“The NBFD is pleased to announce the SAFE Program and the Senior SAFE Program have been awarded $13,300 grant from the Department of Fire Services and Goverrnor Maura Healy.

The SAFE Program provides essential fire and life safety to our elementary schools where they gain the knowledge to understand the dangers of fire, how to escape a fire in their home, and what do if an emergency occurs in their home.

The Senior SAFE Program reaches out to our senior citizens and offers education on fire safety including cooking safety, safe use of home oxygen devices, and fall prevention.

The Department is proud of the hard work done by our SAFE Program and Senior SAFE Program.

Public Education Officer Anthony Poente and our SAFE Program members provide all types of fire safety education, fire extinguisher training, CPR and first aid training, and car seat installations.

Fire and safety education is one of the fire service’s core missions and the addition of a full time educator last year along with this grant funding insures we’ll continue providing this valuable training to the residents of the City of New Bedford.”-New Bedford Fire Department.

New Bedford Fire Department photo.

New Bedford Fire Department photo.

New Bedford Fire Department photo.

New Bedford Fire Department photo.

At approximately 3:00am Saturday, 36-year-old Chhoeunly Phoeung of Massachusetts was on the Maine Turnpike in Kittery when for unknown reasons he left the southbound side of the highway and struck several objects at the entrance to the state police weigh station.

The Maine State Police in a statement said that, “After crashing his vehicle, Phoeung walked into traffic on the Turnpike and was struck by a tractor-trailer unit. Phoeung was transported by ambulance to Portsmouth Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.”

Maine State Police are still investigating the circumstances of the crash and why he walked into traffic.

“FAIRHAVEN, FALL RIVER, DARTMOUTH, LAKEVILLE, SEEKONK and WAREHAM, Mass. – Southcoast Health is pleased to announce it has welcomed five new urgent care providers.

Southcoast Health Urgent Care offers patients, including those without a Southcoast Health primary care provider, convenient, non-emergency care with no appointments necessary. Patients may walk-in or utilize the timesaving Save My Spot feature to make a same-day appointment from the comfort of their home.

All six locations are equipped with X-ray and laboratory services, and backed by the specialty services and resources of Southcoast Health. Many patients are even able to book a follow-up appointment with select specialists before leaving their visit.

Southcoast Health photo.

The following new providers will care for patients across all six Southcoast Health Urgent Care locations.

Sandra Araujo, NP | Urgent Care
Sandra Araujo earned her Master of Science degree in Nursing from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts. She is a certified Family Nurse Practitioner by The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). She is also fluent in Portuguese.

Kailey DeMoura, NP | Urgent Care
Kailey DeMoura earned her Master of Science degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston, Massachusetts.

Jennifer Gudmundsson, FNP | Urgent Care
Jennifer Gudmundsson earned her Master of Science in Nursing degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner from Chamberlain University in Chicago, Illinois. She has now accepted a new role in our Urgent Care transferring from her previous role as a registered nurse in the Charlton Memorial Hospital Emergency Department.

Gregory Hunt, MD | Urgent Care
Dr. Gregory Hunt earned his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. He completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Rochester, Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York. Dr. Hunt has previously worked in the Southcoast Health Emergency Departments at all three hospital locations.

Alysa Lopes, NP | Urgent Care
Alysa Lopes earned her Master of Science degree in Nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner from Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts.

We are delighted to welcome, Sandra Araujo, Kailey DeMoura, Jennifer Gudmundsson, Dr. Gregory Hunt and Alysa Lopes to Southcoast Health. Their addition to our team is a testament to our commitment of providing exceptional care and service across the South Coast region.

To learn more about our Southcoast Health providers please visit www.southcoast.org/doctors/ or call 1-844-744-5544.

_______________________________________________________

About Southcoast Health
Founded in 1996, Southcoast Health serves communities across southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island as the largest provider of primary and specialty care in the region. The not-for-profit, charitable system includes three acute care hospitals – Charlton Memorial in Fall River, St. Luke’s in New Bedford (a Level II Trauma Center), and Tobey in Wareham, Massachusetts with a physician network of more than 675 providers.

With upward of 7,500 employees, Southcoast Health is the largest employer in southeastern Massachusetts, and one of the largest employers in the Commonwealth, according to the Boston Business Journal. More information is available online at www.southcoast.org.“-Southcoast health.

