Georgia’s Rural Hospitals Need Life Support

Many of Georgia’s hospitals are in critical condition.  That is the message delivered by speaker after speaker at the Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearing at the Georgia Capitol on August 22, 2016. Our rural hospitals are struggling.  Forty-one percent of them are working with a negative operating budget, and that number is expected […]

Healthcare Providers Are the First Reponders for Many Human Trafficking Victims

One of the challenges in getting human trafficking victims the help they need is finding them to begin with.  Many trafficked women and children are hiding in plain sight and just need someone to ask the right questions to identify them.  Georgia Cares, the statewide organization coordinating care and services for child victims, reports that […]

Life: The Final Chapter, Write Your Own Ending

More people in the baby boomer generation are reaching age 65 – some 10,000 a day until 2030 (Pew Research Center, 2010). I happen to be one of those this year. As usual, each milestone for my generation causes social change. The most recent to attract my attention is the book Being Mortal by Dr. […]

Get Enough Calcium—Natural or Supplemental!

A major strategy for preventing broken bones is our daily diet. Calcium is essential for many bodily functions including the ability of blood to clot.  This mineral is stored in bone and is responsible for bone strength.  The body cannot make calcium, so it must be obtained either through the foods eaten or through supplements.  […]

Calcium Rich Cheese Makes Everything Better

The National Osteoporosis Foundation estimates that osteoporosis and low bone mass affect 54 million Americans over the age of 50.  Osteoporosis causes an estimated two million broken bones each year, and the aftereffects are often devastating, resulting in pain, loss of mobility, and the need for long-term care.  You can reduce your risk of getting […]

May is National Osteoporosis Prevention Month!!

I have been doing osteoporosis screening and education for many years.  Once again it is the month to focus on prevention of osteoporosis.  As I began to write this article, I began to review the statements produced by the national organizations focused on this disabling disease.  Unfortunately, the statistics have not improved, but the incidence […]

Start Your Day with a Dose of Calcium

May is National Osteoporosis Month The National Osteoporosis Foundation estimates that osteoporosis and low bone mass affect 54 million Americans over the age of 50.  Osteoporosis causes an estimated two million broken bones each year, and the aftereffects are often devastating, resulting in pain, loss of mobility, and the need for long-term care.  You can […]

Buyers of Trafficked Children are Unmasked

You have seen the numbers.  No matter which organization is publishing the statistics, Georgia is always listed in the top 5 places in the United States for sex trafficking, particularly Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST). There are many reasons for this.  Our airport, Hartsfield-Jackson, is the busiest in the world.  Atlanta sits at the intersection […]

The Unholy Tour of Atlanta: An Eyewitness Account

The Georgia Commission on Women has been involved in the issue of human trafficking for many years, so when Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols’s office asked us to assist with his “Unholy Tour of Atlanta,” we jumped at the chance to be involved.  For the past three years, Commissioner Echols has hosted a bus tour […]

WASP Make History in World War II

This is not a time when women should be patient.  We are in a war, and we need to fight it with all of our ability and every weapon possible.  Women pilots, in this particular case, are a weapon waiting to be used.  – Eleanor Roosevelt, 1942   I just finished the best book.  It […]

Provide Safe Harbor For DMST Victims By Voting Yes in November

Ballot initiative Safe Harbor Yes is vitally important for getting victims the help they need.   A favorite annual event that I attend as part of the Georgia Commission on Women is DMST Lobby Day at the State Capitol.  Lobby Day is hosted each February by Street Grace, Georgia Cares, and Wellspring Living, organizations that […]

Changing of the Guard at the Georgia Commission on Women

I have known many formidable women in my time, but none can hold a candle to the force of nature that is Nellie Dunaway Duke. Governor Deal’s office called me almost four years ago to ask me to consider accepting an appointment to the Georgia Commission on Women.  I asked all the important questions you […]