of a large metropolitan city. She’s an interesting person. She has studied Chinese on her own, likes drafting, is into martial arts, and enjoys outdoor life. She clearly prefers cooperation to competition. She’s a low-key, introspective type. Emma wants to find the right match and wants something off the beaten path. Emma wants a small-to-medium-sized school. She prefers personal interaction between student and teacher. Very self-aware, she knows that she needs to be involved to be interested.

Emma’s activities include Cross-Country—all 4 years of high school—Track, Key Club, Stagecraft (about two shows per year), Theatre Company Club, Student Council officer in senior year, NHS, Aikido, African Drumming, Film Production (and viewing), and Snowboarding.

Emma likes arts and is considering a career in architecture or engineering, but wants a broad liberal arts education as an undergraduate. She seeks a balance between academic and social life and a school that’s not cutthroat. She does not want Greek life or for the college culture to be spectator-sports focused. Emma expects the people at her college to be creative, energetic (yet laid-back), scholarly, and supportive.

Emma has said, “The fit of the college is more important than the name/prestige. In fact, the prestige of the college means nothing to me.” She also wants to avoid schools with set cliques and social groups. Ideally, she would like to be close to mountains and/or an ocean. Access to a major city would be nice. She does not want abysmal weather. Her GPA is a 3.8 (approximate unweighted), her class rank is 38/475 and on her first ACT, she scored a 29. By her senior year, she’ll have several AP classes and most of her high school transcript contains accelerated courses. She has written her essay on her interest in Chinese language and culture.

Wow. Where do you start? There are approximately 4,000 four-year undergraduate colleges in the U.S., so the choices are abundant. In Emma’s case, I have left geography open; most students I see in my office do have geographic limitations—placed on them by themselves or parents—as to how far they may travel to attend college. Some (and in many years, most) have financial restrictions, as well. For our purposes, however, we’ll set cost aside. Here are five under-the-radar/ahead-of-the-curve schools that I believe would be a nice fit:

Photo by Keith Walters

SUNY Geneseo • New York 5

A little gem hidden in the Finger Lakes region of western

New York state, SUNY Geneseo is still not on many applicants’ radar. At a mere $10,000 per year for out-of-state students, Emma’s parents will be rubbing their eyes in disbelief. Complete with a quaint Main Street walkable from campus, SUNY Geneseo boasts a reputation as the “honors college” of the SUNY system (without the zero-sum game of most selective institutions). Leadership and a small, liberal-arts size and feel—with access to the great outdoors—makes this a very nice find for Emma.

Photo by Mark Olencki

Wofford College • South Carolina 5

Wofford is the little darling of many Southern in-the-know families, but doesn’t seem to hold the same reputation in the North…yet. A small community of 1,500 undergraduates may be the reason. Up North, we drive by a dozen liberal arts colleges during our morning commute alone, but in South Carolina, Wofford resembles a Northern liberal arts college. Southerners seem to like the slightly conservative feel of the campus, the lack of cliques, and the location of Spartanburg, an up-and-coming growing community amongst young professionals. There is much to do and see, and with access to major airports—and other recognizable universities in close proximity—Emma should at least attend an information session to see if she can envision herself here for four years. Don’t expect a bargain price-wise, as is the case with some other Southern institutions. A solid $50,000 all-told is what you’ll pay per year for this excellent education.

Lewis & Clark College • Oregon

Lewis and Clark in Portland is right up Emma’s alley. While the average class size is 19, there are also several noted graduate-school programs that add to the academic mix. L&C self-identifies as seeking “independently minded scholars who thrive with a challenge.” This fits Emma’s personality and desire to be fully engaged in her learning. In these times of great uncertainty with college admissions, a student applying from another geographic location entirely could be an attractive attribute for a school that is more regionally recognized in the Northwest.

Photo by Tom England

Oxford College • Georgia 4

Oxford ranks as a hidden gem for a very hot reason: if admitted, the 950 students get to join Emory University in Atlanta as juniors, or remain on the Oxford campus (25 miles from Emory) for the remainder of their undergraduate studies. Small liberal arts—with a big university awaiting should a student choose—offers something unique in the college landscape. Emma would thrive in the small Oxford environment initially and be able to opt for something bigger should she desire more diversity or intellectual stimulation as her major and career aspirations develop. Drive due North from Atlanta and in two hours, Emma could be hiking the Appalachian trail or whitewater rafting in Rabun Gap, an outdoor enthusiast’s wonderland.

