Thursday, April 29, 2010

Top Articles & Content Writing on Internet

Top Articles & Content Writing on Internet

Guidelines for Writing Web Friendly Content | Boomtown Internet Group

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Shirky: A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy

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Word Processors: Stupid and Inefficient

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Writing tips main goal of article

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Surefire Online Marketing: Off-Page Optimization

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Surefire's in-depth Off-Page Optimization performs over 2500 tasks including keyword research, article writing, content syndication, writing and submitting press release, SEO video creation, audio creation, Podcast submission, social network bookmarking and blog management.

A Million Little Mermaids - analysis of the fairytale

Posted: 29 Apr 2010 01:34 AM PDT

With images - HC.Anderson and Disney versions considered.

The Procrastinator's Guide to Writing | Men With Pens

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The 8 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers | Copyblogger

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Getting Started as a Writer, Part 1: Laying the Groundwork

Posted: 28 Apr 2010 11:45 PM PDT

Kurt Vonnegut at the Blackboard - Lapham’s Quarterly

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Don’t put content in your users’ blind spot « Brain Traffic Blog

Posted: 28 Apr 2010 07:28 PM PDT

Hanover Inn

Posted: 28 Apr 2010 04:03 PM PDT

Valley Business Journal

Hanover Inn
By Kathe Molloy
The 214-year-old Hanover Inn is the oldest continuously operated business in New Hampshire. Owned by Dartmouth College since the late 19th century, the Inn is a landmark in Hanover and a premier lodging and dining facility.
In 1778 General Ebernezer Brewster came to Hanover from Connecticut to serve as the college steward. As an inducement he was given a parcel of land facing the college green. In 1780, seeing an opportunity to make some money, Brewster converted his home to a tavern, much to the chagrin of the college authorities who viewed it as a danger to the students. He successfully operated the tavern until 1802 when he leased it to Deacon Benoni Dewey and it became known as Dewey’s Coffee House.
In 1813 Brewster’s son, Amos, moved the wooden tavern into the northeast corner of the lot and built a larger inn that became known as the Dartmouth Hotel. It opened in September 1814 with Robert Dyde and Company as landlords. After a dispute in 1816 the house was closed. Open again in 1817 as the Curtis Hotel, it was run by Captain E.D. Curtis. In 1821 the daughter of Deacon Caleb Fuller, Rosina Fuller, took over, married Elam Markham the bookkeeper and they successfully operated the hotel until 1838 when Jonathan Currier rented it for himself and then opened it to tenants in 1857.
In 1858 Currier sold the hotel to Horace Frary who renamed it the Hanover Inn and invested $40,000 over the next 20 years to enlarge and improve the hotel. During a two-year period from 1878 to 1880 Professor Edwin J. Bartlett and his wife lived at the hotel, at a cost of $12 a week. That included two rooms, light, heat, food, and service. Here is Bartlett’s description of the hotel: “A building consisting of two great barracks joined in the middle and deeply recessed in between. The dining room is long, narrow, and dark with two windows opening onto the alley in the rear and two on the bleak recess between the two buildings.” Bartlett went on to say that although the rooms were spacious, “there was no plumbing in the house.” Once, a stranger to the area was heard to ask Mrs. Frary for a bath, to which she replied, “Didn’t you see the river on your way up from the depot?” One can only guess at what the Professor and his wife did for two years when they needed a bath.
The dining room was furnished with three-legged tables and kitchen chairs which stood on a blue painted floor. An account book of 1847 reveals that a pint of rum could be purchased for 15 cents and two meals with two drinks cost 62 cents. Because Dartmouth students used to dance clogs on the porch and made so much noise that Frary couldn’t sleep, he tore down the porch on the Main Street side.
Bartlett’s impression of the Dartmouth Hotel was in no way softened by the passage of time. In 1921 he remarked, “It is difficult now to find a country hotel so free from the tasteful, the dainty, and the homelike. One would almost conclude that it was planned, furnished, and managed so as to drive guests to homes of their own.” Following the Frary’s 20-year ownership of the Hotel, it suffered a period of neglect and disrepair until the college purchased it to use as a dormitory, a use that proved highly un- popular with the students who were assigned to it. During this period it was subjected to numerous additions and alterations. It became a mixture of Classic, Georgian and Doric architecture. At 2:00 a.m. on January 4, 1887, it was destroyed by a fire. One settler remarked, “God finally visited His wrath upon this architectural conglomeration by burning it down.”
