Newspaper Page Text
Page 2 - Wednesday, January 5, 2022
The Millen News
themillennews .com
Last Minute Planting
New Year’s is here and
the planting begins. There
is still time to plant fall
bulbs to bloom in the
spring, the selections
might not be great, but
the prices are. Also if
you used a potted tree for
Christmas, now is the time
to plant it and for you bar
gain hunters, the garden
centers normally have the
remaining ones on sale.
Now is also the time to
plant Camilla’s in the yard
and replace any azaleas
that need to be. With the
cool
weather,
the plants
are dor
mant and
now is
the best
time to
transplant
them.
The biggest chore right
now is to prepare the soil
and the planting hole for
the new plants. Always
make sure the hole is large
enough for the root ball
and the plant sits upright
before covering the hole.
You can place fertilizer in
the hole with the root ball,
just be careful not to over
fertilize the new plant.
If you received a poinset-
tia during the Christmas
holidays, place it in a
room near a window and
remove the pot wrappings
and place the pot in a sau
cer, the soil and pot need
to breathe. Remember to
keep the soil moist, not
wet. The poinsettia likes
light and will continue to
grow.
If you received a Christ
mas cactus, be prepared
for the blooms to fall off.
Remember
you will
have to wait
a year for
new blooms.
In the
meantime,
place it near
a window,
where it can
receive partial or filtered
sunlight, water when
needed, do not over water,
just remember moist is
best and remove any pot
coverings.
As always join a local
garden club for a wealth
of knowledge and fellow
ship, and have a safe and
Happy New Year!
Recreation
Dept, hosts
dance classes
The Jenkins County Recreation Department is
offering for the eighth year in a row; dancing
classes by the Spotlight Dance Academy.
Registration has begun and new dancers are
welcome for the new dance class that started this week. The class features lessons in tap, ballet, hip hop, jazz, and solo dancing. The
class is for boys and girls ages 3 and up. To register please contact the recreatioin department at 478-982-2943. (photo contributed)
FDA authorizes booster
for children ages 12-15
The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the use of a Pfizer-
BioNTech booster in adolescents 12 to 15 years old.
The agency on Monday also shortened the time between the completion
of primary vaccination of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and a
booster dose to five months from six.
Finally, the FDA allowed for a third dose of vaccine in immunocompro
mised children 5 to 11 years of age.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle
Walensky, must still weigh in with a recommendation on the FDA's an
nouncement before the changes can take effect.
"Throughout the pandemic, as the virus that causes COVID-19 has con
tinuously evolved, the need for the FDA to quickly adapt has meant using
the best available science to make informed decisions with the health and
safety of the American public in mind," acting FDA Commissioner Janet
Woodcock, M.D., said in a statement.
Woodcock said it is critical for the public to take "effective, life-saving
preventative measures," including booster shots, during the current surge
of infections driven by the omicron variant.
The authorization comes in the midst of an explosion of COVID-19 cases
nationwide driven by the omicron variant. Though the new strain appears
milder in vaccinated people, there has been a spike in pediatric hospitaliza
tions.
Many schools have delayed the resumption of in-person classes in the new year due to the rapid rise in cases as well as faculty and
staff home sick with the virus.
"Now, in the next few weeks, it will be challenging for some schools given the rise in cases. We know some schools made temporary
emergency decisions based on their staffing in particular," Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general, said Monday.
"But our goal should be to make sure that these dismptions are short-lived and we can get our kids back to school safely. Our best
chance of doing that is to implement the mitigation measures that we know have worked to get our kids vaccinated," he added.
The FDA said it reached its decision after reviewing data from Israel, which included information on 6,300 people ages 12-15 who
received a booster shot at least five months after their initial two-dose vaccination. The data showed no new cases of two possible side
effects that had been observed in some young people who received the vaccine — myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, and peri
carditis, an inflammation of the saclike tissue surrounding the heart.
