Be Healthy: Montefiore Program Links Power of Art to Well-Being

Vital Stats 1: Number of hours an art therapy session took to reduce symptoms in cancer inpatients. (Source: Journal of Pain & Symptom Management, 2006) Within the grand hall of Montefiore Medical Center in Norwood, hospital medical staff and associates took a break from their daily tasks to stop by an art gallery showcasing the other side of their colleagues’ hidden talents. The Associate Art Showcase was hosted by Montefiore’s Healing Arts Program, which served as a kind of collective meeting ground for hospital staffers looking to show off their artistic side. “The feel in the room was really special and

Dear Loyal Readers! The Norwood News has come out with its final newspaper of the year! It was a great year in news, which became the basis of our Year in Review story that traveled back to the early part of 2015 and all the stories we’ve chronicled. The year was filled with a lot of pluses and minuses, as in any year, and we give our take on how the Bronx fared this year in our editorial found on page 2. Every year has beginnings and endings, the latter being the more sadder of the two. This year Norwood residents

By WILLIAM MATHIS

It’s been an eventful year in Norwood, with developments in housing, politics and parks making headlines. As 2016 approaches, the Norwood News looks back at some of the year’s biggest stories. Housing and Development It was the year of housing in New York as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration worked throughout the city to advance his Housing New York initiative, which would build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing citywide. However, community boards around the city, including in the Bronx, pushed back against two zoning amendments that would have made the building possible. Community Board 7 and the Bronx

By DAVID GREENE

This week we asked readers their holiday wishes for 2016. I wish that this war will stop. That’s one of the main things I look forward to. But it’s hard; it’s not getting better. It’s difficult to avoid certain things. I guess you just have to roll with the punches and try and be more positive. Besides that, myself, I’m just trying to finish school for the holidays and start a new year fresh and hopefully with a new girlfriend. Michael Gordillo I’m just wishing for a better understanding of life. I want to better myself and move out

By MICHAEL BROWN JR.

Plans for a skate park expected to be built at Williamsbridge Oval Park have been unveiled, advancing the highly anticipated $750,000 project. According to plans released at Community Board 7’s parks committee, ledges, quarter pipes, ramps, rails, and a bowl corner will be some of the skate park’s features. The park, to be built at a concrete space on the eastern side of the park, will also include two entrances, one already in existence and another to be added during construction. The park will be larger than expected so construction crews can avoid uprooting existing trees surrounding the perimeter of

Toy Giveaway The 52nd Precinct, 3016 Webster Ave., is hosting a toy giveaway event Dec. 18 at 4 p.m. for children under the age of 13. Parents are required to preregister with the precinct and must accompany their children to receive a gift. For more information and to register, call Community Affairs Police Officer Crystal Reveron at (718) 220-5824. Flu Shots Walgreens in partnership with Montefiore will be giving flu shots at 573 E. Fordham Rd. (Hoffman Street between East Fordham Road and East 191st Street), Dec. 11 from noon to 2 p.m. Insurance card is required. Appointment is not

To our readers, The Norwood News is out with its latest edition, offering you plenty of Bronx community news you can use. We begin in the heart of Norwood, or as some locals call it, the Jewel of Norwood: Williamsbridge Oval Park. It’s there where a series of vandalistic acts and arsons have creeped out neighbors with big pride of their storied park. Learn what police and the New York City Parks Department are doing about it. We also write some sad news of a longtime piano teacher in Norwood, Mabel Gerber, who passed away last month. Learn about her

Last week, NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central (formerly HHC North Central Bronx Hospital) unveiled a message of hope on World AIDS Day: Stomp Out AIDS. The declaration was emblazoned on a tarp, along with more messages of hope to eradicate the disease that’s claimed millions of lives since the epidemic was first identified in the early 1980s. The hospital houses a Special Care Clinic to treat HIV/AIDS sufferers. Community Board 7, which houses North Central, ranks 21 out of 59 community districts in the rate of new HIV diagnoses.

Montefiore AIDS Center and Addiction Medicine Expert Honored on World AIDS Day

The New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute (NYSDOH) honored the Montefiore AIDS Center staff for their work in the field of HIV/AIDS and Alain Litwin M.D. for his contributions to the field of hepatitis C (HCV). New York is home to approximately 116,000 people living with HIV or AIDS. Additionally, an estimated 200,000 New Yorkers have chronic hepatitis C, which like HIV, can be acquired by contact with blood. “This award is the result of a tremendous team effort over many years to build the finest HIV/AIDS program and to treat every patient with care and compassion,” said Barry Zingman