Cumberland Times News: From The Leading News Source In Cumberland, Md, You Can Access Local News, Sports, Classifieds, And Obituaries.
In addition to Cumberland, Maryland's Allegany and Garrett counties, as well as Mineral County in West Virginia, The Cumberland Times-News is a five-day morning daily newspaper that serves the neighboring regions of Allegany and Garrett counties in Maryland and Mineral County in West Virginia.
The paper, which has existed under a variety of names since the early nineteenth century, is a historical document. Additional satellite bureaus were established by the newspaper in Frostburg and McHenry, Maryland, as well as in Keyser, West Virginia, to supplement its Cumberland headquarters.
Finally, the Keyser bureau was shuttered in March 2009 as a result of the newspaper's need to reduce operating expenses. The Times-News team also publishes a subscription-based weekend edition that covers business and politics in the area and across the state of California.
After the McMullen family sold the Times-News in 1986, Thomson Newspapers acquired ownership of the publication. In 2000, Community Newspaper Holdings purchased the Times-News from the Times-News.
COPYRIGHT_WI: Published on https://washingtonindependent.com/cumberland-times-news/ by Paula M. Graham on 2021-09-25T00:32:18.845Z
Dr. Michael T. Reid, A Much-beloved Child Psychologist Who Practiced In Towson-Lutherville For More Than Two Decades, Dies
Dr. Michael T. Reid, a well-liked child psychologist who worked in Towson and Lutherville for more than two decades and was a lifetime athlete who competed in triathlons and rucking challenges, died of pancreatic cancer on Aug. 29 at Gilchrist Center in Towson. He was a 69-year-old Gaywood resident in Baltimore County.
Michael Talbot Reid, the son of advertising executive Everett Gordon Reid and realtor Priscilla Mullen Reid was born in Lansing, Michigan, and subsequently relocated to Plainfield, New Jersey, where he graduated from Wardlaw School in Edison.
Dr. Reid graduated from Emory University in Atlanta with a bachelor's degree in 1979, a master's degree in counseling psychology from the University of Kentucky in 1984, and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Denver in 1989.
Dr. Reid worked at Denver Children's Hospital and the William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute in Columbia, South Carolina, before returning to Baltimore in 1999 to head the Kennedy Krieger Institute's Birth to Five Clinic.
He offered clinical supervision to master's and doctorate level trainees and gave psychotherapy courses to graduate students at Kennedy Krieger, where he served as director for a decade.
According to an autobiographical biography, "Dr. Reid has also done clinical research and published in the field of childhood trauma." "While at KKI, he also created and oversaw a program that provided interdisciplinary developmental evaluations and treatment to traumatized babies, toddlers, and preschoolers."
Dr. Reid departed Kennedy Krieger in 2004 to start a clinic at Green Spring Station in Lutherville with Timothy C. Donovan, a social worker, and Dr. Arman Taghizadeh, a child, adolescent, and sports psychiatrist. Individual and family psychotherapy, psychoeducational testing, and sports psychology were all areas of expertise for Dr. Reid.
Mr. Donovan stated, "We really liked talking about situations and learning the psychology of family relationships." "Mike was completely dedicated to each and every patient, and he made no distinctions. Each patient got the same level of attention.
He was laid-back and pleasant, and he loved dealing with teenagers and their families." "Mike was unassuming, upbeat, and encouraging. Dr. Taghizadeh said, "He was constantly striving to be better than himself." "You saw professionally what you saw personally."
From 2010 Until 2019, Dr. Taghizadeh Collaborated With Dr. Reid.
According to Dr. Taghizadehj, "Mike gave his patients unconditional support and love of who they wanted to be as individuals and who they were as individuals based on their needs and how they evolved." Dr. Reid established a private practice, Mental Health Services, at The Exchange in Towson in 2020, until he retired earlier this year due to health reasons.
Dr. Reid, who enjoyed squash and sailing, also competed in triathlons and completed a rucking challenge in Annapolis in 2018, at the age of 65. Dr. Reid and Dr. Taghizadeh had a common interest in sports and fitness. "We were both college athletes and were big into fitness and personal training.
Dr. Taghizadeh stated, "We would exercise together for hours, all the while chatting about our professions, patients, careers, and lives." "We did a GORUCK in Annapolis, which is a military physical endurance event, and we completed together in six hours.
He was the oldest participant in the challenge at the time, which was incredible." "Mike was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March, and despite undergoing seven or eight rounds of chemotherapy, he maintained a strong work ethic and perseverance," Mr. Donovan said.
