Judicial Elections are on November 7th

J.C. Blair Invites Community to Annual Breakfast Meeting

The Board of Directors of the J.C. Blair Health System, Inc., a PinnacleHealth Affiliate, extends an invitation to area residents to attend the 2017 Annual Community Meeting on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at 7:30 a.m. in the J.C. Blair Education Center, 860 Bryan Street, on the Hospital's campus in Huntingdon. The meeting with feature hospital leadership sharing highlights of the past fiscal year and plans for the future. 

In addition, officials from the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health will present an award to J.C. Blair for its integrated behavioral health program, The H.O.P.E. Project, Healthier Outcomes Physically and Mentally. 

Reservations for the breakfast meeting are requested by calling J.C. Blair's Community Relations office at (814) 643-8548. 

Thanks to Senators Corman and Eichelberger for voting in favor

of S.B. 936

The Senate voted in favor of S. B. 936, legislation that would help to mitigate Pennsylvania's prescription drug and opioid overuse and abuse among injuried workers by implementing a prescription drug formulary. Formularies are standard in hospitals, regular healthcare, Medicare and other public insurance programs to help ensure appropriate patient care and address overuse of prescription drugs. 

The Huntingdon County Chamber of Commerce signed a letter urging support for the measure because it will help injuried workers in Pennsylvania avoid problems too often associated with prescription drug overuse and get healthy and back to full function and employment as soon as possible. S.B. 936 mirrors H.B. 18, which we also signed a letter urging the House to support. H.B. 18 stalled in a procedural motion. 

In Ohio, where a prescription drug formulary for the state's Workers' Comp system was set up in 2011, there has been a 37 percent decrease in opioid doses among injuried workers. Also, by 2015, total opioid doses for injuried workers had declined by 41 percent; and the number of WC patients in Ohio who were considered opioid dependent had been cut in half, with over 4,600 fewer injuried workers becoming addicted to opioids. 

Senate Bill 936 now awaits consideration in the House Labor and Industry Committee. 

Get Your Business Ready for

Small Business Saturday

Is your small business prepared for Small Business Saturday? Get customizable marketing materials at ShopSmall.com/YourDay. If you're interested in participating, please contact MacKenzie Locke at [email protected] or (814) 643-1110. 

Juniata College Business After Hours

Coffee Connection: Department of Corrections Executive Deputy Secretary

Government: It's Your Business

Regional Summit

Host A Business After Hours in 2018

Register now to participate in the 

2018 Winter Blues

Scottsdale to Las Vegas

October 9-16, 2018

Penn National Dividend Program

Special Announcement! Facebook Virtual Tour for Business

On The Job Training Program

• Cuts the cost of wages for employers by a minimum of 50% during the training time.
• Reduces the employer's costs for advertising and recruitment.
• Allows employers to make all hiring and firing decisions.
• Guarantees a quick referral process.
• Requires minimal paperwork.
• May involve a single placement, a number of people for one type of job, or a variety of jobs. 

• Post the job on the CareerLink system.
• A search is then conducted of the eligible applicant pool for people who match the characteristics set by the employer. The employer is then provided the information about potential candidates in the manner in which they have requested. 
• The employer decides whom they want to hire and a possible start date. The Business Services staff is notified about the circumstances of the hire. 
• The employer and the Business Services Representative negotiate a contract, which includes a training plan, length of training and costs to be reimbursed to the employer for providing the training. It is important to note that this contract MUST be in place BEFORE an eligible client begins working or the opportunity to secure funding will be lost. 

The Chamber is now offering use of our Bulk Mail Permit for FREE to our members. Bulk Mail Permits cost $250.00 per year. If you are interested in using the Bulk Mailing Stamp, we will walk you through the process to make it easy for you. You will still have to pay postage. 

If you are interested in saving money on your electric bill, please contact [email protected] or 814-643-1110 to get connected with the program endorsed by 120 chambers of commerce in PA and 80 Harrisburg based associations. OnDemand Energy manages 6 billion kWh in PA. There is no cost or obligation involved with seeing how much money your business or organization can save. In many cases it has been quite a significant savings. OnDemand Energy can also review your gas savings options with you. 

You are now able to be the exclusive sponsor of our weekly e-newsletter. The cost is $200 a quarter and includes your name in the email heading as the sponsor and an ad (2 in. wide and 3 in. tall) at the top of the left column of the newsletter. 

If you only want to have an ad (2 in. wide and 2 1/2 in. tall) in the left column, the cost is $100 per quarter or $300 per year. Please continue to share your events and special news and we will include that information for free. Contact [email protected] if you would like to include your ad in our e-newsletter or be the exclusive sponsor. 

Many of you have been asking about more opportunities to send email blasts to our database of nearly 1,000. Currently individual blasts are $50 for for-profit businesses and $25 for non-profits. You can now purchase one blast a week for a quarter for $200 or one blast a week for a year for $500. Non-profits pay $100 for the quarter or $250 for the year. Contact [email protected] if you are interested in taking advantage of this special opportunity. 

This group is being brought to you at the request of HCCC members during the most recent survey. The HCCC Member to Member group is a closed group for Chamber members only to post questions and important information that other members will find valuable. Please invite other Chamber members to join our group and share in discussions. 

If you have any business news and updates, achievements, awards or recognitions that you would like to be included, it can be done for FREE! If you have an event that is free or all the proceeds are being donated to a non-profit as a fundraiser, we'll include it for FREE! If you'd like to include a promotion or a money making event or non-profit fundraiser where proceeds will benefit the organization's operations, we charge a small fee. (Profit - $25 and Non-Profit - $10) Contact MacKenzie Locke at 814-643-1110 or [email protected] if you're interested in including an article.