Category: Quality Of Life

Even more EEE

In a Sept. 26 online article, WMUR (wmur.com) reported that the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services confirmed two additional cases of mosquito-borne Eastern Equine Encephalitis. The article cited an announcement by NH DHHS “that an adult from Derry and another from Newmarket were both hospitalized but have since been discharged.” According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at cdc.gov, EEE is a rare but serious disease. Symptoms can include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, behavioral changes and drowsiness.

QOL score: -2

Comment: As you wait for the hard freeze, you can check out dhhs.gov for the NH DHHS regularly updated map showing where EEE, West Nile and Jamestown Canyon Virus have been found in the state this year.

How expensive is your town?

According to a recent study by doxo.com, a personal finance website, nine of the 10 most expensive towns in New Hampshire to live in are in this general southern New Hampshire, Manchester-Nashua-Salem area. The study, which was released Sept. 22, named Bedford as having the highest cost of living in the state, with monthly bills averaging $3,462 per month, 63 percent higher than the national average. The town with the next highest cost of living is Windham, followed by Milford and Pelham. Londonderry, Merrimack, Goffstown, Hudson and Salem round out the nine most costly cities. The study found that, overall, New Hampshire household expenses are 17 percent higher than the national average.

QOL score: -1

Comment: The same study found that Manchester and Hooksett have the two lowest costs of living. See doxo.com/w/insights.

Saint Anselm College keeps the kids in NH

On Sept. 23, Saint Anselm College (100 Saint Anselm Drive, Goffstown, 641-7000, anselm.edu) announced it will waive tuition for some New Hampshire students. “We understand the cost of a college education is challenging for so many families,” said college President Joseph A. Favazza, Ph.D., on the school’s website. “With Anselmian Community Commitment, we are investing in the future of New Hampshire by making a Saint Anselm education affordable to as many talented, high-achieving students as possible, regardless of their socioeconomic background.” The college’s “Anselmian Community Commitment” will allow New Hampshire students with a family income of $100,000 or less and a GPA of 3.25 or higher to attend the college tuition-free.

QOL score: +1

Comment: The full cost of attending Saint Anselm in the 2024-2025 academic year was $47,400 for tuition, $17,020 for food and housing, $1,520 in fees, plus between about $4,500 to $7,100 in books, supplies, transportation, and personal expenses, according to the college.

QOL score last week : 80

Net change: -2

QOL this week: 78

Tell us what’s affecting your Quality of Life at [email protected].

Another EEE case

NHPR reported in an online article on Sept. 16 that the New Hampshire Department of Public Health Services has confirmed a second human case of eastern equine encephalitis, EEE, contracted through a mosquito bite. NHPR reported, “The infection was in an adult from Kensington who began experiencing symptoms on Aug. 8. The person was hospitalized and is now recovering at a rehabilitation facility. Last month, health officials announced that a Hampstead resident had died from EEE. It was the state’s first known infection since 2014.”

QOL score: -2

Comment: According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.gov), EEE is a “rare but serious disease. Approximately 30% of people who develop severe eastern equine encephalitis die, and many survivors have ongoing neurologic problems. There are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat eastern equine encephalitis.

Make that six

In its weekly e-newsletter on Sept. 18, the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance announced that one of its “7 to Save” historic buildings was lost this summer. “The Manager’s Residence at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Manchester,” the announcement read, “was an important component of an architecturally and functionally cohesive campus that was completed in 1950 as part of a national program to provide medical services to veterans of the United States Armed Forces, particularly to men and women who had served in World War II. This summer, it was demolished for additional parking.” The building was a 2018 “7 to Save.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: The Alliance’s 2024 “7 to Save” list will be announced on Oct. 9. See nhpreservation.org

Another movie theater closes

The AMC Theater in Londonderry permanently closed on Sunday, Sept. 15, as reported by WMUR in a Sept. 19 online article. In addition to first-run movies, the theater was a spot to catch the Fathom Events special screenings. For those who remember the theater back in its O’neil Cinemas days, it’s a bummer to see another multiplex full of screens go dark.

