Hunter stops in Greenwood

Yeager lends hand to friend’s campaign

May 23, 2007

By MIKE ROSIER
Index-Journal staff writer

A running joke has Duncan Hunter, the California congressman and Republican presidential candidate, so far to the conservative right that he even refuses to sit on the left side of his touring RV.
When he hears this, after stopping in Greenwood Tuesday on his “Right Stuff” tour of South Carolina with retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Chuck Yeager, he lets go with a good, loud laugh.
“Not yet,” he says of a potential seat on the left.
Meanwhile, inside The Ranch House — Hunter’s Greenwood stop — there were lots of people standing around — women in power suits pounding away at their Blackberry devices and tall, official-type men in bow ties and cotton seersucker suits complete with pocket squares.
Though they have the designed look of party staffers and political bankrollers, they awaited the arrival of a man in Hunter who many Republicans hope proves to be something altogether different.
Still, at least one skeptic has his doubts, saying to his wife quietly “there’s no one that I really want to vote for. It’s the same old bunch.”
For as much progress as Hunter campaign communications director Roy Tyler says his man has made in the Palmetto State (claiming Hunter would be the leader if all informal straw poll votes were to be tallied), it appears Hunter has his work cut out for him.
Most of the local people on hand could have cared less initially.
They already had their eyes on the second half of the afternoon’s “double feature” — legendary test pilot Yeager, a man credited as the first person to break the sound barrier.
Hunter’s long-time friend (Yeager has known him since he was a child) and former pilot of the experimental and once classified X-1 plane stands and tells the crowd that “I back anything that Dunc says. He’s not one of these guys that feels he can buy his way into the White House. I just hope that people realize what a jewel this guys really is.”
Hunter and Yeager kicked off the “Right Stuff” driving tour of South Carolina on Monday in Spartanburg. The tour ends Thursday in Beaufort.
After completing a telephone interview with a radio station, Hunter finally makes his grand entrance. The ovation is short, but loud and polite.
One might think traveling with a national hero might be a curious choice for Hunter, as he may be overshadowed by the general. But surprisingly, it doesn’t turn out this way. Yeager is now a moody 84, and all of five-foot-six. Meanwhile, Hunter stands well over six feet and is engaging.
When he furrows his brow following an important question the people nearby remark on how “presidential” this tall, dark-haired Californian seems, and just how “non-Californian” he appears to be in nature.
The second observation is apparently just as important as the first.
And the man of the hour is confident — Duncan Hunter knows he has friends in South Carolina. His platform issues of immigration control, a strong national defense and a “get tough” policy with China (over the rejuvenation of a flagging textile industry that has eroded thousands of once high-paying jobs overseas) resonates with hard-working Carolinians.
“South Carolina is a key state, and in my opinion the most important of the early primary states,” Hunter said. “South Carolina is a state with good traction on many of my main issues. They want a fence built (to keep out illegals), and they want their high-paying jobs back they lost to China.”
Hunter claims his having spearheaded the building of such a fence near San Diego, Calif., has helped drug trafficking to be cut by 90 percent, and that crime in the city itself has been reduced 50 percent.
He says the new, controversial immigration bill to circulate the Senate has the makings of a “disaster” — and Hunter makes it plain he disagrees strongly with powerful South Carolinian Sen. Lindsey Graham.
“This thing will be a disaster,” Hunter said, shaking his head. “I think Lindsey is wrong on this one. What we need to do is go ahead and follow the law and build that fence (one to completely close the border to Mexico). As president, I will complete the building of that fence in the first six months.
“Right now there is only 11 miles of one fence built. That is unacceptable, it’s just unacceptable. This bill does everything wrong.”
Hunter makes the rounds, shaking hands and taking pictures with the faithful. Then he sits and conducts another telephone interview with a Greenwood radio station. The skeptic in the red shirt has apparently had a change of heart, he has campaign literature in his hand and is angling his way in for a closer look at one of the supposed “same old bunch.”
“This is the way to do it,” Tyler exclaims with a smile. “This isn’t Wall Street; this is all grassroots right here. This is what it’s about.”
The approach certainly is appealing for regular folk.
Local attorney John McCravy — the man in the sharp, striped seersucker suit who facilitated Hunter’s appearance in Greenwood — loves how approachable, yet totally capable Hunter has turned out to be.
“He’s genuine,” McCravy says. “That’s the difference. What you see is what you get with him and I like that.”
That’s the type of response Hunter is after, and it’s what he received in Greenwood Tuesday. The people he meets fall in love with him.
Hunter shakes a few more hands and out the door he goes, back on his crusade to win South Carolina one blue collar at a time.
And after pausing for a photograph, Hunter enters the vehicle and takes his seat — right there on the right side of the RV where he likes it.

