Tag Archives: medical

SGMC absorbs Smith Northview Hospital

What could that $55 million or that $100 million have been used for
that would have improved medical care around here?

Kay Harris wrote for the VDT yesterday,

SGMC acquisition of Smith Northview official:



Beginning today, Smith Northview is an official campus of South Georgia
Medical Center.

Officials from the Hospital Authority of Valdosta-Lowndes County and
Ameris Health Systems gathered Wednesday at SGMC to sign the paperwork
together to finalize the sale.

SGMC purchased Smith Northview for $55 million, with no assumption of
debt. Hospital Authority Attorney Walter H. New said the purchase was
financed through an 18-month bridge loan, which is anticipated to be paid
in full in December when SGMC is expected to have a $100 million bond
issue to pay for current and future projects on the main hospital campus.

Interim CEO for Smith Northview, Shamb Purohit, said, “This is a
wonderful moment and we need to celebrate it.”

Yeah, well, he’s paid to say that.
I say it’s a sad day.
First Smith Hospital moved from Hahira

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Hospital Authority



Who approved the $40 million purchase of Smith Northview Hospital by
South Georgia Medical Center (SGMC)?
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Hospital Authority.
Who is that?

Let’s look on their web pages.
We would, if they had any.
Let’s try the

Valdosta city web pages:
the link to Hospital Authority gets 404 not found.


How about the
Lowndes County web pages? Don’t be silly! The Lowndes County government
doesn’t provide links to any of the 20+ boards and authorities to which
it appoints members.

So where can we find a list of who’s on this board?
Why,

SGMC:

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Texas still susceptible to private prison boondoggle

Even though Texas has

cancelled some prisons
and

closed at least one private prison,
private prison companies continue to push to privatize Texas prison services.

Mike Ward wrote 30 April in the Austin American-Statesman,

Lawmakers chafe as push continues to privatize prison health care




“There is a push on to change the system we have, a system that is
cost-effective and is a national model, even before we know whether there
will be any real savings,” said House Corrections Committee Chairman
Jerry Madden, R-Richardson .

“I think it’s something we should look at, to see what the real facts
are, but I don’t think we should be rushing to a decision right now
about this,” Madden said. “Most of the Legislature, I believe, think(s)
that a decision this big — whether the system should be privatized
— is one that we should make, not some board or agency.”



The American-Statesman first reported the privatization efforts in March
and that top aides to Gov. Rick Perry have been involved in some of the
meetings with vendors and lobbyists.

More from the article:

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Valdosta in bottom 10 metro areas for wages

Richard Florida writes about

The Geography of High-Paying Jobs,
including this map based on Bureau of Labor Staistics (BLS) data:

The Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) comes in the bottom 10
nationwide.
That’s for overall average wages.

It doesn’t look quite as bad for specific classes of jobs (creative, service,
and working class),
but that’s mostly because there are almost no MSAs in the lowest
pay tier.
However, for service jobs, Valdosta is not as good as Tallahassee,
and makes it into the bottom 10:

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Nix on biomass plant in Traverse City, Michigan

Looking farther afield

in Cadillac, Michigan than schools and realtors,

there are some people who aren’t completely pleased with the local biomass plant:

Complaints are more frequent along Mary Street, a short stretch a few hundred yards south of the plant. Residents there deal with more intense noise and odors.

Craig Walworth’s home is among the closest to the plant. He walked up to his Jeep — a vehicle he cleaned the day before — and dragged his finger through a layer of film on the hood.

“Every morning, you have that to look forward to,” he said. “I clean my screens three times a year during the summer because they clog up.”

Nonetheless he didn’t say it affected his property values.
However, that’s not the only issue.

Meanwhile, about an hour north on the edge of Lake Michigan,

in Traverse City local activism caused cancellation of a proposed biomass plant:

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