In March of 1888 the college trustees voted to build a hotel with accommodations for a hundred guests at a cost of not more than $25,000, thought the cost ultimately rose to nearly $42,000. The entire undertaking was not successful from any point of view. Townspeople stole lumber during the night, the fireplaces would not draw, the center section sagged badly, the flues were faulty, and unseasoned wood caused the walls to crack. The contractor sued Samuel Gilman Tucker for nonpayment and the trustees sued the contractor. However, the hotel, now named The Wheelock, opened in time to receive the commencement guests of 1889.
Over the next 12 years the hotel deteriorated and was run by many different managers. It was sometimes run by a lessee, other times by a college appointed manager. In 1892 Kimball Morse leased Wheelock Hotel for the sum of one dollar plus half of the net profits. In 1893 Lucy A. Lawrence leased and managed the Wheelock. In 1898 Hamilton T. Howe of Hanover leased the Wheelock Hotel for five years. Paying one dollar rental for each of the first three years, $100 the fourth year and $200 the fifth year, he agreed to repair the roof, paint, furnish awnings, pay for water and heat, proscribe the sale of intoxicating liquor, gambling, or any other immoralities on or about the premises. In 1901 the lease was terminated by the lessors and the building completely reconstructed and remodeled at a cost of more than the original construction. After reconstruction it became The Hanover Inn.
Dartmouth graduate Perry Fairfield became the hotel manager in 1905 and continued in this position until his retirement in 1936. Fairfield never encouraged student patronage, preferring instead widows and spinsters as his hotel guests. Notable guests have included Presidents Monroe, Wilson, F.D.R., Eisenhower, Nixon, and Reagan. George Washington did not sleep at the inn but Booker T. Washington did. Entertainers have included Kirk Douglas, Ella Fitzgerald, Joan Baez, Art Linkletter, Mary Tyler Moore, Burt Bacharach, Duke Ellington, Lillian Gish and B.B. King. The list of writers includes F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger, Sinclair Lewis, Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, and Dr. Seuss.
In 1924 the east wing was added to the original building: forty-eight additional rooms, each with a private bath. (One wonders what Mrs. Frary would think of such frivolities.) The size of the inn was increased to 100 rooms. The addition provided a large, pleasant dining room that seated three hundred people. Rates were between $6 and $10 a day, depending on whether or not meals were included.
In 1936 Ford and Peggy Sayre became the managers. They built a reputation for the inn with their warmth, charm, and famous Sayre buffet suppers. An Army Air Force Captain, Ford Sayre was killed in a plane crash near Spokane, WA. His name is remembered in the Ford K. Sayre Memorial Fund benefiting young Hanover skiers. Peggy Sayre remained as manager until 1946.
In 1937 the college began redecorating the inn. An outdoor dining terrace, lawn and flower garden, new paint, furniture and curtains were added. In 1939 a four-story brick colonial employee dormitory was built and named Brewster House after the original innkeeper. In 1942 the garden, where the Hopkins Center now stands, was used in summer as a nursery school for Hanover children and children of the inn’s guests. The cost for the children’s play group was $1 a day. In winter it was flooded and diners could enjoy their meals on ice, served by skating waiters.
From 1946 to 1948 Dave Heald, class of 1942, managed the inn and from 1948 to 1951 Chester Wescott, class of 1914, managed it. In 1961 a supplement to the Hanover Inn, the Hanover Motor Lodge, was in operation until 1974 when the college began using it as a dormitory. James McFate was the manager of the inn from 1953 to 1972 and in 1968 the most recent addition to the inn, the west wing, was completed.
From 1972 to 1984 Robert Merrow managed the inn and during this time, over a period of five years, the inn was once again renovated and restored to its present neo-Georgian charm and refurbished with antiques and quality replicas.
Since 1780 an inn has been welcoming travelers to Hanover. Sometimes not quite adequately, as Professor Bartlettwould say, other times extraordinarily well, but always on the same site, overlooking Dartmouth Green. Current manager Matt Marshall, who came to the Hanover Inn in 1984 says, “When you realize the Inn was established 25years before George Washington took office that really puts it into perspective.”

Welcome to InkDraft

Posted: 28 Apr 2010 12:27 PM PDT

 

Welcome to InkDraft, I’ve been a published writer for seventeen years, my resume and a small sample of my newspaper and magazine articles are posted here. To view my resume please click on the link titled, RESUME and enter the password that was sent to you.

