Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 16

DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2001 Photographer Kevin D. Higley dies at 46 Green Acres Kevin D. Higley, a former Democrat and Chronicle and Times-Union photographer known for the quality of his photographs and the quality of his concern for the people he photographed, died Monday at age 46 of cancer in Denver. "Kevin was just graceful in how he used a camera and graceful in how he related to people," said Dennis R. Floss, deputy managing editor for visuals and new media at the Democrat and Chronicle.

Mr. Higley, a former resident of Brighton and Pittsford, was a resident of Lakewood, at the time of his death. Mr. Higley was born Jan. 17, 1955, in Fremont, Neb.

He started taking photographs as a hobby when he was a boy. In high school, he served as the photographer for the yearbook and the school newspaper. "There was just one darkroom, and it was kind of Kevin's darkroom," said his wife, Lucy, who was in the same graduating class. "He just learned by Mr. Higley went on to study journalism at the University of Nebraska, graduating in 1977.

He then worked as a photographer at the Times Herald in Port Huron, for nine months before joining the photo staff that served the Democrat and Chronicle and the former Times-Union. Hospital FROM PAGE 1B stay is longer because of the lack of sub-acute care, local hospital officials said. Sub-acute beds are for patients who no longer need to be on an acute-care floor of the hospital but aren't ready to go home. These kinds of beds can be in hospitals or nursing homes, but New York state has no payment mechanism to reimburse such care, officials said. "In Arizona, hospitals have a very short length of stay because patients are quickly sent to subacute facilities, then rehab," Carlin said.

Strong Memorial Hospital's average length of stay is 6.31 days, which is comparable to other teaching hospitals in the state but longer than the national average, said Teri D'Agostino, hospital spokeswoman. "All of New York state struggles to deal with lengths of stay without sub-acute care," she said. "We're missing a whole level of care available in other states." Jim Redmond, spokesman for BlueCross BlueShield of the Rochester Area, said the insurer On Sept. 2, 1978, he married Lucy A. McGath of Fremont.

As a photogra- pher, Mr. Higley made a point of remembering that people were often selfconscious or apprehensive having their pictures taken. But his gentle manner won his subjects over, and they quickly gave him their trust. "He just had that special ability to be able to put people at ease," said Burr Lewis, a Democrat and Chronicle photographer. Gary Mervis, chairman and founder of Camp Good Days and Special Times, remembers the first time Mr.

Higley came to the camp to photograph children dealing with cancer. "He walked around the camp and saw all the children and interacted with them," Mervis said. "He couldn't get over how all these children who had been dealt such a difficult hand were doing so well." Mr. Higley established an enduring bond with the camp and the campers, often returning. The connection was all the deeper, his wife said, because his mother had died of cancer when would be willing to help lobby in Albany for reimbursement for Mr.

Higley Mr. Higley sub-acute care. "As a community, we need to collaborate to create what is needed," he said. "We think that could be done on a voluntary basis." HCIA-Sachs, a national health consultant, estimates the average length of stay in Rochester is only 5.85 days shorter than the Health Systems agency estimate but that is still more than a day longer than the national average, Redmond said. Rochester General Hospital has shortened its average stay to fewer than six days by creating "pathways" of treatment, said Dr.

Richard Gangemi, chief medical officer for ViaHealth, which operates the hospital. Pathways are guidelines on how care should progress for a particular condition. RGH also has a "call center" that calls patients before admission, tells them what to expect during treatment and then calls them back after discharge to see how they're doing, Gangemi said. "This is where you get a decrease in readmission rates because you can get to problems earlier." Dr. Edward Tanner, chief of orthopedics at General, said the hospital's pathway for hip re- she was in her 40s.

While he was at the Rochester papers, Mr. Higley photographed a variety of events, including Super Bowls, the World Series, the Olympics and PGA and LPGA tournaments. "He thought it was so great he could go to all these wonderful events and be on the sidelines, having the best seat in the house, and take pictures, too," his wife said. Mr. Higley also distinguished himself as a considerate colleague, one willing to share his extensive Beatles collection, just as he would lead the effort to reroof a former colleague's house after she was widowed.

"He was always there if you needed him," Lewis said. Mr. Higley continued to take pictures locally after he left the Democrat and Chronicle in 1994. He put together extensive corporate work and also covered sports and other news events for The Associated Press. After he moved to Colorado, Mr.

Higley free-lanced, often for AP. His picture of distraught students leaving Columbine High School after the April 1999 shootings was used on Newsweek magazine's cover in May. That December, Mr. Higley was not given long to live after his brain cancer was discovered. He had surgery for a tumor a week after the diagnosis and for placements has reduced the average stay from 10 to 4.12 days.