“FAIRHAVEN MA- Fitness in Cushman Park is celebrating LUCKY THIRTEEN!

Fitness in the Park is scheduled FREE TO THE PUBLIC this summer for 10 weeks of Yoga and Exercise classes in Cushman Park, Green Street Fairhaven MA. The classes are taking place Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:30am from June 18 to August 22, 2024. Summer 2024 marks the 13th consecutive year of Free Yoga and Fitness classes on the south coast of Massachusetts – that’s a total of over 250 opportunities to stretch your spirit and join in caring community!

TUESDAYS: Yoga in the Park begins June 18 with certified yoga instructors from Sangha New Bedford. Yoga in the Park is a yoga series for all levels, designed to introduce newcomers to the basics of stretching and mindfulness and challenge yoga enthusiasts with a focus on compassion for the body.

Jeff Costa and Susan Grace. Fitness in the Park photo.

THURSDAYS: Summer Bootcamp, begins June 20 with certified personal trainer (A.F.P.A.), Wayne Goulart. The Bootcamp class consists of various exercises that build functional strength and core stability with circuits utilizing light dumbbells and body weight training.

YOGA IN CUSHMAN PARK will be guided by Certified and Experienced teachers out of Sangha New Bedford, a yoga studio, school and healing arts space in downtown New Bedford (sanghanewbedford.com) founded by Jeff Costa, a recognized leader in the wellness industry and co-coordinator of Fitness in Cushman Park. Lead Teacher for the 2024 Yoga in Cushman Park season is David Trauterman. David’s teaching style is calm, devotional and joyful.

He draws from Ananda and Hatha Yoga which infuse the use of affirmations, longer posture holds, meditation, breath work and chanting to create a dynamic and spiritually uplifting yoga experience for all levels.

Wayne Goulart. Fitness in the Park photo.

SUMMER BOOTCAMP instructor Wayne Goulart has a career in health and wellness that began as a hobby when he started lifting weights with his brother in the basement of his family home. That hobby grew into a lifestyle and eventually a passion. Wayne is a certified personal trainer (A.F.P.A.) and teaches classes and offers personal training in his studio, Body by Wayne in New Bedford MA.

A certified group exercise instructor, Wayne’s specialty is functional training and his clients are from all walks of life, every age and fitness level.

Attendees to the classes should bring a mat for Yoga and a mat plus set of light weights for Bootcamp. Classes take place weather permitting — cancellations will be posted on the Fitness in Cushman Park Facebook page: www.facebook.com/fitnessincushmanpark

Fitness in Cushman Park is presented free to the public thanks to the generous support of our community sponsorship team. This summer’s 10 weeks of free fitness classes, are presented by Sangha New Bedford and EncorENTERTAINMENT and are sponsored in part by Charter Fitness Sponsors:

David Trauterman photo. Fitness in the Park photo.

BASK, Howe Allen Realty and Euro At Phoenix, Elite Fitness sponsors The Baker-NB and Olivia’s; and Community Sponsors: Humphrey, Covill & Colman Insurance, Fieldstone Farm Market, Joe’s Original Kitchen + Bar, New Bedford Wellness Initiative, Destination Soups, Salt the Spa on Elm, Spicy Lime Thai Cuisine, Oxford Creamery, Sylvia and Hurd CPA, Tax Accountant, Jessica Noblet LMT, 508Tees, Ultimate Touch Beauty Care, The Book Witch, Art Loft, Artistic Auto, BesTeas Bubble Tea Shop, Coastal Provisions, Tracey & Company and South Coast Entertainment, with special thanks to the Town of
Fairhaven.

Fitness in Cushman Park is coordinated by Jeff Costa/SANGHA New Bedford and Susan Grace/EncorENTERTAINMENT.

For more information about Fitness in Cushman Park call 508-287-2482 or email sgrace@encorent.com or jeff@sanghanewbedford.com. Please like and follow Fitness in Cushman Park’s Facebook page to stay involved: www.facebook.com/fitnessincushmanpark.”

“Recently, a raccoon has tested positive for rabies in the Town of Dartmouth, therefore; we are asking the public to keep a lookout for oddly behaving wildlife and to refrain from interacting with wild animals.

If you or your pet has come in contact with wildlife, please call the Board of Health or Animal Control as soon as possible. After hours, please call the Dartmouth Police Department as listed below.

