Adair County Community Voice

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Pair arrested on drug charges after suspicious person complaint

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The Adair County 911 received a call of a suspicious male in the White Oak community who was yelling at cars as they passed and had a hatchet in his hands on Tuesday, May 26 at 3:15 p.m.

Adair County Sheriff Brockman and Deputy Chandler Staten responded to the area along with Kentucky State Police troopers.

Located in a church recreational area were a male and female who matched descriptions given and it was believed the couple was under the influence of intoxicating substance.

The couple was taken into custody and during the investigation syringes, pills and methamphetamine were located.

Samantha Head, 30, of Shelby County was arrested by Staten on charges of possession of a controlled substance 1st degree methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance 3rd degree drug unspecified, possession of drug paraphernalia and public intoxication excluding alcohol.

Also arrested was Donald Edwards, 44, of Jefferson County on charges of public intoxication.

The Sheriff’s Office is continuing the investigation.

Lois ‘Charlene’ Gaskins

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Lois “Charlene” Gaskins, 96, of Columbia, KY died Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at her residence.  Born in Adair County, KY she was the daughter of the late Loren and Echel Calhoun Shepherd and wife of the late Paul E. Gaskins.

Mrs. Gaskins was a member of the Mt. Zion Free Methodist Church in Kokomo, IN and locally attended the Millerfield Brethren in Christ Church.  She was an Avon Representative for over 30 years in the area and loved crocheting and reading.

Survivors include two children Phyllis Gaskins of Columbia and Dale Gaskins (Linda) of Bolingbrook, IL; eight grandchildren Ricky Gaskins (Diane) of Greensburg, KY, Juanita Scott (Doug) of Columbia,  Shane Gaskins (Teresa) of Columbia, Mike Gaskins (Karen) of Eminence, MO, Michelle Gaskins of Fayetteville, NC, Melissa Gaskins of Bolingbrook, IL, Matthew Gaskins (Kaitlyn) of Darien, IL and Mark Gaskins of Bolingbrook, IL; a sister Evelene Harris of Cincinnati, OH; a sister-in-law Betty Shepherd of Kokomo, IN; 34 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents and husband she was preceded in death by a son Phillip Gaskins and his wife Wanda; siblings Maxine Hitch (Howard), Clifford Shepherd (Mildred) and Clifton Shepherd; two great grandchildren Brittany and Josh Gaskins and a brother-in-law Herbert Harris.

Funeral services will be 2:00pm Sunday, May 31, 2020 at the Stotts-Phelps-McQueary Funeral Home with burial in the Haven Hill Cemetery.  Visitation will be after 6:00pm on Saturday at the funeral home and continue on Sunday morning until time for the service at the funeral home.

Bro Shane Gaskins and Bro. Richard Lehman will be officiating and pallbearers will be Ricky, Shane, Mike, Matthew and Mark Gaskins and Doug Scott.  Honorary pallbearers will be the great grandsons.

For the health and respect of the family, please follow all rules for social distancing and The Healthy at Work Guidelines.

A message from T.J. Regional Health CEO Neil Thornbury

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There is no going back to the days before COVID-19. A better, safer healthcare is here to stay.

Neil Thornbury, Chief Executive Officer of T.J. Regional Health

 

Although this pandemic is far from over, it is necessary for every healthcare organization to continue to plan ahead based on multiple scenarios and outcomes. But first, we must evaluate the current situation, and then we will discuss possible outcomes and sound strategies to come out better on the other side.

Current Situation

Since its onset, we have put forth extraordinary efforts to implement a focused, rapid, and deliberate plan to care for and address this new community-based virus. Telehealth changed from something we were looking at “in the near future” to a fully launched product in our clinics within a matter of days. A local COVID-19 hotline was implemented to triage patients over the phone to help mitigate the spread. Suddenly, virtual visits, drive-through testing, screening at the point of entry, providing iPads so patients can “visit” with loved ones, and external triage tents all blossomed overnight. And all of these measures – focused on safety and compassion – will define the way we provide care going forward.

While advancements in medical technology and ongoing research have been tremendous, healthcare as a whole, admittedly, has been notoriously slow to adapt for customer convenience. We can do better.

We have witnessed thousands of patients deferring necessary healthcare services over the last few months. Many continue to be apprehensive, and rightly so, about their overall safety. In saying that, our patients and community will continue to need us for many of their healthcare needs moving forward. Babies will continue to be born; oncology patients will still need treatment; children and adults with chronic conditions like diabetes, COPD, and congestive heart failure will still need our help to manage their illnesses. These are just a few examples of the care that will not wait for the COVID-19 pandemic to pass.

