As medical director of Westport Urgent Care, Dr. Deborah Mogelof is used to urgent requests from people about to leave on trips.
I need a prescription refill! they urgently tell the emergency physician, a longtime Westport resident.
I’m going to [wherever]. What medications do I need to pack?
Once they’re at their destinations, the questions keep coming.
My kid is sick, and we’re away from home. Help!
Dr. Deborah Mogelof
Help has arrived.
SafeTravelsMed.com went live earlier this month. It’s a site for personalized medical care for travelers (and their families).
Think of it as Westport Urgent Care, around the globe.
Mogelof offers 2 services. A travel kit includes 5 common over-the-counter medications: ibuprofen, acetaminophen, Benadryl, triple antibiotic ointment and a topical burn cream (plus Band-Aids). All are labeled, with dosage information.
Optional items include constipation and diarrhea medicines, and (why not?) a hangover kit.
Mogelof plans a “college pack” too, with all of the above items — plus Narcan.
Sure, you could assemble all that yourself.
But when was the last time you did?
The second service is “concierge.” For $300 patients get access to a visit with Dr. Mogelof before they travel. She can fill a prescription, or examine someone who feels ill.
There’s also the option to buy telehealth visits, from the road. The cost is $10 per call if booked 14 days ahead, $100 if booked less than 14 days.
Due to licensing requirements, concierge patients must be Connecticut residents, or visiting Connecticut at the time of the telehealth visit.
The doctor is also working on a college version of the concierge service. For $500 a year, a student would have access to telemedicine (provided she has contact with them in Connecticut as they start their membership).
Mogelof hopes to expand the telehealth offerings to a network of doctors nationwide.
SafeTravelsMed seems to fill a need in travel medicine.
An urgent need, you might say.
(For more information on SafeTravelsMed, click here.)
(Wherever you travel, take “06880.” It’s a bit of home, on the road. And to support our work, please click here. Thank you!)
On the last Sunday before Christmas, Main Street is packed today with almost-last-minute shoppers.
While buying gifts for friends and loved ones, Steve Crowley hopes we’ll think about everyone in Kentucky whose holidays — and lives — were upended by last week’s tornadoes.
Steve — the owner of SCA Crowley Real Estate Services — has swung into action. He got a logo (courtesy of Miggs Burroughs) with the words “America Lends a Hand.” He ordered dozens of t-shirts, with the design.
Marty Rogers produced a sign. It’s in front of Vineyard Vines all day today, where Steve and his sons are selling the shirts, in return for donations to the Western Kentucky Relief Fund. 100% of all contributions go directly there.
In the midst of everything, stop in front of Vineyard Vines to help out. And, Steve says, if you can’t be there, send a tax-deductible check made out to “Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund,” c/o Public Protection Cabinet, 500 Metro Streeet, 218 NC, Frankfort, KY 40601.
Steve Crowley (right) and sons, selling t-shirts outside Vineyard Vines today.
As the Omicron variant surges, and COVID cases soar, the Urgent Care center on Post Road East — which offers rapid testing i– has been swamped with patients.
As Bob Weingarten notes, the line of cars there “has replaced the normal line at Starbucks” across the street. .
(Photo/Bob Weingarten)
Hey: If there’s an accident at Urgent Care, at least you won’t go far for treatment.
Marty Greenberg lives on the Saugatuck River, across from the Rowing club. Last night around 8:30, the “floating Christmas team” passed by, for the second time.
“What a sight! What a treat!” Marty says. “it’s a unique Westport thrill.”
Floating Christmas tree, across from the Saugatuck Rowing Club. (Photo/Marty Greenberg)
Readers: If you’ve got photos — or any other info on the floating Christmas tree, like when it will next ride the river — click “Comments” below.
Sure, this is one of the busiest weeks of the year. But if you get a chance, stop in to the Westport Library’s Verso Studios holiday open house tomorrow (Monday, December 20, 7 p.m.).
The creative staff will show off their podcast, mixing and mastering equipment. They’ll answer questions about audio and video creation, editing and post-production, including training courses.
Registration is requested, for planning purposes. Click here to RSVP, and learn more.
Speaking of the Library: It can’t run without volunteers. Betty Lou Cummings was one of its staunchest.
She served many other organizations, including her fall festival baby, the Applel Festival. She was a Representative Town Meeting member, as well as a 2nd selectwoman.
Yesterday, Betty Lou and her husband Tom celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary. It was the same day I — and so many other Westporters — got their classic Christmas card, filled with photos of children, grandchildren, and random others.
Happy anniversary — and Merry Christmas — to one of our town’s favorite couples!
Here’s a last-minute gift idea for anyone who remembers hours spent at Arnie’s Place arcade (or dreams about paying their taxes in pennies, as Arnie did).
