Fees to aidman
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Fees collected for using The Saratogian parking lot this weekend will defray medical expenses for one of the newspaper’s long-time employees.
Joe Anderson, who started working as the circulation manager in 2005, is awaiting a heart transplant.
Friends of his will collect $15 parking fees — $25 for overnight — beginning at 7 a.m. Friday and continuing through Sunday.
A Go Fund Me account has also been set up for Anderson. To donate, go to GoFundMe.com and type in Anderson’s name. So far, $5,150 of a $20,000 goal has been raised.
This week he’s been at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston getting outfitted with a left ventricular assist device, also called an LVAD. An LVAD is a mechanical pump that’s normally implanted inside a person’s chest to help a weakened heart pump blood.
The LVAD3 that Anderson was given is contained in a black bag he wears outside his body.
The LVAD doesn’t replace the heart. It just helps it do its job while awaiting a heart transplant. LVADs are often called a “bridge to transplant.”
Anderson, 60, is expected home in the next few days where he’ll be waiting for a heart to become available.
He has a condition called cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle, which makes it harder for the heart to pump and deliver bloodto the rest of thebody.
“I knew I was going to end up here eventually,” he said.
As circulation manager, Anderson said he enjoyed meeting and talking with many different people in his travels for The Saratogian, its sister paper, The Troy Record, and the weekly Community News.
“If there was ever a problem, Joe would take care of it,” said Jake Loeb, regional operations director. “He was really our first line of defense in keeping subscribers happy. Much like the post office, neither rain, snow nor sleet would stop him from making sure people got their paper delivered.”
A Fort Edward native, Anderson moved to Saratoga Springs when he was 16 in order to participate in the renowned Avant Garde Drum& Bugle Corps, which traveled throughout the country. He started playing for a local Fort Edward group when he was 12, and wanted to be part of the Avant Garde after the Fort Edward group folded.
“I played baritone horn and taught marching for 10 years,” said Anderson, a 1975 Saratoga Springs High School graduate.
Jeff Perkins, a close friend and former AvantGarde director, is helping organize this weekend’s parking lot collection. Before he joined The Saratogian, Anderson was industrial manager for the former CEI company in Ballston Spa. Although he has health coverage, it will only pay for 80 percent of his surgery. The remaining cost, plus travel to and from Boston, present Anderson’s family with a considerable financial challenge. Family friends, Sharon and John Ford, have already made a generous donation that covers two weeks of hotel lodging in the city. Anyone wishing to send a note of encouragement may write to Anderson at: 2025 Route 9N, Lot 64, Cedar Lane, Greenfield, N.Y., 12833.