Rabies is common in Massachusetts with over 5,000 animals testing positive since 1992. Most cases involve wild animals such as but not limited to raccoons, skunks, bats, woodchucks, and foxes, but every year some pets, especially cats and farm animals also contract the rabies virus.

The rabies virus is a serious disease that affects the central nervous system in mammals: bats, cats, coyotes, dogs, foxes, skunks, and woodchucks are a few examples of common mammals to this area. The rabies virus is usually a disease found in animals but it can transmit to humans from an infected animal.

Rabies is spread when an infected animal bites another animal or person. The saliva of the infected animal contains the rabies virus. Rabies infection can also occur when the saliva from an infected animal gets into a scratch or wound, the eyes, nose, or mouth of a person or animal.

While contracting the rabies virus is almost always fatal, it is 100% preventable. A few simple steps can safeguard from this deadly virus.

• Contact your physician immediately if you have been in contact with wildlife;
• Notify Dartmouth Animal Control of wildlife that exhibit strange behavior;
• Keep vaccinations up to date for cats and dogs;
• Assure children and adults do not approach wildlife;
• DO NOT handle any wildlife including babies and young;
• Leave the handling of wildlife to professionals. only licensed wildlife rehabilitators and problem animal control agents can handle wildlife that is not sick;
• Do not feed your pets outside. Even an empty bowl will attract wildlife;
• Keep pets leashed or within a fenced yard and do not allow them to roam freely;
• Keep garbage containers in barrels with tight-fitting covers;
• Exclude wildlife from entering your home with a chimney cap and repair any holes that allow wildlife to enter your home, especially around the edge sof the roof and vents.

Residents are urged to report any human or pet contact with wildlife to Dartmouth Animal Control by calling 508-910-1840 or to contact the Dartmouth Police Department at 508-910-1735.

“~ 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 ~

As we near the end of the month, let us remember that May is Mental Health Awareness Month and offer some resources:

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, 24/7. Call or text 9-8–8, or visit 988lifeline.org/chat to speak with a counselor.

You can also visit the CFS Community Behavioral Health Center at 965 Church Street. Knowing #WhereToStart is the 1st step in your or someone else’s mental health journey.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health emergency, call the crisis line (available 24/7) at (508) 996-3154.”-City of New Bedford Police Department.

City of New Bedford Police Department photo.

By Sam Drysdale
State House News Service

After previously warning that families in Massachusetts’ emergency shelters could get notice starting June 1 that they have 90 days to exit the state-funded housing, the Healey administration said Friday that it is holding off on delivering those notices until early July.

Healey administration officials said earlier this month that families could start getting kicked out of the emergency shelter system by Sept. 1, after receiving a 90-day notice to exit on June 1. The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is writing the regulations to implement a law that legislators passed in April setting a nine-month limit on how long families can stay in the state’s emergency shelters.

EOHLC said Friday that it has not finalized its formal guidance on the length of stay policy approved by the Legislature, so the first exit notices will not go out at the start of June.

“In accordance with the supplemental budget passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities will release formal guidance outlining the polices and protocols for the 9-month EA length of stay limit soon. Notices under this new policy will begin going out to the first families in early July,” a spokesperson for the secretariat said.

The first families to exit the emergency assistance program under this new policy will receive 90-day exit notices beginning in early July — meaning they will have until early October to find other housing options — but not all families will be affected by the length of stay policy immediately, according to EOHLC.

Providers have said they are concerned about thousands of families having to exit the system at the same time — putting even more pressure on Massachusetts’ already low-vacancy housing market. EOHLC said it will implement the policy on a rolling basis to ensure that families are adequately supported in their transition out of the shelter system.

Housing advocates have pushed back against the quick turnaround for families receiving notice that they have to leave shelter. Part of their argument is that the law that created the nine-month time limit also funded a number of housing assistance and workforce training programs to help families get on their feet and leave shelter on their own accord.

“Hospitals, providers, everybody understood this was a policy that was going to be implemented in a way that gave us time to scale up immigration support services, clinics, job partnering — these things are actually starting to pay off — but now we’re going to put people out before they’re ready and local cities and towns and nonprofits are going to bear the brunt of that,” Andrea Park of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute said earlier this month.

Many homelessness service providers assumed families would start hitting their nine-month limit next spring. However, EOHLC said they would apply the limit retroactively to the start of 2024, meaning families could be asked to leave this fall. Top Democrats in the Legislature did not contradict that interpretation of the law when asked.

