Charlton Memorial Hospital in southeast Georgia, which will suspend operations Friday, is set to become the third rural hospital in the state to close this year. The Hospital Authority of Charlton County cited ‘‘financial instability’’ in announcing its decision to close the nonprofit facility’s doors. A family practice clinic will continue providing services, the authority…
Georgia officials have sent out an emergency alert to doctors and physician assistants about a potentially lethal substance sold in convenience stores and other shops. The substance is sold under the names “Crazy Clown” or “Herbal Madness Incense,” the Department of Public Health said late Friday. It is marketed as “herbal incense,” bath salts, or…
A new report ranks Georgia the 20th most obese state, with a 29.1 percent rate for adults in the state. That 2012 figure is slightly higher than the previous year’s 28 percent for Georgia adults, according to the report from Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Georgia was ranked the 24th…
Last year, 83 Georgia Tech students were diagnosed with a form of pneumonia in a three-month period. It was the largest such outbreak at a U.S. university in 35 years. Five students were hospitalized. News of the illnesses did not surface in the Atlanta media, though the prestigious school is near the heart of the…
My daughter recently made a jarring announcement: “I’m going to get my nose pierced.’’ For an old-school father, this was unsettling news. I come from the so-called baby boom generation, and we made statements with our hair, not our skin. Back in the day, it seemed like only some military men and motorcycle riders got tattoos. But clearly,…
Community gardens in Athens-Clarke County are not only yielding food, but are also helping older people maintain good mental and physical health. Two beautiful gardens have been cultivated at the Athens Community Council on Aging’s Hoyt Street location, serving seniors in 12 northeast Georgia counties. One garden, planted on what used to be an abandoned…
Troy Milford loves being a farmer. Milford likes the hard work that comes with farm life. Waking early, finishing late, spending long hours on his tractor in the hot Hall County sun. But his life hasn’t always been sunny. He has polycystic kidney disease. “It’s tough to talk about it,” he said. Eight years ago, Milford…
Georgia has improved its infant mortality rate but has seen a jump in its maternal mortality rates. The rates were included in a series of health statistics presented at a Department of Public Health board meeting Tuesday. Infant mortality is the number of infants dying before reaching their first birthday. Maternal mortality, defined by the World…
A southeast Georgia resident is the first human case of West Nile virus confirmed in the state this year. The Department of Public Health said Monday that the adult Brantley County patient was infected in May and recovered without complications and without having to be hospitalized. Nationally, the CDC has reported 10 cases of West…
I’m not a big biking person. It may have something to do with the scare I had at age 8, when I hurtled down a steep incline known to kids with bikes around here as “Murder Hill.’’ Just a few yards into my terrifying descent, I felt a bug fly into my eye. Momentarily blinded,…