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October 2006
Atlanta or Gwinnett: Where’s the best health care?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A few months ago during dinner at home my 11-year-old son was suddenly unable to breathe easily.
At first I thought he was faking because he’s delivered many dramatic anti-vegetable acting performances. (One night he even vomited on cue at the sight of Brussels sprouts.)
So I said, “Is this about the peas and carrots? Because you’re going to eat those peas and carrots, and you’re going to like them!”
By this time, though, he was becoming more and more frightened at his inability to take a deep breath. Then I became frightened when I realized he needed medical attention.
Thus begins the tale of how we ended up at the Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville.
My son’s sudden illness made me ask myself what many inside-the-Perimeter residents who move outside the Perimeter” probably ask about health care: Should I drive to a medical facility downtown? Aren’t in-town hospitals better than suburban ones?
Personally, I like my health care to be high-end. I want my doctors to be studying the latest medical theories. I want their offices to be so technologically advanced that it’s like having an appointment at a NASA space station. I prefer they treat any illness I have with tactical expertise like an episode straight out of Battlestar Galactica.
So imagine how I felt that night sitting on the floor in the Gwinnett Medical Center emergency room. Me, my wheezing kid and a whole lot of other potential patients parked cross-legged on shiny linoleum because there weren’t enough chairs in the ER.
I learned that night that their emergency department stays busy seeing as many as 300 patients every day. Other stats on Gwinnett Medical System: More than 4,000 employees and 750 physicians with the primary hospital facility located on Medical Center Boulevard in Lawrenceville.
The third largest employer in Gwinnett County, the Gwinnett Hospital System also has several specialty clinics including cancer care and cardiac rehabilitation. They also offer specialized women’s health services and a variety of community health programs, all right here in my Gwinnett County backyard.
It was unbelievably crowded that night and the idea of sick people sitting on floors disturbed me. Still, my son received great care when he was finally seen by a doctor, great bedside manner and the same in-hospital asthma treatment he would have received had I driven 25 miles into downtown.
I know this because I asked one of our pediatricians the very next morning. The pediatrician with the high-definition medical equipment and the in-town address with the expensive parking kindly told me I did the right thing by not trying to drive my wheezing son all the way to his children’s hospital in Atlanta.
I’m glad to know I have quality health care nearby. And my son’s glad that since that episode, peas and carrots mixed together are off the dinner menu.
Do you select health care services based on expertise regardless of location? Or do you choose doctors close to home?
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment | Categories: Jacqueline Bullard
Willing to spend more for your child’s education?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This week Gwinnett County students will be quietly filling in computer form circles while teachers stand by eagerly and watch.
Third, fifth and eighth graders have to take the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. That’s a whole lot of pressure on the little ones.
How do you make sure your children perform well during these extremely stressful testing times? By giving them as much academic support in and out of the classroom as possible.
Luckily for students in Lawrenceville and Suwanee, a group of parents and concerned citizens cooked up an educational idea that could really grow into a great community initiative.
The Collins Hill Education Foundation (CHEF) has been created to expand and strengthen academics for students attending schools in Gwinnett County’s Collins Hill cluster.
CHEF serves students attending Dyer, McKendree, Rock Springs, Taylor and Walnut Grove elementary schools as well as Creekland Middle and Collins Hill High. They raise money to donate to worthy classroom projects so that students in these schools can gain an educational advantage.
Now serving: extracurricular food for thought.
Last month CHEF began accepting applications for grants that will pay for innovative programs that enrich students’ education.
Teachers in the Collins Hill cluster schools were encouraged to request funding from CHEF. They eagerly responded.
The program will fund specialized academics, extracurricular activities, and fine arts programs. For example, it would pay for special phonics books to hopefully eliminate reading problems.
The grant application process has ended, but CHEF is still accepting donations. If you want to donate, please contact your child’s school.
CHEF would like each parent to give $45 per child.