QOL score: -1

Comment: QOL still has a Carmike loyalty card stuffed in QOL’s wallet.

A lot of similarities

A recent study by WalletHub (wallethub.com), an online finance company, says New Hampshire is the 48th most diverse state in the country. In a Sept. 17 press release WalletHub released the findings of a study that examined diversity of income, educational attainment, race and ethnicity, language and other factors. The study ranked New Hampshire 47th racially, 46th in terms of generational diversity, and 47th in terms of household types.

QOL score: -1 for our appearance of same-y same-ness

Comment: This study ranked California as the most diverse state, and Maine (49th) and West Virginia (50th) as the least diverse.

QOL score last week : 85

Net change: -5

QOL this week: 80

Tell us what’s affecting your Quality of Life at [email protected].

Good year for falcons

In a Sept. 1 blog post New Hampshire Audubon released the figures for New Hampshire’s peregrine falcon population’s 2024 breeding season: Statewide there were 28 territorial pairs, a new state-record high; there were 23 incubating pairs, down one from 2022’s record high, and 21 of those pairs successfully raised chicks, up 16 percent over 2023’s record high “This season also saw a record-high 50 young falcons fledge,” the post reported, “a conservation milestone that comes nearly 50 years after wildlife managers first started releasing captive-raised peregrine chicks at Owls Head and several other northern New England cliffs beginning in the mid-1970s.”

QOL Score: +1

Comment: NH Audubon reports that the weatherproof nest box near the top of the Brady Sullivan Tower in Manchester was successful for the 24th consecutive year: “It has produced 76 fledglings since 2001.”

Unbeleafably good year for foliage

In a Sept. 6 radio story and online article, New Hampshire Public Radio quoted Dave Anderson, Senior Director of Education at the Forest Society and co-host of Something Wild on NHPR: “I’m willing to go out on a limb here and say that this year’s fall foliage display could be the best that we’ve seen in the past decade,” Anderson said. In contrast to 2023, the weather in New Hampshire has been excellent for healthy trees and bright foliage. The NHPR story explained that leaves on different species of trees change color at different times throughout the fall, so we can expect waves of color over the next month or so.

QOL Score: +1

Comment: According to Anderson, “Orange and yellow have been there all along, you just didn’t see it. It was masked beneath the green chlorophyll in the leaves all summer.”

Leaf sleeping bears alone

WMUR aired footage on Thursday, Sept. 12, sent in by a viewer of a family of bears asleep in the limbs of a tree in Merrimack. The mother bear and two cubs spent the morning in the tree, from “at least 7 a.m. to just after noon,” according to the accompanying online article.

QOL Score: +1, for the peaceful nap

Comment: In a telephone interview with the Hippo, Daniel Bailey of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said that regardless of how appealing animals like these bears are, people should leave them alone. “With bears, or any wildlife, it’s best to appreciate them from a distance,” he said. “They aren’t inherently dangerous, but they are always unpredictable.”

Three NH veterans take an “Honor Flight” to Washington

WMUR reported in a Sept. 16 online story that three World War II veterans from New Hampshire were flown to Washington, D.C., on Sunday, Sept. 15. “The three veterans are all between the ages of 100 and 101,” the story read. According to its website, Honor Flight New England (193 Londonderry Turnpike, Unit 4, Hooksett, 518-5368, honorflightnewengland.org), the organization responsible for this trip, “is a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring America’s most senior veterans.” This week’s Honor Flight honorees will stay in Washington for eight days.

QOL Score: +1

Comment: According to WMUR, this was Honor Flight New England’s 67th flight.

QOL score last week: 81

Net change: +4

QOL this week: 85

Tell us what’s affecting your Quality of Life at [email protected].