Georgian Court University • New Jersey 5

Here’s something new for the college-savvy prospective student: GCU just went coeducational last fall, previously remaining all-female since its founding in 1908. The historic campus was formerly owned by the late George Jay Gould, whose father, a rail road entrepreneur, was once the ninth richest man in America! Complete with a Japanese garden, a “real” tennis court (there are less than a dozen of these historic courts in the world!) and an arboretum, this gorgeous campus is enjoyed by approximately 1600 undergraduates and under 1000 graduate students. A Catholic college in the Mercy tradition ensures a quality education that differentiates itself with intentional values-infused courses taught by extremely dedicated faculty. Minutes from the beach, Emma will enjoy weekends at the Jersey Shore.  EDGE

Editor’s Note: Erin Avery founded Avery Educational Resources (@averyeducation) in 2003. She is a Certified Educational Planner who specializes in college and boarding school admissions. Avery holds degrees from the Peddie School, Boston College, Oxford University, Yale University and is currently completing a doctorate at Drew University in Madison. She notes that New Jersey is practically bursting with hidden gems, but in the spirit of variety, only one was included in this story. In addition to the in-state school mentioned, the author also identified Drew University, Bloomfield College, Felician College, Saint Peter’s University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology as potentially intriguing fits.

HOT FUN IN  THE SUMMER TIME

Many families ask if campus visits are a waste of time if done during the summer. With the increase in student commitments, both athletic and extra-curricular—combined with the desire not to miss school days and risk falling behind—school breaks simply do not allow for enough time to conduct comprehensive campus visits. Seeing campuses while students are present is preferred, however summer time should also be used to explore. If it is truly a good match, following up with college social media connections and admission representatives can help to clarify any questions about student culture and fit.

ICING ON THE CAKE!

Trinitas celebrated its Top Hospital designation from Castle Connolly Ltd. as a top Hospital Overall and in the categories of breast cancer, prostate cancer, treatment of congestive heart failure, high risk pregnancy and high patient satisfaction rates in doctor communication and cleanliness.  At all three campuses, everyone enjoyed a slice of cake like this one that LaVerne Tucker and George Amabile of the New Point campus show off for the camera.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Ophthalmologist and cataract surgeon Dr. Corey Notis and his son, Alex, collect a load of supplies at the Guayaquil airport in Ecuador. Dr. Notis recently took time off from his offices in Springfield, Union and Linden to embark on a medical mission to Guayaquil. Dr. Notis was accompanied by Alex and his wife, Bonnie, both of whom are fluent in Spanish. They assisted with interpretation for patients and their families. Corey, Bonnie and Alex arrived with 10 boxes of much-needed clothing, books, school supplies and medication—much of it collected by students at Tenafly High, where Alex is a sophomore. The Notis family volunteered at a medical clinic in the country’s most populous city under the auspices of SEE (Surgical Eye Expeditions) International. Over the past 40 years, SEE has facilitated more than 400,000 surgeries in developing countries.

POWER  PLAYER

Gary S. Horan, FACHE, President & CEO of Trinitas, is among an elite group of New Jersey health-care executives in the prestigious Power 50 in Healthcare list deter m  i n  e d   by NJBIZ. His ranking of #29 rests on his ability “to effectively lead Trinitas in a challenging environment” as a single entity urban hospital.  NJBIZ further reported that “Trinitas boasts a recently-opened $5.2 million Ambulatory Surgery Center and the nationally-recognized Trinitas School of Nursing.  Horan has also served as the first non-New York chairman of the Greater New York Hospital Association.”  According to an industry insider, “He’s done an unbelievable job of shepherding an urban hospital, proving it can be done.”

DESIGNED FOR NURSES

Two residency programs for novice nurses at Trinitas acquaint them with Emergency and Medical Surgical Nursing through a care-fully-designed 12-week program described as “a strong option for motivated nurses.”

COLON HEALTH… FROM A TO Z

Andrea Zimmern, MD, colorectal surgeon at Trinitas, pauses for a photo with Elizabeth Rotary Club president Jim Duffy (left) and Rotary member Doug Harris, Vice President/Marketing & Public Relations. A graduate of New York Medical College, Dr.  Zimmern joined Trinitas in 2011 where she initiated a complete colorectal surgery program including the latest treatment procedures using robotic surgery. She spoke to the club about colorectal health, risk factors and disease treatment.