A moving experience at Self

Patients getting a safer lift thanks to use of new system

May 23, 2007

By LARRY SINGER
Index-Journal staff writer

When Intensive Care Unit registered nurse Kristy Landmesser easily lifted a man 2 1/2 times her size from a hospital bed, she was not only demonstrating a new technology affecting patient care and employee safety, but also a far-reaching modification of procedure within the Self Regional hospital system.
The concept is called the safe patient handling program, and it represents a major change in the way hospital patients are transported moved from one location to another.
“What the hospital has done is we have partnered with a company called Diligent Services,” said Stacy L. Mitchell, industrial rehabilitation program coordinator. “The equipment we will be using in the program is made by Arjo, a European company.”
It is Diligent’s responsibility to train hospital staff members to use the equipment. Then those staff members will train other staff members until everyone at the hospital who might have to move a patient can do so properly.
“What we have done is brought forth, more or less, a cultural change for the hospital, in how we lift and move patients,” Mitchell said.
This change will involve the use of highly specialized pieces of equipment, each with its own specific use, that can do everything from allow an ambulatory patient to move safely from his bed to the bathroom, to a massive device called the “Tenor” that can lift an individual weighing up to 700 pounds from the floor, a bed, a chair or a toilet.
“We are getting approximately 400 new pieces of equipment that cost about $300,000,” Mitchell said.
Self Regional expects the program to pay long-term dividends.
“Diligent, the people who are training our staff, guarantees us a 60 percent reduction in our patient handling claims from employees injured moving patients,” Mitchell said.
The philosophical change, said Brenda Jones, employee health and wellness manager, is most easily visualized using the three sides of a triangle.
“One side of the triangle is patient safety and our concern for patient safety,” Jones said. “Another side of the triangle represents our employees and our concern that those employees work within a safe environment.
“The third leg is that we want to assure a positive outcome for the patient. The rehabilitation of the patient means that the patient must be a willing and active participant in safe patient moving and lifting. In other words, we’re not going to use the equipment just to lift and move a patient around because it makes it easier for us.
“We also want to use the equipment to help promote wellness in our patients and return them to functional activities.”
According to literature provided by Diligent, a company headquartered in Roselle, Ill., the program pays dividends in a number of other ways, including the length of patient hospital stays and patient dignity and comfort.
Knowing their patients are protected from further injury or falls, the Diligent literature explains, rehabilitation professionals and caregivers can safely encourage patients to increase their mobility, activity and ambulation. This results in quicker rehabilitation and shorter patient stays.
Safe patient handling practices also increase patient dignity and comfort, and usually one caregiver can transfer a patient, which is safer and more efficient than using a team of nursing personnel to accomplish the same task.
The system’s benefits also include more comfortable lifting for the patient, reduced fall potential and improved breathing, socialization, digestion and muscle tone.
The project was conceived several years ago by John Heydel, the hospital’s CEO, who mandated Self Regional be the safest hospital in the United States.
“On July 9,” Mitchell said, “the project will officially begin.”

Students join fight against malaria

May 23, 2007

By CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal staff writer

Apparently, the hit TV show “American Idol” is inspiring teens in ways other than the latest fashion or music trends.
The show recently inspired Prakash Elston’s senior economics class at Greenwood High School to send aid to children suffering from malaria in Africa.
“In my government and economics class, the students are responsible for running a service project,” Elston said. “After watching ‘American Idol Gives Back,’ I decided to show the class a video from the broadcast, as an idea for the project.”
The special “Idol” program raised more than $60 million for charitable efforts all over the world, including aid to suffering African children. Malaria is one of the biggest threats to young human life on that continent.
Student Seveidra Theodore said the video really hit home.
“To see images of the kids there, and to see their sickness and how they were struggling, we knew we had to help,” Theodore said.
Classmate Jeffrey Hughes agreed.
“It was gut-wrenching,” Hughes said. “There was a statistic that said almost 200 children an hour are dying there from malaria, starvation or AIDS. That’s just unreal.”
After a bit of debate, the students decided malaria relief was what they wanted to raise money for. They dubbed their project Eagles Give Back.
They collected money in one of the most grassroots ways possible for students. They grabbed buckets, went to the cafeteria during lunch and asked for donations.
The result: The class raised $1,000.
Elston said the money will go toward purchasing malaria tablets and mosquito nets, both of which hinder the spread of the disease. The money also could be used to purchase food, as Elston said statistics show it costs less than a dollar a day to feed starving children in some African nations.
Student Carmen Smith said she was not surprised at the giving nature of GHS students.
“They were very willing to give,” Smith said. “We gave them statistics on what their one dollar could do for someone with malaria. They knew that a small amount could do so much.”
Elston said she was proud of what her class has done.
“When I showed them the video, you could have heard a pin drop in here,” he said. “I was really pleased with the way they swung into action and raised this money in what was really a short period of time.
“Each of those dollars will go a long way.”

