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| PUBLISHED
ONLINE AUGUST 13, 2020 • VOL. 2,
NO. 40 |
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Stories and photos by Wingate Lassiter unless otherwise noted (click highlighted link to e-mail the editor) |
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| Are we ready for Back to School? Monday's the start of a testy term Here's what we learned about next week's re-opening of Johnston County Public Schools from a lengthy Board of Education session Tuesday evening (viewed online by almost 1,600 followers at times):  • More than 14,500 of Johnston's
37,000-plus students are enrolled in Virtual Learning
classes entirely at home through the first semester.• Johnston's 45 public schools will have an inventory of 41,000 laptop computers available for remote learning --- more than enough for every student who needs one. • Some students and teachers may be temporarily assigned to a different school to comply with the state's class-size limits when most pre-K through Grade 5 youngsters return to campuses September 8. • Curbside "grab and go" lunches will be distributed at all schools starting next week to students staying at home for online learning (households that don't qualify for free lunches will be billed as normally done in lunchrooms). And a free breakfast will be offered to all elementary-school students when they return next month. • Some custodians from middle and high schools that won't be receiving students in the foreseeable future will be temporarily assigned to elementary schools to help with weekly "deep cleaning" as well as daily sanitizing tasks. Johnston's schools begin the fall semester next Monday (August 17) with students in all grades getting instruction at home via the Internet the first two weeks. READ MORE about re-opening concerns aired at Tuesday's meeting> CORONAVIRUS UPDATE 3,381 cases, 47 deaths, 22
in hospitals:
smallest new-case gain in recent weeks Here's the County of Johnston's coronavirus report as of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday: • 3,381 cases, 47 deaths, 22 hospitalized, 439 at home, 2,873 presumed recovered. • 1,830 female cases; 1,551 males. • Cases by age: 525 ages 0-17 (454 last week); 459 18-24 (358 last week); 1,417 25-49 (1,209 last week); 633 50-64 (527 last week); 347 age 65+ (296). • Cases by race: 1,948 white, 436 black, 497 other (500 not known). • Cases by ethnicity: 1,549 (47%) Hispanic, 1,346 non-Hispanic (486 not known). This week's report shows 9 infections among the staff of the Johnston County Jail. VIEW the current list of test sites and testing events in Johnston County>
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 Taking part in the discussion, live-streamed from the sanctuary of Centenary United Methodist Church, were (left to right) moderator Twyla Wells, Dr. Marilyn Pearson, Dr. Gettys Cohen Jr., Dr. Eugene Maynard, and Frederick Nelson. Panelists share professional experiences with racism in health care in Johnston Four present and former Johnston County health-care professionals made up the panel for Thursday evening's live-streamed discussion on "The Right To Live --- Racism in Health Care" that was presented by the Johnston County Heritage Commissions' Black History Committee: • Dr. Gettys Cohen Jr., a retired Smithfield dentist who presently heads Johnston's NAACP chapter. • Dr. Eugene Maynard, medical director of Benson Health who's chairman of the Johnston County Board of Health. • Frederick Nelson, Benson's town manager who has 35 years of experience as a mental-health professional. • Dr. Marilyn, Pearson, director of the Johnston County Health Department. Dr. Cohen talked about his experiences opening Smithfield's first dental practice staffed by African-American practitioners, in 1976. First of all, he was denied a loan to open his practice "because of skin color." Then his office ordered supplies that arrived either outdated or expired. And since his white and black patients "didn't want to share the waiting room," he said, "we had to schedule patients" by race. Dr. Maynard talked of "explicit bias" regarding race he has seen during his 24 years practicing in Johnston. That included health-care providers who refused to see Hispanic patients as well as white patients who did not want to be seen by minority-race physicians. And minority patients were "much less likely" to get tests, medical procedures, and newer medications provided to whites, he said. Mr. Nelson said upper-level managers of mental-health services where he has worked were 5-10% minorities "at best," yet 80-90% of their clients were either African-American or Hispanics. Dr. Pearson talked about her experience with patients as a black female physician. "They do not see a black professional, but a