JOINING US NOW DURING HEART HEALTH MONTH IS INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGIST AND MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATION OF BLACK CARDIOLOGISTS DR. WAYNE BATCHELOR TO TELL US A LITTLE MORE ABOUT CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE, AND TO SHARE SOME TIPS FOR LIVING A HEART HEALTHY LIFESTYLE.

BIO: Dr. Wayne Batchelor received his B.A. and Doctorate of Medicine degrees summa cum laude at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario in Canada. He then completed a Comprehensive Internal Medicine Residency and Fellowship in Adult Cardiology at the University of Toronto and a fellowship in Interventional Cardiology with a Master’s of Health Science Degree in Clinical Research at Duke University.
He is the incoming Director of Interventional Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology Research at the Inova Heart and vascular Institute in Fairfax, Virginia. He has served on the Medical Faculty as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and as Associate Professor of Medicine at the Florida State University College of Medicine and has practiced as an interventional cardiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario Canada and at the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital in Florida.
Dr. Batchelor has given numerous invited lectures, published over 75 peer-reviewed original abstracts/manuscripts, and contributed multiple book chapters. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions, and was selected to serve on the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) D2B (Door to Balloon) Task Force, a national committee charged with improving the rapidity of care for heart attack victims across the U.S. He currently serves on the ACC’s Interventional Cardiology Sectional Leadership Council.
His primary expertise is in structural/valvular heart disease, coronary and peripheral arterial disease, carotid artery disease and clinical research in interventional cardiology. He was instrumental in starting the first structural/valvular heart program at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and served as Chair of its Interventional Cardiology Council. He has a keen interest in radial artery access percutaneous coronary interventions and has performed more than 4,000 radial access coronary stent procedures.
During his career, he has been recognized as the recipient of a number of awards, including the Dr. and Mrs. Sydney P. Schiff Medal in Surgery, Nathan E. Berry Prize in Urology, Sopman Award for Clinical Excellence and Human Compassion, National Research Fellowship from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, and the Capital Medical Society’s Outstanding Physician of the Year Award in 2017.
He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Cardiovascular Disease with added qualifications in Interventional Cardiology.

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The  New York Wine & Culinary Center,  Peter Rogers, General Manager, shows us the wonderful Wine and Culinary Center.  They are doing great workJ  They help  to educate, engage and excite visitors by celebrating and showcasing New York’s finest in wine, craft beer, food and agriculture. Whether you have 30 minutes or an entire day, The Center offers you an array of inviting experiences in a setting that proudly highlights the natural beauty, rich history and agricultural bounty of New York State.

Through supportive partnerships with area farmers, winemakers, artisans and entrepreneurs, The New York State Wine & Culinary Center brings you the best of New York, all in one beautiful and scenic spot on the northern shore of Canandaigua Lake. http://www.nywcc.com/

Finger Lakes Visitors Connection is the tourism promotion agency representing Ontario County in the Finger Lakes.  We speak to Valerie Knoblauch, President about their Good News. Within the interview, Valerie has a nice talk with Angie Vitaliano who was on our media tour from Italy and loved the Finger Lakes!  The Finger Lakes HAS A LOT OF GOOD NEWS AND GOOD PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!J

– Canandaigua, Geneva, Naples, and Victor areas.

Our team provides visitor information on wine trails, lake activities, historic attractions, spas, shopping, and more.

We are well versed in the accommodations for our visitors and we have done many site visits to the bed and breakfasts and area hotels, motels and camping facilities to ensure that we can share the details of the visitor experiences with you, our guests.

Take a look around this website,  request information or call our office to get more detailed itineraries, routes, trip planning suggestions.  Make sure you sign up for our newsletter so that you can see when we are offering special promotions – which may result in a free visit to our area.

We look forward to hosting you and hope that you’ll provide us feedback on our site and our other hospitality services so that we can continue to serve you in the best manner possible.

Enjoy — Valerie Knoblauch, President

Finger Lakes Visitors Connection

– See more at: http://visitfingerlakes.com/about/#sthash.S4sgdeNm.dpuf

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OASIS Adaptive Sports, Inc. (Outdoor Adventures for Sacrifice in Service) is a non-profit organization offering instruction, equipment and support to disabled military veterans in a variety of sports activities. We assist these veterans in reconnecting and resuming productive lives in society through participation in outdoor recreational activities that promote independence, and social and emotional well-being. Our mission is to do everything possible to make each outdoor experience meaningful and thereby help the veteran regain physical and mental health, with formal evaluations done by professionals in these fields. We differ from other organizations offering primarily event-type outdoor experiences to veterans by adding an evaluation and an advocacy phase to each veteran’s participation in each of our programs.
OASIS Adaptive Sports, Inc. is located in the Finger Lakes Region of western New York State, and our intent is to serve the needs of disabled veterans in the Rochester Metropolitan Statistical Area (RMSA), which includes Monroe, Livingston, Orleans, Ontario, Wayne and Genesee counties.
OASIS Adaptive Sports, Inc. prohibits discrimination against current or prospective participants, family members, and volunteers on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected characteristics in any of its programs and activities.

