W.T. Eckert in the Register Star writes about the eighth annual Winter Blast, the benefit held over the weekend for the Columbia Memorial Hospital and Kaaterskill Care Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. The benefit at Helsinki Hudson raised over $100,000 in ticket sales for the hospital and rehab center. The event featured ten silent auction items that ranged from a week-long stay at a private, five-bedroom African estate overlooking the Indian Ocean, and ballooning over the Hudson Valley for two, to a private "hawk walk" at Talons in Earlville, with an overnight B&B stay for two. The Glen David Andrews Band, a New Orleans jazz group played music late into the night. Columbia Memorial Hospital President Jane Ehrlich said the funding will go toward improvements in the nursing home and projects in the hospital that include expanding the psychiatric unit with a goal to offer private rooms for patients. Read about the Winter Blast benefit in the Register Star.