Newspaper Page Text
The ADVANCE, February 17, 2021/Page 4A
(Eift Aiiuancg
Vaccines
continued from page 1A
the form of a supply of
vaccinations — knocked
on Vidalia’s door, local
leadership sprung into ac
tion. Vidalia city leaders
joined forces with East
Georgia Healthcare Cen
ter (EGHC), which has
multiple clinics in South
Georgia, including Vida
lia, to sponsor a remote
clinic location for older
citizens to receive their
first shot and to return
for the second shot next
month.
Vidalia City Manager
Nick Overstreet said he
was pleased to be con
tacted by EGHC. “A lot of
people have had trouble
getting the vaccination.
I got a phone call from
East Georgia Healthcare,
who had 250 vaccinations
available. They were look
ing for a place to hold a
clinic in Vidalia.” The City
of Vidalia partnered with
EGHC to hold the clinic
at the Vidalia Community
Center and information
was sent out to various
community organizations
notifying them of the
vaccine availability. The
Crossword Puzzle
Solution, page 14A
CLUESACROSS
1. Big tech firm
4. Picked
10. Type of whale
11. A woman of refinement
12. New England state
14. Common gibbon
15. Tall coniferous tree
16. State capital
18. Making a liquid muddy
22. Vinegary
23. Peninsula
24. Thee
26. Atomic #55
27. Used in units of measurement
28. Welsh female name
30. Arab ruler title
31. One’s mother
34. Trap
36. Soviet Socialist Republic
37. Assn, of oil-producing countries
39. Holy fire
40. Emit coherent radiation
41. Atomic #81
42. Orthodox Jewish college
48. Herbs
50. Ran after
51. Begin again
52. Named
53. Barbary sheep
54. Unwell
55. Postscript
56. Drivers
58. One point east (clockwise)
of due north
59. Prim
60. A facility equipped for
sports or physical training
CLUES DOWN
1. Small islands
2. Skullcap
3. Unexplained events
4. One hundredth of a meter
5. Beloved baseball announcer
6. Repulsive
7. Northern European languages
8. Match or surpass
9. Northeast
12. Chew the fat
13. Innovative industry
17. Land to put down to grass
19. Products
20. Nostril
21. Surprise Icelandic politician
25. Conclusive acts
29. Inform on
31. Grinding tooth
32. Keep up
33. Tablelands
35. Raising
38. Mythical creature
41. Hums
43. Mountain in Antarctica
44. Neighborhood in Manhattan
45. Distinctive practice
46. Vice president
47. Contributes to
49. Small bones
56. Oil company
57. Empire State
first shots were admin
istered Thursday, Febru
ary 11, and the second
round will be adminis
tered Thursday, March 11,
also at the Community
Center. Health protocol
mandates that in order to
obtain maximum effect,
patients must receive two
doses of the vaccine ad
ministered approximately
one month apart.
Overstreet comment
ed, “I think this is a good
private partnership for
us. It doesn’t cost us any
thing, other than hosting
the event. They will have
social distancing mea
sures in place, registration
was done online prior to
the event, and there are
no walk-ins. This is a good
way to help our commu
nity.”
After spending time
observing the administra
tion of the first round of
vaccinations, Overstreet
noted, “We really appreci
ate the team at East Geor
gia Healthcare for coming
to Vidalia and providing
an opportunity for our
residents to get vaccinat
ed. The EGHC team was
a pleasure to work with
and their process of get
ting residents vaccinated
was a tremendous success.
We are grateful that they
chose to come to Vidalia
and offer a vaccination
clinic. We look forward to
working with them in the
future.”
Mayor Doug Roper
observed the vaccination
process with Overstreet
at the Community Cen
ter and thought it was
handled excellently. “The
EGHC staff was extremely
pleased. They indicated to
me that of all the sites they
have been to, ours was the
most organized and we
had done the best job of
communicating to the
public about the oppor
tunity for them to receive
their vaccination. They
will be back on March
11 to provide everyone
they saw today with their
second shot, but they
further communicated
to Nick (Overstreet) that
they wanted to come back
again and establish a sec
ond round of first and sec
ond vaccinations.”
Roper emphasized,
“We assured them of our
commitment to help them
in any way possible to fur
ther distribute the vaccine
to our community.”
Tillery: Week Five Highlights
Our work in At
lanta has reached a
rhythm now. Daily
votes in the Senate
Chamber are becom
ing a common oc
currence, and com
mittees are meeting
more often, and lon
ger, to discuss legis
lation. Since passing
our first bill last week,
we’ve been able to vote out several more that
we believe will better the lives of Georgians.
This includes the Amended Fiscal Year 2021
(AFY21) budget. Even more bills have been
introduced, too; a result of us talking with
you to find the best ways we can address
new and old problems. While some of this
information may sound familiar now, here’s
an overview of the areas that affect you the
most.
Tuesday, the Senate unanimously voted
to pass House Bill 80, the AFY21 budget.
Thursday, we agreed to the House amend
ment and the budget was sent to the Gov
ernor to sign. In a process that took a record
amount of time, the shape of our budget
and the speediness in which we were able
to accomplish it wouldn’t have been pos
sible without the efforts of Georgians ev
erywhere. Thanks to Gov. Kemp’s steadfast
ness, Georgia was able to open our doors,
and economy, earlier than other states. This
placed us at an advantage - revenue num
bers increased by about $654 million and
with contributions from state workers, you
were able to continue putting food on your
tables. Our ability to restore funds wouldn’t
have been possible without you, the taxpay
ers, who showed up each and every day to
keep our state running. Thank you for the
strength you’ve shown throughout the pan
demic.
