Here’s some of today’s news:
The Kiwanis Club of Silver City hosted a very successful free community Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday at Penny Park in Silver City. As many as 500 children hunted for candy filled eggs in age categorized heats. Kids and families met and posed for photographs with the Easter bunny, created clay art with Diana Ingalls Leyba, and participated in decorative face painting. Children from ages 3 to 12, including special needs youth, were awarded Easter themed prizes if they located a larger prize egg during their specified heat. Many volunteers from the Kiwanis family of clubs helped make the event possible including, Silver High School Key Club, Cobre High Key Club, WNMU Circle K Club, Kiwanis Aktion Club, in addition to members of the Georgetown Order of the Eastern Star No. 4, and Girl Scouts Desert Southwest. The event was completed with a free drawing for a Grand Prize Easter Super Basket and giant stuffed duck donated by Carson Insurance Agency.
The Deming Intermediate School has earned national recognition for successfully transforming their school to an environment of trust, respect, and caring relationships that promote academic success to flourish. The “Capturing Kids’ Hearts National Showcase Schools Award” for the 2017-2018 school year was given to Deming Intermediate School from the Flippen Group. For the past two years, Deming Intermediate has implemented the initiative to create an emotionally safe and connected place for students, staff and parents to interact and learn. Since implementing the “Capturing Kids Hearts” initiative, the Deming Intermediate School has experienced improved test scores and decreased referrals for disciplinary issues. Across the nation, 144 schools have been received the “Showcase” award with Deming Intermediate being the only school in New Mexico being honored.
This week, the New Mexico Department of Public Health joins public health departments nationwide in celebrating “National Public Health Week”, created to encourage residents to learn more about Public Health Clinics and the services they provide in their communities. In addition, the American Public Health Association recognizes the people promoting public health, prevention, and safety in New Mexico while raising awareness of the essential services they provide. The theme for National Public Health Week is “Healthiest Nation 2030”. The goal is to create a national movement of people, communities, and organizations working together to ensure conditions where everyone will have the opportunity to be healthy, no matter their income and education level. The ulimmate vision is to create the healthiest nation in one generation. The New Mexico Department of Health has had some success that includes a reduction of teen births, the reduction of overdose deaths, and lowering the rate of obesity among young children. The department continues to work to increase immunization rates, lower the number of diabetes cases, expand its opioid prevention strategies and improve public health services statewide.
Gila Regional Medical Center Chief Financial Officer, Richard Stokes, announced that the New Mexico Department of Health will be repaying the hospital $8.7 million for the annual uncompensated care allocation. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services pays hospitals around the nation for the care they provide to patients without insurance. Hospitals submit a projected amount of losses in revenue each year to receive the funding. Last year, Gila Regional received $5.5 for their uncompensated care allocation.
