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The ADVANCE, August 24, 2022/Page 2A (Eift Aiiuancg MHMH continued from page 1A Dr. Lingo and Mead ows CEO Matt Hasbrouck became acquainted when both of them worked at Memorial Health in Savan nah. Hasbrouck, who in troduced Dr. Lingo to the need for a neurosurgeon at Meadows, said, “It was great to connect with Dr. Lingo and expand our medical team. He has built a strong practice in South Georgia and is technically gifted and very personable.” Dr. Lingo said of his medical philosophy, “I am a surgeon by training, but not everybody needs surgery. I don’t cut first; I cut last.” He said there is a joke he tells his patients: “You go to Midas expecting a muffler. When you go to a neurosur geon, you expect surgery.” He countered, “The likeli hood is thatyou are going to get a recommendation for brain or spinal surgery, but the best treatment for a pa tient might not be surgery.” He advocated listen ing to patients and hearing them out. “They have seen a lot of doctors before they see me, and I have to assume when they see me it is quite possibly the worst day of their life. Nobody goes to see neurosurgeon because they are having a good day” Dr. Lingo’s cases range from chronic to emer gent—from degenerative and congenital conditions to injuries, tumors and hy drocephalus; but spinal Ohoopee Library Gets Digital Literacy Grant By Makaylee Randolph Staff Writer mrandolphadvance@gmail.com The Ohoopee Re gional Library System has been awarded $4,000 to host a series of digital lit eracy classes in Jeff Davis, Montgomery, Tattnall, and Toombs Counties over the next 6 months. The Public Library As sociation collaborated with AT&T to provide this digi tal literacy grant to 160 li braries in 44 states in an at tempt to help citizens learn to navigate the new digital era. “The mission of librar ies has always been about equitable access to infor mation, literacy, learning, and culture,” PLA Presi dent Maria McCauley. “In the age of COVID-19, this mission has only become more vital as libraries have played a critical role in keeping communities con nected and online.” These classes will cover an array of topics, such as computer basics, internet basics, email mes saging, and cybersecurity. The library also hopes to be able to continue to build on top of the basic courses and have in-depth courses in November and Decem ber of this year. Classes will begin first in Hazlehurst and Glen- nville in September, then in Vidalia, Reidsville, and Mount Vernon in Octo ber. For more information, contact your local branch of the Ohoopee Regional Library System. Crossword Puzzle Solution, page 12A issues account for 60% to 70% of his practice. “Most of the surgery we do for back pain involve more than just back pain; they involve some sort of neurological symptom, such as nerve compression or spinal cord compres sion causing numbness. It is a misnomer to just say we treat back pain because we offer comprehensive care for the spine,” the doctor said. Degenerative spinal issues, which are very com mon, make up the bulk of the cases Dr. Lingo treats. Dr. Lingo is the first physician in his family. He said he was always inter ested in science, which led to pursing a biology degree in college. “I was looking for something exciting, and I felt like medicine of fered that.” After he got into medical school and witnessed brain surgery, he was “pulled in.” He met his future wife, Ashley Shear man, while at the University of Georgia in 2005. After graduating, they served their residency together in Tennessee and later moved back to Georgia. She is now a pediatrician practicing in Savannah. The couple has two daughters, Avery, two and a half years old, and Cameron, three and a half months old. Considering why he gravitated to a dual subspe cialty in cranial and spinal surgery, Dr. Lingo summa rized, “It offered tremen dous variety; obviously, there is a lot of difference between the two, but also a lot of techniques between the two that overlap. Each pose their own unique chal lenges, but being a good spi nal surgeon can make you a better brain surgeon, and vice versa.” He elaborated, “One of the beautiful things about the multi-disciplinary as pect of these subspecial ties is working with other specialists like oncologists and radiation oncologists. Dr. Lingo participates in brain tumor conferences at Memorial Health once a month where neurologists and other specialists discuss their most complex cases. CT and MRI technolo gy are integral components in the kinds of surgery Dr. Lingo performs. “We use this technology almost like a GPS to navigate the pre cise placement of spinal in strumentation and for deep brain tumors.” He is excited about what is on the hori zon for enhancing the effec tiveness of spinal and brain surgery. Academic level facili ties like Memorial Health are investing in new tech nology to enhance neuro- oncological care. Memorial Health has purchased a cut ting edge 3T MRI and in the planning stages to imple ment it in early 2023. “Most MRIs are 1.5 Teslas. The 3T will enable surgeons to obtain more information about the pa tient’s brain during sur gery,” Dr. Lingo explained. This means that surgeons, through inter-operative neurological monitoring, can localize and map spe- Toombs continued from page 1A by almost 7 mils to make up for that funding lost, which would make the rate have to be 20 mils.” According to Waller, these equalization funds are issued by the state to ensure that the smaller rural school systems have equal fund ing with the larger systems within the state and are im perative to the continued success of the school sys tem. Waller also shared that it is the equalization funds that have allowed Toombs County Schools to develop a plethora of program op tions for students, such as the Heavy Machinery Path way, Information and Tech nology Pathway, and more. Yet, because the school cific areas of the brain in order to not only efficiently remove tumors but to avoid damaging areas of the brain responsible for language and movement. Last month, doctors at Memorial Health successfully performed the first “awake” brain proce dure during which they constantly monitored the patient’s language abilities during