In an email to Khoury’s “Spamination Society” email newsletter, Peach County Assistant District Attorney Cliff Woody was the sole critical voice; everyone else was impressed by previously posted colorful photographs and accounts of Khoury’s second trip to China.  Woody wrote:

How many Tibetans were killed by the Chinese government while you were in China?  I hope you said a prayer for them while you had such a good time.  Did you get to visit the Labor Camp in Chengdu?  I pray that God will forgive Peach County for signing a Sister City agreement with an Ungodly, Communist City.

The questions inevitably arise when dealing with China and other undemocratic nations with bad human rights records: Should we do business with them?  Does doing business with them reward their reprehensible policies?

There is no simple answer to such questions.  The federal government, as well as state and local governments, and American companies, do business with all kinds of nations that don’t meet our ideals.  We deal with Pakistan.  We deal with Saudi Arabia.  We’re dealing with China.

Woody’s righteous indignation is entirely justified, and I share it, but aimed at the wrong target.  Liittle Peach County can’t possibly have any influence on China’s Tibet policy.  Peach County continues its relationship with Chengdu, or cuts it off — it won’t effect things in Tibet.   Neither will Peach County have influence on any labor camps anywhere in China.  In that context, Peach County or anyone else isn’t rewarding China for its bad behavior, and there is no real punishment, either.   What’s more, the Chinese don’t respond favorably to in-your-face confrontation anyway.  “Bad China!  We’re taking our peaches away,” would not only be pointless, it might, if the national government noticed at all, be counter-productive and encourage greater intransigence.  All the recent protests to date have had no visible effect on China’s actions in Tibet, and the government is counterattacking on the PR front.

Now let’s turn it around: Could Peach County’s relationship with Chengdu and Longquan have a positive impact?  Look at how different China has become in the few decades since Richard Nixon’s bold move to open up U.S. relations with China.  The nation itself, once virtually closed to Western  nations, has opened up.  We visit China, Chinese people visit us.  Our ideas and ideals are reaching the Chinese people, over here and over there, despite their government’s attempts to control the flow.  No, China isn’t democratic, and its policies in Tibet and other ethnic regions are a disgrace, but as far as Peach County is concerned, engagement benefits us and them. 

It could take a long time, but I believe the more we expose China to freedom and openness, the freer and more open that nation will become.  Multiracial groups of visitors from Peach County and elsewhere in America send a powerful message that will penetrate China, even if too slowly for some.  As for Tibet, we can and should pray for the nation and the people, since the answer to that nation’s suffering is not in Peach County’s hands.

If the Telfair facility closes, the nearest hospital is about 20 minutes away.  That could be a fatal distance for critically injured people.  WMAZ reported:

Hospital Administrator Hartley says, “The number one concern is that there’s going to be people that’s going to die. You’re limited to what can be done in an ambulance. I’m sorry but it’s limited to what can be done on an ambulance. Lives have to be saved in minutes.”

Peach County could face a similar situation, and outlying counties without their own hospitals would be in even worse shape.  As previously reported, Peach Regional Medical Center‘s consultants, Dixon Hughes, suggested PRMC could go bankrupt within four years at its current location.

The reasons for the troubles at Telfair’s and Peach’s hospitals are the same: Medicare and Medicaid squeezing on payments, indigent clients who pay little or nothing, insurance companies putting on their own squeeze, underinsured or uninsured patients, uneven support from local government.

PRMC is in the midst of a feasibility study, which will tell potential lender BB&T Bank whether the hospital will be able to repay a $25 million loan at its planned new location.  If that study returns a satisfactory result, all systems are pretty much go for the new building at 247 Connector and John E. Sullivan Road.

If the results aren’t good, then what?  Well, Peach County could be in the same situation as Telfair County is today.  But let’s hope the feasibility study confirms what PRMC’s management has been claiming for the past year or so: the new location will attract more specialists, who will admit more paying patients; the location will attract  patients from Houston County, hopefully with insurance; it will be close to the current and projected growth in East Peach; the new facility with all new equipment will attract more patients overall; plus all the current doctors will still be around, with their offices in the same locations.  All current patients will still be able to get the same high-quality service, a few minutes further away for some, but closer for others.

Sounds like a good deal.  Now that doesn’t guaranteePRMC will flourish at the new spot, but we know they’re not prospering where they are.

Could the consultants be wrong about bankruptcy in four years?  Maybe, but do we want to bet on a future that could resemble the present in Telfair County?