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AUGUSTA’S MOST SALUBRIOUS NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED IN 2006
APRIL 5, 2013
New location, same mission for Undercover Artists
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last year, 117; and now this year we’ve dropped yet We’re number one! thirty! five! again. Not a good trend. And when I say “we,” I refer collectively to the One other reason why this is such alarming news: citizens of Richmond County. We’re #135 on a list of the poor health and early deaths of Richmond County 159. If that number sounds slightly familiar, 159 is the residents resulted in more than 11,300 years of life number of counties in Georgia. And as you may have lost. That statistic measures premature deaths (years heard, we were recently ranked #135 among them in of life lost by dying prior to age 75) per 100,000 a national county-by-county health study conducted residents. So at just over 200,000 residents, the life lost by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the in Richmond County tops 22,000 years. And University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Clearly this was not Want to look up our information that’s deaths in just one year. Next door neighbor Columbia County, welcome news for several reasons. or any county in any state you’ve meanwhile, is in the Top 10 healthiest First, this wasn’t a list where #159 ever lived in, review roadmaps to Georgia counties at #7. was best. That means we rank near the change and other details? Visit So is this a scoring system where rural bottom. Secondly, this is not a measure and residential counties automatically of something insignificant, like People www.countyhealthrankings.org fare better and urban areas don’t? Not at Who Prefer Crunchy Peanut Butter. No, all. In fact, all the counties in the Atlanta this was about our collective health (Fulton, Cobb, Dekalb, Gwinnett, Rockdale, etc.) are in and wellbeing, and we live near the bottom. Just two Georgia’s top tier of healthiest counties. dozen counties are worse off than us, while 134 are, as a whole, healthier than we are. What makes this What’s wrong with us — and how can we fi x it? especially disappointing is that Richmond County There are a few things that jump out when you look is a major medical center. This newspaper alone is at Richmond County statistics and compare them delivered to fourteen area hospitals (granted, not all with Columbia and Fulton Counties. These are areas of them in Richmond County). Did you know we where you and I, our families, our doctors, and our even had that many? Some entire counties who patients can focus our efforts. fared better than Richmond County don’t even have Let’s begin where life does, in the delivery room, fourteen doctors. With such access to healthcare at our and before that, the bedroom. fingertips, we should score better than 135 out of 159. In 2011, Richmond ranked 104 in this same survey; Please see WE’RE #135! page 7 HAT’S RIGHT.
o t n e e b t ’ n e v a h “What, you lately? ”
The 7th annual Undercover Artists Show fundraiser is moving its party to a new location this year—Julian Smith Casino—but its mission to help children and young adults with traumatic brain injuries hasn’t changed. Hosted by the Walton Foundation for Independence, the fundraiser (named Best Fundraiser by APRIL Augusta magazine in 2011) will be held THURSDAY Thursday, April 18, at 7 p.m. at Julian Smith Casino, 2200 Broad St. The event benefits Camp To Be Independent, Walton Foundation’s annual camp for those ages 8 to 21 with an acquired brain injury. Camp TBI provides a true, spend-the-night, summercamp experience—from zip lines and swimming to horseback riding and a camp talent show—in a safe, medically supervised environment. Proceeds from the annual Undercover Artists Show fundraiser help send 50 children and young adults to Camp TBI free of charge. The highlight of the Undercover Artists Show is the popular undercover art auction, featuring original works by more than 100 local artists, community leaders and celebrities—with a twist. All artists’ names are hidden until the very end of the silent auction so that each piece can be judged and bid upon based on its own merit and appeal to the bidder. Tickets are $50. To purchase, contact the Walton Foundation for Independence at 706-826-5809 or email alsalley@wrh.org. +
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