To read a few of my clips please click on any one of the articles listed under CATAGORIES in the list to your right or simply scroll down this page.

To anyone who has found their way here via a blog link, surfing, or Googling I simply say, I hope you enjoy your reading. Comments are always welcome.

Thank you for visiting InkDraft.

Weekly Column: The Claremont Connection

Posted: 15 Apr 2010 08:08 AM PDT

The Compass Newspaper: The Claremont Connection

by Kathe Molloy

The Compass is launched and I’m happy to be aboard. I’ve lived in Claremont close to 30 years and I’ve seen a lot of changes and I’m looking forward to writing about all the great things going on around town. I’ve worked mostly in area schools starting with the North Street School when my older daughter started kindergarten there. One of the things I enjoy is reading about local history. Claremont has a fascinating history from its first settlers to Louis Armstrong and other jazz greats playing at the Latchis Theater on Pleasant Street. So from time to time, we’ll be taking a look at Claremont then, even as we take a look at Claremont now.

I spent some time on Saturday, Aug. 15 at the Community Regeneration Day event sponsored by Claremont Savings Bank and held in their parking lot. As I moved from booth to booth I was impressed with the number of people who chose to skip a Saturday at the beach, on what seemed to be the first really hot summer day of the year, in order to bring information and services to the public. Even with little shade, the thermometer reading well over 90 degrees, no breeze, and the black tar parking lot acting like an oven, all the volunteers were upbeat and informative and willing to chat.

Robert Weaver of Town and Country Realty was representing the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority. The CDFA has a great tax credit program that allows New Hampshire businesses to invest in community and economic development projects and receive a 75 percent state tax credit for that contribution through the Community Development
Investment Program (CDIP) also known as, “The Tax Credit Program.” The tax credits can be used anytime within a period of five successive years, so
if the compauy.has little or no tax liability in the year the donation is made and the credit is issued, a portion (or all) of the tax credit can be claimed later in the five-year period.

What I thought was encouraging about this program is that there is no minimum on a donation. What is now called a microbusiness was, years ago, sometimes called a “cottage industry,” where the business owner worked from home producing goods or providing services such as handcrafted
items, woodworking, daycare, catering, and cleaning services. With today’s technology, that list of “cottage industries” or microbusinesses has expanded considerably to include business writing, graphic design, music production, eBay businesses, and many other Web-based businesses. The donor can choose which CDFA-approved project in their community their money will
go to, so it’s a pretty good way to gain a tax credit while contributing to the economic growth of your own community.

I spoke with Judith of Turning Points Network, formerly known as Women’s Supportive Services. Turning Points Network is a pioneer in the. work to end violence in our homes, relationships, and community. Initially it began as an organization that assisted divorced or widowed women. Over time, they expanded to assist adult, female survivors of domestic violence and later survivors of sexual assault. Turning Points Network now assists adult male survivors, teens, and children.

Along with creating and tailoring services based on survivor’s input and community needs, programs of the Turning Point Network have evolved into violence prevention education for businesses, all schools in the district, faith communities, and organizations as well as training for first responders
and the general public.

The needs list for the Turning Points Network shelter list includes children’s and women’s socks and underwear, diapers and wipes, clib bedding, phone cards, gas cards, food, and battery-free toys.

Over the last 32 years, Turning Points Network has assisted more than 27,000 individuals and families with a 24-hour Crisis and Support Line, shelter, court and medical advocacy, peer and group support, and information and referral services.

Jan Bunnell started the Claremont Soup Kitchen 26 years ago when Joy Manufacturing went out of business in 1983. The Claremont Soup Kitchen serves a hot meal four evenings a week to all people in Sullivan County whose welfare benefits do not stretch far enough, those without any income, people on a fixed income, and people fighting alcoholism.

Volunteers at the soup kitchen assist in meal preparation, serving, and clean-up. They are caring and concerned homemakers, teachers, mothers, fathers, business people and retirees.