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We took a 90-minute Westjet flight from New York to Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport and then a small Air Canada plane to Sault Ste. Marie. The Quality Inn Bay Front Hotel located in the downtown city center would be our hotel for the next three nights.  Our well-furnished room including a bay window gave us a magnificent view of the International Bridge linking Lake Superior to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The Quality Inn Bay Front Hotel ideally located near the Agawa Canyon Tour Train Stationoffered many full-service amenities including free wireless high-speed Internet access and a free breakfast.  Guests can also enjoy relaxing in the indoor pool, hot tub, sauna and exercise rooms.

Our morning tour followed the coastline of Lake Superior on Highway 17 with breathtaking views of crystal clear waters to the Lake Superior Provincial Park.  Historically, man hunted, canoed and fished this land for survival.  Our first stop in the Park was the Agawa Bay Interpretative Center, a state of the art facility highlighting the history and geography of Lake Superior, with a selection of videos, painting, photographs and sculptures.

Continuing in the Park a sign showed us the way to the Agawa Rock Pictographs, the sacred site of ancient paintings of Ojibwe natives.  For centuries Ojibwe artists painted spiritual images on the face of the cliffs at Agawa Rock which rises 98 ft above Lake Superior.  ereHeWe walked the 400 meter trail to the Pictograph Rock formation watching our steps as the trail got a little rocky with massive split boulders. At the bottom were thirty-five pictographs on the cliffs of Lake Superior.  The pictographs allowed us a glimpse into traditional Ojibwe life along this rugged coast.

Afterwards, we followed the Coast Line of Lake Superior and stopped at a Lookout Point where many objects symbolizing “safe travel” were made by Ojibwe natives.  On our way back to the city, we visited Bachawana Bay and continued to the Frontiers Village.  Entering the Village was like stepping back in time to the beginning of the 19^th century. There were multiple towering life-size woodcarvings depicting scenes from the old West as well as animals in a natural setting surrounded by pioneers.  This Village also featured a collection of unique shops and restaurants.

Located near Pancake Bay Provincial Park 46 miles north of Sault Ste Marie on Highway 17 were the Agawa Crafts and the Canadian Carver.   This unique retail outfit featured woodcarvings and sculptures of more than 250 carvers from across Canada plus a wide variety of gifts, hand-made blankets, quilts, moccasins and other Indian crafts.

Overlooking Batchawana Bay was the Voyager’s Lodge and Cookhouse. Originally a trading post, today it is noted for home-cooked meals. On the menu were fresh whitefish, trout, bison burgers, crispy chicken, salads and garlic buttered bannock bread.  Bannock is a Scottish word meaning scone.  It was a staple of the First Nations People traditionally made with root flours and natural sweeteners.  From the Cookhouse we walked over the bridge along Highway 17 to view Chippewa Falls, the midpoint of the Trans Canada Highway.

On Bay Street in a 1940’s waterfront hanger is the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, a museum dedicated to preserving the history of bush flying and forest protection in Canada.  This 64,000 square foot hanger holds over thirty aviation and forestry-themed displays. Our tour guide, Edie Suriano, provided us with an exciting interactive hands-on experience where we were able to take a ride in a flight stimulator choosing three different 4-minute flights, each highlighting a different aspect of northern Ontario.  Interesting displays were the Turbo Beaver, Grumman Tracker, deHavilland Otter, Canadair CL-215 and the Bell Helicopter used in the Mash movies. Another hands-on experience was climbing into a Beech 18 cockpit – planes which carried passengers, freight and aerial photo surveyors.

In the Bushplane Heritage Centre is a fire-fighter’s camp where you can climb a 30-foot high fire tower.  The Ranger Theatre showed a film Wildfires! A Fire Fighting Adventure in 3-D, which tells the story of how the Aviation Forest Fire Fighters and Emergency Service Branch battle forest fires in the air and on the ground.  This Museum also accommodates group visits, motorcoach tours, family reunions and weddings. Children play and learn in a hands-on interactive Children’s Flight Centre where they experience the science of flight and test out a flight simulator to find out what it takes to be a pilot.

