About The Lee County ledger. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1978-current | View Entire Issue (May 22, 2019)
The Lee County Ledger, Wednesday, May 22, 2019, Page 9A A Gift Of Love, Fresh From God Special to the Ledger By Kate Scarmalis With its first breath a gift of life enters the world with a squall of protest. Its rude separa tion from the comfort of mother’s warm haven is the first of many chal lenges that the child must face. No matter what arrives, either boy or girl, God graces every parent with perfection. A Chinese proverb tells us, “There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.” An Irish friend of mine gave me a more untarnished yet sincerely profound view of that indescribable biological bond between parent and child. “You have to bond with them when they are born,” she told me, “so that when they eventu ally become teenagers, human beings don’t eat their young.” While at times incon venient, it is our good fortune that children come equipped with a mind of their own. It would be a sad world indeed in which children came to us fully cloned, like Dolly the sheep. Our children are our future. We all rely upon their abilities and their creativity to help us to manage, not the world of our past, but the world of their own making. However, it is the world of our past that has provided parents with the tools to understand how the world is supposed to work. On a daily basis, parents are saying to their young, “Here is the world that I have always known. Here is what has always been right, and what has al ways been wrong. Take my knowledge, add it to your own, and run with it. Add to this universe your own understand ings of what it means to be a kind human being. Leave me enough space to be old and proud of where this world is go ing.” In the past, parents were charged with Kate Scarmalis teaching their children the realities of the world around them. Today’s reality, however, is not your Grandpa’s world. Society must rely upon parents to give their children the strength to face the irra tional world in which we live. There are so many radical changes in our world - so many troubling ideas for children to understand. As a society, parental rights have traditionally been held in the highest regard. Except when a child’s life and welfare is at risk, parents’ rule is tantamount in determin ing a child’s fate. The state can only intervene in cases in which there is demonstrable evidence of abuse and neglect. Nevertheless, it does depend upon the defini tion of ‘abuse and ne glect’ in use at the time. In a court case in Hamilton, Ohio last year parents were deemed negligent in refusing their daughter’s demand that she transition from a biological female to a male. The parents had taken her, a minor child, to The Cincinnati Children’s Gender Clinic to deal with her gender anxiety. At seventeen, the child was diagnosed as suffer ing from “gender dys phoria”, a newly defined psychological disorder. Gender dysphoria is the condition in which an individual is distressed with one’s biological sex. The girl wanted to continue her hormone (testosterone) therapy to help her appear male. Her parents objected, encouraging her to see a Christian counselor to work her way through her anxiety. In complete disregard of the parents personal and religious beliefs, Judge Sylvia Hendon ruled to give the teen’s full custody to her grandparents, who were willing to participate in the child’s sexual transi tion process. One might say that Phoebe Putney Health System Generates $1.27 Billion for Local and State Economy Special to the Ledger In addition to enhanc ing the health and well being of the communi ties it serves, Phoebe Putney Health System (PPHS) continues to have a positive econom ic impact. In 2017, PPHS generated more than $1.27 billion in revenue for the local and state economy according to a recently-released report by the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA), the state’s largest hospital trade association. Dur ing the same period, the health system supported 8,132 full-time jobs in addition to the more than 4,300 people em ployed by Phoebe. “Our top priority every day at Phoebe is to offer outstanding care and service to every patient we have the privilege of serving. We are proud that we offer the region’s most comprehensive, quality healthcare ser vices. We are also proud that we are the region’s largest employer. Phoebe is southwest Georgia’s most vital economic engine and will continue to be so,” said Scott Steiner, President & Chief Executive Officer, Phoebe Putney Health System. Phoebe also had direct expenditures of more than $546 million in 2017. When combined with the economic mul tiplier developed by the United States Depart ment of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, the total eco nomic impact of those expenditures was more than $1.27 billion. This output multiplier considers the “ripple” effect of direct hospital expenditures on other sectors of the economy, such as medical sup plies, durable medical equipment and phar maceuticals. Economic multipliers are used to model the resulting im pact of a change in one industry on the “circular flow” of spending within an economy as a whole. Phoebe is a major contributor to the area’s economic strength and keeping families healthy by providing needed healthcare services. However, like the rest of the Georgia hospital community, Phoebe is concerned about eco nomic challenges that affect the hospital’s ability to deliver timely and efficient care. A fast-growing uninsured population and inad equate