Albany man Wins $400K
An Albany man has feathered his nest with a Georgia Lottery prize. Bland Brooks, 56, won a $400,000 top prize playing the instant game 20X The Money.
“I’m going to invest it,” Brooks said.
M D Food Mart, located at 2201 E. Oglethorpe Blvd. in Albany, sold the winning ticket.
“I was there in the store, and I was shocked,” he said. “I approached the owner, and we had a little celebration.”
Brooks said he feels great about his lottery win.
Independence Day vendors sought
The Albany Recreation and Parks Department is taking applications from food and drink vendors for the annual City of Albany Independence Day fireworks celebration. The event will take place on Sunday, July 4, at the Civic Center.
Vendor spaces are available along the east side of South Front Street adjacent to Veteran’s Amphitheater. A non-refundable $75 fee is due along with a vendor application by June 18. Vendor applications may be picked up at the Recreation and Parks Department Administrative Office at 1301 N. Monroe (in Tift Park) or you may download it on the Recreation and Parks website at www.albany.ga.us (go to City Government, City Departments, Recreation and Parks, and Events).
Call 430-5222 for information.
Civil Rights Institute sets summer schedule
The Albany Civil Rights Institute is open for visitors to tour the permanent and temporary exhibitions on Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Darton College and Albany State University students will be admitted free of charge upon producing a valid Darton or ASU student ID card at the front desk. Students will also be admitted free of charge with a valid student ID for monthly Freedom Singers performances. Here are June’s events:
Saturday, June 12, 1-3 p.m. — Albany Civil Rights Institute Freedom Singers Performance; Institute admission fee for nonmembers
Thursday, June 24, 7:30-9 p.m. — June Monthly Community Night
Khalil G. Muhammad, “The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America.” Book signing will follow presentation. Books now available in ACRI Gift Shop. Free and open to the Public
Saturday, June 26, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. — ACRI Community Day;
open house with free admission to the institute; performance by ACRI Freedom Singers at 11 a.m. Bring photographs, documents and objects related to the Civil Rights Movement or Jim Crow era to be scanned, copied or photographed for possible use in ACRI’s new souvenir book and/or future ACRI exhibits. Free and open to the public.
Info: ACRI executive director Lee Formwalt at 432-1698.
Tech to offer health IT degree program
Beginning summer quarter, Albany Technical College will add an associate degree in Health Information Technology to its list of healthcare technology programs.
The Health Information Technology program combines health care with information technology. Health information technicians are responsible for maintaining and analyzing data crucial to the delivery of quality patient
care.
“Health Information Technology is a great career for those that would like to work in the business side of health care. The trend for Health Information Technology is to move from paper based to the electronic health records. Electronic health records will continue to be the key topic in health care,” said Dorothy Garner, dean of the Healthcare Technology division at Albany Tech.
Victoria Mills has joined the Albany Tech faculty to head up the new program. For information, contact her at 430-2988 or vmills@albanytech.edu.
Indian surgeon visits Phoebe
Dr. Punithan Oli was in Albany during his first visit to America over the last couple of weeks. His first stop was Henry Medical Center in Atlanta. His second stop: Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.
Oli, a general surgeon, observed laparoscopic surgery at Phoebe performed by Dr. Christopher Smith and Dr. Joseph Burnette.
Oli, who met Smith, Dr. Mark Shoemaker, and retired physician Van Knowles during their trips to India with the Southwest Georgia Medical Mission, is associate professor of surgery at Dr. Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College and Hospital in Trivandrum, India.
“I want to learn advanced laparoscopic skills from this institution and to implement the same in my country and teach next generation,” Oli said of the reason for his visit to Phoebe. “Here the technology’s well advanced and the people’s attitude is very good.”
Oli, born and raised in India, met the Albany physicians during one of their visits to India, where they are helping build a medical complex. Oli started at the Medical College in 2000 to complete his surgery training.
The Southwest Georgia Medical Mission began its medical construction project in 1989 and has expanded the complex, which includes four-story and eight-story medical office buildings, nursing buildings, a chemistry building and men’s hospital, among other facilities, from a 15-acre complex to a 75-acre complex, said Knowles, whose first trip to India was in 1986.
Pharmacy program receives accreditation
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (recently approved accreditation for the University of Georgia’s Postgraduate Year One) pharmacy residency program at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.
ASHP, the only accrediting body for pharmacy residency programs in the United States, granted the program a three-year accreditation, through 2013, following a survey conducted last June, according to Janet L. Teeters, Director of ASHP’s Accreditation Services Division.
“It’s an arduous process and I’m very proud of the department for accomplishing that,” said Jan Mackey, director of the Phoebe Pharmacy. “The willingness of any program to submit to outside peer review speaks highly of the commitment to excellence in residency training.”
In July, the third class of two PGY1 pharmacy residents will begin the one-year general residency, which is co-sponsored by PPMH and the University of Georgia, College of Pharmacy.
