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It is a driver's responsibility to operate his vehicle in a safe manner, an appeals court has ruled in rejecting a claim by a woman seriously injured in an accident Dec. 8, 2016, in the Town of Stafford that the girlfriend who was texting with the other driver should be held liable.

Carmen Vega, of Le Roy, who was injured in the accident sued the family of Collin Crane,17, the other driver, who died as a result of the crash, and his girlfriend, Taylor Cratsley.

Genesee County Supreme Court Judge Emilio Colaiacovo dismissed Vega's claim in April 2017. The Appellate Division of the Fourth Judicial Department upheld that ruling.

"The court properly concluded that defendant had no duty to refrain from sending text messages to decedent," the appeals court wrote in its ruling.

A State Police investigation found that there was no evidence Crane tried to take evasive action after his car crossed the center line on Route 33 in Stafford, "suggesting that he was likely distracted."

An investor reported, "The cellular phone activity may have been the source of the distraction."

Vega's attorneys argued that Cratsley knew or should have known that Crane was driving and therefore should not have been sending him text messages.

Cratsley told police and later stated in an affidavit, that she was unaware Crane was driving at the time of the accident.

"Mrs. Cratsley added that often -- when the decedent was returning from work -- a family member would pick him up and drive him home," according to a court document. "Cratsley testified at her deposition that she never expected nor asked the Decedent to send her text messages or read text messages while driving. None of the text messages produced contradict Mrs. Cratsley's testimony."

Citing previous case law, the court said, "A defendant generally has no duty to control the conduct of third persons so as to prevent them from harming others, even where as a practical matter defendant can exercise such control."

Such a person, the court said, has no direct knowledge of what the driver is doing and less ability to control the actions of the driver.

"The same driver has complete control over whether to allow the conduct of the remote sender to create a distraction," the court wrote.

The text sender's actions, the court said, are as "innocuous" as a billboard by the side of the road, a sign outside a church, or a lemonade stand, all of which are intended to grab a driver's attention. To rule the text sender could be held liable would mean those responsible for these other distractions could also be held liable.

"We conclude," the court wrote, "the defendant owed no duty to the plaintiff to refrain from the conduct alleged, and therefore that she cannot be held liable for such conduct."

Photo: File photo.

There is a man at UMMC tonight who may live because a family residing on South Street Road in Pavilion acted fast to pull him from the wreckage of his truck after he apparently suffered a heart attack, performed CPR, and called 9-1-1.

"I looked out my kitchen window," Eileen Ostrander said. "I ask my son and my granddaughter, 'is it raining that hard or is there a fire?' We went the kitchen door and then we heard the tires spinning. It was still in gear."

They didn't realize at first that somebody might need their assistance.

"It took a second to realize what was happening," said her son, Joe Condidorio. "You know, a lot of people on four-wheelers, tractors, so we took a few steps and we looked at each other and we realized what was going on and we just sprinted toward the truck."

Ostrander said she used to be a track star but this time her son beat her to the truck.

The truck was wedged into a grove of pine trees on the other side of a field across the road from their house.

When they got to the blue pickup truck, it was still in gear, the man's foot was full-throttle on the gas, smoke was spewing from the back tires and the driver was slumped over the wheel.

Condidorio undid his seat belt, turned off the engine and slapped him gently on his face to see if he would respond. His daughter, Isabella, called 9-1-1.

"He was unresponsive," Condidorio said.

Ostrander, who has worked for HomeCare & Hospice and Crossroads House, felt for a pulse. There was none.

Condidorio pulled the man from the vehicle and into the field. Ostrander started CPR.

Often times, dispatchers must talk a person through CPR procedures but Ostrander knew what to do.

"Actually, when I had my children it was the best thing I ever could have done was to take the CPR course," Ostrander said. "Everyone should."

By the time medics arrived, the man's pulse had returned and an EKG showed he had suffered a heart attack. At the time he was transported by Mercy EMS to UMMC, he had a regular heartbeat.

Condidorio said what his mom did was amazing and the family pulled together in a team effort.

"She probably couldn’t have gotten him where I got him to," he said. "She took over from there, so it was a great team, and with my daughter calling 9-1-1, too."

