Tag Archives: Progressive Diagnostics

Roundup: Holiday Movies, Holiday Animals …

Posted on December 18, 2022 | 5 comments

Two of the Top 10 most streamed movies last weekend were holiday films.

And both have strong Westport connections.

“Spirited” (Apple TV+) ranked 7th overall for the weekend. The musical comedy retelling of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds (also shown in theaters) was written in part by 2003 Staples High School graduate Justin Paul, and his songwriting partner Benj Pasek (“Dear Evan Hansen,” “La La Land,” “The Greatest Showman”). Justin also served as an executive producer.

Right behind “Spirited,” in 8th place, was “Something From Tiffany’s” (Amazon Prime Video). The rom-com is directed by 2002 Staples grad Daryl Wein (and produced by Reese Witherspoon).

Justin and Daryl were good friends at Staples. They were in Orphenians and Staples Players together — and 20 years ago this weekend, shared the stage for the annual Candlelight Concert. (Hat tip: Kerry Long)

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The Greens Farms train station COVID testing site — run since last January by Progressive Diagnostics — closed on Thursday. The move was made to accommodate normal station operations and concessions.

Progressive’s same-day COVID, flu and RSV tests remain available at their Norwalk and Wilton sites. Clients can schedule appointments online, or walk in.

Progressive Diagnostics’ Covid PCR tests detect the presence of viruses even before symptoms begin. Results are delivered the same day. The company also offers  telehealth, connecting patients with professionals who can discuss symptoms and provide orders for flu and/or RSV tests.

PS: As Bob Weingarten notes, free COVID tests are available online from the US government. Click here for details.

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The ever-changing Winslow Park Animal Hospital front lawn has gone whole hog for the holidays.

Their decorations are a welcome treat for anyone — and by that, I mean “everyone” who waits at the Post Road light between the Westport Country Playhouse and Playhouse Square.

(Photo/Molly Alger)

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Meanwhile, Jolantha — Weston’s favorite pig — is ready for Christmas too.

She enjoys everything about the holiday.

Except the traditional ham dinner.

(Photo/Hans Wilhelm)

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Speaking of animals … Mary Hoffman writes from the Compo Beach neighborhood:

This morning we woke up to a very clean, meatless deer leg …

 

… and a very large wolf looking at us. It is bigger than a typical German shepherd.  Dog owners beware!”

The wolf, with deer bone in its mouth. (Photo and screenshot/Mary Hoffman)

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Longtime Westporter Dick Rauh is 97 years old.

But you’re never too old to have a Westport Library exhibit.

His botanical paintings are featured in the Sheffer Gallery, from now through February 28. An artist talk and reception, with Rauh and Miggs Burroughs, is set for January 29 (2 p.m.).

“06880” reader Larry Bartimer urges everyone to see the exhibit.

“What an amazing man!” Larry says. “He is the most alert and intelligent 97-year-0ld man I have ever met. He should be celebrated. He kept us captivated at his Library show.”

Dick Rauh (Photo/Larry Bartimer)

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Hundreds of singers, and orchestra and band members, were the stars of this weekend’s Candlelight Concert at Staples High School.

In a supporting — but very important — role: dozens of red and white poinsettias.

The holiday plants enriched an already wonderful show. Lynn Untermeyer Miller captured a small part of the array, for our “Westport … Naturally” feature.

(Photo/Lynn Untermeyer Miller)

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And finally … Dino Danelli — one of the greatest drummers in rock history — died Thursday in New York. He was 78, and had been in ill health for several years.

Inspired by Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, he helped make the Rascals one of the first American bands to capitalize on the success of the British Invasion.

The New York Times says Danelli “merged percussive virtuosity with a rock sensibility. Like Ringo Starr of the Beatles, he set the template for the rock drummer archetype: disciplined and precise, but with a flair that drew the crowd’s eye.”

When the Rascals were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, Steven Van Zandt — who played with Danelli — called him  “the greatest rock drummer of all time.” Click here for a full obituary.

(“People everywhere just got to be free.” But “06880” isn’t free to produce. Please click here to support your hyper-local blog. Thank you!)

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Posted in Arts, Entertainment, Environment, Library, Local business, Staples HS

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Testing, Testing: Greens Farms Station Site Still Open

Posted on February 13, 2022 | Comments Off on Testing, Testing: Greens Farms Station Site Still Open

The Omicron variant is ebbing. The state’s in-school mask mandate ends February 28.

