Saltillo Tourney First Round Results
New County Jail Facility Passes State Inspection
Just before noon Friday, Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom reported that the new County Jail had passed inspection from personnel from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. One item must be done before inmates can move in. The phones for a visitation system must be installed. That equipment installation has been delayed. Sheriff Butch Adams and Judge Newsom hope the installation can be done on Monday. Jail inspectors say the phones for visitation can be handled by e-mail and they won’t have to make a special trip back here for that.
Judge Newsom expressed the haste of completing the new facility based on the cost of housing inmates in Franklin County Jail. Contractors were on standby to fix any problems that would be found by the inspectors.
SSHS Will Remain UIL Class 5A; District Realignment Set for February
Expect Sulphur Springs High School to remain at the lower end of Class 5A based on the UIL Reclassification and Realignment Conference Cutoff Numbers released Friday. 5A will have from 2149 students to 1100. Sulphur Springs turned in 1177.5 students. This is about where Sulphur Springs has been for the past two years.
Greenville is expected to go into Class 4A. Longview, John Tyler and Lufkin are heading back to Class 6A. Wildcats Athletic Director Greg Owens says the numbers should shake up both the East Texas 5A district. He had no speculation where we might end up. He adds nobody knows. We’ll find out our new district in February along with schools from all over the state. Coach Owens says the numbers are released now those schools on the border lines can get a idea on how to preschedule for next year.
Hunt Regional Medical Center in Greenville named “Top Performer”
Hunt Regional Medical Center in Greenville named “Top Performer” by The Joint Commission
GREENVILLE, Texas (Nov. 19, 2015) – Hunt Regional Medical Center in Greenville has been named a “Top Performer” on key quality measures by The Joint Commission, the nation’s leading accreditor of health care organizations. The Top Performer ranking singles out hospitals for exceptional performance on key measures.
Hunt Regional, with additional facilities in Greenville, Commerce, Emory, Royse City, Quinlan, and Rockwall, has been recognized for its achievement in 2014 for accountability measures in heart failure care, pneumonia care, surgical care, immunization services, and perinatal care. Less than 100 hospitals in the state of Texas were named top performers. Hunt Regional Medical Center was the only hospital to receive the distinction in the immediate areas of Hunt, Hopkins, Delta, Titus, Wood, Fannin, Lamar, Red River, and Franklin counties.
“Feedback on assessments such as The Joint Commission’s Top Performer list provides accountability to our patients and tax-payers while allowing top hospitals nationwide to receive recognition for a high standard of care,” said Richard Carter, CEO of Hunt Regional Healthcare.
The Joint Commission’s fifth-annual “Top Performer on Key Quality Measures” list was included in the organization’s 2015 Improving America’s Hospitals report. The report shows how well the nation’s hospitals perform on evidence-based care processes for the treatment of conditions such as heart attack, perinatal care, surgery, pneumonia and stroke. It also scores all accredited hospitals on 49 performance measures, including new measures for tobacco treatment and substance abuse and a trial measure on inpatient psychiatric services.
Emily Sundeen, director of coordinated care and quality measures for Hunt Regional, says the hospital has made it a top priority to address patient safety in an effort to provide patients with the best course of treatment.
“We have implemented numerous performance improvement strategies including concurrent review of every patient while they are in the hospital to ensure each patient is receiving the right care at the right time,” said Sundeen.
“Our medical and nursing staffs have created care checklists, protocols and review outcomes as a team which allow them to communicate care plans more effectively,” she said.
To be a top performer, a hospital must achieve a cumulative performance of 95 percent or above across all reported accountability measures, and it must achieve similar results of 95 percent or above on other accountability measures. Only 31.5 percent of Joint Commission-accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals in the nation earned the distinction of Top Performer for quality performance. The determination for this year’s list of recognized hospitals is based on 2014 data.
“These results reflect the high quality, evidence-based care that Hunt Regional provides our patients every day,” said Sundeen.
About Hunt Regional
Serving Northeast Texas patients and their families, Hunt Regional Healthcare facilities are regional leaders in women and infant care, minimally invasive surgery techniques, orthopedics, cancer care, telemedicine, and advanced patient-safety technology. For more information about Hunt Regional Healthcare, visit www.huntregional.org.
Governor Issues Rural Health Day Proclamation
Governor Greg Abbott proclaimed Thursday Rural Health Day honoring rural Texas as a place where people know each other, respect each other and work together to benefit the community, and citing the necessity of increased access to health care and health care providers for rural areas in the state. The proclamation points out that “Rural communities also have unique health care needs that are constantly evolving, including accessibility issues, a lack of health care providers and an aging population suffering from a greater number of chronic conditions. Ambulatory and emergency medical services are especially critical in rural areas, where 20 percent of the nations poulation lives but nearly 60 percent of all trauma deaths occur. In addition to being sources of invaluable services for rural residents, rual hsopitals are also often the economic foundations of their communities.”
The Governor encouraged all Texas to educate themselves on the issues facing rural health care providers, stakeholders, and agencies. 