The CDC recommended the Pfizer vaccine for children 12-15 in May and for kids 5-11 in November. There is still no vaccine autho
rized in the U.S. for children under age 5.
m
JCMC benefits from rural hospital grant
-Joe Brady
themillennews@gmail.com
With two more rural hospitals
in Georgia closing in 2021, a
push is on to raise the annual
cap on the state’s rural hospital
tax credit from $60 million to
$100 million. Jenkins County
Medical Center received $600k
of the grant that “allowed us to
purchase 8 telemetry units as
well as new ultrasound equip
ment, a portable x-ray machine
and even renovate our radiology
room,” Antoine Poythress, CEO
of JCMC explains.
In 2021, the program reached
that cap by August, giving rural
lawmakers and advocates for
mral hospitals reason to believe
more money will be needed in
the coming year. That’s espe
cially true given the pressure
the omicron variant of CO-
VID-19 is putting on hospitals
as the new year begins.
Georgia’s rural hospital tax
credit was launched in 2016
and hit the $60 million cap for
the first time in 2018 after the
General Assembly increased
the value of the credit to 100%,
giving donors a dollar-for-dollar
state income tax benefit.
But contributions fell off in
2019 and again last year after
the Internal Revenue Service
declared that individual taxpay
ers could no longer receive an
income tax deduction for chari
table donations if they received
a state tax credit for the same
contribution.
At the same time, a state audit
found that donations to the rural
hospital tax credit program
weren’t necessarily going to the
neediest hospitals. The report
called for greater accountability
and transparency.
Rural hospital administrators
have come to grips with the IRS
changes by learning to market
the program’s value beyond the
tax benefit to contributors. It
helps that donors can designate
their contributions to benefit a
specific rural hospital in their
communities.
“This is a 1-for-l donation to
the hospital,” Poythress said. “It
doesn’t change the amount of
taxes you pay but who benefits.”
The Georgia House Rural
Development Council endorsed
raising the cap on the tax credit
in its list of recommendations
for 2022 released early in De
cember.
“Since its inception, the mral
hospital tax credit has infused
millions of dollars into the
health-care systems in mral
Georgia and prevented the
closure of essential hospitals
in mral communities,” the
council’s report stated. “Taxpay
ers consistently donate funding
that helps stabilize these critical
health facilities.”
Rural hospitals also have been
able to draw down federal
COVID-19 relief funds since
the coronavims pandemic stmck
Georgia nearly two years ago.
That money has been used to
offset the impact the additional
burden COVID-19 has put on
mral hospitals.
Despite the influx of federal
dollars, hospitals in Cuthbert
and Commerce shut their doors
in 2021, bringing to eight the
number of mral hospitals in
Georgia that have closed during
“We are excited about our new x-ray room,” explains Cara Oglesby, Radiology Supervisor at JCMC. The new room will al
low for more options for views. Xrays are all about angles after all,” states Cara Oglesby. Pictured with the new machines are
Jennifer Gay, Cara Oglesby, Alexis McClain, and Heather Hodges, (photo by D. Hearn)
the last decade. Only Texas and
Tennessee have suffered more
hospital closures during that
period.
Rural hospitals are optimistic
the General Assembly will see
fit to increase the cap on Geor
gia’s mral hospital tax credit
during the legislative session
that starts Jan. 10. Georgians
have come to realize the fact
that this is the cleanest way to
get money into hospitals,” he
said.
“The grant has helped our
hospital meet the demands of
increased patient care. Treating
and stabilizing a patient before
transfer is of the greatest impor
tance,” says Poythress.
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Every
Friday & Saturday - 6:00 pm
"The Auction House Of The South"
425 Highway 25 South
Millen, Georgiu 30442
(470)401 -5007
New Year! New Deals!
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We are loaded
with Brand Name
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supplies for the
New Year!
Open
Monday - Saturday
10>6
Closed Sunday
(478)401-5026
Joe
Owner