When we first started tackling the FY21
budget back in June, our numbers were a lot
worse and we were looking at a 10% budget
cut across the board. With $26.5 billion to
tal now, we were able to restore 60% of our
budget cuts to education and prioritize al
locations to public health - the two areas
arguably hit the most during COVID-19.
Here’s a breakdown of the AFY21 budget:
Education and Higher Education:
• $567 million to the Quality Basic
Education (QBE) formula for grades K-12
and to fully fund growth. An additional $70
million went to the University System of
Georgia and $30 million to the Technical
College System of Georgia for their growth.
Despite the challenges of the pandemic, our
educators in our area were innovative. They
adjusted to the changes in learning and were
attuned to the needs of each student.
Broadband:
• $20 million to fund rural broadband
initiatives and provide grants for local gov
ernments. Expansion of broadband to un
derserved areas has been an initiative of my
self, and the legislature, for years. This issue
matters for education and business.
Health:
• $770,000 to add five positions within
the Department of Public Health: chief
medical officer, deputy commissioner, chief
data officer, senior programmer and a finan
cial manager. In speaking with Dr. Toomey
and the rest of the Department, we found
areas where the agency felt stretched and
want to provide them with
the resources they need to
continue with their COV-
ID-19 response efforts and
make the most of their fed
eral dollars.
• $27 million to mod
ernize public health sur
veillance systems and sup
port future epidemiology
surveillance; this pairs with
$894.6 million and $110
million in federal funds
for epidemiology and lab
capacity and COVID-19
vaccine preparedness, re
spectively. This will help
streamline the vaccine
scheduling and distribution
process, creating an easy to
manage and read database
to track shipments. We’ve
heard your frustrations with
getting a vaccine. We want
to make sure our healthcare
workers are best equipped
to help administer the vac
cine and that you’re able to
get the protection you need
against the virus.
• $35 million for the
Disproportionate Share
Hospital (DSH) formula to
help with COVID-19 efforts specialized in
indigent care.
• $19 million total in nursing homes to
assist with vaccination efforts, as well as $9
million to skilled nursing centers to increase
Medicaid growth allowance by 5% to assist
them with their daily rates.
Additional Areas:
• A utilization of existing funds to
supplement a 10% pay increase for correc
tion officers and juvenile detention officers
to help with attrition, reduce turnover and
support our state’s agency in the long run.
An additional $1.3 million in federal funds
is also provided to our county jails to help
them respond to their pandemic needs and
help reduce the spread within state prisons.
• $455,000 to increase funds for do
mestic violence shelters and sexual assault
centers to try and fill in, on the state level,
federal funds that shifted.
• Increased funds within the Depart
ment of Labor to fund a Chief Labor Offi
cer that will facilitate unemployment claims
and financial audit requests. The General
Assembly is currently working on a piece of
legislation that will outline the duties of the
position but in short, it’s intended to make
sure you’re able to get your unemployment
claims and continue supporting your fami
lies.
• $25 million increased funds for the
Forestland Protect Act (FLPA) which goes
to local governments with large amounts of
forestlands, like ours.
Aside from the budget, one more elec
tion bill has been introduced since we talked
last week. Senate Bill 93 would limit the use
of portable or moving polls to situations
where the existing facility is seen as unsafe.
All the election bills we’ve discussed ear
lier have been assigned to the Senate Ethics
Committee, which recently met to assign
four of them to specific subcommittees.
There are now over a dozen elections bills,
as we discussed in detail last week. I expect
them to receive a hearing and receive a full
vote by the committee in the next week or
so.
Closer to home, many of you know Jeff
Davis County EMS/EMA building was
destroyed by fire last weekend. Tommy
Purser at the Jeff Davis Ledger did a great job
in his coverage of the event. Almost every
ambulance was lost and the 911 system for
the community was crippled. Like South
Georgians do, our neighbors rushed to help.
Appling County took over temporary 911
services to help protect Jeff Davis County
residents. Appling and Coffee County both
provided ambulances to handle calls. The
state predicted a four to six week period be
fore semi-normal operations could resume.
Sheriff Preston Bohannon and his team,
along with great assistance from the Georgia
Emergency Management Agency, had Jeff
Davis’s 911 and emergency response system
back up in less than 96 hours. I’m thankful
to five in a region with neighbors that care
and with competent public servants who
love our community.
As we look ahead at the work still to
come, please reach out with any questions
you may have about the budget, election
concerns or any other legislation. I’m here
to serve you in the state Capitol.
Sen. Blake Tillery serves as Chairman of the
Senate Appropriations Committee. He
represents the Nth Senate District, which
includes Appling, Jeff Davis, Long, Montgomery,
Telfair, Toombs, Treutlen, Wayne, and Wheeler
counties and a portion of Liberty and Tattnall
counties. He can be reached by email at
blake.tillery@senate.ga.gov.
ODDS
Oends
Pastor's
Anniversary-
New Life In Christ
Ministries Church,
208 Meadowbrook
St., Vidalia, will cele
brate the 22nd Anni
versary of their Pas
tor, Jonathan Law
rence, Sr., on Sun
day, March 7, at
11:00 a.m. The
speaker will be Pas
tor Germain A. Wil
liams of New Bethle
hem Missionary Bap
tist Church in Regis
ter. Dinner will be
served after the ser
vice. Everyone is in
vited to attend, and
CDC Guidelines will
be followed.
For more informa
tion, call 912-401-
6225.
RTCA
Auction—
Robert Toombs
Christian Academy
will hold its annual
auction on Thursday,
March 11, at the
school gym in Lyons.
The silent auction be
gins at 5:00 p.m., and
the live auction will
start at 7:00 p.m.. El
ementary students
will perform before
the live auction.
The event is open
to the public and ev
ery one is welcome.
By Sen. Blake Tillery
(R-Vidalia)