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Hope Clinic seeks support to expand
through special grant
By
Rebekah W. Moffett
Special to GwinnettForum.com
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., May 30, 2008 -- The Hope Clinic in Lawrenceville
is a non-profit health clinic founded in 2002 to fill a gaping hole
in our county's health care model---primary care for the working
uninsured. Dr. Bill Martin is medical director of the Clinic.
The clinic's vision is to provide an alternative to the hospital
for the primary care needs of the uninsured. Primary care provided
in an office setting is less expensive, making it more affordable
for low and middle income patients. Their patient appointment model
was designed to allow some new patient appointments each day; they
are now operating over capacity.
Martin |
The clinic is a vital part of the safety net for the uninsured
in our community. The only non-profit primary care clinic in Gwinnett
County open five days a week, it supplies over half the charitable
primary care capacity. Their daily walk-in clinic provides patients
needing non-life-threatening acute care an alternative to the Emergency
Room.
Their main services are:
- Providing affordable, comprehensive primary care to the uninsured
working poor;
- Providing an acute care alternative to reduce the health care
system strain caused by Emergency Room overcrowding; backing up
Gwinnett Medical Center for chronic ambulatory ER overflow;
- Diagnosing and preventing the medical conditions related to
metabolic syndrome (diabetes, hypertension and heart disease).
Patients in their target population are more likely to suffer
from complications of these diseases because they lack access
to the tools required to get them under control.
Attempting to treat chronic disease in a hospital setting undermines
the financial stability of all hospital systems and decreases access
for the insured and uninsured alike. Many hospitals are now refusing
to attempt this task at all. The Hope Clinic can help patients take
control of their chronic diseases reducing the need for drastic
intervention later.
The difference between what patients pay and the amount it costs
the Hope Clinic to treat them represents about 10 to 20 percent
of operating costs. It funds this amount with donations and grants
from generous churches, individuals and corporations. In 2007, the
clinic provided over $635,000 worth of uncompensated care to needy
patients, up from $545,000 in 2006.
Having a paid, formally employed staff with credentials provides
a stability and continuity of care to patients and is essential
to good medicine. The clinic needs a "home" which will
allow them to grow, so they can add providers thereby increasing
their patient volume.
In April, the Hope Clinic applied for a HUD grant administered
through Gwinnett County. It is in three parts which together would
provide a building they own (reducing monthly facilities expenses);
additional square footage (so they can add providers); and a digital
X-ray system (making radiology services more affordable.)
The clinic is asking supporters to send a note to the Gwinnett
County Board of Commissioners endorsing the Hope Clinic's grant
application. Letters will be accepted until June 9, 2008 and may
be dropped off at the Hope Clinic or faxed to Tony Lowe, community
programs specialist at (770) 822-5193. For more information, call
the Hope Clinic at (770) 685-1300.
Join us in hoping that what goes up must also
come down
By
Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
MAY 30, 2008 -- What goes up must come down, or so they say. Let's
all hope that gas prices find a way down, though right now we're
mighty pessimistic about it.
Brack |
Yet the other day, we heard a radio commentary outlining a scenario
about the oil situation. He harked back to earlier days, when oil
spiked at over $20 a barrel, but eventually fell back to $11 a barrel.
That would be all right with most of us.
His thinking was that much of the current oil run-up in prices
is speculation. And, he figures, those buying on speculation will
keep buying, but at some point, oil will slump back slightly. This
could cause a ripple effect, with these speculators bailing out
to make a profit, though at a lower price than they thought. This
would stir others to sell off while they still had a profit, with
this spiraling downward. His forecast: oil could return to the area
of $60-70 a barrel.
Anything's better than the $200 a barrel it seems to be headed.
But the higher it goes, the faster it could fall if this scene plays
out that way.
* * * * *
What started out as a simple marketing technique for many of the
oil retailers has hit something of a new plateau to the buyer's
benefit.
Several years ago, the big gas retailers sought to lure customers
by giving them "rewards" if they purchased with the gas
company's own credit card. Originally, you got two or three percent
off if you bought gas with their card, and a lesser percentage off
other purchases. Others saw this and mimicked it. Then another oil
retailer raised the ante, saying "five percent" off gas.
The latest we have seen allows you ten per cent off the price of
gas if you use that particular company's credit card.
With gas now at nearly $4 a gallon, it would mean a $3.60 per gallon
cost. That's quite a savings. Gives me a little satisfaction each
time I get that discount. "Beat 'em at their game," I
think." Of course, I am not!
