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1 New Health Law To Imperil Houston? |
By Joe Hiett
On Jf ;tupry 4 of this year,
President Gerald Ford signed
into law Public Law 93-641,
and since then, shock waves
have reverberated through
the nation, and in particular in
Georgia. The law is the
National Health Planning and
Resources Development Act
of 1974.
In brief, the law provides for
a national system of Health
Systems Agencies (HSA’s)
consisting of health service
areas to be designated in each
state by the governor and
approved by Secretary of
Health Education and Welfare
(HEW) Caspar Weinberger.
Although the law is innocently
veiled, it can be utilized to
convey considerable impact
on local hospitals and other
s*lth care services.
Each HSA must have a
population between 500,000
and three million. In the state
of Georgia, Governor George
Busbee was given authority to
designate six health service
areas. The area in which
Houston County is included
generally consists of
Macon, Columbus and areas
in between. But also included
To Mix Warpaint
Hollow' Henderson Rocks
*Once Used By Indians ?
The unusual iron rocks
found on Henderson farmer’s
Charles Kersey’s property,
filled with fine sand, are
probably the result of
thousands of years’ action in
the topsoil and subsoil in
Houston County. Area Soil
Scientist John Woods Monday
morning confirmed that the
rocks are somewhat rare, but
formed probably without the
presence of heat.
Woods said that regardless
| of how the rocks were formed,
I they were still “quite
I remarkable”. He said that
i th*y were probably created
j over long periods of time
! through exposure of plinthite
to repeated wettings and
dryings. Plinthite is, ac
cording to a book called “Soil
[Taxonomy” published by the
Soil Conservation Service, an
iron rich mixture of clay with
; various materials that
commonly occurs as dark red
mottled rock.
The rocks on Kersey’s
property have plinthite
properties on their exterior.
Inside, the plinthite has
changed, with the repeated
wetting and dryings, to
ironstone aggregates. The
wetting was probably caused
by surface water seeping
through the ground. In reality,
wlfcn hardened, the plinthite
is called ironstone.
The sand in the stone may
have been created by the
induration (hardening).
According to Woods’ material,
ironstone “produces a
massive ironstone layer that
has irregular somewhat
tubular inclusions of
yellowish, grayish, or white
clayey material”. Sound
familiar?
Soil Conservationist Drew
Bynum offered a theory that
the rock was utilized by
Southern Indians for bowls in
which to mix warpaint. The
“sand” was one ingredient in
the warpaint. In any event,
Bynum said he has heard the
stone called “powder rock”.
Woods says that the soil in
Houston County is known to
ipl StaMc
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Re - 3,98 to 4,98
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HWY 41 SO. 523 CARROLL ST.
PH. 987-2606 OPEN 8-6:30 6 DAYS A WEEK
in the HSA is such counties as
Jasper and Putnam to the
northeast, and Pulaski,
Wilcox, Wheeler, Telfair,
Dodge, Treutlen, and Mon
tgomery to the southeast. The
HSA has a population of
722,300. NOT INCLUDED for
some reason (to enable the
Albany area to reach the low
range of at least 500,000
residents) is Dooly and Crisp
Counties, although they are
part of the Middle Flint
Planning Commission.
All HSA’s must be
designated and approved by
July 4, 1976- on the country’s
200th birthday. Some cynics
have acidly remarked that the
new law is not in keeping with
celebration of independence,
since it seems to strongly
regulate yet another phase of
American life.
The law provides for each
governor also to designate a
STATE agency to serve as the
state health planning and
development agency. One
dominating authority granted
through the law is the ability
to determine NEED for any
expansion or even continuing
existence of health care
facilities... within an HSA.
carry a fairly high con
centration of iron. He said that
the “iron crust” was formed
through the wetting and
drying process because iron
tends to “segregate”, or join
itself with other iron. He
likened the process to a
solution coming into its
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Looking very proud and pleased with their
accomplishment jare Doris Lee (R) and her
daughter-in-law Diane (L) as they display their
graduation certificates and wedding cakes each of
them made during a Wedding Cake Construction
and Decorating Course at the Macon Vocational
School. Doris and Diane have a total of more than
150 hours of instruction in decorating all types of
special occasion cakes and wedding cakes.
