STAR LAKE -- Clifton-Fine Hospital, New York’s smallest, has been the beneficiary of several large gifts from the Wilderness HealthCare Foundation this year, including:

• vital signs and fluid warming machines for the clinic and ER

• critical parking lot repaving project that enhances the safety of patients, staff and visitors

• phlebotomy (blood draw) chair replacement for the lab that reclines and is adjustable

• ultrasound stimulation equipment replacement for physical therapy

The foundation works with a dedicated and caring hospital board, auxiliary, staff and volunteers to raise funds that improve the comfort, safety and services available at Clifton-Fine Hospital.

The foundation has set a year-end goal of raising $50,000 which they plan to direct toward an upgraded EKG machine for the ER, an upgraded newborn incubator for emergency deliveries in the ER and a handicap walk-in therapy tub for use by nursing home residents. Longer term, they are targeting replacement of the Blood Chemistry Analyzer in the laboratory.

Support for the foundation ensures care at Clifton-Fine Hospital continues to be available as the closest 24-hour emergency room to local residents from as far as east of Harrisville to west of Piercefield and south of Degrasse and Edwards. Without