(Initial Report)

A serious-injury accident is reported in the area of 9663 South Street Road, Pavilion, near the town line with Le Roy.

A person was ejected from the vehicle; CPR in progress.

Pavilion fire and Mercy EMS dispatched. Mercy Flight on in-air standby.

UPDATE(S) (By Billie) 8:34: p.m.: A landing zone for the helicopter is being set up.

UPDATE 9:11 p.m.: Residents in the area heard an engine revving; upon inspection, they found a truck wedged in a grove of pine trees, its driver passed out and unresponsive with his foot on the gas pedal, wheels spinning in place. His body had no pulse. A nearby resident arrived on scene, turned off the engine and pulled the victim out of the vehicle and onto the ground. That rescuer's mother, who is a nurse, was also there and performed CPR. The victim was subsequently taken via ground ambulance by Mercy medics to UMMC.

(Follow Up)

It's been 22 years since Guadalupe Hernandez was arrested on a burglary charge in the Town of Byron but just this past week an appeals court ruled his three-to-six-year sentence handed down in 2016 was "too harsh."

The sentence was reduced to one year.

Hernandez, 41, was first arrested in 1996. He failed to appear for his arraignment on the felony charge and was re-arrested in 2011. In November, he entered a guilty plea with a sentence cap of five years in prison. He then disappeared again -- in both cases, he reportedly left the area -- and wasn't re-arrested until 2016.

The Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department, agreed with the argument by Hernandez's attorney that the sentence was unduly harsh considering the nature of the crime.

"My understanding is that it may have been in part because of the nature of the burglary," District Attorney Lawrence Friedman said. "Apparently, there was a fight going on outside of a residence and, I believe, the defendant chased someone else into the residence and continued it, or did something, but entered with the intent to commit a crime.

"So it's not what you probably think of as your typical burglary. It wasn't someone breaking into someone's home to steal something. So that certainly may have been one of the factors weighed on appellate division finding this to be harsh."

The court rejected the defense contention that Hernandez wasn't properly warned that if he failed to appear in court he would lose his sentence cap, stating that since Hernandez didn't object in court he had failed to preserve that contention for court review.

Friedman said overturning sentences as too harsh is rare, primarily because most sentences are part of a plea agreement and the defendant clearly agreed to these terms.

Some years ago, Friedman's office started requiring defendants who enter a plea agreement to waive their right to appeal the sentence as a condition of the plea deal. Hernandez was convicted before that practice was established.

By the time Deputy Ryan Young arrived at the Log Cabin Restaurant in Indian Falls at 11 p.m. on April 11, he knew a customer had caused a disturbance in the restaurant and that the customer had fired at least two shots from a firearm.

As Young and other deputies arrived in the parking lot that Wednesday night, they heard another shot being fired.

Keith Kent, a 61-year-old logging company owner from Albion, spotted by deputies in the parking lot carrying a handgun, did not respond to verbal commands to drop his weapon.

At a press conference today about the shooting, First Assistant District Attorney Melissa Cianfrini said, "He began to advance in the direction of Deputy Young, raising and ultimately pointing his revolver at Deputy Young. Deputy Young fired several rounds and Mr. Kent was shot."

Kent was hit in his neck and grazed by a bullet across his back. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Following a month-long investigation by State Police -- that District Attorney Lawrence Friedman characterized as "thorough" -- a Grand Jury reviewed the evidence and returned what is known as a "no bill," which means the Grand Jury found no reason to charge Young with a crime.

Friedman said the Grand Jury ruled the shooting was justified.

While Friedman and Cianfrini are prohibited by law from discussing anything that happened during the Grand Jury hearing, they are free to discuss what the State Police investigation uncovered.

The narrative of events starts with Kent trying to talk with a woman at the bar of the Log Cabin.

"He was talking with the woman at the bar and she was not receptive, I guess you might say, to what he was saying to her," Friedman said. "He was asked to leave her alone and ultimately was asked to leave the bar and was removed from the bar under protest."

After he went outside, either patrons or employees or both continued to observe him as he walked to his truck.

By this time, a person at the Log Cabin had already called 9-1-1 and remained on the phone with an emergency dispatcher providing updates as "the situation quickly escalated," as Cianfrini put it.