Public service

As reported by WMUR on Monday, Sept. 9, Gov. Chris Sununu saved a choking victim Sunday, Sept. 8, at the Hampton Beach Lobster Roll Eating Competition. “Contestant Christian Moreno began to signal for help, tapping on his chest and looking to get the stuck piece of lobster out of his windpipe as he began to struggle to breathe,” according to the story. “I started saying, ‘He’s choking, he’s choking,’ … So I just moved forward and immediately started to kind of give him the Heimlich,” Sununu told WMUR. Gov. Sununu reported that the most surreal part of the experience was what happened immediately after he had cleared Moreno’s airway. “He went right back to the contest, which I couldn’t believe. He ate another seven lobster rolls after that,” Sununu said.

QOL score: +1

Comment: According to Hampton Chamber of Commerce representative Colleen Westcott, the contest was won by perennial contestant Chris Thurston of Somersworth.

That’s Dewey Decimal code 690

The Manchester City Library reported in a Sept. 4 blog post, that on Tuesday, Sept. 3, a slow leak in the ceiling of the Carpenter Memorial Library building began trickling water into the building’s mezzanine and into the nonfiction stacks. The volume of water leaking from a broken pipe increased, and as the blog post read, “This leak sent water raining over and into the mezzanine and then down into the nonfiction stacks below it. Quick action from the city’s Facilities division stopped the leak, but not before the water threatened those special collections on the library’s mezzanine as well as the nonfiction collections behind the Circulation Desk.” Library staff gathered and worked to move vulnerable materials to safety. The blog post reported, “It was a very large, heavy and intense job.”

QOL score: -2

Comment: The library will remain open during repairs, but parts of its collection might be temporarily unavailable.

Robotic cat on lend

In other library news, the Nashua Public Library has announced the opening of a new collection called “The Library of Things.” As reported in a Sept. 3 online article by WMUR, Nashua library patrons will now be able to borrow tools or other useful items from the library. The library’s website describes the items available, which include ukuleles, a telescope, a metal detector and a robotic cat companion.

QOL score: +1

Comment: At press time, the robotic cat was checked out and due back by Sept. 24, according to the library’s website.

Fades, braids and school supplies

On Sunday, Sept. 1, Manchester barber shop Get Faded gave free haircuts and school supplies to students. Shop owner Kim Lazoda said in a telephone interview that the event brought together talents from across Manchester’s hair community. “There was about 400 kids that came through the event,” she said. “[Two barbers from] West Side barber shop combined with our barber shop to help us out.” Electric Avenue Tattoos donated school supplies and painted faces, and Liana Locs and Nana Torres of Nana’s Hair Braiding braided hair for students who wanted it. Students ranged in age from very young to 12th grade.

QOL score: +1

Comment: Lazoda is also a certified Sensory Safe stylist for customers on the autism spectrum or with sensory issues.

QOL score last week: 80

Net change: +1

QOL this week: 81

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at [email protected].

Former Fisher Cat makes history

Danny Jansen, a catcher who previously played for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, made Major League Baseball history by being the first player to play for both teams in the same game. On June 26 Jansen was at bat for the Toronto Blue Jays against the Boston Red Sox, while Sox catcher Reese McGuire was behind the plate, when the game was postponed due to rain and rescheduled to Aug. 26. In the interim, Jansen was traded to the Red Sox, taking McGuire’s slot as catcher. When the game resumed, the Sox put Jansen in McGuire’s spot in the lineup, so he finished out the game as a Red Sox player.

QOL score: +1

Comment: The Blue Jays went on to win the game, 4-1.

Helpful doggos

In an Aug. 27 press release, New Hampshire Emergency Services and Communication (DESC), which operates New Hampshire’s 911 Emergency Number System, announced the start of a new comfort dog program. Winni, a young golden retriever, will be on site to give support to 911 dispatchers. Agent Winni will be available upon request, even during off-shift hours, to provide mental health support to DESC personnel. The press release quoted Robert Quinn, the Commissioner of New Hampshire’s Department of Safety” “Our skilled telecommunicators at New Hampshire 911 professionally handle emergency incidents every day, but we know sometimes the nature of the work takes a toll. I commend all those who worked hard to make this happen, and I look forward to seeing Winni at work.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: Winni will be issued an employee ID and 911 agent number.

