Newspaper Page Text
Page 2 - Wednesday, September 6, 2023
The Jenkins County Times
j enkinsc ountytimes .com
How to Help Keep
Your Child Safe and
Healthy This School
Year
By Joe Brady, Editor
for
The Times
As students return to classrooms, doctors say that it’s
important to ensure that children are up-to-date with
routine childhood vaccinations.
“The evidence around vaccinations is abundantly clear;
they’re safe, effective and will help protect you, your
loved ones and your community from preventable
diseases. If you have questions about vaccines, their safety,
or effectiveness, please speak to your physician. We are
here for you, eager to answer your questions, and ensure
your family is protected,” says Dr. Kyle Gay, physician
with UR Health.
In an effort to promote a safer, healthier school year for
everyone, the AMA is sharing these vaccine facts and
insights:
• Vaccines are safe, effective and save lives. Routine
childhood immunization is highly effective at preventing
disease over a lifetime, reducing the incidence of all
targeted diseases, including measles, mumps, rubella,
polio and chickenpox. For the U.S. population in 2019,
vaccines prevented more than 24 million cases of disease.
• The benefits of vaccines can be quantified. According to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
vaccination of children born between 1994 and 2021
will prevent 472 million illnesses, almost 30 million
hospitalizations and more than 1 million deaths, saving
nearly $2.2 trillion in total societal costs, including $479
billion in direct costs.
• Vaccination rates have fallen. Even before the rise in
vaccine misinformation and disinfomiation associated
with the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy was
increasing, elevating the risk of community outbreaks,
which put under-and unvaccinated children at risk for
serious illnesses, like measles. According to a mid-January
2023 report from the CDC, vaccination coverage decreased
in most states for all vaccines among kindergarteners for
the 2021-22 school year when compared with the previous
school year, which was already below pre-pandemic levels.
Physicians can also answer questions on the new
monoclonal antibody therapy, nirsevimab, available for
infants and children under the age of 19 months, for the
prevention of RSV disease.
“Make an annual well-child visit and immunizations a part
of your household’s back-to-school routine,” says Dr. Gay,
“Doing so will protect you and your family from a number
of preventable illnesses. It’s something I do for my own
children, and I urge you to do so, too.”
By Tracey Pruitt
Special to
The Times
Thank God
for the
Country
Boy and
Planter’s
Electric!
Life on the farm can be dramatically different than city
life. This fact is glaringly apparent when one has to fill
their bathtub with water in order to flush the toilet if the
lights go out! This week, as Hurricane Idalia approached,
my husband and I prepared our little farm. We fed the
animals, ensuring their shelter was secure. We secured
lightweight items in the yard that could potentially become
projectiles (like aluminum fishing boats). We also made a
ham and butter-beans (with ham hocks) so we could ride
out the storm! Country boys gotta eat!
I typically commute each day to Savannah for work.
However, due to the uncertainty of the storm, I chose to
work from home. My intention was to work from home
and then be back at work on Thursday morning. My plans
changed with a flicker of our lights on Wednesday at
approximately six o’clock. In the country, if your lights
flicker one time, you are possibly ok. If they flicker three
times, prepare for “lights out”. In this case, they flickered
five times before everything finally went dark. I did not
panic, conditions had been stable all day. We experienced
some rain and wind but it did not seem particularly serious.
The first thing I attempted to do when the lights went
out was to call Planter’s Electric and report the outage.
However, I was unable to call due to my phone not
working without the internet connection. This is another
difference when living in the country versus the city. I
will admit that I sometimes shake my phone to get texts
to go through (it works - try it)! Two hours passed in
the quite darkness. I attempted to call Planter’s again and
this time was able to successfully report the outage. It
is important to know that I once sat in the dark with my
neighbors for four hours (while living in the city). When
I finally reported the outage, the power company told me
that I was the first to report the outage in my neighborhood.
Everyone assumed someone else had reported it!