Investigators were not able to determine if Kent retrieved a revolver from the truck or if he already had it on him when he left the bar. He was a valid permit holder for the revolver, Cianfrini said.

After reaching his truck, he started to walk back to the bar and fired two shots into the air.

"Patrons at the restaurant and employees went down into a basement and began to arm themselves with materials in the basement while hiding," Cianfrini said. "Mr. Kent did re-enter the restaurant and threats were made."

There is no evidence that Kent fired his revolver while inside the restaurant.

He walked back outside.

"He was given multiple directives by sheriff's deputies to drop his weapon," Cianfrini said. "He did not comply with those directives."

Young was armed with his duty AR-15. As Kent pointed his revolver at Young -- who was 50 to 80 feet away from Kent -- the deputy fired 15 shots, which did not empty his magazine, Cianfrini said.

No other deputies fired their weapons during the incident.

"I believe that the reason why other deputies may not have discharged their firearms was because of the concern that there may have been patrons in the restaurant area," Cianfrini said. "They weren't fully aware where the patrons or employees in the restaurant were, and so under their standing orders, they were not in a position where they could safely discharge their firearms."

The narrative of events was established by witness statements, body camera recordings, 9-1-1 recordings, and the available forensic evidence.

"What I can tell you about the body-worn camera footage is that this incident took place during the night," Cianfrini said. "It was dark. There was limited lighting. There were no body-worn camera recordings that directly caught the incident."

Friedman said, however, the recordings were useful to the investigation, especially the audio portions of the recordings.

Asked if Kent made any statements before being shot, Friedman said he doesn't believe he did.

Friedman expressed confidence that the shooting was justified.

"I would say, in addition, that throughout this very thorough investigation, interviewing of everyone who was there, there was never the slightest hint that would indicate that this was anything other than justified."

Previously:

• BREAKING: Grand Jury finds Log Cabin shooting death justified
• UPDATE: Deputy shoots and kills armed suspect at Log Cabin Restaurant
• Man shot and killed after pointing handgun at deputy outside Log Cabin Restaurant
• Man shot by deputy at Log Cabin was looking for a fight according to early reports from the scene
• Deputy Ryan Young is identified as officer involved in Wednesday night's shooting at Log Cabin Restaurant
• BPD officer who shot robber in 1977 says 'don't let others second guess you'
• Once all the evidence is in, DA will face decision on whether to have Log Cabin shooting case reviewed by grand jury

Dr. Keith Carlson, with Attica Veterinarian Associates, explains bovine artificial insemination to high school students today at Genesee Community College for Precision Ag Day.

Precision Ag Day provide students with an overview of the science and technology used in modern agriculture, including drones, GPS-guided tractors, and robotics.

Bradley Hirschman, a student at Pavilion, tries his hand at flying a glider with a camera attached toward a target.

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) honored cadets and officers from The United States Military Academy in West Point today in Albany. Hawley, who serves on the Assembly’s Veterans Affairs Committee, is a veteran of the Ohio Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserves.

“West Point Day is always a special celebration in Albany and we are so fortunate to have some of the finest recruits and soldiers in the world right here training in our state,” Hawley said. “As a veteran and son of a veteran, I know the great sacrifices our military members undertake and that drives me to be a strong advocate on their behalf in the legislature.

"Measures like free state park passes and fishing permits and reduced highway tolls are simple displays of gratitude we should be implementing for our veterans and active duty members. I enjoyed meeting the cadets and leadership of West Point today and wish them the best in their careers.”

Photo: Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) shakes hands with Brigadier General Cindy Jebb, 14th Dean of the Academic Board of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Dayne Burroughs sent in this photo of some pretty ominous looking clouds gathering over Batavia just before a bit of heavy rain hit this morning.

National Grid is reporting a brownout -- meaning low power availability -- in Downtown Batavia, roughly around the Bank and Main Street area.

Some 93 customers are affected.

Crews estimate full power will be restored by 5 p.m.

The Libertarian candidate for governor, Larry Sharpe, stopped at T.F. Brown's in Batavia on Monday and told about two dozen people who attended the breakfast that he has two main issues in his campaign: fighting corruption and returning more control to local governments.