So, look around, particularly at your gas pump. There may be a
card application there that could save you considerably if you drive
a lot.
* * * * *
The Georgia Public Policy Foundation passes on another
possibility of oil prices falling, from MoneyNews.com: "The
oil boom will indeed bust. Don't hold your breath, but economic
growth across the globe will be slowing just as new refineries kick
in, raising oil supply and dropping prices, according to Lehman
Bros. oil strategist Michael Waldron. "Supply is outpacing
demand growth. Inventories have been building since the beginning
of the year." He specifically lists Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and
Brazil as supply growth points. Lehman is now predicting prices
at $83 a barrel in 2009 and as low as $70 in 2010."
* * * * *
Should this happen, we won't be upset a bit, and would not worry
about the Arab sheiks being upset, either. But we aren't there yet,
and must pay in the vicinity of $4 a gallon these days. That hurts.
Makes even mowing the grass or blowing leaves expensive. We just
hope that oil prices going up will come down.
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and www.carrier.com.
Gas
gimmick
Another great cartoon by Bill McLemore:
Suwanee
Smooth Jazz concert June 6 features Sommerville
Trumpet player Joey Sommerville will take center stage at the Suwanee
Smooth Jazz concert at Town Center Park Friday, June 6. The free
concert begins at 7 p.m. with an opening performance by Chandra
Currelley.
Sommerville has performed, recorded, and produced with a wide range
of artists, including mega rock group Phish, Peabo Bryson, Wayman
Tisdale, and Rhonda Smith. He was the featured instrumental soloist
on Cirque de Soleil's Grammy-nominated and Juno Award-winning album
Alegria. Sommerville's most recent album Like You Mean It was released
nationally May 13.
Opening for Sommerville is Chandra Currelley, who describes her
music as "urspijaz" - urban, spiritual, jazz. Currelley
also is an actress. She plays herself in Tyler Perry's hit movie
Diary of a Mad Black Woman and toured nationwide in the stage production
of Perry's What's Done in the Dark.
Bring picnics, blankets, and low-back chairs to these free concerts
at Town Center Park. Food, beer, and wine will be available for
purchase. No outside alcoholic beverages may be brought into Town
Center Park. The park is located at the intersection of Buford Highway
and Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road.
Women in Technology
seeks nominees for awards program
Women in Technology (WIT), an association devoted to the development
of Georgia's businesswomen in the technology industry, is seeking
nominations for the 2008 Women of the Year in Technology Awards
(WOTY).
In its ninth year, WOTY recognizes women who exemplify leadership,
positive influence and a have made a lasting impact on the technology
industry, as well as on the life and well-being of the community.
The Awards will recognize "women of impact," who exemplify
leadership and positive influence, and who have made a lasting impact
on the technology industry, as well as on the life and well being
of their community.
To be eligible for nomination, a nominee must hold business, technology,
or scientific leadership roles within a technology corporation or
hold technology or scientific leadership roles in a non-technology
corporation. Nominees must reside in Georgia and be associated with
an organization that is headquartered or affiliated in Georgia.
To learn about the nomination process and access the online nomination
form, visit this Web
site. WIT will announce all finalists at a VIP reception on
August 18.
Make strike against
homelessness with bowling outing
Rainbow Village is hosting a bowling outing on June 28, at any
time between noon until 4 p.m. at the AMF Lanes, 350 Ronald Reagan
Parkway in Snellville. Enjoy two-hours of bowling, free shoe rental,
unlimited pizza, drinks, veggies with dip, and chicken wings for
a per person ticket price of $25. Bring four people and one plays
free. To purchase tickets call the Rainbow Village office at 770-446-3800,
ext.10, or register online using your credit card at www.rainbowvillage.org.
Tickets must be purchased prior to Monday, June 23.
The mission of Rainbow Village is to provide families in domestic
or economic crisis a healing environment to rebuild their lives
through a community based transitional housing program that promotes
self-sufficiency. Rainbow Village is a 501c3 non-profit organization
with housing in Norcross and Duluth. To find out more about the
work we do, please visit our website, www.rainbowvillage.org.
Rainbow Village offers numerous volunteer and service projects
for individuals, businesses, and groups. If your organization would
like to host a fundraiser or another service project on behalf of
Rainbow Village, call 770-446-3800.
