DKH/UConn Health: Negotiations are next
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
The long, long awaited affiliation for Day Kimball Health took one giant step forward when state representatives, state senators, hospital officials and town officials praised the legislatively arranged affiliation between Day Kimball Hospital and UConn Health.
Pat Boyd, D-Pomfret, said: “This is huge because it ensures that there is going to be healthcare in rural part of the state. We have long known that day Kimball needed a partner — but it had to be the right partner.”
House Bill 8001, “An Act Concerning the University of Connecticut Health Center Joint Venture Initiative,” which amends the bonding authority of the University of Connecticut 2000 Act by $390 million to not only allow UConn to purchase and operate the financially troubled Waterbury Hospital, but also to pay for deferred maintenance, information technology equipment upgrades, and working capital for five years at both Day-Kimball and Bristol hospitals once agreements with those hospitals are finalized.
Next on the agenda, Boys said is that “The UConn Health Board and DKH Board will need to negotiate an agreement on services, governance, and other details. Once both boards vote on the agreement, DKH will need to hold a meeting of its Cooperators to vote. HB-8001 addressed the funding and bonding aspect and allows UConn to use the money through the UConn 2000 program for capital at DKH.”
Day Kimball CEO R. Kyle Kramer said he expects the affiliation agreement with UConn Health to be finalized and in effect within a year, by the fall of 2026; the first improvements he hopes to see at Day Kimball as a result of the partnership are the installation of energy-efficient, double pane windows; upgraded electrical back-up generator systems; a re-location of the hospital’s main entrance; insurance and supply cost savings; and a modernized patients records system. He added he sees easier access to more specialized medical procedures and advanced staff training opportunities to follow.
Kramer said: “We wouldn’t be headed toward this partnership without the tremendous and steadfast support of Senator Mae Flexer and Representative Pat Boyd. It is their leadership and their steadfast service to our community that has put us in this position to have this opportunity. They have stood with us for the long haul on so many levels, and in particular have been stalwart in securing appropriated funds that have allowed us to continue service as well. We couldn’t have done it without Mae and Pat.”
Boyd said HB 8001 is the culmination of four years of hard work and millions of dollars in state support to keep the lights on at DKH. This merger will bring long-term stability to Day Kimball while strengthening and enhancing the UConn Health System across the State.”
Flexer said: “This is going to be a new day for UConn Health and for Day Kimball Hospital. It’s going to mean stability for healthcare delivery in our corner of the state. It’s going to mean access to more specialty care and more healthcare options across our region. It’s going to provide a level of service that people of this part of the state deserve.”
Board Chair Peter Deary said: “Access to high-quality, local healthcare is not just a convenience, it’s a lifeline for the people who live and work in northeastern Connecticut. For more than 130 years, Day Kimball has been not just a vital resource for northeastern Connecticut, but also to our neighbors in nearby Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Boyd added: “Over the last five years, millions and millions of dollars of state funds have been allocated through the budget process to keep Day Kimball services active. And being one of the last true independent hospitals in Connecticut  that means something. All you have to do is just turn on the news and you look at a number of other hospital facilities across the state and the massive reduction of services and the consolidations there. This is not just another affiliation; I think this is the right one, because it’s mutually beneficial. Going forward, things are looking good. Now we need to work through the other process, work out the arrangements, work out the governance pieces.”

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State, hospital, and town officials held a press event last week to announce the bill that would create an affiliation between UConn Health and Day Kimball Health. Linda Lemmon photo.