But COVID has not vanished. Westporters still need tests.

Since January, the Greens Farms train station has been one of the town’s go-to centers. Trains still stop there — for a tiny number of commuters — but most of the action now consists of nasal swabs.

The site is run by Progressive Diagnostics. The 8-year-old company was in the right place at the right time when the demand for same-day RT-PCR tests soared. Their Greens Farms location is one of 8 in the state.

The average turnaround time for results is 6 hours. There is no cost for youngsters in pre-kindergarten through grade 12. The state reimburses Progressive Diagnostics through federal grant funds. The state also pays for tests for people without insurance.

Progressive Diagnostics bills insurance companies for the $150 fee for those with coverage.

Progressive Diagnostics has been in Westport since the start of the pandemic. They began with weekly tests of EMS first responders, then did the same for other town employees. Soon, they added a drive-through site at the Saugatuck train station.

When the Omicron surge began, 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker asked for additional help. Progessive’s Greens Farms location was up and running within days.

There was concern that slow turnaround times would endanger actually endanger health, says company CEO Curt Kuliga, who lives in Westport. High test prices were another worry.

Kuliga lauds town officials for their support, and help in getting the center running quickly and efficiently.

Progressive Diagnostics’ testing center is inside the Greens Farms train station.

Right now, the Greens Farms station is used by all ages, and all groups: vaccinated and unvaccinated residents, and those who are both symptomatic and asymptomatic.

“We will be here as long as we are needed,” Kuliga says.

“Last July, during the summertime testing decline, people wondered why we were still open. We stayed to serve the community. Even though it was uncertain what would happen long term, we felt there was still a significant need. We want to help.”

Statewide, about 20,000 residents are tested daily. Progressive Diagnostics’ lab volume is close to what it was a few weeks ago. The positivity rate remains above 5%. That’s a far cry from the 30% in January, but still high.

“Increased awareness of testing sites may be more important now more than ever,” Kuliga says. “Testing will continue to be relevant — especially since 50% of positive cases are in vaccinated individuals.”

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Roundup: COVID Testing, MLK Followup, Stars On Stage …

Posted on January 19, 2022 | 2 comments

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Westport’s newest COVID test center is now open.

Progressive Diagnostics offers same-day PCR results at no cost at the Greens Farms train station. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Appointments are required. To register online, click here.

Progressive Diagnostics’ testing center is inside the Greens Farms train station.

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Martin Luther King Day was Monday. CNBC’s Shepard Smith celebrated with a fascinating story about Martin Luther King’s summers in Connecticut.

As a 15-year-old freshman at Morehouse College, he spent the summer of 1944 working as a farmhand at the Cullman Brothers shade tobacco farm in Simsbury. It was part of a program to raise funds for tuition. He returned in 1947.

The summers were eye-opening. Foro the first time, King saw a world beyond the segregated South. He and his fellow students dined in restaurants with white patrons, and tasted freedoms they’d never experienced.

Smith’s report details those years — and the efforts by Simsbury High School students to delve deeply into King’s summers in their town. They helped lead a successful drive to preserve those 280 acres as a historic site.

What makes that event — and the CNBC story — even more compelling is the Westport connection. Cullman Brothers was a holding company owned by the uncles of current Westport residents Bob Jacobs and Joel Treisman. It was started by Bob’s grandfather, and Joel’s great-grandfather.

Click below for Shepard Smith’s must-see report:

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The last of 3 “Stars on Stage from Westport Country Playhouse” shows airs this Friday (January 21). It’s 9 p.m. on New York’s Channel 13; check local listings for other PBS stations. The New York Times put it on their “What to Watch This Week” list.

Dixon — whose credits include Harpo in “Color Me Purple,” Eubie Blake in “Shuffle Along,” Barry Gordon in “Motown: The Musical,” and of course Aaron Burr in “Hamilton” — taped 2 shows at the Playhouse in September, with a live audience.

The first 2 “Stars on Stage” shows — produced by Westporter Andrew Wilk — starred Gavin Creel and hoshana Bean

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There are few visitors to Burying Hill Beach this winter. Well, few human visitors, anyway. These guys are perfect for a mid-January “Westport … Naturally” feature.