A LOOK INSIDE TRINITAS

Juniors at Benedictine Academy in Elizabeth concluded a four-day immersion in the Emergency Department, Speech Therapy, the Cancer Center, Pediatric Health Center, Maternal/Child Health, the Pharmacy, and Diagnostic Imaging at Trinitas.  They experienced the hospital setting and saw how departments work together to help patients.

BEYOND MEDICINE

Richard J. Newman, professor of English at Nassau Community College in Garden City, NY, (at far right, facing group), conducted a “Poetry Heals” workshop for Trinitas medical residents.  Partic-ipants stepped outside of the box to consider poetry’s potential to enrich their professional lives.

SHADOWING GETS AN A+

Now in its 10th consecutive year, students from Abraham Clark High School in Roselle participated in a five month-long program to observe and work side-by-side with Trinitas employees in a “shadowing” experience. This insider’s look gave them a deeper understanding of healthcare.

News, views and insights on maintaining a healthy edge.

They Do More Than Play Football at LSU

The health benefits of dark chocolate have been shown in study after study. Thanks to researchers at Louisiana State University, we now understand why. The good microbes in our colon, specifically Bifidobacterium and lactic acid bacteria, love the chocolate compounds that our bodies are unable to break down. As they digest the cocoa fibers, they produce new compounds that are able to be absorbed by our bodies. These compounds lessen the inflammation of cardiovascular tissue.

The Five-Second Rule: A Second Look

Is it okay to consume food dropped on the floor if it’s picked up within five seconds? A team of British biology students have the answer to this question: It depends on the food…and the floor. The study, conducted at Aston University, measured the transfer of bacteria—specifically E. coli and Staphylococcus—on a variety of foods dropped on a variety of flooring for between 3 and 30 seconds. Wet and sticky food, such as noodles and candy, attracted the most bacteria. Carpeting proved to be “safer” (if you don’t mind the fibers and grit) than tile and laminate flooring. Not surprisingly, the longer food stayed on the floor, the more bacteria it attracted. In other words, you’re much better off plucking a chip off the carpet than consuming a chicken leg that tumbled off the kitchen counter.

Surprising Findings in Oral Cancer Study

A joint study conducted by researchers in Germany and Scotland looked at the relationship between oral health behavior and the risk of developing cancers of the mouth and throat. Nearly 4,000 individuals were involved in the study. The results, published in Oral Oncology, turned up one really surprising piece of information. Heavy users of mouthwash—for example, three times a day—appeared to have a higher risk of cancer than those who brushed regularly but used mouthwash infrequently or not at all. The research team did not analyze the types of mouthwashes being used, and stated that this finding required further research. Another interesting conclusion the study drew was that denture wearers were at the same risk of developing serious oral problems as non-denture wearers if they did not schedule regular dental office visits. “Over the years, a number of studies such as this one have suggested that there may be a correlation between excessive use of mouthwash and the development of cancers of the mouth and throat,”

Barry Levinson, MD
Medical Director, Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center 908.994.8772

Barry Levinson, MD, Medical Director of the Trinitas Comprehensive Cancer Center points out. “It appears that the number of patients in this study who fell into the category of excessive users of mouthwash did not present enough statistical significance for the study to lend any strong support to drawing a connection to cancers of the mouth and throat. Smoking, drinking, and overall poor oral hygiene are much more important factors that lead to the development of oral cancer.”

Home Games

When we think of common musculoskeletal injuries, we tend to picture weekend warriors writhing in pain with fractures and tears suffered on a court or playing field. The truth is that about half of all musculoskeletal injuries occur at home. Sprains, strains and other soft-tissue injuries are actually the most common musculoskeletal injuries. They can cause a significant amount of pain, dysfunction, and disability and are also a major source of time missed from work, school, and recreation—which burdens both the individual and the healthcare system. According to

Christopher R. Ropiak, MD Union County Orthopaedic Group 908.486.1111

Dr. Christopher Ropiak of the Union County Orthopedic Group, many of the more common home-based injuries occur due to repetitive motion or significant straining in the setting of poorly conditioned or underprepared muscles. Consequently, many injuries might be prevented by routine and regular fitness programs, especially those that focus on core muscle strength and functional movements. “Even among people that do exercise regularly, too many of us focus on exercises that do not translate well into everyday life,” Dr. Ropiak points out. “While there are some benefits to body building or long hours on the elliptical machine, these types of exercises are often not very helpful in avoiding common injuries like back strains, muscle tears, etc.” Going to a gym or a trainer is great but for many of us, he adds, due to time and money constraints, that is just not a realistic option for everyone. Dr. Ropiak encourages his patients to explore some of the home-exercise programs that require a fraction of the time and money that it takes to go to the gym…“and might keep you out of the doctor’s office.”

