Allegra Boverman
When Walter Riley was first asked about Villa Crest Nursing Home in Manchester the place where his fiancé, 68-year-old Marge Gardner, worked as a housekeeper before she died of Covid-19 he could scarcely contain his bitterness.
“The bastards,” he said. “They didn’t give her adequate protection. They didn’t have instructions on how to fit it. They never should have sent her in those rooms, knowing her age and her condition. They knew she had diabetes.”
In December, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, fined the nursing home $20,820 for two violations: “The employer did not ensure that an effective respiratory protection program was established with worksite-specific procedures for respirator use … such as but not limited to fit testing and medical evaluations,” and it did not report the death after eight hours. Riley, who filed the OSHA complaint two months after Gardner died on June 11, called it a “cover-up.�
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Part 2 of a three-part series on NH crime data.
New Hampshire may soon join the growing number of states that keep a comprehensive record of how police interact with their communities, but leaders of the state’s law enforcement community have cited several obstacles to collecting and reporting better data.
State arrest data and incarceration rates already show Black and Hispanic people face disparity from the criminal justice system. On average, each group is arrested and incarcerated at higher rates than their relative populations.
Senate Bill 96, an omnibus bill, would implement a number of policy recommendations made by the state Commission on Law Enforcement Accountability, Community and Transparency last August. Portions of the bill would require law enforcement agencies to collect, analyze and publish race, ethnicity and gender data for all police stops, citations and arrests.
It was early 1984, and the Concord (N.H.) Fire Department was looking to hire paramedics. Sandy Hillsgrove heard of the opportunity from a classmate at New Hampshire Technical Institute (NHTI). She’d done some ride time with the department and had once had a memorable altercation there with a colleague.
He was smoking and thought it would be funny to blow smoke in her face. Disgusted by his crudeness, Hillsgrove grabbed him by the front of his shirt and told him, “If you ever do that again, I will take that cigarette and shove it up your ass.” He took a couple of steps back, mouth hanging. His cohorts from work and Hillsgrove’s classmates stood with mouths agape. A moment passed, then in unison: “Way to go, Sandy!”
A Career of Firsts: Meet New Hampshire Paramedic Sandy Hillsgrove emsworld.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from emsworld.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Brentwood police chief announces departure
By Kathleen D. Bailey
BRENTWOOD – Ellen Arcieri is nearing the end of her term as Brentwood s police chief.
Selectmen accepted her resignation in a nonpublic session during its Jan. 19 meeting. Arcieri is leaving to take a position leading a Drug Task Force team with the New Hampshire attorney general s office.
Arcieri was sworn in Jan. 30, 2018, after the retirement of longtime Chief Wayne Robinson. Her goal at the time was to make Brentwood New Hampshire s premier police department.
In a statement by the board announcing her resignation, they credited Arcieri with rebuilding the department after dealing with staff shortages early on.