The Healey administration says recent investments in rehousing benefits and shelter supports have yielded a steady uptick in the rate at which families are exiting the emergency shelter system.

Over the last six months, 1,491 families have exited shelter: 197 in December, 209 in January, 230 in February, 269 in March and 304 in April, and 282 in May as expanded housing and job placement services have been funded by the state. The May figure is expected to increase as end of May exit data is reported back to EOHLC in the coming days.

The pace at which families are coming into the shelter system has also slowed since a massive spike last summer.

In the summer of 2023, up to 40 eligible families per day were seeking emergency shelter services from the state. Gov. Maura Healey instituted a 7,500 family maximum capacity for the system last fall, and the number of families seeking services has slowed since, according to EOHLC. Now, about 20 eligible families apply for shelter every day.

Additionally, as the swell in shelter applicants has been largely driven by newly arriving immigrants into Massachusetts, the administration noted that 3,711 immigrants in the shelter system have filed for work authorization applications since November 2023, with the vast majority approved. Of those, 1,081 people have gotten jobs and 1,016 are enrolled in English for Speakers of Other Languages classes.

“On May 28, 2024, a Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section (VFAS) North Trooper and members of the Lowell Warrant Squad went to 338 Market Street in the city of Lowell in an attempt to locate and arrest Henry GARCIA (10/10/2003) for a warrant issued out of Holyoke District Court.

Based on an investigation by Holyoke Detectives, GARCIA was charged with Masked Armed Robbery, ABDW, Kidnapping and Felony Larceny. As Officers approached the residence, GARCIA jumped out of a second-floor window with a bag in his hand. Officers on scene were quickly able to take him into custody without further incident.

GARCIA was armed with a 45 Caliber Firearm. Additionally, an AR-15 Assault Rifle and a Sawed-Off Shotgun were located in the bag. GARCIA was transported to Lowell PD for booking. Additional charges pending.”-Massachusetts State Police.

Massachusetts State Police photo.

“HAMPTON — Police say a man is in custody after allegedly stealing a Harley-Davidson motorcycle from the L Street Tavern (https://lstreettavern.com/) after it was raffled off to raise $23,000 for charity.

The 2010 Harley-Davidson Roade Glide, built by renowned motorcycle designer Paul Yaffe, was raffled Sunday to help a local woman struggling with an aggressive form of Alzheimer’s disease. The L Street Tavern made her cause the centerpiece of its Memorial Day weekend festivities.

Monday around 1 p.m., L Street owner Jake Magro said his bartender came running into his office to tell him the bike had been stolen.

“She came up, and she said, ‘Jake, the bike’s gone,’” Magro said. “I said, ‘What do you mean?’ She said, ‘I think the bike got stolen’

Hampton Police Chief Alex Reno said the suspect was caught Monday night by Wrentham, Massachusetts, police.

Brian Bennett, 36, of Amesbury, Massachusetts, is being charged in New Hampshire with criminal mischief and the theft of the 2010 Series FLT Harley-Davison motorcycle. If convicted of the Class B-level felony, Bennett could be sentenced to 3½ to 7 years in state prison.

Magro said the bike was won in the raffle by a man who is a firefighter from Massachusetts. The winner was scheduled to pick the bike up on Tuesday.

“Huge relief,” said Magro, of the bike being recovered.”-L Street Tavern 603.

No license is needed to fish in fresh water the first weekend in June!

“Mark your calendars for this year’s Free Freshwater Fishing Weekend on June 1 and 2! No license is required to fish any public lake, pond, reservoir, stream, or river in Massachusetts from 12 a.m. Saturday, June 1 until 11:59 p.m. Sunday, June 2.

• Other than Free Fishing Weekend, you need a license to fish in fresh water if you are 15 or older. If you’re 15–17 or 70 and older, your license is free. Funds from fishing license sales support MassWildlife’s fisheries research, fish stocking programs, and angler education programs. Buy your fishing license here.
• All other regulations, including catch limits, apply during Free Fishing Weekend. Before heading out on the water, make sure you know the rules.
• For saltwater anglers, 2024 Free Saltwater Fishing Days are May 12 and June 16.

Where to fish:
Use the Go Fish MA! fishing map to find places to fish near you! You can also explore trout stocked waters or handicapped accessible fishing sites.”-Massachusetts Wildlife and Fisheries.