In talking to the people at the Good Beginnings booth, I realized that not
everyone has a good support system for their young children. It’s not a problem in our household: I have a great little granddaughter who’s ajoy and a human dynamo. She brings fun and excitement to everything she gets into. Her mom is a great mom and is patient and supportive and her auntie is a
barrel of fun and a great babysitter. As the nana, I get to do a lot of fun things with my granddaughter, trips to the bookstore and the library, go for ice cream, and other kid stuff that give mom and auntie a break. There’s a
lot of support here at our house and we have a lot of fun. Even so, a two-year-old can bepretty rowdy and in talking to the people at the Good Beginnings booth, I became aware that not everyone has this kind of a built-in network. The cultural changes that our country has gone through often means both parents work long hours, or worse, a parent is stressed about a lost job. Many people do not live close to their families and so lose the help that other family members used to provide, there are more single parents, and parents are often very young.

Good Beginningsfills in the lost support that once was always there for young
families. They provide professional staff, education, in home support, and support groups. There is even a Good Beginnings store, where families can purchase gently used clothing, toys and other items for babies and children.

The Claremont Savings Bank Green Team was out in full force, sharing infor-
mation on how and where in Claremont to recycle various materials. A tip sheet on saving energy, recycling in the garden (seems like everyone has a garden this year) and recycling at home along with information on Wincycle in Windsor, Vt., a recycling center for computer equipment, cell phones,
microwaves, telephones and a host of other electronic equipment.

The Claremont Lions Club was also present, and is currently working on programs to supply the vision impaired with glasses.

The Claremont Kiwanis service club was on hand with food and beverages planning their next project of organizing toys and clothing for the holidays. The Claremont Kiwanis have a new president, Susan Schroeter.

The Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts had tents set up and representative Leo Maslan was on hand to distribute information on scouting. Boy Scout Troop 332 meets Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the church vestry in Cornish on Center Road. The Cub Scouts meet at.Cornish Town Hall on Mondays at 6:30p.m.

I had a great chat with Terry Casey, Truant Officer, about The Clothing Closet
located at the United Methodist Church, an organization that provides good used clothing and new toiletries to families and youth in the school district.

Fiske Free Library, represented by Michael Grace and Colin Sanborn, was
collecting gently used books for redistribution and the Fiske Free Library book sale in October.

At the end of my circuit around to all the booths, I felt I had made a few new friends and walked back to my car thinking about how encouraging it is to see so many caring individuals and organizations light here in Claremont reaching out to their neighbors.

K.M.

The Return of the Cobin Covered Bridge

Posted: 15 Apr 2010 06:59 AM PDT

Upper Valley Magazine

The Return of the Corbin Covered Bridge

by Kathe Molloy

In the early morning hours of May 25, 1993, someone crept
onto an isolated covered bridge in North Newport, New
Hampshire. Spilling a trail of contempt and gasoline, this
intruder lurked in the shadows while striking the flame that
would-though only for a season-demoralizing an entire com-
munity.

Despite heroic efforts by firemen, the romantic old covered
bridge gave up the ghost. Built around 1835 and used continu-
ously since then, the Corbin Covered Bridge was a cherished
local landmark. As the sun rose on the dismal scene of its
destruction, townspeople huddled in little knots on both sides
of the river and cried. When a busload of exuberant, Spring-
wound schoolchildren rounded the corner, dead silence struck
the bus with the force of a grand old bridge collapsing into the
river.

While the acrid smell of smoke still hung in the air, the battle
to save the bridge began. Greater than the battle to save it from
flames, this was to save it from oblivion. Gathering forces,
townspeople funneled anger into action. Rewards offered for
the capture of the perpetrator quickly totaled over seven thou-
sand dollars. Within twenty-four hours, petitions signed by four
hundred citizens were presented to selectmen in an emergency
town meeting.

In the first few days after the fire, it appeared that there was
nearly unanimous support for rebuilding the bridge as it was. As
emotions cooled, however, bureaucracy took over. The highway
department requested a temporary bridge. Citizens felt a tem-
porary bridge would bring complacency, and damage the abut-
ments. If the abutments were damaged and a covered bridge
not built, the Corbin Bridge would lose its place on the National
Register of Historic Places. They also pointed out that some
towns have had temporary bridges for twenty-five years.

The bridge was insured for replacement costs, but the town
would have to pay additional expenses if a bridge were built that
could handle emergency vehicles. The insurance award was
$375,000. A new bridge would cost $425,000.

A group of citizens formed the Bridge Advisory Committee,
hoping to work with town officials to rebuild the bridge, and
asked for a commitment from the town to build another covered
bridge. Selectmen didn’t want to commit. Let the state do it,
just don’t spend any money, some said. Steel and concrete will
be fine. But, townspeople wanted to know, will little children in
the back seat shout “Beep the horn, beep the horn!” when they
ride over steel and concrete?