That’s relatively cheap compared to the cost of a PlayStation new release video game or Barbie’s latest dream house. But academics is a hard sell that’s not supported by million-dollar commercials airing on Nickelodeon and pop-ups on disney.com.
I received a letter from my child’s school asking for a contribution. I think it’s a good idea and I plan to help.
Would you? Do you think most family households spend more money on extracurricular stuff like games and toys and cell phones? Or is an equal amount of money spent on supporting the classroom?
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Jacqueline Bullard
Are lower gas prices a form of voting intervention?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Back at the end of May when gas was super high in Lawrenceville, I wrote a blog wondering: “Will we ever see $2 gas again?�
I remembered my father stuck in gas lines back in the 1970s and how they stretched down the block and around the corner. I said that just like prices dropped back then, $2 gas in Lawrenceville would be in our future.
After the blog posted, people wrote in and said, “Doubt it!� or “Not in this lifetime!�
Even my friends said I was wrong and that if anything, gas prices were headed higher.
These same friends later chastised me for buying an SUV over the summer. They equated this purchase to an environmental horror much like wearing a fur coat to a PETA convention.
So I take great personal pleasure today in spending only a buck and 95 cents per gallon.
I want to say, “I told you so!� and drive folks around in my vehicle with the new car smell that’s still existing.
Instead though, a portion of the American public wants to claim lower gas prices are due to governmental manipulation. Lower numbers at the pump are only due to next month’s upcoming elections, they say.
Personally, I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth because filling up an SUV in July was pure torture. So, I accept these lower gas prices wholeheartedly and now consider Lawrenceville QTs my financial saviors.
Do you believe that lower gas prices are because of election-driven government manipulation? Or could it be that I was right when I said lower prices always come back in the future?
Permalink | Comments (11) | Categories: Jacqueline Bullard
Ho, ho, ho: Hooters is coming to town
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They’re probably making lists and checking them twice.
Guess we’ll find out who’s naughty or nice.
Hooters is coming to town.
That’s right, the Howard Stern of restaurants is opening in Lawrenceville in early December. Looks like they’ll be hustlin’ hot food on Duluth Highway just before Santa’s sleigh bells start to ring.
All together now: Ho, ho, ho, hot wings.
For this frisky franchise, Lawrenceville is just one more red dot on their worldwide map of continents conquered. Atlanta-based Hooters of America, Inc. counts more than 435 locations worldwide and 25,000 employees including 15,000 Hooters Girls who wear next to nothing.
They also count on you to believe them to be big supporters of women’s rights. They make statements like a woman has a right to any job, be it Supreme Court Justice or Hooters Girl. And a woman has a right to use sex appeal for a job just like a top supermodel would, be it Naomi Campbell or Cindy Crawford.
They also say claiming Hooters exploits attractive women is as ridiculous as saying the NFL exploits men who are big and fast.
Surprisingly, I probably agree with most of these arguments, except for the very last. Who’s to say being scantily clad in an issue of Vogue is morally superior than being scantily clad in a restaurant?
Still, when the Hooters sign first appeared at the construction site near my house, my 11-year-old son asked me what it was all about.
“Huh?”
“What’s a Hooters?�
“What?�
“What’s a Hooters?�
I stalled, trying to think where would I begin this explanation. With a little twist on the children’s tale, The Owl and the Pussycat? Or with a quick story of the birds and the bees selling chicken wings?
But I said nothing. Why bother. In 10 years I’ll let him explain the virtues of this place to me. In the meantime, I don’t think they should bother having a Hooters children’s menu because I think customers should be at least 18.
Luckily for me, my son stopped asking about Hooters. He was more interested in watching the dump trucks clearing the last remaining mounds of dirt from the area than me trying to explain about the short shorts.
Is having women hustle hot food in too-tight T-shirts and shorty-short orange shorts degrading? Or does this even matter since we’re only talking about a restaurant serving seafood, sandwiches and chicken wings?
Permalink | Comments (76) | Categories: Jacqueline Bullard
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