Sharpe's plan for eliminating corruption is to either eliminate or make more accountable the state's various boards and commissions, to change the way infrastructure is funded, and reduce if not eliminate taxpayer funding for economic development.

"Forget the MTA or the Port Authority or Oasis or the Board of Regents or insert name here," Sharpe said. "All they are are boards that now people can be rewarded for being party loyalists. That happens all the time.

"Our current leader, King Andrew, he actually has received over eight hundred thousand dollars from the people he's put on boards for his campaigns."

Sharpe said these boards are unaccountable and impose edicts that people can't fight.

They also give Gov. Andrew Cuomo a layer of insulation. They allow him to say, "it's not me, it's the boards," he said.  And he's insulated from any charges of corruption with those authorities.

"That's why everyone around him goes to jail not him," Sharpe said.

Sharpe's plan for infrastructure, he said, will not only help eliminate corruption but it will help get more things funded.

Local businesses should be able to sponsor locks on the Erie Canal to help cover its $100 million annual price tag for upkeep and maintenance. RIT or some other school should release its students on a project to come up with hovercraft to transport people and goods on the canal, which would also help being a student in New York more exciting, to work on those kinds of projects.

"I also want to build whatever is the new Erie Canal," Sharpe said. "I don't know what that is. I want to talk about it. I want to become the marketer-in-chief so I can sell whatever the new Erie Canel is. Is that a new Google road? Is that driverless vehicle road or something like that? I'm OK with that. Let's do it."

Google, or some other company, Sharpe said, would pay for it.

Bridges, he said, should be paid for by private companies. He envisions sponsorships or naming rights, just like, according to him, companies do with sports stadiums now.

"The idea of sponsoring stadiums is working," Sharpe said. "It is successful people keep doing it all over the place. You keep seeing it even locally now, right?"

When somebody in the audience suggested a company could fail, Sharpe said, "yes they could." 

But he said, have you ever heard of a stadium named after a company failing or falling prey to corruption?

He said the current system for building and maintaining bridges is rife with corruption and cronyism. Turning the bridges over to companies through naming rights would solve those problems, he said.

"Now while you may not like the idea of some company having the naming rights for a bridge at least the company that has naming rights for the bridge, that company is responsible," Sharpe said. "Someone is actually responsible. Right? Someone is. If they can't do it, you fire them and let another company in there. It's fine. Someone is responsible."

(NOTE: When a company buys naming rights for a stadium, the company is just another advertiser and does not participate in the management of the stadium.)

Just as important to Sharpe as eliminating corruption, the candidate said, is returning control to local governments. 

Not only would he end unfunded mandates, he said, he would eliminate all mandates.

Mandates, he said, discourage people from participating in government because they have no control over how their money is spent, so they just give up.

"I get that the reason why so many people don't want to show up for their own government," Sharpe said. "They believe there's no value in doing it. And in many cases they're right. If you have a county or a township or a village where my perception of your budget is mandated why bother showing up?

"Your county your township or village is actually being run by all of you in Albany or Washington, so why show up? It makes no sense. We have a situation where only the four of us show up. So guess what? I guess you're chair, you're vice chair, you're a secretary and you're treasurer. That's it. No one else ever shows up unless they're mad. You've seen that happen. I'm sure you have. People don't show up unless they're mad."

And then when the only people local government officials deal with are people who are mad, Sharpe said, they stop taking them seriously and then make decisions behind closed doors.

Eliminating mandates would re-engage people in their local governments, he said.

He also wants to create a $500 tax credit that people can direct to charities of their choice, with at least half required to stay in the county of the taxpayer's residence.

His other local issue he wants to change is economic development. He believes only private money should support economic development.

"There's a problem that has been popping up in New York State and that is if there's a problem, how can we find a government program to solve it," Sharpe said. "That has been failing again and again and again and again and again. I like when money goes to a small business. I like when money goes into a community. I like when money goes into a town or a city. That's awesome. But how about it not being taxpayer money?"

David Olsen, chairman of the Genesee County Libertarian Party, asked Sharpe to discuss his views on the Second Amendment.

