Local News

If someone is in danger, do you have the skills to save a life? It could be someone with a household injury, in a car accident, or even a larger, hostile situation. By learning a few, simple methods and having the right toolkit, you can go from bystander to lifesaver. The national average responding time for first-responders to be on the scene of an emergency is eight to ten minutes. 

To equip local residents to be prepared, Tri-Hospital Paramedics Rhonda & Bill Adams share the Stop The Bleed curriculum in a monthly class and point out that someone on the scene of an accident can make a huge impact on the victim’s recovery.

Some tips you can start with? To effectively stop bleeding, applying pressure is key. Rhonda Adams says that everyone can create an effective Stop The Bleed toolkit which includes gloves, an ace bandage, rolled gauze, an Israeli dressing, and a tourniquet.

Free Stop The Bleed classes are held monthly with Port Huron Parks & Recreation at Palmer Park. You can also watch Stop The Bleed demonstrations and see how to build your own affordable, lifesaving toolkit at ebw.tv. (Video safe for all ages.)

The FirstView app is now available for parents and caregivers in the Port Huron School District to track the bus that their child is riding. To use the app, parents need their child’s student ID number to access the program via smartphone or desktop computer. 

The app will give users instant notifications as to things like snow days and bus delays, as well as real-time tracking and time stamps with the location of the bus. Students and parents can also use it to know when the bus is coming, avoiding waiting times for late buses. According to an announcement from the district, there are a lot of features available that can be customized to the user’s preference. The app is available in partnership with First Student, the transportation company with whom the district has a contract. It has a rating of 4.1 out of 5 in the Apple Store.

Reporting for WGRT, Karly Hurley.

The Port Huron Museum will be closed for an additional week to complete an on-going inventory project. According to Andrew Kercher, Manager of Community Engagement, museum employees and volunteers have made substantial progress on logging more than 15,000 museum collectibles in an inventory, and they are hoping to finish the project with the added time.

The museum has been closed to public tours since January 20th while work to complete inventory of the Museum’s Collection as well as a new digitized catalog system has been happening. The Museum has collected tens of thousands of items since opening its doors in 1968, and many items collected by the Library were added years before that. 

Kercher said the museum implemented a new item tracking system using printable barcodes so that for future collections and tracking, items’ history and location are more easily accessible. At the same time the artifacts in the collection have been processed, the museum has also been undergoing a deep clean of the entire facility and display cases, in addition to modernizing and standardizing our exhibit labels. The Museum is expected to reopen to the public on February 17.

Reporting for WGRT, Karly Hurley.

The St. Clair County Health Department is seeing results after expanding Teen Health Center services in Port Huron and Algonac to include counseling. The adolescent health clinic, now referred to as Teen Health, is providing services in Port Huron and has expanded to Algonac. 

According to the Health Department, counseling services began at Algonac in the fall of 2019 while services in Port Huron began more than three years ago. In October, November, and December of 2019, the Port Huron location saw 84 clients for 267 visits while the new Algonac location saw 25 new clients for 114 visits. Sandy Mangan, NP, Nursing Supervisor for Teen Health said she feels, “these services are desperately needed for students to receive services where they are at. [The program] alleviates barriers of transportation and scheduling that would get in the way of the individuals seeking services otherwise.” 

The St. Clair County Health Department’s Child and Adolescent Health Program is jointly funded by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). The Port Huron Teen Health clinic is located on the campus of Port Huron High School while Algonac’s clinic is located within the combined junior and senior high school. The Port Huron location also offers primary care services in addition to counseling. Counseling services are provided on a referral basis.

Reporting for WGRT, Karly Hurley.

If you see an unusual number of people wearing red today, it is because February 7 is “National Wear Red Day.” As part of February’s recognition of heart health month, each year on the first Friday in February, across the state and the nation, millions of people will wear red attire to raise awareness of heart disease in women. Women and men throughout the country will be wearing red to show their support of this movement to save women’s lives. Sadly, heart disease is the number one cause of death in both men and women in the U.S., including right here in St. Clair County.

There is good news: 80% of cardiac events can be prevented with lifestyle changes and proper education. Local healthcare providers are also focusing efforts on heart health with McLaren Port Huron set to open the James C. Acheson Heart & Vascular Center, a new comprehensive cardiac and vascular center, this summer.

Reporting for WGRT, Karly Hurley.

Port Huron’s Rotary Club is celebrating 100 years in 2020. To commemorate the substantial milestone, the club is set to hold three large events beginning with the annual Three Grand Slam this weekend, International Day Parade in July and a 100 Years of Service Celebration May 1. The early May event was set to be held at Hotel Harrington in downtown Port Huron, but organizers were forced to change the location after developers notified the Rotary Club that a commitment for the space was being canceled. Developers of the St. Clair Inn announced the purchase of Hotel Harrington in September of 2018 with original plans to be open by summer 2019. 

The Port Huron Rotary club’s event will now be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel’s Abbey Room where the club currently meets every Thursday. Rather than a fundraiser, the 100-year celebration will be a grant giveaway to 10 local nonprofits that will be drawn randomly from 100 different organizations in which Port Huron Rotarians serve. The club was founded on March 1, 1920.

Reporting for WGRT, Karly Hurley.