Town officials wanted the state to come in on an
eighty/twenty cost-sharing plan. For a single-lane, twenty-ton
capacity covered bridge, the state’s estimate was 1.1 to 1.2 mil-
lion dollars. The state offered a four-year time frame, and would
accept bids from builders who had no previous bridge building
experience.

The selectmen wavered, but the Planning Board voted to
support the construction of a one-lane covered bridge able to
handle emergency vehicles. The bridge would be replaced.

The battle began anew. Town officials held out for state
involvement. Opponents campaigned fiercely. At a selectmen’s
meeting, a petition with sixty-three signatures called for a spe-
cial meeting to let voters decide. They overwhelmingly decided
to replicate the covered bridge as a one-lane, twenty-ton capac-
ity bridge, keeping local control but with an option to accept
state funds if needed. The Bridge Committee, now joined with
the Newport Historical Society, called it a compromise.

The battle continued. Town officials then chose a “design-
bid-build” process, which means that they would hire an engi-
neer to design the new bridge and then invite builders to bid on

The Bridge Committee favored the “design-build” process, which awards
one contract, either to the engineer or the builder, who then subcontracts the other work. Design-build is generally faster and less expensive, although exact costs are not known ahead. The Department of Transportation will not fund design-build projects, and told town officials that design-bid-build was the only acceptable method. The people said, “That doesn’t sound like local control.”

Stubborn Yankees hell bent on getting their bridge back would not surrender to the bureaucracy. With the words of a DOT representative, “Take the king’s shilling and do the king’s bidding,” ringing in their ears, they united in an unyielding front with a six to three vote recommending the selectmen use the design-build process. The Historical Society, the Bridge Committee, and the people pledged to raise the fifty thousand dollars needed to fill the gap between the insurance award and actual costs.

With hearts full of victory and indomitable spirits, the people of Newport called upon the Wizard of Bridges-Arnold Graton, forty miles away in Ashland. Graton’s reputation as a bridge builder is unsurpassed in the United States. Graton said he would build a replica of the Corbin Bridge and
have it in place by October, and, he’d do it for $425,000.

“He is a truly ethical Yankee businessman,” said Town Manager Dan O’Neill,
who over the months saw the light and came to believe in the bridge. “If Arnold says he’s going to do it and shakes hands on it, it’s done,” O’Neill said.

Graton’s company, started by his father Milton, has an impressive track, or bridge-record. They have constructed ten covered bridges, done repairs on
twenty-nine more, and they also build and repair stone bridges and barns. The fifty-seven year old bridgewright with the Mr. Rogers smile always welcomed the volunteer workers, many of whom came nearly every day to be a part of history

While Graton and his crew went to work turning Oregon Douglas Fir timber
into a nineteenth-century covered bridge, often with nineteenth-century tools, the town girded its loins to raise the money needed. By this time nearly everyone was a believer. The sale of Tshirts, mugs, commemorative coins, fourteen karat gold covered bridge charms, covered bridge postage stamps, a children’s book about the bridge, and the sale of wooden treenails (pronounced trunnells) that would hold the bridge together all contributed to the fund.

On Friday, October 14, 1994, eighteen months after the bridge burned, teams of oxen began turning a capstan winch to draw the new bridge into position over the river. Moving a millimeter for each turn of the winch, the eighty-ton bridge slowly glided on oak and beechwood rollers on top of wooden cribbing.

Nearby Parlin Field, graced by three days of smiling weather, brimmed with the sights and sounds of nineteenth-century New England. Thirty-five peddlers hawked the wares and fares of another era, while musicians garbed in period costumes filled the air with music and song.
Spinners and weavers plied their yams and their wares, demonstrating the alive and well art of homespun.

Victuals for the three-day celebration included Uncle Buck’s venison, buffalo
burgers, and barbequed chicken, along with pies topped with latticework crusts, a delicious reflection of the reason for it all. From Friday to Sunday, nine thousand good folk strolled the field and kept watch.

Sunday afternoon, with the sun slanting through the eighteen-foot high sides of the latticework leviathan, the bridge claimed its rightful place. "If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything," the Yankee saying goes. The people of Newport took a stand, held their ground, and made believers out of all who came to watch as their bridge rose from the ashes-like the Phoenix, more glorious than before.