He started by noting that the Second Amendment is about more than a right to own guns. 

"It says 'the right to bear arms,' Sharpe said. "What does that mean? It's the right to defend yourself, whether that's a knife, a gun, whatever, it's the right to defend yourself."

He added that the First Amendment and the Second Amendment are interlocked and the Founders intended these two key rights to top the Bill of Rights because of their importance.

"The First Amendment is the most important amendment," Sharpe said. "I don't care who you are. Number one. They're all important freedoms and number one is the most important. If you don't have free association, you don't have a religion, you don't have a press, you don't have freedom of speech. If you don't have those basic freedoms, you don't have freedom. That's the number one overall.

"The rest all matter. That one is number one over all of them. Without that there's nothing. That's critical. What did they put right after that? The one that defends the first. They didn't wait for the right to bear arms to be 10. They made that two."

Sharpe said he thinks the SAFE Act is horrible and though he wouldn't have the power to repeal it, he would pardon the 1,000 or so people who have been convicted of SAFE Act violations so far and encourage law enforcement not to enforce it. He would also block any SAFE Act funding. 

As governor, he said, he will be accountable, not appointed boards and commissions.

"What I'm saying is when I'm governor, I'll make sure that every board, every issue, every concern is either under me, chief justice, the Assembly, someone will be responsible for every single thing to get it done," Sharpe said. "I won't be like, our current governor who sits here his last State and laments about how tough things are. Anybody happen to see his state-of-the-state?

"Oh, tough, bad spot, things are so bad -- [interruption] -- he lamented how bad things were. He's the governor for seven years. He's the governor for seven years. What are you lamenting about? It's you. You're the one responsible. It just randomly happened that things got bad in seven years? Come on. It's crazy."

A physical fight is reported at Route 5 and West Avenue, Pembroke, with traffic backed up.

Law enforcement is responding.

UPDATE 2:43 p.m.: The suspect vehicle has fled; westbound toward Route 77. It's an orange Nitro.

UPDATE 2:45 p.m.: The suspect vehicle has been spotted by a trooper.

UPDATE 2:45 p.m.: The vehicle has stopped.

The Batavia Society of Artists opened its annual spring show at the Richmond Memorial Library.

Tessa Lynn, a resident of Batavia, received Virginia Carr-Mumford Scholarship.

Lynn believes art is the culmination of all of human history and like art of the ancient past, she tries to focus on visual stories that may inspire a more considerate future. After attending Genesee Community College, she plans to pursue a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts. Eventually, she would like to illustrate books.

"My hope is to always keep creating art," she said. "I don't believe that there is ever a point where a creator should stop learning, even after years of practice and observation. My artist journey has only just begun."

Brian Kemp won first place in the member's competition.

Karen Crittenden, second place.

Third place went to Nicole Tamfer.

Attica, Notre Dame, Oakfield-Alabama, and Batavia are the four teams participating this year in the 20th Annual Rotary Baseball Tournament at Dwyer Stadium.

Attica and Notre Dame play at 10 a.m. and Oakfield and Batavia play at 1 p.m.

The consolation game is at 4 p.m. and the championship game is at 7 p.m.

The consolation game and championship game will be broadcast and streamed by WBTA.

Photo: Front row, Chandler Baker, Hunter Mazur, and Jordan Schmidt. Back row: Damien Bush, Tylor Ohlson, Christian Cleveland, Brendin Klotzbach, Sam Cusmano, Joey Aguglia, Matt Travis, and Logan Veley.

Press release:

The New York State Senate has passed legislation (S3025)– introduced by Senator Michael H. Ranzenhofer– to protect the privacy of sportsmen.

The bill prevents the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) from disclosing sensitive information listed on hunting, fishing and trapping licenses and permit applications.

Existing law does not contain restrictions on the release of information for holders of licenses and permits. The bill would also require the DEC to establish procedures to further ensure information is protected from disclosure.

“Data breaches are truly the dark side of the electronic age, and the unauthorized release of a sportsman’s sensitive personal details is a violation of privacy that can have terrible consequences.

This legislation prevents sensitive financial information from being exposed by requiring the Department of Environmental Conservation to take proactive steps to ensure sportsmen’s information is protected,” Ranzenhofer said.