Seminar On Aging
Planned For Perry
There will be a Seminar on
Aging at the Agriculture
County Hospitals Could Be Adversely Affected *:
This authority could con
ceivably give the state board
power to deny an expansion or
even close an existing facility,
if the board determines that
the expansion at a particular
facility is not needed. In other
words, applying it to Houston
County, if the board believes
that the Macon hospitals could
take care of Middle Georgia’s
health needs, then the board
could order a halt to an ex
pansion program here... or
some say, could even order
local facilities closed!
As in most federal
programs, the dominant trend
is definitely away from
decentralization and toward
AREA or CENTRALIZED
facilities in health care. Os
course, since Georgia has but
six HSA’s, someone (the
public) could conceivably
have to drive long distances
for health care.
The population of the six
HSA’s designated by
Governor Busbee are sur
prising. North Georgia
-594,80- basically a strip
across the top of the state, not
including Forsyth and
Cherokee Counties; Atlanta
various parts, forming a
precipitate.
But even though the rocks
were not formed by volcanos,
or chunks of another world
that flew through space and
struck as meteorites, they are
still “quite remarkable”, and
definitely uncommon.
#
Building in Perry at 9:30 A M.
June 11. Anyone in the county
who works with the elderly, or
is interested in working with
the elderly is cordially invited
to attend the Seminar.
Dr. J R. Arnall, Perry
physician, will discuss the
aging process and diseases of
the elderly. Mrs Linda Totty,
nurse with Home Health Care
will discuss Medicare services
available to the elderly in
Houston County Dr. Anna
Nemec, professor at Macon
Junior College, will discuss
the psychological process of
aging The Seminar will end at
3:30 P.M.
Further information can be
obtained by calling 987-2373 or
922-7726,
Area- 1,922,500- Atlanta and a
strip ranging southwesterly to
the Alabama line; Augusta
Area- 505,700- Augusta and an
area beginning at the Walton
County line running easterly
to the South Carolina line; and
Savannah Area- 522,100-
ranging from Savannah to the
Florida line.
The sixth area is the most
interesting. It establishes the
city of Albany as the largest
city and ranges from the
Alabama line eastward to the
county lines of Coffee,
Atkinson, and Clinch Counties
(not including those counties).
The northernmost county is
Dooly. Total population of the
area is 518,600. Coincidentally,
Albany is where Gov. Busbee
calls home, and he was born in
Vienna in Dooly County.
FUNDS FOE
CONSTRUCTION
One important feature of the
P.L. 93-641 is the authority Jo
make grants totaling 390
million dollars, nationwide,
over the next three years for
health facility construction
and modernization of existing
facilities. Additional loans
with no limit are to be made
available.
Priorities for the grant
allocation are: 1) project for
facilities that serve rural
areas, and those with small
financial resources; 2) for
modernizing- in densely
populated areas; 3) in con
struction of out-patient
facilities to rural and poverty
areas; 4) projects to eliminate
or prevent either safety
hazards; 5) medical facilities
to provide comprehensive
(complete) health care.
The federal Department of
Health, Education, and
Welfare (HEW) provides the
standards on whether or not
construction is needed. The
state health agency is to
provide a priority list to HEW
of new projects, with surveys
of need. If a hospital wishes to
expand, but the state and
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federal powers cannot see a
need (as it affects the entire
HSA), then no federal
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(This has been the first part
of a two part series exploring
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL THURS., JUNE 5. 1975,
the already controversial
Public Law 93-641, and its
probable effect on Perry,
PAGE 11-A
Warner Robins, Centerville,'
and Houston County. Part Two
follows next week.)