Well Equipped Emergency Rooms

Posted: 15 Apr 2010 05:49 AM PDT

Valley Business Journal

Well Staffed And Equipped Emergency Rooms
Treat A Variety Of Cases In The Upper Valley

by Kathe Molloy

Hospital emergency rooms are always prepared for any medical emergency 24-hours a day, but, going to the emergency room when a phone call, a clinic, or a short wait might solve the problem could be a costly visit.

According to Kerry Stafford, a physician’s assistant with Springfield Hospital’s ER, less than 10 percent of ER admissions are actually life threatening.

The Springfield ER staff sees approximately 12,000 patients a year. The staff, for daytime, is comprised of a physician, four physician’s assistants and registered nurses. Night-time coverage is provided by two RNs, or an RN and a paramedic, and an on call doctor. The staff sees a wide variety of cases in the ER. Stafford said 40 percent of the cases are trauma injuries and 60 percent arc medical related such as chest pains or sudden illnesses, He also noted that Springfield is the largest referrer of major trauma injuries to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center of all the hospitals that refer patients to D H.

The close proximity of Okemo Ski Resort, which causes a rise in the population, and nearby Interstate 91 contributes to the number of trauma injuries that Springfield treats as well as refers to Dartmouth-Hitchcock. Injuries requiring a neuro-surgeon, a plastic surgeon, a burn unit, or involving major multi-system injuries, or neuro-vascular injuries would be stablized and transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock.

The long daylight hours of summertime bring the usual related injuries, motorcycle accidents, bee stings, and sports related injuries a few of which will appear in the ER during the summer months. “Fortunately, due to safety education,” Stafford said, “fireworks injuries have dropped off.”

What is on the rise and appearing more frequently is child abuse and neglect. Stafford attributes the increase in abuse to worsening social situations but said that, again, education has helped staff recognize the signs of abuse or neglect. As a result more cases are, as required by Vermont state law, being reported.

Beth Gould, emergency room nurse at Mt. Ascutney Hospital, said the cost of running Mt. Ascutney’s ER is a half million dollars a year and although it loses money the trustees are committed to providing emergency care to the community. Mt. Ascutney treats about 4,500 patients per year with a 50-50 split between trauma victims and medical conditions.

Mt. Ascutney has an in-hospital clinic where patients with non-life threatening situations can be treated instead of the emergency room.
Gould said part of the high cost of the ER is related to the necessity of having expensive equipment available that may not be in use much of the time but must be available when it is needed. Expensive equipment and specialist are also why smaller hospitals must refer some patients to Dartmouth Hitchcock. Mt. Ascutney does not have a CAT scan, a neuro-surgeon, a plastic surgeon, or a cardiac specialist. Intensive Care pediatrics are stabilized and transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock also.

Mt. Ascutney has two pediatricians on call 24 hours a day. A daytime doctor, a trauma nurse and night-time coverage is provided by residents from Dartmouth Hitchcock. Gould said nearby Mt. Ascutney ski resort accounts for skiing injuries. Other winter related incidents include medical conditions associated with shoveling heavy, wet snow. Summer time also brings an increase in population with accompanying sunburns and sports injuries.

Gould also said the Mt. Ascutney ER was seeing more cases of child abuse and neglect. “In many cases,” Gould said, “in a rural area like this where some homes are in isolated settings, the ER staff is likely to be the first outside contact a preschooler may have. Poor parenting skills are the cause of much of child neglect.”

“Many insurance companies,” said Gould, ‘are now requiring pre-approval for emergency room visits. The difference between an office visit and an ER visit for the same treatment may be as much as $60 or more.” She suggests calling the ER first in the case of a non-life threatening situation. “Obviously it’s a judgement call,” she said, “some things won’t wait but those are things an insurance company will probably cover. When it involves situations like earaches, dental problems or a sore throat there may be a better way of handling it. Often by calling the ER and explaining the problem a patient can access suggestions that may enable them to wait more comfortably until a clinic or doctor’s office opens. Many people don’t realize that you can get in touch with your doctor during off hours by calling and leaving a message with the answering service,” Gould said.

Claremont’s Valley Regional Hospital’s ER saw about 11,000 patients last year, said Emergency Services Director Jim McCarruther. “Valley Regional is the biggest of the little guys,” he said, “and the largest employer in Claremont.”
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