the surgery. “Essentially, this tech nology allows us to do our job better, to take out more tumor and cause less harm. Now, instead of Instead of going to Emory or Mayo for this type of surgery, patients can go to Savannah,” Dr. Lingo said. The techniques Dr. Lingo brings to Meadows offer a minimally invasive approach with smaller inci sions and quicker recovery. “Just from the stand point of being the first neu rosurgeon to practice here, I believe my practice will offer a different technical approach to spinal patholo- gly and offer alternatives for patients with degenerative problems. It will open doors and make it easier for those system is above the deter mined rollback rate, it is forced to address the issue in the language of a tax in crease. However, this new millage rate does not pro pose a uniform tax increase - only those property own ers who had their properties reassessed this year will see a tax increase from this new millage rate. This increase on reassessed properties is equivalent to an increase of $27.92 per year or $2.33 per month for properties with a $100,000 value. Those who did not have their proper ties reassessed will even see a decrease in taxes, as the issue stems from inflation within society, according to Waller. “Unfortunately, the rollback millage rate has dropped below that 14 mil threshold that we cannot with more common issues,” Dr. Lingo said. For complex cases Dr. Lingo may not be able to treat locally, his practice will facilitate access to neurosur gical consultative services at Memorial Health. He emphasized that initial con sultation and postoperative follow-ups can be handled in Vidalia. That is also the case for post-operative care in trauma cases. Having a neurosurgical practice in Vidalia will in crease the quality of care for residents, Dr. Lingo noted. “The longer a person has a particular health condition — and most are progressive — and the longer they wait for treatment, the more dif ficult they are to treat.” Hasbrouck agreed. ‘Keeping care close to home’ has been my mantra since the day I got here. We have been striving at Mead ows to offer the top core medical services with ac cess to subspecialties. Hav ing the opportunity to sync up with Dr. Lingo and the Tumor Board at Memorial Health will create a positive impact in this community.” drop below. This is infla tionary growth we are ex periencing, we could have dropped the millage rate to 14 mils, but if the inflation improves a year from now, we would have to increase the millage rate substan tially,” he commented. “We do not want to inflict that on our taxpayers, so we are trying to take incremental steps to help property own- ers. The Toombs County Board of Education will hold a series of three pub lic hearings regarding the proposed millage rate on Thursday, August 25, at 5 p.m., and Thursday, Sep tember 1, at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. All of these meetings will occur in the Board Room at Toombs County High School. GREATER VIDALIA® CHAMBER 2022 BUSINESS AND LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE CLUES ACROSS 1. One point north of due west 4. Indigenous peoples of northern Scandinavia 9. Popular Califomia/Nevada lake 14. Go quickly 15. Fatty acid in soaps 16. Brand of fuel stations 17. State of fuss 18. Romance novelist 20. Members of a household 22. Asserts to be the case 23. Type of infection 24. With metal inlays 28. Chinese philosophic principle 29. Early multimedia 30. Employee stock ownership plan 31. He investigated Clinton administration 33. Shells 37. Six 38. Snakelike fish CLUES DOWN 1. Hits 2. Bathroom accessory 3. Young 4. Beef cattles 5. It’s often in soap 6. For each 7. Innermost membrane enveloping the brain 8. 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Large, deep-bodied fish 56. Homed squash bug genus 57. Excessively sentimental 59. Shared verbally 60. You can put it on toast 61. Data mining methodology (abbr.) 62. Resinlike substance secreted by certain insects 63. Mauna , Hawaiian volcano TAKE YOUR BUSINESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 Vidalia First Baptist Church PRESENTED BY Vidalia FEATURED SPEAKERS Rennie Curran, Brookwood High School Alum and former Linebacker for the Georgia BuLLdogs from 2007-2009, wiLL serve as the keynote speaker for The Summit Conference. Curran, whiLe at the University of Georgia, was a three time All-American Team MVP, Butkus Award finalist and permanent team captain, He finished his Bulldog career as one of the greatest linebackers in the history of the program and has recently been inducted into the Gwinnett County Sports Hall of Fame, Georgia vs. Florida Hall of Fame, and UGA 40 Under 40 class of 2020. In 2010, Curran entered the NFL Draft. He played with the Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Bucs, Edmonton Eskimos and the BC lions. He is now a keynote speaker, author, and personal development coach. He speaks to Fortune 500 companies, associations, sport teams, schools, and non-profit organizations on topics such as Leadership, team-building, overcoming adversity, and high performance. Curran obtained his Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of Georgia and his coaching certification from the Life Purpose Institute. He has been featured on ESPN, The Huffington Post, USA Today, and Fox Sports. Curran has a heart for the community and is honored to speak at the Chambers Summit! '£cz^ / Dr. Melissa Furman is not your typical “academic." She has served as the Assistant Dean and Professor at the Hull CoLLege of Business at Augusta University for 10+ years, but her passion for career, Leadership, and organizational development inspired her to Launch Career Potential, a consulting, training, and coaching organization. Her expertise includes generational diversity, unconscious bias, leadership success, and emotional intelligence. She brings her background in higher education- particularly business, counseling, and psychology- to the conversation to help individuals and organizations achieve success. GOLD SPONSORS Dot Foods Merrill Lynch - The Varzi Group Taylor Insurance Services SILVER SPONSORS Tar Land and Timber Terry’s Flooring and BLinds GO TO SUMMITVIDALIA.COM OR CONTACT THE CHAMBER FOR TICKETS