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Aspinock Memories
Thanksgiving: What is it? When did it start? Why?
By Terri Pearsall, AHS Curator
The True History of Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday in November, many Americans gather around the table with their families and fill their plates with turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing—but why?
Thanksgiving is believed to have originated as a regional celebration in colonial New England (now in the northeastern United States). The American Thanksgiving may have been modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth (now in Massachusetts) and the Wampanoag people.
The celebration in Plymouth is commonly called the first Thanksgiving. Plymouth’s Thanksgiving began with a few colonists going out “fowling,” possibly for turkeys but more probably for the easier prey of geese and ducks. Next, 90 or so Wampanoag made a surprise appearance at the settlement’s gate, doubtlessly unnerving the 50 or so colonists.
Nevertheless, over the next few days the two groups socialized without incident. The Wampanoag contributed venison to the feast, which included the fowl and probably fish, eels, shellfish, stews, vegetables, and beer. Since Plymouth had few buildings and manufactured goods, most people ate outside while sitting on the ground or on barrels with plates on their laps. The men fired guns, ran races, and drank liquor, struggling to communicate in broken English and Wampanoag. This was a rather disorderly affair, but it sealed a treaty between the two groups that lasted until King Philip’s War (1675–76), in which hundreds of colonists and thousands of Native Americans lost their lives.
The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating “Thanksgivings,” days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought. The U.S. Continental Congress proclaimed a national Thanksgiving upon the enactment of the Constitution, for example. Yet, after 1798, the new U.S. Congress left Thanksgiving declarations to the states; some objected to the national government’s involvement in a religious observance, Southerners were slow to adopt a New England custom, and others took offense at the day’s being used to hold partisan speeches and parades. A national Thanksgiving Day seemed more like a lightning rod for controversy than a unifying force.
Thanksgiving Day did not become an official national holiday until Northerners dominated the federal government. While sectional tensions prevailed in the mid-19th century, the editor of the popular magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book, Sarah Josepha Hale, campaigned for a national Thanksgiving Day to promote unity. She finally won the support of Pres. Abraham Lincoln. On October 3, 1863, during the Civil War, Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26.
The holiday was annually proclaimed by every president thereafter, and the date chosen, with few exceptions, was the last Thursday in November. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, however, attempted to extend the Christmas shopping season, which generally begins with the Thanksgiving holiday, and to boost the economy by moving the date back a week, to the third week in November. But not all states complied, and, after a joint resolution of Congress in 1941, Roosevelt issued a proclamation in 1942 designating the fourth Thursday in November (which is not always the last Thursday) as Thanksgiving Day.
As the country became more urban and family members began to live farther apart, Thanksgiving became a time to gather together. The holiday moved away from its religious roots to allow immigrants of every background to participate in a common tradition. Thanksgiving Day football games, beginning with Yale versus Princeton in 1876, enabled fans to add some rowdiness to the holiday. In the late 1800s parades of costumed revelers became common. In 1920 Gimbel’s department store in Philadelphia staged a parade of about 50 people with Santa Claus at the rear of the procession. Since 1924 the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City has continued the tradition, with huge balloons since 1927. The holiday associated with Pilgrims and Native Americans has come to symbolize intercultural peace, America’s opportunity for newcomers, and the sanctity of home and family.
As you can see from this information, not much has changed over the years.  There were differing political opinions then as now, people played games at the feast, drank liquor, and things can sometimes become a little disorderly.  Thanksgiving still has its traditions that we all enjoy every year.  This year let’s be united in truly being thankful for our rich heritage and tradition.  This year and every Thanksgiving, may we all be united in being thankful at least on this one day and hopefully it will spill out to every day.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Information in this article is taken from the archives of the Aspinock Historical Society.
Aspinock Memories graces the pages of the Putnam Town Crier to keep Putnam’s history alive.