Nothing to laugh at

Feastival Run/Walk could be a challenge

May 23, 2007

By SCOTT J. BRYAN
Index-Journal sports editor

Kit Young, the race director for the sixth annual Catfish Feastival 5K Run/Walk, laughs when he’s describing the race course in Ware Shoals.
It’s listed as a fast course with moderate hills, but Young said, “People always ask me my definition of moderate hills. There are no level spots here in Ware Shoals. It’s a challenging course.”
The race is scheduled for Saturday and starts at Ware Shoals High School. Registration begins at 7 a.m. at the community library next to the high school.
The entry fee is $20 and includes a T-shirt (guaranteed to the first 100 entries) and a gift bag. Trophies will be awarded for the top three males and females in these categories: 12 and under, 13-18, 19-29, 30-39, Masters, Grand Masters, Senior Masters, Veteran Masters, Fastest Overall Male and Fastest Overall Female.
The race has grown since Young and a few others started it six years ago. The first race in 2002 had 68 participants. Last year’s competition included more than 130 runners.
“The quality of the awards is good and the fact that it’s a certified course and part of the Palmetto Grand Prix makes people want to run in it,” Young said.
Young said he started the race to add another element to the Catfish Feastival.
“I was a member of the Catfish (Feastival) board of directors, and they had a run about 20 years ago,” Young said. “It never went forward and a few friends got together and decided, we’d have a run. It went over well the first year, and we decided to keep doing it.”

Obituaries

Natalie Lawton

Natalie Barbara Lawton, 95, of Rahway, NJ, died April 24, 2007 at Trinitas Hospital, Elizabeth, NJ.
Born in Abbeville, she was a daughter of the late James and Elizabeth Patton Lawton. She received her B.S. degree in nursing and was a registered nurse and nursing administrator, retiring from the Rahway (NJ) Hospital Systems. She was of the Baptist faith.
Surviving are family members, Mary B. Rice, Bill Butler, Mike Butler, Chuck Butler, Sara Cheek and Nancy Farmer, all of Greenwood. She was preceded in death by James Robert and Susie Mae Butler.
A private burial will be held in Oakbrook Memorial Park.
Harley Funeral Home and Crematory is in charge of local arrangements.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com.

Opinion

Animal shelter must have stable source of funding

May 23, 2007

The wolf was at the door and the dogs and cats there were facing a grave threat. Help arrived, though, and the world was right again ..... for the time being.
Thanks to Greenwood County Council the Greenwood Humane Society shelter got a reprieve. Through the initiative of Councilman Dee Compton and County Manager Jim Kier, according to reports, the shelter got the emergency funding it not only needed, it got what it had to have to stay in business.
Thanks also should go to all the people from Greenwood and elsewhere who came to the aid of the shelter. There were many and they, too, made a difference.
People associated with most charities in the County understand the necessity of having a viable organization to deal with a problem that never seems to have a permanent solution.

GOVERNMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS and private support, in money and materiel, are generous, of course, and the animal problem would be worse without both sources of aid.
Because of the overwhelming odds that staff and volunteers face at the shelter every day, though, a more dependable revenue source - meaning ongoing - must be found. The shelter must be freed from the ups and downs that come with the uncertainty that haunts every person, because every person worries - and weeps sometime - because of the unpredictable luck of the euthanasic draw. Even with the euphemistic “put to sleep” term often used it is a heartbreaking reality that most of us, thank Goodness, don’t have to face.
That is a terrible experience for everyone at the shelter. It takes a human emotional toll most of us cannot even imagine, along with the lives of many, many unwanted cats and dogs ..... including cuddlykittens and precious puppies.

IT’S NOT SOMETHING ANYONE wants. It’s something that simple numbers make unavoidable, though.
Some of us may not be able to empathize with a problem that affects every county in South Carolina. It’s time to overcome that hurdle to solving animal shelter problems everywhere. It’s not simply a local problem, though. It’s statewide .....nationwide. It needs funding - adequate funding - from all levels of government. It’s that important, even though some, no doubt, will dispute that.
David Allen Hord, director of Habitat for Humanity, put it in perspective. People and animals need the Humane Society, he said. “If they’re not there,” he asked, “then what would we do?”
Animals can’t ask. It’s up to us.