Joe Guidry is the deputy editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune. He is a Tampa native and a graduate of the University of South Florida. He is married and has an adult son.

Jeff Stidham

Jeff Stidham grew up and lives in Bartow. He has been with the Tribune for nearly 22 years, the last 10 on the editorial board.

William Yelverton

William Yelverton is a Tribune editorial writer who has worked for the paper nearly 22 years. He lives in the Dade City area.

Jim Beamguard

Jim Beamguard is a Tribune editorial writer. He is a native of North Carolina and a graduate of Davidson College. He and his family live in Brandon.

Jackie Papandrew:

Jackie Papandrew is a freelance writer and editor. Her syndicated humor column appears in publications in the United States, Canada and India. She lives in Largo with her husband and children. Visit her website at www.jackiepapandrew.com.

Camille Beredjick

Camille Beredjick is a senior at Chamberlain High School, an avid musician and a scribbler with a quirky sense of humor. In the fall, she will be attending Northwestern University to study journalism, political science and music, and she plans to pursue a career in journalism.

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Angela Hunt

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Sheryl Young

Sheryl Young was a Tampa Tribune Community Columnist in 2005-2006. A freelance writer since 1997, including the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Tampa Style Magazines, St. Pete Times and nationally in Better Nutrition, Today’s Christian Woman and more. She’s received a First Place Amy Foundation national "Roaring Lambs" Writing Award, and has lived in Tampa Bay with her family for over 20 years.

Christie Gold

Christie Gold teaches English and journalism at Freedom High School in Tampa where she advises Revolution, the school newspaper. She has been both the Hillsborough County Teacher of the Year and Florida Journalism Teacher of the Year. She lives on a small farm in Wesley Chapel where she trains as a competitive equestrian.

Natalie D. Preston

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Interests include humor, politics, economics, community and world affairs, finance, people, religion, music, sports, current events, the arts and education.

Nicole Yunger Halpern

Nicole Yunger Halpern is an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, where she studies everything she can get her nerdy little hands on. Desired major: life. No, not necessarily biology. Life.

Kris DiGiovanni

Kris DiGiovanni is a Tribune Community Columnist, Huffington Post contributor, Daily Kos diarist, and teacher, who recently moved from NW Hillsborough to another planet - a small beach community in Pinellas County. She also blogs at www.sandscript.wordpress.com

H. David Braswell Jr.

H. David Braswell Jr. is an Information Systems Professional. He is a native New Yorker and a lifelong NY Giants fan. He attended college in California (Cal State Northridge) and moved to Tampa in 1998.

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Sean Marcus teaches creative writing, journalism and reading at Chamberlain High School. He has one son and is expecting a daughter in early March. He can be reached at wuizabug@gmail.com

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Obama Healthcare Battles and Reports from the Frontlines. Meet Marion D. Thorpe, Jr., MD

Posted Aug 24, 2009 by Al Mccray

Updated Aug 25, 2009 at 09:08 PM

Medical doctors of all specialites are really in the trenches when it comes to health care. Everything in the medical care industry revolves around doctors. People live or die based on the level of services rendered by doctors and the medical staff. The doctors studies for decades, work long hours and are always on call.

The outcome of this health care crisis could have a dramatic effect on doctors and their medical staff. If the changes are radical and not welcomed by the medical association, the general public could suffer in the long run. Depending on the changes, doctors could leave their practices, consolidate with other doctors, or they could leave the country and practice where its more lucrative and there are less government regulations. But the doctors holds a very important part of the solutions to the Health care crisis.

Marion D. Thorpe, Jr., MD MPH,

Chief Medical Officer (Former) Agency for Health Care Administration, State of Florida Health Care and Florida

Health Care and Florida

Marion D. Thorpe, Jr., MD MPH says, “The challenge of improving baseline Health Care for Florida’s citizens is formidable but not impossible. While a significant percentage of Florida’s residents are included amongst the 250 million Americans who have sound Health Care coverage, there most certainly are residents of Florida who have subpar Health Care coverage. The sad reality is that far too many people in Florida have no reliable means of obtaining routine and preventative Health Care services; thus, the Emergency Room (E.R.) has become the one-stop treatment center for ailments ranging from the sniffles to untreated hypertension to unabated cancerous growth.

As a general rule, Health Care services delivered in the E.R. are more expensive than the very same services delivered in a Doctor’s office or an out-patient facility. Both common sense and cost-efficiency point to the need to enroll the people of Florida into a baseline maintenance Health Care program; thus, reducing the likelihood that the E.R. will be used as a general catch-all for Health Care services that are better delivered in a non-emergent setting. Most assuredly, the treatment and monitoring of Patient ailments on a routine basis will drive overall Health Care costs down while improving the baseline Health Care Status of Floridians.

The following examples support this stance:
1) It is easier and less expensive to prevent a heart attack rather than utilize exorbitant resources to save a Patient’s life after an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack);
2) It is easier and less expensive to make lifestyle and dietary changes for a “high sugar” Patient rather than foot the bill for high costs surgical intervention(s) and medication(s) required after uncontrolled Diabetes leads to end-organ damage;
3) It is easier and less expensive to implement pre-natal Patient guidelines (such as facilitating daily intake of prenatal vitamins and implementing smoking cessation protocols) versus the “million dollar work-up” needed to save a premature baby’s life.

Please do not interpret my statements as a stance against life-saving measures and high-tech Health Care, I simply wish to highlight Health Promotion and Disease Prevention as an appropriate means of curtailing the prevalence of acute and costly Medical procedures and treatment regimens.

With over 25 years of expertise in Health Care, Public Health, Policy Formation, and Health Care Administration, I remain firmly committed to fixing the ailments of Health Care delivery throughout Florida and this Nation.”

I will see what other doctors say about this health care crisis. I don’t think there can be real health care reform with out the willing participation of the doctors and the American Medical Association.

Comments…... almccray @ aol.com

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