About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 2020)
Lake Lanier Fishing Report: Stripers, crappie biting well during these warm days, sports, 12B Weekend Edition - NOVEMBER 28-29,2020 | $2.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Honestly Local When every second counts Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Northeast Georgia Health System’s Dr. Sung Lee leads the Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s new stroke lab using state of the art medical equipment. New stroke procedure at NGMC could keep care closer to home BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com Northeast Georgia Medical Cen ter in Gainesville is now offering new stroke procedures that will help patients stay closer to home for treatments, which could help with outcomes and recovery. While NGMC could previously treat stroke patients with clot- busting drugs, patients who needed more critical procedures needed to be transferred to hospitals in the Atlanta area. Now, NGMC can per form mechanical thrombectomies, a procedure that uses small cath eters and wires to remove blood clots from the brain. Dr. Sung Lee has joined the hospital as its medi cal director of neurointerventional surgery and is working in the hos pital’s new neurointerventional lab, as well as at a Northeast Georgia Physicians Group practice. “We are very grateful for our colleagues in Atlanta and the tre mendous work they have done and the services they have provided. The challenging thing, however, was the fact that there was a delay in receiving that care, just because of the sheer distance and having to transfer people,” Lee said. Treating stroke patients quickly is crucial, Lee said. “Every minute, millions of brain cells are dying, and so you can imagine that just because of the delay in time to transfer to these ■ Please see STROKE, 8A Hall jobless rate nears low before C0VID-19 After reaching an all-time high earlier this year, Hall County’s unemployment rate has settled back near its prepandemic record lows. And it’s not the only county to do so. The Georgia Department of Labor announced this week that October’s unem ployment rates dropped for all met ropolitan areas, regions and counties across Georgia. Hall’s rate stands at 2.9% after hitting a record high of 10.7% in April and has almost dropped back to the rate of 2.5% from a year ago. According to GDOL, of the more than 168,000 jobs currently listed on EmployGeorgia, more than half of them advertise annual salaries above $40,000. The Georgia Department of Labor has paid more than $16 billion in state and federal ben efits since the beginning of the pandemic in March of this year. Last week, the GDOL issued $153 million in benefits, which include regular unemployment and federally funded Lost Wages Assistance supplements, Pandemic Emergency Unemploy ment Compensation, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation and State Extended Benefits. The sectors seeing the most job losses include accommodation and food services, adminis trative services, health care and social assis tance, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing. Nate McCullough Pedestrian hit by car on Thompson Bridge Road A pedestrian was hit by a vehicle after 7 p.m. Friday on Thompson Bridge Road, police said. Gainesville Police Lt. Kevin Holbrook said the person was conscious when safety workers arrived at the scene. Police did not provide any information on possible injuries Friday night. Holbrook said one lane northbound was blocked during the incident. Three pedestrians were struck and killed by vehicles between Oct. 23 and Oct. 24. Nick Watson We’re looking for the helpers This year has been a tough time for us all, but beyond the pandemic, politics, protests, economic woes and general upheaval of 2020, there have been an incredible number of acts of human kindness worthy of recognition. Please share with us your stories of great kindness, and we will publish some of them for all to enjoy during the holiday season. Email to news@gainesvilletimes. com with the subject line “Helpers.” Include your city of residence and a phone number so a reporter can follow up. Photos can also be submitted. DEATHS 2B Shaun Anderson, 42 Melba Barr, 87 Traci Bulloch, 61 Mae Cantrell, 79 Perry Chumbler, 67 Clinton Hartsfield 43 John Jordan, 89 John Lacy, 49 Chong Lee, 75 Jesse Lovell Sr., 87 James Malloy, 79 Cornelia Moolenaar, 96 Alex Neal, 77 Pearl Parr, 77 Lance Pearch, 80 Olga Raab, 94 Bettie Ramey, 71 Pamela Randolph, 65 Stanley Roberson, 81 Randy Slane, 66 Connie Talbot, 66 Barbara Waller, 68 Kay White Marilyn Wilmont, 83 0 40901 06825 9 A FIRST FOR HERNIA SURGERY IN GEORGIA. Northeast Georgia Medical Center HERNIA CENTER
