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PAGE 2A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JANUARY 7. 2021
COVID-19 vaccines headed for
Georgians over 65, first responders
By Beau Evans
Staff Writer
Capitol Beat News Service
COVID-19 vaccines are
set to roll out for Georgians
ages 65-years and older, po
lice officers and firefighters
in the coming weeks as hos
pitals, health clinics and nurs
ing homes continue divvying
up a limited supply of early
doses, Gov. Brian Kemp said
Thursday.
The expansion comes as
vaccine providers administer
shots more quickly in rural
parts of Georgia than in
metro areas, giving some
places capacity to offer vac
cines for vulnerable people
besides just health-care
workers and nursing home
residents, said state Public
Health Commissioner Dr.
Kathleen Toomey.
Officials are now aiming
to open drive-thru clinics in
metro Atlanta sometime next
week to administer vaccines
by the thousands of doses for
health-care workers at a
given location, rather than
the lesser amounts seen at
local provider clinics where
storing vaccines at cold tem
peratures is challenging.
Nearly 62,000 vaccine
doses had been administered
in Georgia as of late Wednes
day afternoon, according to
state Department of Public
Health data, which tends to
lag by a day or two. Around
432,000 doses had been
shipped and more than 1,000
providers are on hand to ad
minister them.
“We will use every avail
able resource to get the vac
cine out as quickly as
possible [and] to be part of
the existing logistical infra
structure that we have,”
Kemp said at a news confer
ence Thursday.
The ability of some rural
areas to vaccinate local
health-care workers has re
cently left doses “sitting in
freezers” while hundreds of
health-care workers in more
urban parts of the state are
still on waiting lists for the
tightly limited supply of vac
cines currently available,
Toomey said.
“That is unacceptable,”
Toomey said. “We have lives
Family Matters
Family meetings: Keeping
families connected
By Mary Migliaro
Parent Mentor
Today's families are con
stantly on the go and strug
gling to keep up with
everyone's schedules. More
and more parents are recog
nizing the need to set aside
regular times to be together
as a family to talk, and to lis
ten to one another.
Family meetings have be
come an important way of
staying connected, especially
if both parents work and their
kids are in school all day.
Family meetings can help
kids feel connected and in
cluded in problem-solving
and decision-making. It also
shows them that what they
say and do affects the family.
Much like business meet
ings where you work, family
meetings benefit the “tradi
tional” family but can also
bring out the best in non-tra-
ditional households as well.
In one-child families, meet
ings may help avoid un
healthy triangles and give the
child, who might feel out
numbered by the adults, a
sense that his or her voice
counts.
In single-parent families,
the parent who tends to take
on too much responsibility
learns to share duties of fam
ily life without feeling guilty.
In stepfamilies, meetings
help everyone adjust and
blend values and practices.
Here are some tips for be
ginning your own family
meetings:
• Getting started - At
first, keep it simple. You
might combine a meeting
with a family outing or after
dinner. After everyone begins
to trust the process, start tack
ling more delicate issues. In
vite children to participate as
soon as they are verbal.
• Time - Meetings with
young children should be no
longer than 30 minutes; an
hour with older kids. The
scheduled time can be
changed only if all members
agree. No one is required to
attend, but everyone is en
couraged to attend and bound
by decisions made whether
they attend or not.
• Jobs - Rotate the roles
of chairperson and secretary.
A child as young as four or
five can oversee a meeting or
“take minutes” using a tape
recorder. She can have the
family listen to the tape at the
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beginning of the next meet
ing or at any time in between
meetings as desired.
• Appreciation - When
you begin every meeting by
doling out compliments and
thank-yous, everyone be
comes more aware of and
grateful for little acts of kind
ness and cooperation. Ex
pressing appreciation may be
difficult and feel strange at
first but gets easier with time.
• Agenda - It might in
clude a discussion about
chores, family rides, dis
putes, or personal problems.
Don't forget to put family fun
on the list such as upcoming
celebrations, outings, vaca
tions, etc. It is also a great
time to prepare the family
calendar with athletic prac
tice schedules, appointments,
etc., so something important
does not get overlooked.
Keep a running list on the
refrigerator for next week’s
meeting. Then, if there's a
dispute during the week,
everyone knows it will be
dealt with but not necessarily
in the heat of conflict. Any
one can add to the agenda,
but no one is allowed to crit
icize, blame, or cut someone
else off. The chairperson
should say, “This sounds like
a problem for you” then ask
the group for solutions.
• Problem solving - It's
more important to air prob
lems than to solve them.
Sometimes you may have to
table a difficult issue and dis
cuss it at a future meeting.
There should always be con
sensus on the final solution of
any problem or issue.
The first few family meet
ings may seem awkward but
keep going. Tweak things
here and there to ensure suc
cess. Over time, you will
come to realize that they are
the glue that keeps your fam
ily connected.
[Mary Migliaro, M.Ed. is
an educator and Parent Men
tor. She may be contacted at
m arym igl iaro @a ol.com.]
to save. ... It really made
sense for us to move into this
additional category for such
vulnerable persons.”
The governor said it’s
likely more efficient for
providers in rural areas to use
all their vaccines rather than
send surplus doses to metro
areas since fresh shipments
would have already arrived
by then. He said state offi
cials are constantly tweaking
distribution plans amid un
certainty over how many
vaccines Georgia will get in
the early stages of the nation
wide rollout.
Meanwhile, Georgia
heads into the New Year’s
holiday with positive cases
and hospitalizations from
COVID-19 continuing to
spike. The state has been av
eraging around 5,000 new
positive cases daily in recent
days after logging a high of
nearly 8,000 cases on Christ
mas Eve.
Kemp urged Georgians to
avoid gathering in large
groups for New Year’s Eve
celebrations and for young
people to quarantine them
selves from more vulnerable
family members for a couple
weeks if they plan on attend
ing any parties.
“The virus is still here and
presents as big a threat as
ever,” Kemp said. “We need
all Georgians to continue to
act responsibly in the best in
terest of their loved ones and
fellow citizens to limit the
spread over the holiday
weekend.”
More than 550,000 people
in Georgia have tested posi
tive for COVID-19 so far. As
of Wednesday, the virus had
killed 9,808 Georgians.
Help Wanted
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770-374-5179
Notice
Board of Commissioners meeting
January 7, 2021 at 10:00 a.m.
Work Session
AGENDA
Commission Conference Room - Ste. 168
Items for Discussion:
1. Department Updates
2. BOC Meeting Schedule for 2021
3. General Discussion
4. Adjourn
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