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A Free Medical Clinic Opened in Rural East Texas. Thousands Poured in for help.

Dr. Doug Curran treats a patient at the East Texas Community Clinic’s original location in Gun Barrel City in November. The clinic has since moved into a bigger building down the road. Credit: Blaine Young/Public Health Watch

A Free Medical Clinic Opened in Rural East Texas. Thousands Poured in for help.

By Kim Krisberg and David Leffler, Public Health Watch Gary Reaves, who owns a plant nursery in the nearby town of Malakoff, sometimes dropped by with lunch for the front-desk staff. His home shares a fence line with Curran’s ranch.

A Free Medical Clinic Opened in Rural East Texas

Glen Robison, CEO of the East Texas Community Clinic, in his Athens office in November. Robison is in charge of securing the clinic’s long-term funding. Credit: Blaine Young/Public Health Watch

A Free Medical Clinic Opened in Rural East Texas. Thousands Poured in for help.

By Kim Krisberg and David Leffler, Public Health Watch Juanita Franklin, 58, the woman who had seen the clinic’s sign on her way to volunteer at church, was among the clinic’s first patients. She and her husband, Kevin, had spent eight years trying to find consistent care for his prostate cancer.

Local Student Named
Local Student Named

Local Student Named 2023 National Merit Semifinalist

Emily Quentin, daughter of Chris and Kindra Quentin, was recently named a National Merit Semifinalist. Quentin, a senior this year, has been a homeschool student for the last nine years. This prestigious honor is a result of scoring in the top 1% of all students who took the Preliminary SAT/ National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSATNMSQT) in their junior year of high school. With qualifying as a Semifinalist as her goal, Emily studiously prepared for the exam with a tutor as well as taking the SAT two other times in preparation. Out of nearly two-million testtakers nationwide, the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program recently announced the names of over 16,000 students across the U.S. who qualified as semifinalists, with Texas boasting nearly 1600 of those students as residents. Ultimately, each of these young scholars is vying for a chance to be awarded scholarships, and the Program is expected to distribute nearly $28 million in scholarships to Merit Scholars in 2023.

Crandall ISD Celebrates Teachers for

Crandall ISD Celebrates Teachers for World Teachers Day, October 5

Teachers cultivate the minds of their students and help guide them through aspects of life. Wednesday, October 5th is World Teachers Day. It is a day when international teachers are given a big thank you for all their hard work. World Teachers day has been celebrated since 1994 and it is a day to recognize all that teachers have done to transform education as a whole. It is a day of celebration for all of their hard work and the change that has come from it. Every year a theme is attached to the day. This year the theme is “teachers at the heart of education recovery” and the focus of the day is how can school districts and the community partner with their teachers to help make the recovery process easier. There are always so many webinars that occur on World Teachers day as well, so everyone can listen and learn from professionals on the best ways to help teachers. Often teachers will be asked to share their stories so everyone can get an inside look. There are so many resources online where you can find these stories and webinars. Teachers are teaching students not only how to think for themselves but also to help get aspects of education back on track. CISD is so thankful for everything our teachers do!

Clear as Mud
Clear as Mud

Clear as Mud

Recently, I became a 100% unmedicated cancer patient who doesn’t have cancer anymore, specifically the stage 3 progesterone and estrogen positive invasive ductal carcinoma with lymphovascular invasion I was diagnosed with at 41. I am elated! For the first time in nearly 15 years, I am not taking any form of cancer treatment side effect elimination drug, any estrogen blocker, or any aromatase inhibitor. So, why am I still classifying myself as a cancer patient, you may wonder? Easy. After you’ve gone into remission, after your visits are limited to yearly, after they’ve poked and prodded and scoped you as much as they can, you become Al Pacino in The Godfather: Part III. “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” Truth is, you never fully get to close that chapter of your life. There will always be checkups and blood draws and x-rays and such, like what I’m attempting to schedule now. My oncology doctor has ordered an updated BRCA gene screening. I passed BRCA 1 & BRCA 2 with flying colors! But, that was back in 2008, when BRCA was a wee babe. Big BRCA is so much smarter and can analyze so much better than the limited technology available in the early aughts. It could be important to my future, that new test that could more accurately determine whether or not I stand an 80% chance for a recurrence of cancer. So, just go and get the test, right? Oh, what tangled web of bureaucracy we weave when first the insurance companies try to deceive.

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