Once we reported the outage, my husband suggested
that we take a ride to see if we could determine the issue.
As we left our dirt road, we noted that all of our neighbors
were without power. It was only when we approached the
city limits that bright lights shown in the darkness. We
went home and waited patiently, knowing that as soon as
safely possible, Planter’s would restore service. At eleven
o’clock, my hopes were dashed when the lights briefly
flickered like a light strobe before going dark. I realized
that we must have a more serious problem.
As dawn approached on Thursday, we were in search
of two things: the Planters Truck and generators. As we
drove to town, my heart sank when I realized that not only
did our neighbors lack power, most of the city did as well.
We noted that Planters were at the substation and they
were working to resolve our issues. We ate at Wahl’s (one
of the only restaurants open) and listened to the patrons
discuss status particulars. By the time we had finished
our breakfast, most of the city’s power had been restored.
Later that day, in true country boy fashion, my husband
drove around to find the Planter’s truck. He showed them
where we typically have power outage problems. He also
traced the lines to help them determine the problem. The
Planter’s electric crew were thorough and professional
and we were very grateful when our power was restored.
This week -1 am grateful for country boys and the
power company!
Want to join a happening club?
All you need is a library card
By Sharon Blank,
Special Contributor
for
The Times
It’s Library Card Sign-Up Month!
Have you got your card? If not, come
in with your ID and sign up - it’s free,
and you’ll be amazed at everything
that we have to offer!
For example, there’s a ton of
things we can do for those of you
who have school-aged kids. There’s
the storytimes we have on Tuesdays
at 3:30 pm, where we read them
wonderful stories and then do a cute
craft related to the story.
For the teens, we’ve got access
to lots of cool tech and books about
how to make their own interesting
inventions and uniquely gorgeous
accessories, without breaking the
bank.
Adults can do everything from
finding and applying for jobs to
learning how to run their own
businesses, either from our amazingly
diverse collection of books or our
ever-expanding number of online
resources that range from ELI:
Entrepreneurial Mindset Training to
loads of courses from Niche Academy.
And of course, if you’re in the mood
for something less cerebral and more
hands-on, there’s
our free Crafts To
Go kits, available
at the desk! Every
week, there’s a
new kids’ craft,
and every month
we have new teen
and adult crafts.
More
into ebooks,
audiobooks, or
videos? Your
library card give you access to Libby,
which allows you to borrow ebooks
and audiobooks, as well as Kanopy,
our new video streaming service which
provides everything from Oscar-
winning movies to documentaries
to kids’ programs. You can find out
more about both of these services by
heading over to http://www.sjrls.org/
how-to-for-services.html and finding
out the details of how to get on and
what you can do.
Want to get outside now that fall is
nearly here? There’s so many options,
and we’re getting more! The Georgia
State Parks Family Pass, Zoo Atlanta,
the Macon Museum Pass, the Go
Fish Education Center, and more can
all be entered free with passes from
the library. You can find out more
about that by checking out https://
georgialibraries.org/partnerships/ and
seeing all the cool stuff that you can
do.
For more information about
what’s new and more, head
over to www.facebook.com/
jenkinscountymemoriallibrary and
check us out!
Well, that’s all for now - see you at
the library!
Leon Burch is shown with the GA Peanut Achievement Club award by SE
District Area Agronomist, Wade Parker
Buckhead
Creek Farms
Win Peanut
Award
Special
to
The Times
Buckhead Creek Farms, operated by Leon and Joey Burch
of Jenkins County were the proud winners of the Georgia
Peanut Achievement Club District 3, 300-699 acre category
winners. Buckhead Creek’s final yield was 5,373 pounds
per acre on 337 acres. The Burch’s do an excellent job
making top yields, while at the same time being excellent
stewards of the land and many other natural resources. The
Georgia Peanut Achievement award program is sponsored
by UGA Cooperative Extension in conjunction with many
private organizations.
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