payments from government insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid have made it increasingly difficult to meet the community’s health care needs. In 2017, 44 percent of all hospitals in Georgia operated with negative total margins. “For 108 years, Phoebe has served all those in need of healthcare, re gardless of their ability to pay. Despite growing challenges that continue to put pressure on com munity hospitals like Phoebe, we will contin ue that proud tradition. Phoebe will also main tain our commitment to expanding access to quality primary and specialty care through well-planned, responsi ble growth that benefits the people of southwest Georgia,” Steiner said. The PPHS hospitals included in the report are Phoebe Putney Me morial Hospital, Phoebe Sumter Medical Center and Phoebe Worth Med ical Center. Below is the economic impact each of the hospitals gener ated in 2017 according to GHA: • Phoebe Putney Me morial Hospital, located in Albany, generated a total economic impact of more than $1.1 bil lion on $483 million in direct expenditures. The hospital supported 6,947 full-time jobs in the Dougherty County area and across the state. • Phoebe Sumter Medi cal Center in Americus generated a total eco nomic impact of more than $129 million on $55 million in direct expen ditures. The hospital supported 902 full-time jobs in Sumter County and across the state. • Phoebe Worth Medi cal Center in Sylvester generated a total eco nomic impact of $17.8 million on $7 million in direct expenditures. The hospital supported 284 full-time jobs in Worth County area and across the state. Statewide, GHA said Georgia hospitals in 2017 generated over $54 billion for the state’s economy and created more than 150,000 full time jobs. this bizarre eventuality could never happen here. Guess again. Last week, Nancy Pelo- si sent the “Equality Act” to the floor of the House of Representatives. The stated purpose of this legislation is to protect disenfranchised minority groups from discrimina tion. The fine print is not so easily surmised by the public. The text of Equality Bill adds sexual orienta tion and gender identity to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This legislation prevents discrimination in the provision of goods, services, or programs, including a store, a shop ping center, an online retailer or service pro vider, a salon, a bank, a gas station, a food bank, a service or care center, a shelter, a travel agency, a funeral parlor, or a health care or legal service. Health care? This is yet another assault the medi cal model, a coercive sword against doctors. Transsexual guidelines advocate the use of pu berty blocking hormones for children as young as eleven years of age, cross-sex hormones at age sixteen. It is horrify ing to read that complete mastectomies have been performed on females as young as fourteen. Pushing ideas of gender dysphoria on children is a bad idea. Approximately 88% of gender dysphoric girls and 98% of gender dysphoric boys identify with their biological sex by late adolescence. The Governor of California has signed a state law that children may seek transgender reassignment treatments without parental per mission. Doctors have no choice but to treat minors, as all children up to 26 years of age are entitled to Medi-Cal coverage. Last Friday, The House voted 236-173 to approve the Equality Act. The votes of Democrats were unanimous. If passed, the bill could become federal law. If the Senate moves for ward on this bill (S-788), federal law could open the gates to Big Brother confusing its role with that of Mom and Dad. Oh, and one other little chestnut for us to di gest. Schools will have their own problems to deal with. If this law is passed, gender-dysphoric Georgie cannot be pre vented from showering with biological girls after gym class. After all, equality under the law fundamental in America. Isn’t it? Kate Scarmalis retired from teaching in the Lee County School System. She has a B.A. in Foreign Languages, Elementary and Gifted Education, and an M.A. in Forensic Psychology. L supply OF ALBANY PLUMBING • KITCHEN & BATH Russell Shirley Manager 2150 Gillionville Road Office (229) 888-8088 P.O. Box 3889 Fax (229) 888-9200 Albany, Georgia 31706 rcshirley@winnelson.com winsupplyofalbany.com B RU N E Lawn Care Lawn Maintenance • Hedge Maintenance Pine Straw • Mulch • Clean Up Licensed and Insured Bryan Bruner, Owner • bbruner2010@aol.com 229-869-6641 President’s List at Georgia Southwestern State University Special to the Ledger Sara Holt of Leesburg Albany The following lo cal residents made the Spring 2019 President’s List at Georgia South western State University and were among 600 students recognized for scholastic achievement. Leah Anglin of Albany Brittney Brooks of Leesburg Destiny Chapman of Leesburg Tyler Cobb of Albany Alyssa Gohman of Leesburg Katheryn Johnson of Albany Shalon Jones of Leesburg Rachel Melcher of Leesburg Tanner Mitchum of Albany Tyler Myers of Albany Jonathan Nguyen of Smithville Ashley Prickett of Leesburg Sandy Sellers of Leesburg Kailynn Sindersine of Sarah Smith of Leesburg Audrey Taylor of Leesburg Brittany Turner of Albany Cassidy Turner of Leesburg Sarah Turner of Albany Hope White of Albany To be eligible for the President’s List, a stu dent must earn a semes ter GPA of 4.0 and take a minimum of 12 credit hours. 1 On This Memorial Day We Salute The Men And Women Who Served To Protect Our Great Nation HflPPV MEMORIAL COLDUieLL BANISjSR □ WALDEN AND KIRKLAND 601 N Slappey Blvd Albany, GA 31701 (229) 436-8811 www.CBWaldenandKirkland.com