The following day our excursion began 8:00am at the Algoma Central Railway depot where we boarded the train for a day-long rail adventure through the wilderness of Northern Ontario.  As the train starts a flat screen monitor commentary tells us about the upcoming points of interest and the rich history of this region with stories of the Ojibwe fur traders and explorers that opened up this vast wilderness.  It took us on a 228-mile round trip and transported us over towering trestles through the granite rock formation descending into the Canyon. The train began its descent into the Canyon at Mile 102 travelling down 500 feet over 12 miles to the floor of the Agawa Canyon.  At Mile 114 the train stops in the Wilderness Park for an hour and half.  We decided not to climb the 300 stairs to the lookout platform 250 feet above the Canyon, but took a scenic walk on graveled trails to the viewing platforms of the Bridal Veil Falls and Black Beaver Falls.  Our trip back took us to the Algoma Central Railway on Bay Street.

A hot and cold breakfast, plus lunch or picnic box lunch with assorted hot and cold beverages is available in the dining car from time of boarding until 4:00PM.  This one-day wilderness Algoma Country excursion departs daily from late June to mid-October.

Dinner was at Giovanni’s Italian Restaurant, serving “The Soo” since 1978.  We experienced a touch of Italy with homemade sauces, pastas, steaks, ribs, chicken and seafood.  Their Italian bread with butter and a chunk of garlic on the side surrounded by mozzarella cheese was exceptional.

Before leaving for our trip home we made stops at the Ermatinger-Clerque National Historic Site, the Sault Ste. Marie Museum and the Art Gallery of Algoma.  The Ermatinger-Clerque National Historic Site was built in1812 by Charles Oakes Ermatinger and became the center of the business and social life. It is the oldest surviving house in Northern Ontario consisting of two stone buildings – the Ermatinger Old Stone House and the Clergue Blockhouse.

In the Old Stone House we gained insight into the pioneer lifestyle in the 19^th century with a knowledgeable guide dressed in clothing of that era.  On the main floor the Victorian Parlor was a gentlemen’s sitting room along with a Clerk’s office and a tavern. Women were only allowed in the room to serve refreshments or clean-up after the gentlemen.  Other interesting rooms were the dining room and a bedroom with a four poster canapé bed.  Behind the Main House on Queen Street is the Summer Kitchen – the original kitchen was destroyed in a fire in 1840.  A demonstration on making cupcakes showed us how food was churned in the oven.  In winter the heat from the crackling fire made this room the warmest in the house.

The Clergue Blockhouse, located to the east of the Ermatinger Old Stone House, depicts the life of Francis Hector Clergue through the use of interpretive panels and interactive displays. Each section of the heritage landscape represented the cultural and historic way of life for the early settlers and First Nation people.

The Sault Ste. Marie Museum, originally the Old Post Office Building, preserves the local heritage of Sault Ste. Marie by photo displays.  Interesting exhibits included a pictorial display of early Great Lakes cruise ships with a brief history of the Locks, the history of Francis Hector Clergue and his involvement in the early industrial development of Sault Ste. Marie and a Discovery Gallery for children of all ages.

The Art Gallery of Algoma (AGA) is the only collecting public art gallery located between Thunder Bay and Sudbury, Ontario. It consists of an impressive collection of over 5,000 artworks includes paintings, sculptures, photographs and decorative arts by artists of the City of Sault Ste. Marie and surrounding area. This Art Gallery is surrounded by a beautiful Sculpture Garden on the banks of the St. Mary’s River.  Jasmina Jovanovic, Director of AGA, introduced us to an exquisite exhibition by renowned contemporary Inuit sculptor, Abraham Anghik Ruben. The exhibition entitled “Arctic Journeys Ancient Memories” gave us a rare opportunity to view 20 carved sculptures in bone, stone, ivory and bronze.

A Partnership of Four of Sault Ste. Marie Favorite Attractions provides admission to four sites for one low price and saves approximately one-half of admission fees.  There is no expiration date and can be used at any time between May and November:

Sault Ste. Marie Museum
Art Gallery of Algoma
Ermatinger • Clergue National Historic Site
Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre

For more information visit:  http://www.saulttourism.com

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Ecologos is a research and action network of volunteers based in Toronto, Canada. An official registered charity, Ecologos has a focus to create transformative experiences for a sustainable future, using fun interactive websites and exhibits that resonate with our deepest emotions about environmental issues.

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