Virginia Wong — the Westport native and entrepreneur who spent many happy hours at the controversial (to parents and town officials) and joyful (to kids) Post Road video arcade (now Ulta) — has reanimated the iconic graphic from Arnie Kaye’s long-running campaign to open, and stay open.
“I Support Arntie’s” t-shirts come in 4 colors. They’re perfect for any ’80s Westport kid.
Click here to order. But hurry! Tomorrow (Monday, December 20) is the cutoff for Christmas delivery.
And finally … Edith Piaf was born on this day, in 1915. The French singer-songwriter. She died in 1963, just 47 years old. But she left quite a legacy behind.
Westport Urgent Care‘s air conditioning unit has been in urgent need of a part for a while. It’s still on back order.
What was merely an inconvenience earlier became — well, urgent — this sweltering week. With latex gloves sticking to doctors and nurses’ hands, dangerous heat levels, and ill patients being exposed to even more danger in the waiting area, the health care center tried to adapt.
Yesterday, the walk-in clinic closed early. A sign cited “equipment failure,” and apologized for “inconvience.”
There was no notice on the website, or voice message, whether Urgent Care will be open today. It usually opens at 9 a.m. on Saturdays.
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Then there’s this heat-related postponement: Today’s Car Cruise has been rescheduled for next Saturday (August 21, 4 to 8 p.m., Saugatuck train station parking lot #1).
The sponsoring Westport Police Benevolent Association decided it was just too hot.
Cars of all years, makes and models are welcome. The fee to enter and display is $20. Funds benefit charities like the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, Special Olympics, and Veterans and Families of Fallen Officers.
The first 100 cars to arrive get a gift bag. The family-friendly event includes music, food, trophies and raffle prizes.
Speaking of cars: This was spotted a couple of days ago, by Ned Dimes Marina at Compo Beach. I guess he (and you know it’s a guy) wanted to park as close to his boat as possible.
Still on: Wednesday’s (August 18, 2 p.m., Jesup Green) rally to end a message about the importance of supportive housing for Connecticut’s most vulnerable residents.
As the housing market is at a fever pitch, a coalition of groups — including Homes With Hope, the Westport Housing Authority and The Partnership for Open Communities — are working on funding initiatives.
Vulnerable residents include homeless people, the housing insecure, domestic violence survivors, youth, and families struggling to stay in our community.
Yesterday’s “06880 Roundup” about an upcoming Mikey’s Way event included outdated information. The spread of the COVID Delta variant raised concerns about an in-person gathering.
The “Beacon of Hope” fundraiser — to help provide electronics for youngsters undergoing treatment for life-threatening illnesses — will be all virtual this year. A live auction begins October 13.
Like ’em or hate ’em, you can’t deny: The New England Patriots are generous.
Every year, the Kraft family owners’ foundation honors community volunteers. This week, at Gillette Stadium, 26 volunteers were cited — and donations made in their name to charitable causes.
Among them: Westporter Amy Katz, and — to the tune of $10,000 — Pink Aid.
In 2011, she founded the organization to help underserved women undergoing breast cancer treatments. It has provided more than $6.5 million in assistance, to over 10,000 women.
Katz also launched a mentorship program, and established Norwalk Hospital’s Community Mammogram Program for underinsured women.
The Kraft Family Foundation received more than 250 applications this year from nonprofit organizations. Congratulations, Amy — and thank you, Pink Aid and the Krafts! (Hat tip: Jean Lepore)
Congrats too to Tallula Stvan. The June Staples High School graduate heads off to the University of Connecticut as winner of the Westport Woman’s Club’s Leah Scherzer Scholarship.
Tallula’s activities included the school newspaper Inklings, and a community service project. Her award — part of the WWC’s $31,000 given in student aid this year — is named for the Woman’s Clubs most active member.
And more kudos: rising Staples High School sophomore Leigh Foran just had a paper published in The Pre-Collegiate Global Health Review. It’s called “A Disease Called Poverty: The Sickness Dismantling Global Health Equity.”
PGHR — a Johns Hopkins University student- and faculty-led publication — is the first international, peer-reviewed journal that features articles on global health topics written by high school students. Leigh’s article underwent a rigorous review process.
In it, she discusses the inequitable correlation between poverty and illness, including how poor people are disproportionately more devastated by preventable diseases. She comments on the role of non-governmental organizations in adding to this problem, and what can be done to find a solution.
This week’s #FridayFlowers grace the front entrance of Earthplace. It’s appropriate. The arrangement was created by club member Becky Newman, who in her spare time directs the center’s nature programs.
And finally … it’s too hot to do much during the day. But tonight, head outside. Look up. You’ll see the Perseid meteor shower. If you’re lucky — and away from too much light pollution — you’ll see one of nature’s true wonders.
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The second service is “concierge.” For $300 patients get access to a visit with Dr. Mogelof before they travel. She can fill a prescription, or examine someone who feels ill.
