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DawsonOpinion
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2022
This is a page of opinion — ours, yours and
others. Signed columns and cartoons are the
opinions of the writers and artists, and they
may not reflect our views.
Honoring beloved
wife with gift that
will keep giving
It is the gift that will
keep on giving. And it
could not be more
rewarding.
This past month, my
family and I estab
lished the Jane J.
Yarbrough Endowed
Nursing Scholarship in
theWellStar School of
Nursing at Kennesaw State University.
The scholarship will be awarded to nontra-
ditional students who have already earned
a bachelor’s degree but are interested in
pursuing nursing at Kennesaw State.
It is no secret that there is a severe short
age of nurses these days. According to sta
tistics, Georgia currently has fewer than
100,000 nurses in a population of more
than 10.5 million people.
Simply put, there are not enough new
nurses graduating from nursing school to
deal with the number of people needing
medical attention. The American
Association of Colleges of Nursing attri
butes the shortage of nurses to several fac
tors, including the fact that the rate of
retirement for nurses is growing. Over half
of the registered nurse workforce is cur
rently over 50 years old. Even though
nursing school enrollment is up, it is not
keeping pace with projected demand and
the need for nursing services.
My family and I saw a critical need that
we could address as well as an opportunity
to honor a beloved wife and mother who
epitomizes what the scholarship represents
— a chance to begin a rewarding career at
a time when others are in the process of
winding theirs down. Here is the story of
how that came to be.
When I returned from a tour of duty in
Washington, courtesy of the Bell System,
we were empty nesters with two children
in college. That left Momma as the only
one without a degree. She had grown up in
the dark ages when young women were
encouraged to become secretaries, get
married, have babies and leave the busi
ness world to the guys.
This in spite of having been a straight-A
student in high school, a member of the
National Honor Society and possessed
with a great love for medicine. So, the
family decided it was the perfect time for
Momma to head off to college and scratch
her medical itch. That meant Kennesaw
State University and the pursuit of nursing.
It wasn’t easy. It was hard. Very hard.
She had been out of school for a long
time. But she prevailed thanks to her intel
ligence and tenacity and a lot of family
support, and her dream came true. The
former stay-at-home mom was now a reg
istered nurse.
Not long after graduation, she was hired
into Delta Air Lines’ occupational nursing
department, where she stayed until I
retired from BellSouth and joined the
Atlanta Committee for the Olympic
Games, which required a lot of travel and
involvement on both our parts. But that is
not the end of the story.
It was during her time at KSU that our
son had broken up with a longtime girl
friend. Trying to be helpful, Momma men
tioned that her lab partner had just broken
up with her boyfriend. The two had
become good friends while working
together in lab class. It seems you get to
know people pretty well when you are dis
secting dead critters.
Only out of a profound sense of loyalty
to her would our son even consider going
out with someone his mother had recom
mended, let alone one who cut up dead
stuff with her. But he agreed. But only for
one date. And just as a favor to his mother.
That was 37 years ago, and that young
lab partner today is his wife, Jackie, the
mother and grandmother of a great and
loving brood of Yarbrough offspring as
well as a hospice nurse. As for me, I got a
wife with a hard-earned nursing degree
and a wonderful daughter-in-law as a
bonus.
Life has not gone as I had expected. I
had assumed, given my pedal-to-the-metal
lifestyle, I would be the first to go. I
assumed wrong. Almost imperceptibly,
my beloved partner began to decline both
physically and mentally. After two long
and agonizing years and in the midst of
COVID-19, we lost her on a cold
December day in 2020. God had other
plans for her.
She made this a better world while here,
and now her good works will live on. The
Jane J. Yarbrough Endowed Nursing
Scholarship at Kennesaw State
University’s School of Nursing will bene
fit those aspiring to change careers and
become part of a profession that she loved
passionately. She is truly the gift that will
keep on giving. Rest in peace, Jane
Yarbrough, RN.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dick-
yarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta,
GA 31139; online atdickyarbrough.com or on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb.
We are seeing long haul COVID symptoms now
By Dr. Larry Anderson
Anderson Family Medicine
We always have to import the viruses
that have the potential to cause us harm.
We do not seem to grow any of them at
home ourselves. The latest has come to us,
not in Dawson County, via Canada. No,
Canada is not a hot bed for this vims. It
wasn’t until about 1979 the first known
human was infected. Previously it was only
in animals. The CDC, the folks who
brought us masks and stay home, does
have a vaccine but it is not readily available
to all of us. Some of our anti-virals seem to
be effective in treating it. Of course, we are
talking about the Monkeypox. This is not
what Shakespeare meant when he wrote “a
pox on both your houses”. Although there
have been small outbreaks in the world, it
does not seem to be taking hold anywhere.
I would recommend just following it in the
news. Yes, it is safe to go to the zoo. No
problems with the monkeys.
Influenza cases seem to be continuing on
a slow, steady course. On a scale of 1-13
we stay about a 3. Not sure what will hap
pen with these numbers since very few are
wearing masks anymore. Be sure to get
vaccinated. Always your best chance of
protecting yourself from this vims.