DEC installed a new database system to maintain information on sporting licenses and permits. The system includes sensitive personal details, including: individual’s first and last name, date of birth, height, eye color, driver’s license number, mailing address, telephone number, and whether the licensee is permanent 40-percent military disabled.

The bill will be sent to the State Assembly. Assemblywoman Aileen M. Gunther is sponsoring the bill in the State Assembly. If enacted, the bill would take effect immediately.

Doug Goodwin's bike was stolen from County Building #1 (DMV/Probation) sometime between 8:15 and 9 a.m., Monday. It is blue Giant Roam 2 with yellow and white stripes.

It is a 27-speed bike with hydraulic disk brakes and is equipped with a giant headlight and speedometer and had an Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle sticker on it. The picture is of a similar bike. Goodwin is offering a $100 reward for the return of the bike. He can be reached at (585) 993-6761.

UPDATE 12:28 p.m.: As a result of a reader tip, Batavia PD has recovered Doug's bike. He says, "It's in the same mint condition that it was when it was stolen."

Press release:

New York State Senator Michael H. Ranzenhofer has announced today $325,000 in state funding to support a Water Storage Tank Improvement Project in the Town of Pavilion. 

“Clean drinking water isn’t a luxury for our families, it’s essential. I am pleased to secure state funding to ensure safe drinking water for residents in the Town of Pavilion. This landmark investment will make it possible to extend water services to over 200 households that don’t have access now,” Ranzenhofer said. 

The project will expand access to public water for 232 households in the Town of Pavilion. The project will also provide additional water storage tank protection during emergency conditions to 90 homes already connected to public water along Asbury, Walker, York, Perry, and South Street Roads in the Town of Pavilion.

“Senator Ranzenhofer is working to make water service possible for many homes desperately in need of a safe, reliable water supply, and this state funding will help to make our Town’s water improvement project a reality,” said Town of Pavilion Supervisor Dean Davis. 

The Town of Pavilion Water Storage Tank Improvement Project consists of replacing and relocating an existing water storage tank that has deteriorated beyond repair. The new water storage tank will have an estimated capacity of approximately 300,000 gallons. It will be located on York Road in the Town of Pavilion. 

The Town of Pavilion will host a public hearing today at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 1 Woodrow Drive, to provide more information about the project to residents.

A "very large fire, larger than we had before," according to the East Pembroke fire chief, is reported at Edward Arnold Scrap Processors Inc., 2216 Angling Road, Corfu.

East Pembroke fire along with Corfu, Indian Falls, and Town of Batavia are dispatched in a second alarm.

UPDATE(S)(By Billie) 5:54 p.m.: Oakfield Fire Police are requested to shut down traffic at Angling Road and West Avenue.

UPDATE 5:57 p.m.: A reader sent in this photo above of the huge plume of smoke that is visible from Galloway Road.

UPDATE 5:59 p.m.: Per command, all firefighters responding are told this fire is to be fought defensively.

UPDATE 6:09 p.m.: All available manpower from Town of Batavia Fire Department is requested to stand by in quarters.

UPDATE 6:12 p.m.: Tankers are requested to the scene from Elba, Alexander and Alabama.

UPDATE 6:18 p.m.: Mercy medic #1 is asked to stand by in East Pembroke Fire Hall.

UPDATE 6:28 p.m.: All available manpower, including EMS, from Corfu called to stand by in quarters.

UPDATE 6:48 p.m.: Although smoke spewing from the scene is roughly half what it was, firefighters are having some difficulty fighting the blaze. Storage trailers that are stationed along an access road are preventing firefighting apparatus from reaching the north corner of the site.

UPDATE 10:08 p.m.: East Pembroke is back in service.

UPDATE 10:21 p.m.: Fire photos:

Here's another reader-submitted photo, taken from Stannard Road, Alexander.

Dan Ireland, CEO of United Memorial Medical Center, had a steady stream of accomplishments to share with local health care leaders gathered Friday morning at Terry Hills for his annual State of UMMC presentation.

Ireland discussed the awards won by UMMC and staff members, the financial health of the organization, its successes in saving lives and preventing the spread of infections, and future plans for growth.