black woman," she said, adding that building trust in those situations takes more time than it should. Addressing access to health care, Dr. Cohen said "the biggest barrier" facing Johnston's minority population, which is largely poor, is transportation to medical services that may be available to them. Dr. Maynard pointed out that Hispanics make up 9% of North Carolina's population yet account for 44% of the state's coronavirus cases, while blacks account for 24% of the population yet 33% of coronavirus deaths. He cited the plight of migrant farm workers, a group he serves in his medical practice who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 infections because they reside in small houses occupied by multi-generational families or in camps where 15 men share quarters with a single bathroom. Furthermore, he continued, they "can't pick vegetables on Zoom" and are forced to "work sick" because they lack health insurance. "What this pandemic has revealed is that people don't have equitable opportunities to avoid the virus," Dr. Pearson added. "Many of the cases we see are front-line workers... who can't afford to stay at home." In sum, what needs to be done to address racism in health care? asked panel moderator Twyla Wells, a high-level administrator at Johnston Community College. "A living wage for front-line health-care workers," Mr. Nelson replied. Providing more spaces for minority students to attend medical schools, said Dr. Maynard. He also called for better reimbursements from insurance providers, including Medicare and Medicaid, to those who care for "under-served" minorities. "We need a seat at the table," said Dr. Cohen, a candidate for Johnston County commissioner in this fall's General Election. "We have to get more people involved," Dr. Pearson added. "If you care about what's happening, you have to show up" at meetings of governing bodies, she said. "Go where the leadership is and provide your input," she continued. "You need to step up and say what needs to be done." Two more panel discussions will round out the current Heritage Center series: • On racism in the judicial system September 10. • On racism in education October 8. VIEW last Thursday's discussion on the Heritage Center's YouTube channel> |
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My Kid's Club reports successful summer camp, prepares for after-school programs Story from My Kid's Club
Forty students attended
the My Kid's Club day camp June 29-July 31.
Students from ages 6 to 14 wore masks and
socially distanced.
For more details about the virtual mentoring program starting in September, e-mail jlopp@mykidsclub.org or call 919-351-1559. |
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Accomplished writer is JCCollege's new director of communications & marketing  Story from Johnston
Community CollegeNancy
Stearns Bercaw is Johnston Community College’s
new senior director of communications and
marketing. |
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DEATHS & FUNERALS Each week we post links to obituaries about persons who have died during the past week. We monitor the websites of local funeral homes to compile our list, and we welcome links provided by readers to obituaries of persons with Smithfield connections who have died outside our immediate area.... MICHAEL CARLTON EASON SR., 69 - died this week LOVIE MAE DAVIS SANDERS, 92 - died August 11 CHRISTINE PATRICIA WILLIAMS SANDERS, 82 - died August 6 SHARON RAYNOR BENSON, 68 - died August 6 |
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THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS  75 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK: CAUSE FOR HUGE CELEBRATION What a coincidence it was: the news that World War II was over on the eve of the Farmers Day celebration that drew large crowds to the streets of Downtown Smithfield every August to mark the opening of the Smithfield Tobacco Market. More about that "impromptu noisy celebration" of 1945 on the FEATURE PAGE> |
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LINKS TO MORE PAGES IN THIS EDITION OBSERVATIONS Rewind with our archives |
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For more information
about our community, check out my online
"newspaper parent" via the link shown below. This
website is a handy portal to important sources of
current information about Smithfield and Johnston
County.
 Here's
what you'll find there:• Local government website links • Local weather data, current & past • Neuse River levels & forecasts • Official time & Farmer's Almanac • Monthly unemployment reports • Quarterly retail-sales reports • Official population estimates • Agricultural statistics • Things to see and do www.smithfieldselmasun.com |
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