Ukraine is still at war. Refugees bring a
different set of health problems. Supplies
are getting scarce. Facilities are over
whelmed. Civilians, women and children
are still being targeted. Say your prayers,
call your Senators.
COVID continues to hover at the bottom
of the charts but just does not seem to want
to go away. Still having pockets of out
breaks in different parts of the country.
Best advice is to stay away from those
areas. Wear a mask when your safety is in
doubt. Still not seeing a big demand for
boosters but it is better to be on the safe
side and get the booster. We are seeing long
haul COVID symptoms now. Some have a
prolonged cough, some have elevated
blood pressure.
The clue is when you have symptoms
that do not respond to standard therapy. Be
safe. Wear your sun screen and DEET.
Thanks for reading.
LETTERTOTHE EDITOR
Baby food, killer drugs
It is a terrible thing to have a baby die
because of contaminated food. No sane
person would argue that we do not need
to have food standards that are rigorous. I
am not. But it is interest-ing to think about
what we focus on with the power of the
Federal Government.
Last year we had about 100,000 people
die from drug overdose. We have an open
southern border and illegal drugs are com
ing over by the ton everyday and we will
do nothing to stop it. None of those drugs
come from inspected manufacturing
plants.
We will not complete the wall. We will
not guard our border. We will not repel
those in the act of breaching it. Our feder
al agencies, under the direction of the
president, are prevented from protecting
the public.
Meanwhile up in Michigan it seems
that some sort of disgruntled worker
wrote a detailed com-plaint that said the
baby formula plant was in violation of
sanitary rules . The months long inves
tigation has not found one contaminated
package in their hunt for evidence.
The Federal Drug Administration has
prevented the plant from starting back up.
My guess is that there is some long
detailed list of requirements that must be
met. My guess is that the company will
have to agree to pay fines for violations
noted.
If the Feds found things that needed to
be changed why has it taken so long? I
have no idea but you can bet it is not
because the company wants to drag out
the down time. It probably has to do with
a stupid arrogant bureaucracy that is out
of control. They are puffed up with their
own sense of power. The consequences to
hungrey babies be damned.
Just think about the priorities of the
Federal Government. They will let babies
go hungry to claim that they have saved a
few by their inspections but will let thou
sands of people die from illegal drags
which have no inspections of any kind
because they want an open border.
Are we not led by crazy people?
Gary Pichon
Marble Hill
Rocky road ahead
but someone cares
Last week I talked about the economy
and tried to calm some of the fears that
people have based on the fear mongering
of some of the political leaders and pun
dits who so many people hear from.
Unfortunately, these lies and fear monger
ing adversely affect the well-being both
mentally and physically of all Americans.
The current administration, led by
President Joe Biden is concerned about
our economy, especially how it affects our
low- and middle- income Americans.
Wealthy Americans may lose some
money during this period of high inflation
and the rocky stock market, but because
of their wealth, they will still be okay and
will recover more quickly than low to
middle income Americans.
Republican Sen. Rick Scott’s “11-Point
Plan to Rescue America,” plan means to
protect the family, by not only ending
abortion rights, but also requiring all
Americans, no matter how little money
they make, to pay more income taxes. The
GOP is proposing to raise taxes on 75
million American families, more than
95% of whom make less than $100,000 a
year. “Their plan would also raise taxes
on 82% of small-business owners making
less than $50,000 a year,” but would do
nothing to hold corporations accountable,
even as they are recording record profits.
Next, they want to make all laws that
expire every five years — including
Social Security, the Affordable Care Act,
Medicare, and Medicaid. Congress can
then just repass the ones it likes, he says.
It is obvious in this plan who will suffer,
and it is not wealthy America. President
Biden has laid out the difference between
his economic plan and Scott’s. He pointed
out that his policies of using the govern
ment to support ordinary Americans have
produced 8.3 million jobs in 15 months,
the strongest job creation in modem histo
ry. Unemployment is at 3.6%, and 5.4
million small businesses have applied to
start up this year — 20% more than in
any other year recorded. And the deficit
has gone down because more people
working mean more taxes paid. Note, this
is NOT A RAISE IN THE TAX RATE,
but more money because of more people
working!
Kemp released his 2022-23 budget last
week. We will see an increase in spending
in Georgia of over $3 Billion. This will
add funds to public education, infrastruc
ture, and health care. But it is important to
note, that because of the American
Rescue plan passed by Democrats in the
US House and Senate, Georgia received
$8.4 Billion this year and will receive a
total of $17.5 by 2024 from Democrats.
We can afford this increase budget,
including the tax cut Kemp has pushed,
because Democrats passed the American
Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure bill.
So yes, the economy is rocky, but it
important to point out who cares about
that and who is doing what needs to be
done to help low- and middle -income
Americans. Make sure you vote for you
family and their well-being. Vote for
Democrats!
Bette Holland
Dawsonville