Hip replacement patients are visited at home before admission, to see whether they are likely to need home care when discharged, he said. Patients also are told what to expect in the hospital. Discharge planning also has cut the average stay for elective hip surgery at Strong Hospital, from 6.8 days in 1996 to 4.6 days today, D'Agostino said. Strong also is studying the rate of readmissions within seven days of discharge, which can indicate a patient was sent home too early, said Dr. Robert Panzer, chief quality officer for the hospital and Strong Health.

Patients who go to the emergency room soon after discharge also are being tracked. But a larger problem is arranging home care for patients, due to a cutback in coverage by Medicare, Panzer said. That means some patients are kept in the hospital longer than they need to be, because they cannot care for themselves at home. Strong's efforts to reduce lengths of stay also include getting prescriptions ready for patients before discharge and having social workers and discharge planners on duty seven days a week, D'Agostino said. Man convicted of murdering girl, 2 He was only trying to discipline his 2-year-old stepdaughter for soiling her underpants, Jesse Jamison told Rochester police.

But Monroe County Court jurors, who heard testimony that Cedreana "C.C." Williams was hit so hard in the abdomen that her internal organs were torn apart and compressed against her spine, convicted Jamison yesterday of second-degree murder. Jurors found that Jamison acted with "depraved indifference to human life" in the death of Cedreana, who was killed Nov. 5 in her home at 11 Day Place. Judge Elma A. Bellini scheduled sentencing for July 23.

Jamison, 23, could be sent to prison for 25 years to life. Before his trial began last week, he turned down an offer to plead guilty and receive a sentence of 15 years to life, the minimum penalty for murder. "He just didn't care. He just didn't give a damn about Cedreana. That's what this case is about," Assistant District Attorney Douglas A.

Randall told jurors before they began deliberating. Although not denying that Jamison killed the girl, defense lawyer Richard Miller argued that he showed compassion when he comforted the girl's mother and called 911 after the child was found unconscious on the floor next to her bunk bed. Jamison, who was baby-sitting the girl and three siblings, initially told homicide investigators that he spanked the girl five Our pollen count is nothing to sneeze at. Find it on the full-color Weather Page. Democrat and Chronicle Clearly Rochester.

center plans renovations STAFF REPORTS This picture of the aftermath 1991 marks Kevin Higley's Former colleagues noted his a camera but in how he treated a while he seemed to be doing well. But the tumor returned. "He kept saying he saw all these children with cancer when he went for treatment and it was SO much worse for them," Mervis said. Mr. Higley was predeceased by his parents, Robert and Betty Higley.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by four brothers, Thomas of Lincoln, David of Overland Park, Michael of Centennial, and James of Libertyville, two step- KEVIN HIGLEY Democrat and Chronicle of the ice storm in March artistry as a photographer. grace not only in how he used the subjects of his pictures. brothers, Michael Whisler of Orlando, and Brian of Fremont; his stepmother, Arlis Higley of Fremont; and 22 nieces and nephews. Contributions in Mr. Higley's memory may be made to the Archbishop Bergan High School Kevin D.

Higley Memorial Scholarship Fund at 545 E. 4th Fremont, NE 68025. Services will begin at 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Fremont.

a JIM MEMMOTT Need Help Quitting? A group of contractors, suppliers, bank representatives and community leaders gathered yesterday morning at the Green Acres Community Center, 101 Berlin to discuss renovations. Green Acres organizers plan to fix a space within the building, a former factory between Joseph and Hudson avenues. The space will include an updated foyer, bathrooms accessible to people with disabilities, a kitchen and several conference rooms. HSBC bank has donated the cost of architectural drawings, and several suppliers have offered their services. Marcia Mendola, public relations chairwoman, said that the work should be finished by fall and that the center's Homework Academy would be in service by then.

Green Acres' original headquarters, on Joseph Avenue, burned two years ago. Since then, the agency, which provides assistance to the needy, has been at temporary sites while raising money for a permanent one. To learn more, call Mendola at 586-3771. 0 Action Smoking Coalition Health 1-888-609-6292 ine of Monroe County: www.nysmokefree.com Master's Degrees That Fit Your Life INDIVIDUALIZED programs to meet your educational, professional and personal needs FLEXIBLE independent study combined with limited weekend residencies INFORMATION SESSION Empire State College Monday, June 11 6 p.m. 1475 Winton Rd.

North State University of New York Rochester, NY Contact 716 224-3200 www.esc.edu/GRAD BY STAFF WRITER MICHAEL ZEIGLER times when she twice wet herself and defecated in clean underpants. But after he learned that the girl was dead, Jamison hyperventilated, fell to the floor and vomited, then said he hit the girl so hard that she bounced off the wooden bed frame and fell to the floor, crying and convulsing. "She was grabbing her stomach and her feet came up off the floor," he told police in a statement. "I hit her a couple of more times while she was laying on the floor." After pulling the girl into bed by one arm, Jamison went to a friend's for 3 hours, leaving a 5-year-old in charge of Cedreana and two other children who were 1 and 3. He returned shortly before his wife was to return home from work.

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