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Roundup
T-Day 
football 
next up for
Centaurs
Go out, play football, have fun.
That’s the philosophy the Woodstock Academy Centaurs football team will follow this week.
“There is no pressure at all in this game,” said Woodstock Academy coach Connor Elliott. “We’re just going to go out there and compete, do our very best and, as a coach, that’s all I can ask for.”
Unlike their opponents, this will be the final game of the season for the Centaurs and, for some, the final football game they will ever play in as their senior season comes to a close in Killingly on Thanksgiving Day.
Woodstock will come into the game on Thursday at 10 a.m. with a 3-6 record.
On the other side, the Trailblazers are 9-0 and sit atop the Class SS standings in the state with the CIAC quarterfinal games scheduled for Dec. 2.
 “All I have been asking for as a coach in practice is that we get 1 percent better each day. Let’s not let the opponent or the circumstances whatever it is, change what we do. We’re preparing to go out and win a football game and whatever happens, happens,” Elliott said.
Admittedly, this game will be bigger for some than others.
Junior quarterback Elijah Poh is the best example of that.
Last year, he was wearing a Killingly jersey and standing on the opposite sideline when the Trailblazers posted a 47-0 win in the rain and cold at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
This year, he will be starting his first Thanksgiving Day game against his former teammates on his former home field.
“I think it’s going to be important to keep my emotions in check. It’s obviously going to be a little of a hostile environment. I just have to keep my composure, play like I have the past few games, calm and collected, and just do what I can do to help the team,” Poh said.
He’s already accomplished a lot in that regard. He has completed 136 of his 235 passes for 1878 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Those numbers have him in range of a personal achievement; he wants to surpass the 2000-yard mark in passing this season.
“It’s a big goal,” Poh said. “It’s been in my mind a lot and I’ve been checking the stats when they are updated. It was one of my biggest goals coming into the season.”
Forty of those completions have gone to senior receiver Alec Nunes who has 579 yards in receiving and three touchdowns.
“We just find the connection early in games which helps our offense get flowing and gets everyone else involved too,” said Nunes. “He’s a great quarterback who throws a nice spiral. I’m glad he’s throwing the ball to me.”
Nunes will be one of those Poh may enlist to keep his head in the right place on Thanksgiving Day.
“He’s meant a lot to me. He’s helped me to adjust (to Woodstock Academy) really well. He helped me with the transition and is someone I have been able to rely on both on and off the field. I went to him when I first came here with questions about the school, how classes were and such. He knows the playbook, knows what he has to do, his knowledge of defenses is very good and adjusts well in a game,” Poh said.
Poh has done a good job of spreading the wealth, however.
Sophomore Caydem Herlihy has caught 25 passes and junior Griffen Bloom has hauled in the ball 24 with three other receivers, Elijah Laprade, Aidan Soukaloun and Cooper Harris, also reaching double digits in receptions.
“The yardage number is phenomenal, the completion percentage is good as well for a high school player. He is a phenomenal player and it helps to have some great receivers like we do,” Elliott said of Poh.
It’s an offense that will need to produce some points against Killingly which is, as evidenced by its perfect season thus far, as formidable as ever.
The Trailblazers average 53.2 points per game and give up just under 17.
The key has been the run game where Hayden Allard has 1605 yards rushing with 24 touchdowns.
Joe Mackie has added 606 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Killingly is not a prolific passing team but quarterback Quinn Sumner is effective when he does throw having completed almost 60 percent of his passes (39-for-66) for 1107 yards and 16 scores.
“There are no secrets here,” Elliott said. “If Killingly can run us over, they’re going to run us over. There will be some tricks involved, there always are; that’s what a Thanksgiving rivalry is all about. If we can limit their run and force them into long drives, I might take an eight-minute scoring drive (by Killingly) over a two-minute one. We’re going to try and shorten the game, get us to the second half and fourth quarter and then we will see where we are at.”
For some of the players, like Nunes, this will be the last time to don the Centaurs uniform.
“I am definitely looking forward to it. I hope we have a good game. I am hoping to have a good game since it is my last game and I’m excited to play with the team for one last time,” Nunes said.
It will be a different kind of Thanksgiving morning for Poh.
“The past two years has not been that exciting, I woke up at 6 in the morning, go to the school, just to sit there in the cold and last year, the rain, for two hours, This has been a game that has been circled on my calendar for the whole year and I’ve been building up for this game. We’re trying to get one percent better each day and hope that it will give us a shot at winning this game,” the quarterback said.

Prep Soccer
The Prep 1 soccer team saw their season come to an end in an unusual fashion. 
The two-time defending National and Prep Premiere League champions were hoping for the three-peat on Saturday but fell short in the PPL championship match, 3-2 in overtime, to Hoosac School.
The top-seeded Centaurs fell behind Hoosac, 2-0.
But they rallied to force the overtime on goals by Arthur Masson off an assist from Alex Tevez and Alexavier Gooden.
Unfortunately, Hoosac captured the golden goal victory with a tally in overtime.
The loss ended the Centaurs fall season with a 13-1-1 record.
Woodstock advanced with a 4-0 win over Spire Academy in a PPL semifinal match Friday.
David Cho led Prep 1 with a pair of goals and Nicolae Velicico added a pair of assists. Obama Ngarambe and Masson also scored for the Centaurs while Gooden and Jeongbin Lee also had assists.

Prep 2
The news was better for the Prep 2 soccer team.
It finished off its fall season with an 8-2 showcase victory over Hex FC Saturday.
The Centaurs finished 14-3-1.
Mack Gallagher and Yuki Kato led the offense for the Centaurs as both had two goals and an assist to account for half the scoring.
Donell Chitima, Raul Garcia, Jorge Castellanos and Victor Schougaard also scored in the win.
Haesung Kim had two assists, while Chitima, Jack Buyers and Schougaard all added one.
The Centaurs were coming off a much tougher battle on Friday.
Schougaard scored the only goal off an assist from Buyers as the Centaurs had to settle for a 1-1 tie in their showcase match with Potomac ECNL Friday.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

2025 football: Woodstock Academy quarterback Elijah Poh will be trying to surpass the 2,000-yard mark for the season in passing on Thanksgiving Day versus Killingly.

Woodstock Academy junior quarterback Elijah Poh will be making his first start in a Thanksgiving Day game when the Centaurs travel to his former school, Killingly, on Thursday. 

 Woodstock Academy senior Alec Nunes has been the favorite target of quarterback Elijah Poh as he has reeled in 40 passes this season for the Centaurs.

Woodstock Academy quarterback Elijah Poh will be taking on his former teammates when the Centaurs visit Killingly for their annual Thanksgiving Day rivalry game on Thursday. Photos by Joshua Hernandez / actionframe_media

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