Brashear News
Brashear News
Sorry it has been so long to write but not much in the way of news.
Anybody had too much rain? Lot of water and mud around our area.
I met last night a new family in Brashear. The Jeffersons, who moved here from Arkansas. Nice family with 3 children that go to Sulphur Springs Schools. We want to welcome you to our little bit of paradise.
If anyone is interested the looking for a barber, C W’s, is open and ready for business. He charges $8 for a haircut. I stopped by for a visit and really enjoyed getting to know him. He is closed on Sunday and Mondays.
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and the Ministerial Alliance is “Being the Service” by providing 1000 meals for families in Sulphur Springs. I hope you are able to help with this wonderful ministry. I know Brashear Baptist Church is making baskets for families in need in our community.
Thanks to who is helping out by contributing books in the Brashear Free Library. They are being enjoyed by a lot of people. Tom has enjoyed the magazines.
How did you like voting on machines? I thought the new process was alright but missed seeing my friends from Brashear.
Congratulations to the Miller Grove Girls Cross Country Team for winning 1st at state and the Miller Grove Boys Cross Country Team for winning second at state. Quite an accomplishment and we are proud of the dedication these youngsters have shown to achieve this level of success. A special shout out to our neighbors, Kaylee and Trey Lester, they are both members of these teams.
I want to wish everyone a good and safe Thanksgiving and hope everyone will stop to give thanks for all of our many blessings. For we are so blessed.
I have run down for now. Praying for all of the people who have lost loved ones through illness, war, and terrorism.
Remember to give me a call at 903.612.8806; drop by CR 1119 for a visit, or email me at [email protected]. Love hearing from each and every one of you. Be safe on the highway this holiday weekend.
Hearts of Life Animal Rescue Presents Baby for Adoption
Baby is a six-year old lab mix dog at Hearts of Life Animal Rescue. She has already shown that she’ll make someone a good pet. Two years ago she was adopted by a family with a couple of children and one dog already. Last Friday, the family moved away from the area and Baby ended up back at Hearts of Life. Baby is said to be a happy and sweet dog. To adopt Baby, call Hearts of Life at 903 439-5019.
Tira News By Jan Vaughn
Tira News
By Jan Vaughn
Tira City Council Members will gather at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1st at the Community Center for the regular quarterly meeting. Following the meeting the group will decorate the center for the community Christmas party. The public is always welcome and encouraged to attend.
The Tira Christmas Party will be held on Saturday, December 5th, at 6:00 p.m. at the Community Center. We encourage everyone to make plans to come enjoy an evening of good food and fellowship. Brisket will be provided. Residents should bring sides and desserts. Santa Claus is scheduled to stop by to visit with the children.
Morgan Joslin helped with the Texas ½ Mile Shootout at the Sulphur Springs Municipal Airport on Saturday and Sunday. Chip Vaughn was also there for the drag races on Saturday.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very blessed Thanksgiving. I hope to hear from many of my neighbors about Thanksgiving activities in our community, and then share the reports in the next column.
I always need and appreciate input from my friends to help keep me informed of news in our community. If you have any news pertaining to Tira residents, past or present, please contact me, Jan Vaughn, at 903-945-2190 or 903-438-6688 or [email protected]
Student Council’s “Love Week” Successfull
Throughout this week, the Sulphur Springs Student Council has had a Wall of Hearts just outside of the Conference Center on the SSHS campus. The project began Monday November 15, 2015 and is expected to go through to Friday November 20, 2015. The Wall of Hearts has the names of ever student, teacher and staff member of the school and students can attach a sticky note to the heart anonymously with a compliment.
“We’ve been having a pretty rough semester student-wise,” Student Council Reporter Allison Bledsoe said. “There’s been a lot of conflict and we thought this would be a really great way to bring compassion and kindness to spread throughout the school rather than all the bad stuff that’s been happening.”
The Wall of Hearts has received overall positive reactions from the student body. The Student Council began preparations for the project several weeks in advance.
“We have eight officers in Student Council and six or seven of us spent several weeks getting the hearts cut out and we spent two to three weeks prior to this writing all of the names so that every student had a heart,” Bledsoe said. “The week before, we wrote out all of the pre-written sticky notes. Of course we let students start writing their own. It took us probably an hour and a half the Friday before it started just to put everything up.”
The Love Week project was expected to have a slow start, but it was quickly picked up by the student body. A large number of students can be seen putting notes of various hearts all throughout the day, and the project is expected to keep a steady pace through Friday.
“We thought it would have a really slow start and in our preparation I think that showed, but we’re really happy with the success its had,” Bledsoe said. “We’ve talked about doing this again next year and I hope that the Administration definitely lets us.”
Sulphur Springs Symphony League Prepares for Marathon Auction Saturday Night
It takes a virtual army of people to pull this event off. Mayor Kayla Price, President of the SSSL, and other board members are getting a jump of the annual event. Funds from the auction bring music to Hopkins County all year round. It’s not too late to pre-register for a bidder number. The auction starts 6:00 pm Saturday Night.