Gwinnett Medical Center
opens Brain and Spine Institute
To continue to meet the growing need for neurosurgical care, the
Brain and Spine Institute at Gwinnett Medical Center recently opened
at 575 Professional Drive in Lawrenceville. The Institute supports
the needs of both physicians and patients for this medical specialty.
The practice physicians are Michael A. Amaral and Michael Stechison.
Before coming to the metro Atlanta area in 2003, Dr. Amaral was
an instructor of neurosurgery at both the University of Minnesota
and an adjunct professor of surgery at Northwestern University's
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Amaral has particular
expertise in sacroiliac dysfunction and other spinal disorders.
He has operated on patients from around the world for these conditions.
Dr. Stechison has been a member of the GMC medical staff for the
last three years. Since 1989, he has been both an educator and a
practitioner of neurosurgery serving on the faculty of Ohio State
University in faculty and research capacities as well as founding
a service to enhance the safety of brain and spine procedures for
both neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons. Dr. Stechison specializes
in cranial and cervical, thoracic and lumbar spinal surgeries ranging
from minimally invasive microsurgical disectomy to complex instrumented
spinal fusions.
Smart Start Georgia
seeks volunteers for child care program
Smart Start Georgia, the Early Learning Division of United Way
of Metropolitan Atlanta, is initiating a program in Early Care and
Education Volunteer Training Program. The three part training session
will be piloted in Gwinnett County at Gwinnett Technical College
in June . It seeks participants to complete a two-day program and
volunteer at least one day a month at childcare programs in Gwinnett
County.
The Smart Start Early Care and Education Volunteer Training is
an educational experience providing volunteer participants with
a basic foundation to understand young children, birth to five,
how they learn and how to support a classroom as a volunteer in
a childcare program. The series will be on June 11, 21 and 24. Qualified
candidates must be 18 or older; able to lift a child (40 pounds
or less); have a minimum of a high school diploma or GED; and clear
a background check.
Application submission deadline is June 4. Contact Debbie McMinn
for additional information and application at dmcminn@unitedwayatlanta.org
or call 404-527-8806 .
- An invitation: What
Web sites, books or restaurants have you enjoyed? Send us your
best recent visit to a restaurant or most recent book you have
read along with a short paragraph as to why you liked it, plus
what book you plan to read next. --eeb
Band leader
and trumpeteer Harry James was born in Albany
Harry
James, born in Georgia, was one of the most renowned trumpet
players and band leaders of the swing era. He gained even greater
popularity as a Hollywood actor and the husband of actress Betty
Grable.
 Born
on March 15, 1916, in Albany to a bandmaster and a trapeze artist
traveling with the Mighty Haag Shows circus (which was passing through
town), Harry Haag James began performing music at a young age. He
started out playing drums and switched to trumpet, under his father's
tutelage.
James got his first job playing jazz with Joe Gill's Phillips Flyers,
which led to brief stints in a number of groups before drummer Ben
Pollack hired him. In Pollack's band, James wrote his first arrangement,
made his recording debut, and met other important jazz sidemen,
like Glenn Miller and Charlie Spivack, who would both go on to greater
fame. Benny Goodman, a clarinetist who had also played for Pollack,
hired James in 1937. James played with Goodman's band at the height
of its popularity and in its most famous concert at New York City's
Carnegie Hall in 1938.
In early 1939, James left Goodman to start his own big band, Harry
James and His Orchestra. James hired Frank Sinatra, then unknown,
as his vocalist, the first in a long string of gifted singers that
included Helen Forrest, Connie Haines, Dick Haymes, and Kitty Kallen.
James's time in Hollywood led to a romance with and subsequent
marriage to the movie star Betty Grable; the two became the most
celebrated Hollywood couple of the time. Grable was the second of
three wives James would have over his lifetime.
Swing and big band music began to lose its audience in the years
following World War II (1941-45), and James disbanded his group
in 1946. In the ensuing years James fronted bop, sweet, swing, and
small combos in order to stay employed. Though none of his later
bands attained the success of his 1940s-era orchestra, James continued
as a bandleader for many years at the Flamingo and at the Frontier
in Las Vegas, Nev. He died of lymphatic cancer in 1983 in Las Vegas
and was inducted posthumously into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame
that same year.
Winston Churchill more
than politician; also a philosopher
"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist
sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
-- Sir Winston Churchill, via Roy McCreary, Dacula.
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