Community

New Jerseyans who live in different communities use hospitals at widely different rates, and those differences could pave the way to improving health care and reducing costs, according to a new report by Rutgers University researchers. The report, focused on use patterns in low-income communities and opportunities for better care and lower costs, found wide variations in how many avoidable ER visits residents make. The reason that this information is so valuable, according to coauthor Joel Cantor, director of the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy, is that it opens up the possibility that communities that rely heavily on hospitals for primary care can learn from those who make fewer trips to the ER. For example, the report found that Camden residents had more than three times as many avoidable visits to emergency departments than did residents of the Union City-West New York-North Bergen region.

Nina Huizinga, 73, of West Philadelphia, a peace and community activist who was arrested for defiant trespass during a 2006 attempt to enlist, died Thursday, March 21, of heart failure at home. Five days before her death, Mrs. Huizinga had been honored with an award from the West Philadelphia Neighborhood Elders for "making a difference in our neighborhood," her family said. "She had lots of energy, and she had no intention of dying any time soon," said her daughter, Miriam Faruqi.

Sarah Collins Adams Mack, 94, of University City, a community activist, died Friday, March 15, at home. Mrs. Mack was the only daughter of Sheppard and Dolly Collins of Philadelphia. She married Frank Otis Adams Sr. in 1936. The couple had eight children. After his death, she met and married Jacob Mack, originally from South Carolina, in 1971. He died in 1999. Mrs. Mack made her living as a school crossing guard and as a clerk for Curtis Publishing Co. and the Social Security Administration.

By the time the two former Triton Regional High School teachers gathered with their attorneys in a Camden courtroom for sentencing Friday, the conclusion was pretty much foregone. The two men, both young and in suits and ties, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit official misconduct in connection with improper sexual conduct with students. The sentences Jeff Logandro, 32, and Daniel Michielli, 27, both of Blackwood, would receive had been negotiated - three years' probation, 30 days of house arrest, minor fines, and the revocation of their teaching licenses and of contact with the students.

In a continuing outreach effort, the Delaware County Council will head for Marple Township to hold its next evening meeting, at 6 on March 27 at the municipal building, 227 S. Sproul Rd., Broomall. It will be a regular business meeting, but the council will also invite residents to give input during the public comment period. "It is our hope that these evening meetings will encourage our residents to become more involved with local government and in turn help us to communicate more directly with our residents," said Thomas McGarrigle, council chairman.

ALTHOUGH Santiago Cruz has never been to the Vatican or addressed throngs of faithful followers, he feels a strong connection to Pope Francis. "It's a great opportunity to have a Latino pope at the Vatican. I'm really happy about it," said the 43-year-old Northeast Philadelphia resident. "We'll see if he brings different changes and more culture into the mix. " Cruz and many in Philadelphia's Latino community were still talking Thursday about the down-to-earth pontiff from Argentina who has been charged with moving forward a Roman Catholic Church that has suffered a deep divide.

Any number of us may disagree with new schools Superintendent William R. Hite Jr.'s closure of 23 schools, as well as his proposals to cut programs, increase class sizes, and reduce teachers' salaries. But none of us should question his sincerity in pushing the envelope to generate new ideas and debate how best to solve the Philadelphia School District's financial crisis - without harming the quality of our children's education. We all recognize that the district is at a critical financial crossroads, confronting a projected five-year deficit estimated at $1 billion.

AN OCEAN AWAY from the symbolic white smoke and the College of Cardinals in Rome, a sense of newfound hope and excitement permeated the Catholic community across Philadelphia on Wednesday, as the faithful embraced Pope Francis - a Holy Father of firsts - as their new leader. In the dawning moments of the papacy of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, 76, local Catholics imagined the bright future of a church led by the first Latin American pope and the first leader from the Jesuit order of priests.

WHEN ERV Wilson heard the three shots shatter the silence of the early hours of March 6 in the Abbotsford Homes, he had no idea that the bullets had fatally struck a man he knew for almost three decades. "It's sad. When I came across the street and saw him laying there, I didn't know it was him," Wilson, 52, said, motioning toward the spot where someone gunned down Christopher Curry, 41 - a man Wilson had known since childhood - last week in the East Falls housing complex. "The way it went down, it's terrible," said Wilson.

When the nonprofit Liberty Lutheran Services took over the Village at Penn State, a retirement community near State College, last summer, it assumed a $462,286 annual property-tax bill. The Ambler organization also owns Paul's Run, a similar retirement community in Northeast Philadelphia with different levels from independent living to nursing-home care. The property tax in Philadelphia is $0. That pattern is repeated at several other nonprofits that own continuing-care retirement communities in and outside the city.