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OUR 108TH YEAR NO. 15
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Commissioners met with the hospital authority
Monday night concerning the closing of the on
call service for the Perry hospital emergency
room. But it was to no avail, the Authority voted
officially to close the room as of Tuesday mor
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. . . . Hospital Authority Ponders
Houston County Hospital Authority members
meeting with the county commissioners Monday
night over the controversial closing of the Perry
Hospital emergency room are from left,
chairman Glenn Greenway, members John
Beckham Says Services Continue To Move North
Pleas, Requests Fail
To Keep E.R. Open
"I still think the heart
of the problem is that
services are being moved
from Perry to Warner
Robins. I think all of the
people in Perry are
concerned because they
will be faced with having
to transport their
children and members of
their families from Perry
to Warner Robins for
emergency medical
treatment.
"It is the loss of a
service. Services that
have been moved from
Perry to Warner Robins
include a tag office, court
services, and now
hospital emergency room
services.
"Well, I want to tell you
there is a lot of difference
between the terrible
inconvenience of driving
to Perry once a year to
buy a tag and having
emergency hospital
service available for your
family.
"Maybe I shouldn't
have said it, but I had to
say it. It was in my guts
and I had to say it."
Thus did Billy
Beckham of Perry, a
member of the Houston
County Hospital
/Sie Houston Home Journal
Commissioners Listen. . . .
Authority, sum up his
feelings when his
colleagues on the
authority voted 5-3
Monday night in Warner
Robins to close the
emergency room in
Perry.
Beckham further ex
plained his position
Tuesday. He said in the
past county services have
only been expanded to
serve citizens in the
larger city of Warner
Robins.
He noted that the
previous policy had been
only to expand services in
the larger city, but to still
provide the same ser
vices in Perry.
Beckham said the
closing of the Perry
Hospital emergency
room marks the first time
a service has been
eleminated in Perry so it
could be expanded and
concentrated in Warner
Robins.
Voting to close the
facility were authority
members E leaner
Granum, Barry Jones,
Terry Horton, John
Lovejoy and Grover
Hicks.
Don Parkinson, Jim
Georgia’s Number One Weekly Newspaper
PERRY, HOUSTON CO. GEORGIA THURS. APRIL 13, 1978
ning. From left, Commissioners Alton Tucker,
Charles Carter, Frank Rozar, county purchasing
agent Putney Goodwin, Dr. Hunt Sanders of
Warner Robins, Riley Hunt of Perry and Perry
Hospital administrator Max Poole.
Lovejoy, Barry Jones, Eleanor Granum, Terry
Joyner and Grover Hicks. Present but not shown
were Perry members, Billy Beckham, Don
Parkinson and Jim Ray.
Ray and Beckham, all of
Perry, voted against
closing the emergency
room.
The hospital authority
votes were cast after
joint meeting between
county commissioners
and authority members
that lasted about an hour
and a half.
Glynn Greenway,
authority chairman,
convened a special
session at 9:30 p.m. after
hearing comments from
commissioners and
Perry citizens and of
ficials.
Representing Perry at
the meeting were
Councilman Draper
Watson, Chamber of
Commerce President
Bobby Branch, Chamber
Immediate Past
President Riley Hunt, Joe
Poole, D.K. "Dot"
Roughton, Gordon
Scarborough and Mr. and
Mrs. Jim Smith.
The hospital authority
meeting Monday night
climaxed a series of
meetings that began after
Dr. Edward Strickland,
chief of the medical staff
of the local hospital,
announced there would
no longer be on-call
physician service
available at the ER after
April 7.
Dr. Strickland cited
increasing workloads on
Perry doctors in their
private practices and
emergency room
financial problems as
reasons for the
authority's decision to
end service. He said
hospital emergencies
would be handled at the
Warner Robins
emergency room after
the Perry facility closed.
In a meeting of the
Houston County Com
mission on April 4,
commissioners promised
a delegation of Perry
citizens led by Mayor
James McKinley they
would meet with the
hospital authority to see
if anything could be done
to salvage the on-call
physician service at the
emergency room.
Although hospital of
ficials have repeatedly
stated that the Perry
emergency room lost
$66,000 last year,
McKinley told com
missioners, "I have
never seen a man whose
Riley Hunt Heads Movement
Petition Out To
Re-open Perry’s
Emergency Room
Reaction to the Houston
County Hospital
Authority's official action
Monday night not to seek
a method to keep the
Perry emergency room
open on an on-call basis,
spread rapidly through
the community Tuesday
and Wednesday.
Riley Hunt, immediate
past president of the
Perry chamber and
partner in Watson-Hunt
Funeral Home, organized
a petition campaign
Tuesday calling on the
Perry Hospital medical
staff, the hospital
authority and the county
commissioners to re-open
the Perry E.R.