Preparation and Challenges

While we regularly conduct drills so that we are ready to handle emergencies and disasters such as mass casualty situations or severe weather, candidly, there was no drill for a global pandemic. We were forced to learn and adapt day-by-day, and at times, hour-by-hour. Compared to our counterparts in metropolitan areas, we had the good fortune of time and advance warning before the virus made its way to our community. We were able to plan and prepare for the worst, while always hoping for the best. With all that we have learned over the past few months, we now have a better understanding of global pandemics and are now better prepared than ever before to handle this type of emergency.

As we work to restart our regular clinical services, we would be remiss in squandering the rapid advancements and innovations that we’ve undertaken to lessen the impact of the virus. It is certain that we will continue to treat COVID-19 patients, and we will likely face periodic supply challenges, but I am confident in our ability to secure the necessary items to treat our patients and protect our team members. Another inevitability is that we will need to think differently about our processes and procedures than we did before COVID-19.

As we mentioned, many of our patients are scared. They have concerns and anxiety about leaving the safety of their homes and returning to a clinical setting. We know that, especially with all of the precautions in place, that a healthcare setting is one of the safest places to be in our community. Now we must work hard to put our patients’ fears at ease to avoid collateral damage when this is over (such as the return of diseases that were previously eradicated).

But when will it be over? That is a question that not even the experts at the highest levels can agree on at this time.

What I do believe we can all agree on is that consumers certainly have anxiety and apprehension when it comes to seeking healthcare during and directly following this current pandemic. We must be sensitive to these concerns and create new processes so that fear is not keeping them away from the care they may need.

Strategizing for Change

We have talked about “consumerism” in healthcare for years, but as an industry we have struggled to change the patient experience. Candidly, we struggle with wait times in certain areas, our bills are difficult for patients to understand, our facilities are tough to navigate, pre-authorizations are cumbersome, communication and connecting to our customers is occasionally frustrating, and often our processes are not designed for the patients’ convenience but rather for the convenience of our organization. It is not my intent to be overly critical, but rather to be transparent so that we can develop solutions to address those areas of opportunity.

Whether it is how we deliver services or the way we interact with our patients, I believe we must use this moment to create a new and inspiring patient experience. With that in mind, I have directed our leadership teams to continue to develop a sound restart plan with a specific focus on how we interact with our patients and their families throughout the healthcare process. I have asked them to be creative, to think differently, and to think bigger. The only restriction on ideas is that they must align with our strategy to create a better, safer healthcare.

We will utilize all methods to accomplish our goal of reimagining the healthcare experience. That includes assembling cross-functional teams from multiple areas, developing collaborative problem solving sessions, researching the world’s top health systems and other industries for novel tactics and ideas, and ultimately, identifying and deploying new, innovative approaches to how we interact with our patients, families, and community partners.

This process will challenge us to move away from methods and traditions that we have had in healthcare for over 50 years, but I am confident we will be successful. Going back to “better than normal” means that we will continue our efforts to be a health system that is more equitable, convenient, engaging, and prepared.

Back to Better

Without a doubt, we are all anxious for our lives to return to some semblance of normalcy. We look forward to the days when we aren’t separated by masks and six feet; when we can gather with friends and family to laugh and sing and celebrate at special occasions, and when we can attend concerts in the park, and cheer at sporting events.

When it comes to healthcare, though, there must be no going back to the way things were before. As it relates to customer service and the patient experience, the pandemic helped us to recognize that what we and our customers considered to be acceptable was simply not good enough. In fact, it has provided a tremendous opportunity to strengthen our processes in order to deliver safer, better healthcare.

Jail $40,000 over budget

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Tuesday’s fiscal court meeting was a victim of imperfect technology relied upon during the coronavirus, and the meeting was delayed after Facebook live, Zoom and rural broadband did not cooperate.
The meeting was moved from the fiscal court’s Facebook page to the personal page of County Judge Gale Cowan and business was finally conducted.

Magistrates Daryl Flatt, Chris Reeder, Greg Caldwell and Sammy Baker attended via teleconferencing while Harold Burton, Terry Hadley and Judge Cowan attended the meeting from the courthouse annex basement. Billy Coffey did not attend.
The court split on a vote to transfer funds for the jail, putting the jail $40,000 over budget for the fiscal year.
Magistrate Daryl Flatt has said for months he would not approve allowing the jail more than the $652,000 already budgeted. On Tuesday, treasurer Melinda Quinn asked for permission to transfer the remaining balance already budgeted plus an additional $40,000 into the jail fund.

