The Centre Area Transportation Authority has proposed a number service changes to go into effect this fall, including eliminating four commuter bus routes and replacing three of them with the CATA Go microtransit service.
Public comment on the proposed changes can be made on the CATA website by emailing [email protected] or contacting CATA’s Customer Service Center at 814-238-2282. A virtual Community Input Meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 20, with log-in information available at catabus.com/proposed-fall-service. A public hearing will be held in late May before any changes are finalized.
If adopted, the proposed changes would go into effect on Aug. 21.
Starting at 8 a.m. on a beautiful Wednesday, 12 vans began moving residents of Centre Crest nursing facility in Bellefonte to their new home, Centre Care Rehabilitation and Wellness Services in College Township.
The new $45 million facility, located on Persia Road off of Benner Pike, welcomed residents for the first time after about five years of planning and a year and a half of construction.
“It’s a great home for us and the new people that come in,” Charlie Myers, president of the facility’s Residence Council, said. “I think we’re going to be happy with it.”
With a capacity of 240 beds, the new 135,000-square foot Centre Care facility is about twice the size of the 83-year-old Centre Crest on East Howard Street. A central building is flanked by two wings and in addition to traditional long-term care, it has three specialty “neighborhoods” for memory care, high acuity care and short-term rehab. It also includes an on-site dialysis suite and a larger therapy gy
Mark D. Heintzelman, 67, of Belleville, formerly of Centre Hall, passed away Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021.
Family and friends will be received on Thursday, March 4, 2021, from 6-8 p.m. at the Big Valley BIC Church, 81 Wagner St., Belleville, PA; Friday, March 5, 2021, from 6-8 p.m. at the Mark D. Heintzelman Funeral Home, 1034 Benner Pike, State College, PA; and Saturday, March 6, 2021, from 9-11 a.m., at the Calvary Bible Church, 600 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Centre Hall, PA.
The memorial service will immediately follow. Keeping with CDC guidelines, those attending the visitation and memorial service are asked to wear masks and observe social distancing.
An online guestbook may be signed and condolences sent to the family at www.heintzelman funeralhome.com.
Centre County Free Testing Center Stays Open
Free COVID-19 testing will continue in Centre County, at least for another Month.
On Tuesday Morning, the funding for the testing site to remain open was approved. The COVID Testing Center at 1155 Benner Pike was slated to close at the end of this week. Tuesday, the Centre County Commissioners approved extending the contract with the testing service of AMI Healthcare thorough the end of March.
Centre Co. Administrator Margaret Gray saying: “So with another extension we’ll change contract from 300 tests a day to 200 a day at cost of $66,000 a week.” The County will continue to use Cares Act COVID Relief Grant money to pay for the testing service, especially with a recent increase in daily COVID cases reported in Centre County. Eventually, its hoped more Vaccinations will decrease the need for testing.
CHRIS MORELLI cmorelli@lockhaven.com
BELLEFONTE As positive cases of COVID-19 continue to turn up in Centre County, the county commissioners agreed to extend a contract with AMI Expeditionary Healthcare to operate the walk-in testing clinic at the former Comcast/Xfinity facility down the road from the Nittany Mall.
The current agreement with AMI was set to expire on Saturday, Feb. 27. The new agreement will extend the contract an additional month, through Saturday, March 27.
However, the number of tests per day will decrease from 300 to 200, according to county administrator Margaret Gray.
“That will bring the cost down to an average of approximately $66,000 per week,” Gray explained. “It can actually drop lower than that if our numbers fall in terms of number of people being tested.”