Challenges of a graying of New Hampshire

In an Aug. 16 report the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute (nhfpi.org) said the number of older residents in the state will soon outstrip the number of children. The report, titled “New Hampshire’s Growing Population and Changing Demographics Before and Since the Covid-19 Pandemic,” states that New Hampshire’s population is aging faster than the United States overall. “By 2030, the number of adults over age 65 in the state is expected to be larger than the number of children,” the report read, citing data from the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs. “With more residents reaching traditional retirement ages over the coming decade, many may leave the labor force, possibly contributing to workforce shortages and a smaller labor force,” the report said.

QOL score: -1

Comment: Find the report on the Fiscal Policy Institute’s website.

The Jaguars go global

The Windham High School Jaguars became the first football team from New England to play internationally, Friday, Aug. 23, when they played a Florida team at the Global Ireland Football Tournament in Dublin. As reported by the Boston Globe on Aug. 27, the Jaguars’ first game of the year was overseas. “Usually the first game is a 10-on-10 scrimmage,” the article quoted sixth-year Windham coach Jack Byrne. “Now all of a sudden, it’s the biggest game that we’ve ever played in.” The Jaguars played opposite the Maclay School from Tallahassee, Florida, as the first game in a triple-header.

QOL score: +1 for the global play

Comment: According to the NH Football Report (nhfootballreport.com), the Jaguars lost their game with Maclay, 35-23.

QOL last week: 78

Net change: +2

QOL this week: 80

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at [email protected].

Love Is Blind recruits

In an Aug. 23 article, New Hampshire Public Radio reported that the producers of Netflix’s Love Is Blind are scouting out New England as a potential location for its reality dating show. NHPR reported that in addition to looking for potential filming locations, producer Donna Driscroll is hoping to cast New England singles in the show, where couples get to know each other through conversation without being able to see or touch each other.

QOL score: +1

Comment: Apply to be on the show at libcasting.com.

Not your typical commute

If all goes according to plan, when you read this Stratham resident Scott Poteet will be closer to the moon than anybody has been since 1972. As reported in an Aug. 20 online story by New Hampshire Public Radio, the SpaceX Polaris Dawn Mission, which was expected to launch Tuesday, Aug. 27, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will travel more than 1,000 km past the orbit of the International Space Station, and Poteet is its pilot. “Over the course of their five days in space, the crew plans to complete the first commercial space walk,” NHPR reported, “test SpaceX’s Starlink communication system, and conduct more than 40 experiments to better understand the effects of space travel on astronauts.” Poteet, who grew up in Durham and graduated from the UNH, has trained for this mission for the past two years, along with fellow astronauts SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, and billionaire Jared Issacman, who paid for the Polaris program and has traveled to space on other self-funded missions.

QOL score: +1

Comment: Poteet told NHPR that this mission’s crew spent a lot of time getting “comfortable in uncomfortable scenarios,” by training on simulators, climbing mountains, and even skydiving.

Tank-treaded chair means more park access

As reported by the Concord Monitor (.concordmonitor.com) on Aug. 21, a new mobility chair recently acquired by Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown has made parts of the park newly accessible to some visitors. The motorized chair, with tank-like treads instead of wheels, is designed to clamber over rocks and branches and through sand and mud, and has opened up new areas to many types of park guests, including some the Park staff hadn’t considered. “We expected it would be people with mobility challenges,” Christina Pacuk, Manager of Bear Brook State Park, told the Monitor, “but we’ve also heard from people on oxygen who are not able to traverse the trails normally. They want to go with their family but can’t. Some elderly people say ‘I haven’t been able to get out like I used to and I want to be able to have that experience again.’”

QOL score: +1

Comment: Users report that the main drawback of the new chair is getting so engrossed in exploring that the battery runs low.

QOL score: 75

Net change: +3

QOL this week: 78

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at [email protected].