The hospital, now part of the Rochester Regional Health network, employes 880 full-time, part-time, and per-diem staff members.

In 2017, there were 22,000 emergency room visits, and nearly 100,000 medical visits total.

There were 576 births at the hospital.

"We’re touching our community in many different ways," Ireland said. "We’re making a difference to many patients."

He shared the story of Paul Boylan, a well-known figure in the local legal community as well as the UMMC community. Boylan was diagnosed with prostate cancer and chose the Lipson Cancer Institute for treatment.

After 28 rounds of radiation, Moylan, 78, is now cancer free.

"Paul credits Dr. Meri Atanas and all of the team at Lipson for the care he received right here at home, high-quality care, care that takes you through some of the biggest battles of your life," Ireland said. "Paul is very happy to be back practicing law, enjoying life and doing what he needs to do."

Ireland also shared the story of a staff member whose job includes educating portions of the population on health care. He found to talk with some people about health care, he needed to speak Spanish, so he learned Spanish.

"He did that on his own," Ireland said. "He made sure he had the right tools to give the right care to patients," Ireland said.

Then there is Andrea Sherwood, winner of the Josie King Hero Award. Josie King died in a hospital in Baltimore as the result of a medical staff mistake. Her mother, Sorrel King, created the Jose King Foundation, dedicated to helping hospitals eliminate mistakes that cost lives.

After Sorrel King spoke with UMMC staff at an event last year, she learned of actions Sherwood took to catch a mistake. She may have saved a patient's life.

It was Sherwood's job to administer contrast media to a patient for an MRI. As is the procedure, she reviewed the patient's lab results. Some patients, based on lab results, shouldn't receive contrast media. While an initial review of the results seemed to indicate it was fine to proceed with the procedure, Sherwood's instincts told her something wasn't right so she took extra steps to double check the lab results. It turned out, the wrong lab results had been provided for the patient. That patient could have been seriously injured or killed by the contrast media.

Other awards for the hospital have gone to the Wound Care Center, ICU, and the emergency room for stroke treatment.

UMMC has also received an award from Univera for taking steps to reduce hospital-acquired infections.

"About 10 years ago when they put this tool in place it seemed like it would be impossible to beat, to get that number down to where the benchmark should be," Ireland said. "Last year, Univera said, 'you not only got that number down, you beat the benchmark and now have the lowest (score) in Western New York.'”

In November, the Joint Commission on Accreditation initiated a surprise four-day inspection of UMMC, looking, Ireland said, around every corner and "under every rock." They do everything the can, he said, to find issues, what they call "findings."

"They also told us that they never come in without some findings," Ireland said. "They have to find something. So they did. They found 18 items they wanted us to work on, to make some corrections. As an administrator, of course, I asked the surveyor, '18, good, bad?' 'Well, we did the math and most organizations your size have about 40. You had 18 and we worked really hard to find those 18.'"

UMMC is also undertaken other steps to improve patient safety, including a meeting every morning among senior staff to review the previous day's safety alerts.

The process, because of the extra attention to identifying potential safety problems, has meant in 2017, the number of safety issues identified has gone up.

That creates more opportunities to correct problems, Ireland said. The goal is to get it down to zero.

Anybody can alert the hospital to a safety event, including every member of staff and patients who have access to the patient portal online.

As of Friday, it had been 71 days since a serious event was reported, and it had been 200 days before that without a serious event (the longest streak yet under the new reporting system).

A serious event is defined as one that increases the length of a patient's stay or changes the course of care.

In the area of fighting infections, the hospital also tracks infections as a result of using an IV in a patient's neck -- a very rare procedure because of the health risks associated with it. It's only used when absolutely necessary.

There have been no infections as a result of the procedure since 2013.

C-Diff infections have also been greatly reduced. While the trend across the nation is for C-Diff infections to increase at hospitals, it has declined dramatically at UMMC, Ireland said.

As for UMMC's future, there are plans a new $18 million ICU/Radiology wing, a new urgent care clinic in Le Roy, an improved urgent care in Batavia, and the partnership with the YMCA for a healthy living campus in Batavia.