Guilford County government – like county governments across the country – is celebrating “National County Government Month” during the month of April, which, not coincidentally, is National County Government Month.
So, the timing seems right.
On Thursday, April 4, Guilford County’s Public Relations Department used the opportunity to remind citizens, in a press release, of all the benefits Guilford County government bestows on its residents. In their words, the summary is meant “to showcase how the county helps empower Successful People to thrive in a Strong Community supported by a Quality Government.”
For instance, did you know, “The Division of Social Services processes nearly 150,000 benefits applications and recertifications yearly.”
The Division does do a lot of good work; however, Child Welfare Services came under extreme scrutiny from the state last year after the tragic deaths of several children that the department was overseeing at the time. A subsequent investigation revealed wholesale failures in many areas of Child Welfare Services.
In other positive news, in 2023, the Guilford County Department of Health and Human Services launched a new Division of Health Benefits to address Medicaid Expansion. That took a whole lot of work but seems to be functioning well. As of March 2024, more than 21,900 county residents had been enrolled into Medicaid as part of that expansion.
The April 4 press relief also touts the work of the Guilford County Division of Public Health, which, on a yearly basis, checks in on about 5,000 maternity cases, makes roughly 4,000 newborn home visits and inspects around 5,000 food and lodging establishments.
And, recently, Public Health established a substance use collaborative – the Guilford Overdose Prevention and Education Collective.
Here are some other Guilford County accomplishments in 2023:
- The county’s Family Justice Center assisted more than 12,900 victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and elder abuse.
- Last year, Veterans Services assisted more than 5,540 veterans and other clients.
- Guilford County Emergency Services responded to more than 82,700 calls and streamlined and otherwise improved a countywide fire records management system.
- In 2023, Guilford County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to more than 26,200 service calls.
- Last year, Animal Services processed more than 4,440 pet adoptions, administered more than 650 rabies vaccines and distributed over 9,550 pounds of pet food.
- In 2023, the county’s Cooperative Extension worked with community organizations and area farmers to distribute locally grown produce, locally raised beef and chicken, and other food items to families. In December, for instance, the Cooperative helped distribute over 500 substantial boxes of food to families, seniors and people with disabilities.
The county’s Parks Department opened the Hines Chapel Preserve last year, which spans over 450 acres. The department also made many other improvements to the parks system with new trails, activities and other enhancements.
Tooting your horn doesn’t prove a thing.
Because of ever-decreasing govt payments to health providers for Medicare & Medicaid reimbursements; doctors and independents have to band together with the conglomerates like Cone Health, Duke, LeBauer, Baptist, etc. in order to survive. One reason the health care system is so slow and unresponsive is that there is an ever-decreasing number of Doctors and staff. Having trouble getting anyone on the phone? Websites with no contact information, no emails or direct phone numbers? Call centers. I had to send two letters to one of my doctors in order to make an appointment. I’m not gonna wait 20 minutes when their machine tells me that “we’ll speak with you momentarily”. Sound familiar?
Sorta like calling Blue Cross “customer service”. You get someone in the Philippines or India who speaks English, if you can understand their accent. They have no experience with the U.S. medical system, they are not customers, they have no personal experience with Medicare. There are plenty of Seniors right here who would be glad to don an earphone to service their business. But no, they might have to pay them too much. Of course, Blue Cross is more than happy to speak with you if you wish to sign up. Their agents are no help, if they have any local contacts, they will not give them to you.
And let’s not forget our higher taxes as well!
Wow…I had no clue we citizens were so lucky. It’s a social programs heaven.
Nothing like skips county government using its taxpayer horn to blow smoke up the residents behind and feeling great about it
My, how consistent. The folks at the Jails had how many bookings? How many court appearances did they have to produce people for? How many incidents did they respond to? How many man-hours were spent guarding prisoners outside the facilities at hospitals, medical appointments, funerals, etc? The other folks left out in the cold were the Legal Process Division, the Bailiffs & Prisoner Transportation. Why do I bother to mention these you ask? Well, the reason is glaringly simple. Those are the services that are mandated by law for a sheriff to provide. Anything else they provide is merely a drain of tax dollars to keep up appearances while having the side effect of some benefit to the public. Without those patrols the state would have to provide the services. Do you really need drones, focused drug, gang, and traffic enforcement? Do you need a new airplane and drones to provide additional support to units providing non-mandated services, or a shiny pink car dedicated to “saving the t*ts” in October? A worthy and important cause yes, but not one that should be funded by tax dollars.
Are these services important, that’s debatable, but what isn’t is my tax bill. All of this and countless other things on that list of accolades were wasteful spending. Way too much is spent on social(ist) programs.
Remember that the next time you see a request for monies unrelated to these key services. Don’t worry too much though, the Tax Department will send you a glaring reminder of why these things are so important every year, along with every time you renew your car tags. You can’t forget lest they foreclose on your property and threaten the citizens with other measures to collect.