(Photo/Peter J. Swift)

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And finally … Edgar Allan Poe was born on this day in 1809. He died just 40 years later, under circumstances that remain mysterious. Many of his works endure more than 2 centuries later. Phil Ochs — who also died young — adapted this beautiful poem, and made it his own.

 

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Posted in Arts, Entertainment, Environment, History, Transportation, Westport Country Playhouse

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Roundup: Joey’s, Captain America, COVID …

Posted on April 22, 2021 | 8 comments

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A year after Elvira’s reopened as Joey’s By the Shore — Featuring Elvira Mae’s Coffee Bar,” there’s more news from Old Mill/Compo’s favorite food spot.

The building is for sale. But Joey Romeo and Betsy Kravitz are not going anywhere. They’re keeping the business just as is — with great eats, an ordering window and a beachy vibe, 7 days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. A long-term lease protects the business.

That’s the good great news. Now if only we had some good news about that long-halted home construction project on the site of the former Positano restaurant, a few yards diagonally across the street …

Betsy Kravitz and Joey Romeo, ready for another season.

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Both myTeam Triumph-CT and Remarkable Theater support the special needs community.

It’s no wonder they’re partnering for mTT’s “Spring Into Action” season-opening event. On Saturday, May 1 (gates open at 6:30 p.m.; movie at 7:30), myTeam Triumph sponsors a showing of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”  — the Marvel adventure film — at the downtown drive-in.

It’s not just that the Remarkable Theater employs people with disabilities for screenings at the Imperial Avenue lot. Or that myTeam Triump pairs children, teens, adults and veterans with disabilities with volunteers, who join them in triathlons and road races.

The volunteers are called “angels.” The special needs participants are called … “captains.” So the May 1 film is very fitting.

All proceeds from the event will be shared by Remarkable Theater and myTeam Triumph-CT.

For more information and to buy tickets, click here. To learn more and volunteer with mTT (you don’t have to be an athlete!), click here. To donate, click here.

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Starting tomorrow, there’s another COVID testing center in town.

Progressive Diagnostics opens at 8 a.m. in Saugatuck railroad station parking lot #8. That’s the one off Saugatuck Avenue, between I-95 and the Exit 17 entrance/ exit ramp. They promise same-day PCR and antibody test results.

Weekday hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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Speaking of COVID: Who better to answer questions about the virus than Dr. Scott Gottlieb — former FDA commissioner (and Westport resident)?

And who better to ask those questions than Dave Briggs — longtime journalist (and fellow Westporter)?

The event is on InstagramLive today (Thursday, April 22, 6 p.m., @WestportMagazine). You can ask questions now: DM@DaveBriggsTV.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb

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Looking for a special Mother’s Day gift? Head to the farm!

Wakeman Town Farm offers spring arrangements, through Hedge Floral. Options include a garden bouquet in twig-wrapped vessel ($95) and posies in upcycled tin cans ($30).

Hedge designs each arrangement with the best of what’s available in early May.  That probably means Queen Anne’s lace, mustard, lilac, pieris, euonymus, viburnum, azalea, honeysuckle and spirea.

Click here to order. Deadline is noon on May 5. Pick-up is Saturday, May 8, 10 a.m. to noon at WTF.

A garden bouquet option.

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Speaking of nature: Jolantha celebrated Earth Day today with a few friends, on Weston’s Kellogg Hill:

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We’ve spent the past 13 months urging Westporters to wear masks.

Looks like we need to talk about helmets too.

An “06880” reader sent this photo, from earlier this week at the Compo Beach skatepark. Several other helmet-less youngsters were nearby, he reports.

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And finally … Jim Steinman died Monday in Danbury. He was 73, and had been in poor health.

His New York Times obituary explains that Steinman “wrote all the songs on Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf’s operatic, teenage-angst-filled 1977 debut album, which remains one of the most successful records of all time.”

Meat Loaf was one of Westport’s many famous musician residents. When he wasn’t recording operatic, teenage-angst-filled songs, he played softball at Compo Beach and Greens Farms Elementary School, and coached it too.

Just another normal neighbor. (Hat tip: Adam Stolpen)

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Posted in Beach, Entertainment, Environment, Media, Restaurants, Sports

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