Hunt told The Home
Journal Tuesday, "I for
one am not going to take
this lying down and I
don't believe the majority
of the people in Perry and
the south end of the
county are going to let
this go by without a fight.
I feel we can gather
thousands of signatures
on our petitions and that
is what we will be seeking
to do the next few days.”
The petition, which has
been circulated by Hunt
and others all over south
Houston County, reads as
life wasn't worth $66,000
to someone.
"Our request is sim
ple," Mayor McKinley
said. "We're here to ask
the county's highest
governing body to give us
your assurance that the
Perry emergency room
will remain open."
Last Thursday, Mayor
McKinley held a press
conference to announce
that Perry doctors had
agreed to provide on-call
physician service until
after commissioners met
with the hospital
authority Monday, thus
extending their deadline
four days.
During the joint
meeting Monday, Branch
told authority members
and commissioners that
citizens of Perry wanted
to know three things.
"Speaking as president
of the chamber and
publisher of the
newspaper, I think our
citizens want to know If
there is any possibility of
the emergency room
staying open. They want
to know if the doctors will
staff it during the week,
contd. page 2
follows: ''We the un
dersigned, do hereby
request the Perry
Hospital medical staff,
the Houston County
Hospital Authority and
the Houston County
Commissioners, to take
immediate action to do
whatever is necessary to
re-open the Perry
Hospital emergency
room on a full time
basis.”
Hunt has been an
outspoken opponent of the
Calls On Authority, Commissioners
Mayor Urges Action
On Emergency Room
The following
statement was issued by
Mayor James McKinley
Tuesday in response to
the Houston County
Hospital Authority's vote
Monday night to close the
Perry Hospital
emergency room:
"Naturally I am quite
disappointed in the
Hospital Authority's
decision on the closing of
the Perry Emergency
Room. However, I just
say that it came as no
surprise.
"I would like to urge
the County Com
missioners to take a
personal first hand look
at the County's two
hospitals while
remembering their
responsibility to the
constituents of Perry and
South Houston County. It
is imperative that our
| System Needs |
| 910 Teachers |
Houston County School
Supt. David Perdue
predicted during a school
board meeting Tuesday
that 910 teachers will be
needed to educate an
estimated 15,091 students
during the 1978-79 school
year.
Perdue's predictions
were disclosed to the
board in a 12-page report
outlining student
projections and teacher
allotments approved by
the state.
The school chief said
$10.9 million had already
been alloted by the state
to pay county teachers,
provide students with bus
transportation to and
from school, and to pay
other operation and
28 PAGES 2 SECTIONS 15'
E.R. closing, which was
announced last week but
delayed when county
commissioners decided
to meet with the hospital
authority Monday night
to further discuss the
matter.
Hunt further stated, "I
hope that our group of
concerned citizens behind
this petition effort can set
up a meeting in the near
future v.iih the Perry
medical staff so discuss
this situation. In other
James McKinley
citizens and the tourists
traveling through have
access to emergency
medical treatment. In an
emergency situation,
time is a vital factor In
determining a persons
survival. It is hard to
understand how the
maintenance expenses.
Perdue said the local
school board will have to
contribute a minimum of
$789,000 in order to
qualify for receiving the
state's $10.9 million.
In addition to 628
classroom teachers, the
total of 910 teachers in
cludes experts in special
education, vocational
education, principals,
librarians, counselors,
music teachers and Air
Force Reserve Officers
Training Program in
structors.
Perdue said the
allotments were based on
one teacher for 25
students.
Board member Glenn
Heck noted that the
words, we want to take
any and all steps
necessary to get our
emergency room back
open on a full-time
basis."
Hunt said anyone in
terested in the petition
campaign can sign the
petitions at most stores In
Perry or call him at 987-
2423. He said he would
like neighborhood
volunteers to carry
petitions around.
Hospital Authority and
the County Com
missioners can justify
denying this treatment to
members of our section of
the County.
"Members of the
Hospital Authority have
stated "that the closing of
the Emergency Room in
Perry will ultimately
lead to an upgrading of
medical service available
to Perryans." This is an
insult to our intelligence.
This reminds me of a
statement made by an
officer during the Viet
nam War - "We had to
destroy the village to
save it."
"Again, I urge the
Commissioners and
Hospital Authority to
explore every possibility
in re-establishing
emergency medical
service in Perry."
largest combined grade
in county schools this
year was the eighth grade
with 1,672 students.
Projections indicate the
eighth graders will move
on to make the ninth
grade the largest in the
county during the 1978-79
school year with an
enrollment of the same
number of students -
1,672.
The superintendent and
members of the school
board are now respon
sible for operating 25
schools. Os the total, 17
are elementary schools,
five are junior high
schools and three are
high schools.
contd. page 2