Number One Not So Fun

Time to break out the “purple dye”…it turns out that peeing in the pool can actually create a significant health hazard. New findings from a study at Purdue University confirm that uric acid, when mixed with common pool chemicals (including chlorine), can actually create dangerous compounds—including called cyanogen chloride, which is toxic to organs when inhaled, and trichloramine, which can injure the lungs. “Parents need to educate themselves—as well as their children—about public health and safety issues,” says

Kevin Lukenda, MD
Chairman of Family Medicine, Trinitas Regional Medical Center 908.925.9309

Dr. Kevin Lukenda, Chairman of Family Medicine at Trinitas. “They should stress the basics of hygiene: the importance of frequent hand-washing and sanitizing, the proper handling of paper money, shared cell phone use, and of course, ‘peeing in the pool.’ All are potential health risks that can be avoided through proper education.” Urinating in the pool is controllable behavior but we all know people do it anyway assuming it’s harmless. Well, it’s not. Who are the worst offenders? Competitive swimmers. P.S. They don’t fall for the old purple dye trick.

A new Ambulatory Surgery Center keeps Trinitas ahead of the curve.

The calculus of running a hospital like Trinitas Regional Medical Center seems to get more complicated with each passing year. That being said, some decisions come down to a simple set of metrics. In the case of TRMC’s new Thomas and Yoshiko Hackett Ambulatory Surgery Center, the stars align perfectly. Patients desire speed and convenience, insurance companies want to avoid overnight stays, and surgical techniques and technologies have been evolving at light speed. All of these trends have converged in the$5.2 million, 9,500-square-foot facility, located in the Andrew H. Campbell Pavilion on Williamson Street.

The Center features state of the art operating rooms offering comprehensive outpatient surgical procedures including plastic surgery, laparoscopic gynecological procedures, gallbladder surgery, hernia repair, orthopedic, vascular, podiatric, and pain management surgeries as well as cutting edge hemorrhoid surgery. Andrea Zimmern, MD, Colorectal Surgeon at Trinitas, is the first surgeon in Union County to carry out Transanal Hemorrhoidal Dearterialization (THD) procedures at the Center. “The groundbreaking THD procedure is virtually painless,” Dr. Zimmern says. “We tie off all the blood vessels that feed the hemorrhoid, and work in an area of the anal canal that has no pain sensory innervation. It’s a drastic, positive change from traditional surgery—patients are back to normal activities usually in less than a week. THD changes the game because we’ve removed the painful discomfort while minimizing recovery time. That’s an amazing advancement when you consider what hemorrhoid surgery used to mean.”

The Center opened for business in March and will help Trinitas handle a growing demand for same-day surgery. From 2012 to 2013, the hospital experienced a rise of more than 15 percent in these types of procedures, and expects 10 to 15 percent growth in this category to remain steady for several years. About 45 percent of the surgeries performed at Trinitas are already of the outpatient variety.

This is consistent with a nationwide trend among hospitals, which now perform close to 60 percent of outpatient surgeries (as opposed to free-standing surgical centers). Not surprisingly, a major reason people opt for hospital-based ambulatory surgery facilities is the proximity to the greater resources of a hospital.

“In our case, it’s added assurance for patients who come for same-day surgeries,” says Trinitas President and CEO Gary S. Horan. “And by providing a new facility, we will support the work of our current medical staff, strengthen our ability to recruit new physicians, and assure patients of a superior patient experience.”

Given changes in the marketplace triggered by the Affordable Care Act, the opening of the Thomas and Yoshiko Hackett Ambulatory Surgery Center at Trinitas could not have been timed any better. Free-standing surgery clinics—for many years operating on an out-of-network basis—have been moving toward in-network status under pressure from insurance companies. Rather than responding to competition after the fact, Trinitas has stayed ahead of the curve with the opening of its new center.

Editor’s Note: Numerous organizations, foundations, and individual donors contributed $2 million for the construction of the new facility. For more information on the Thomas and Yoshiko Hackett Ambulatory Surgery Center, log onto njambulatorysurgery.com.