"He was constantly worried about people and would simply remark, 'I'm facing some difficulties.'" One day after Dr. Reid received his diagnosis, the three partners gathered for lunch. Dr. Taghizadeh said, "He wanted to keep working but needed to concentrate on himself and his family, and he was worried about his patients."
"It was a difficult choice for him, and he said, ‘If I can't offer my patients my best,' It was extremely telling, and he managed to make the most of it in the end. It only goes to demonstrate how unselfish he is."
Dr. Reid on How He Became Interested in Medicine
MTA Mobility Service, Down 500 Drivers Since 2019, Reports Worst On-time Rate In 5 Years
The MTA and the private contractors who run the majority of the service say they've made measures to fix the issue, which Disability Rights Maryland claims are causing the service to break the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The advocacy organization is urging the state to dedicate additional MTA drivers to Mobility in order to address what it terms "dangerous" service gaps.
Meanwhile, the MTA drivers' union has recommended that the state use fewer private contractors to fill mobility jobs. According to the union, running the service with unionized state workers who get higher salaries and benefits would help with recruiting and retention.
Transdev and First Transit, which hire Mobility drivers for the state, are among the numerous transportation and other industry sectors throughout the country that are advertising signing bonuses and other incentives as a result of severe labor shortages caused by the coronavirus epidemic.
The delays in service, according to MTA director Holly Arnold, are the consequence of numerous Mobility operators quitting their positions as usage dropped during the epidemic, requiring fewer drivers.
As part of the next contract to run the service, which begins in 2022, the MTA will need bidders to commit to increased salaries, as well as other recruiting and retention efforts, she added.
Mobility's on-time performance fell from 94 percent in January to 71.2 percent in June, the most recent month for which state statistics are available, as riders went out more for in-person appointments and errands during the first six months of 2021. "We have enough operators to operate the service since our ridership was extremely low," Arnold said.
"Mobility has seen a rise in ridership in recent months, and we anticipate this trend to continue. Our operators, on the other hand, have simply not returned." Because there were fewer drivers on hand in July, the typical Mobility trip came approximately 8 minutes beyond the 30-minute pickup window that the MTA deems "on time." According to the MTA, the service employed 485 drivers in August. Almost all of them were contractors, down from 575 in August 2020 and 985 in August 2019.
According to the MTA, it is now 180 drivers short of the staffing level required for current service, with a little over 40 in training. Before the epidemic, the transportation sector was beset by driver shortages throughout the country.
The Mobility problem is similar to a nationwide school bus driver shortage, as shown by the approximately 30 contract drivers who went on strike on the first day of Baltimore City public school classes on Aug. 30, stranding nearly 300 kids. "It isn't limited to Maryland," Arnold said. "It's simply something that's a huge issue throughout the industry."
According to Mitun Seguin, a spokesperson for the Illinois-based business, Transdev lost 140 Mobility drivers after reducing employment levels "due to substantially reduced demand" in March 2020, amid travel restrictions and other efforts meant to combat the epidemic. In an email, Seguin said, "We needed to downsize our workforce."
"Many drivers decided not to return when more regular service levels were restored." Mobility currently employs 225 people, including subcontractors, from Transdev.
"Recruiting and recruiting has been challenging," Seguin said, "but we know that this is an issue that many other companies and sectors face throughout the country." "We are pleased to announce that we are once again seeing a rise in the number of individuals seeking jobs.
We are still actively recruiting for these excellent positions with competitive pay and benefits." The COVID-19 epidemic, according to First Transit spokesperson Jay Brock, "further aggravated" the driver shortage.
He didn't respond to queries regarding First Transit's mobility personnel numbers, but he did emphasize the company's recruiting incentives, which include a $2,000 sign-on bonus for new drivers. In an email, Brock said, "We will continue to work with Maryland MTA and all of their contractors to minimize the effect on passengers."
Mobility's lack of service, according to Lauren Young, director of litigation for Disability Rights Maryland, is causing patients to miss dialysis and other important medical appointments, workers to miss work, and vulnerable individuals to be kept waiting for hours for rides.
She said, "It should be intolerable." "We believe that providing such inconsistent service, which also makes the service dangerous, is a fairly obvious violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act," Young said. "People who utilize paratransit do so because they don't have any other choice."
The Mobility contact center has also experienced issues: passengers were unable to book trips for two hours on Friday due to a technical failure, according to the agency. According to Arnold, the MTA is dissatisfied with the quality of service and is trying to improve it. "We are not reaching the Mobility criteria that we have set," Arnold said. "Even one incident of being late or missing a flight is unacceptable."
Coronavirus Latest: MTA Operator Tests Positive For COVID-19, Some Bus Routes Affected