All magistrates attending the meeting approved a motion to fully fund the $652,000, but Flatt and Chris Reeder voted against transferring the additional $40,000. Flatt and Reeder sit on the court’s budget committee.
Flatt said he has asked for a couple of years for Jailer Joey White to change his scheduling to reduce overtime.
“I think he changed it last month but in my opinion it’s just a little bit too late,” Flatt said.

Judge Cowan said she believed the court would have to approve the additional funds in order for the county to pay its bills.
Caldwell, Baker, Burton and Hadley voted yes while Flatt and Reeder voted no. The motion was approved.
Jailer White had attended the meeting via teleconferencing from the jail but left the meeting as EMS was called to the jail for an inmate suffering a possible heart attack. When he returned to the meeting, the vote had already taken place.

TIGHT BUDGET APPROVED
The fiscal court gave first reading to a $6.38 million budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year. Judge Cowan said she and Quinn met with the budget committee several times “and we cut out about everything we know to cut to get us a balance.”
Flatt said the budget is extremely tight and everyone will have to adhere to it very closely to get it to work. A part-time position for parks and recreation is eliminated in the budget, with the duties being taken over by the custodian at the annex. Flatt said that move would save around $12,000 a year.

The proposed budget includes just over $645,000 for the jail from the general fund, more than $6,000 less than what was approved in the current budget, not including the additional $40,000 approved Tuesday.
All magistrates voted to approve first reading of the proposed budget.
During a phone interview, Judge Cowan said her office is checking the budget daily and no purchases are authorized unless they are absolutely necessary.

“Every year it gets a little tighter and tighter,” she said.
The 2020-21 budget does include small increases in revenue from a 911 surcharge the county voted to have added to water bills and an increase in the amount charged to other counties for housing their inmates at the regional jail.

FIRE DUES ORDINANCE APPROVED
Second reading was approved for an ordinance amendment allowing the county fire department to add annual dues to tax bills. The volunteer department didn’t participate last year when the Breeding and Knifley departments received approval to have their dues collected with tax bills but have now asked to be added to the process.

Dues for each department are $25 per deed with a maximum of $75. Landowners must request to opt out of paying the dues prior to payment by obtaining a form at the county judge’s office. Non-members will be charged $500 if a fire department is called to their property or $250 if a department is called for an illegal burn.

Magistrate Flatt abstained from the vote because he is a member of the fire department.
The court discussed the recycling center and if the county will be able to reopen it. The county relies on help from inmates to operate the facility and inmates are not currently allowed to work outside of the jail.
Magistrates and Judge Cowan agreed to try to hire a seasonal employee who could help operate the facility so that it could be reopened.

The court approved hiring Kyle Cundiff as a road department employee at $9.60 per hour. Magistrates also approved a right-of-way to allow waterlines on Anderson Road.
They gave Jailer White permission to hire a former employee back at the pay he was making when he resigned instead of being paid at the rate of a new employee.

The court approved second reading to remove Raccoon Walk from county maintenance and to place a 25 mph speed limit on Sulphur Creek Road.
The county will have a surplus property auction on Friday, June 12 at 4:30 p.m. at 971 Campbellsville Rd. Items may be viewed at the auction location from noon until 2 p.m. Thursday, June 11 and from noon until the auction begins on June 12.

By Sharon Burton
snburton@adairvoice.com

LCDHD reports Adair has another day of no active cases of COVID-19

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We are happy to report no new cases today and no new deaths or hospitalizations. We released one from self-isolation (recovered). We have now released 86% of our active cases.

The Lake Cumberland area has experienced 218 Cumulative Confirmed Cases and there have been 9,077 Confirmed COVID-19 cases across 117 Kentucky Counties as of 05/27/20 (this includes 9,077 statewide plus 0 recently reported cases in Lake Cumberland not in the Governor’s daily report). Regardless of the confirmed case count for any Lake Cumberland County, we believe COVID-19 to be widespread. LCDHD is working to identify and contact all those with whom any positive case may have come into close contact.

Today we held our weekly media/public live COVID-19 update via our YouTube Channel. You can watch the video there at https://www.youtube.com/c/LCDHDPublicHealth. Go to Videos > Uploads > Live Videos. Either this week or early next week we plan to hand-deliver current guidance to all businesses to ensure compliance.