Bay City, Michigan 48706
Front Page 03/29/2024 11:36 About us
www.mybaycity.com October 12, 2008
(Prior Story)   Community ArTicle 3162   (Next Story)

Bay Regional Medical Center Wins Yantz Award as Business-Education Partner

Dr. Kimberly Prime on Poverty, Sohail Qamar on Global Competition

October 12, 2008       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

Printer Friendly Story View



Stu Reid, Chamber chairman, presents the Jerome Yantz Award for Business-Education Partnership to Alice Gerard, CEO, Bay Regional Medical Center.
(MyBayCity Photo by Dave Rogers)

After two sobering presentations on poverty in the community and global competition, the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce brightened the day of Alice Gerard, CEO of Bay Regional Medical Center, with an award for the hospital's efforts in supporting education in the community.

Chamber Chairman Stu Reid presented the Jerome Yantz Business-Education Partnership award, noting that the hospital's employees had contributed about 5,000 hours of volunteer time to education, citing the hospital's sponsorship of the nursing program at the Bay Arenac Career Center among other areas of partnership.

A packed house of several hundred members and guests was on hand to hear keynoters Dr. Kimberly Prime, director of state and federal programs of the Bay City Public Schools, and Sohail Qamar, general manager of Carbone of America's Ultra Carbon Division.

"Income is the key to why some kids succeed or fail," said Dr. Prime, describing poverty as "the extent to which an individual does without resources."

Personal problems caused by death, illness, divorce and layoffs are driving situational poverty upwards in this area, she said, adding: "We are sitting on incredible poverty in the tri-county area."

Mr. Qamar, commenting on global competition, said this country is "in pretty treacherous times right now."

Globalization has been going on for a long time, 400 years since Christopher Columbus came to North America. First, countries were globalized, then in 1900, companies began to be globalized, and now, since 2000, individuals are feeling the effects of global changes.

Other nations have caught up with the United States and are competing with highly educated personnel in all levels of manufacturing. He displayed a chart showing the comparative wages of factory workers in this country and those in others formerly of the Third World.

Factory workers making about $18 an hour in Germany and the U.S. are working for 80 cents an hour in India and China and for less in Bulgaria and other Eastern European countries. Engineers getting $39 an hour here are available for $3.50 an hour in China/India and $1.43 an hour in Bulgaria.

"This should worry us a lot," he said. "They are not only motivated but they are educated and have the backing to compete with us."


Major competitive problems faced by the U.S. include the national debt of $9.6 trillion causing a serious lack of funding for education. Adding to the problem is the costs of health care, energy, housing, retirement, transportation, food and consumables, all of which have to be reduced, he said.

"To compete we have to have money and education, keep costs down and spend on research and development," he said. Education, infrastructure and income need to be raised.

Opportunities can be enhanced in this country by developing multi-skilled individuals with aptitude in several languages, (especially Chinese, Arabic and Spanish) students who are leaders not followers, raising the bar of expectations and demanding perfection.

"Teaching to the lowest common denominator is not sustainable," he said, warning: "Others are focused on competition and are getting better."

This country needs to embrace diversity of thought, people and ideas and have an awareness of global forces and foreign cultures and create diplomats who can thrive in the new atmosphere. Scientists, teachers, business leaders and inventors need to be role models for students, not just athletes and movie stars.

"It doesn't matter if you are a gazelle or a lion, you have to start the day running," said Mr. Qamar, noting that the speed attained by each determines survival.

Chamber President Michael Seward closed the two-hour session with an exhortation to "start acting on the challenge in the near future to effectively compete with other states and the world."



Chamber officials conduct check-in at forum with attendees.
(MyBayCity Photo by Dave Rogers)

Wendy Kraynak of Delta College is welcomed at Bay Area Chamber of Commerce Business & Education Partnership Forum by Ambassadors Meri Sue Engers, of Baily Insurance, and Diane Szczepanski of Financial Edge Community Credit Union, (Right.)
(MyBayCity Photo by Dave Rogers)

(Left) Chamber President,Mike Seward, (Center) Sohail Qamar, general manager, Carbone of America/Ultra Carbon Division, describes global trends. (Right) Alice Gerard holds award as she speaks to Chamber gathering
(MyBayCity Photo by Dave Rogers)

(Left) Chamber director of sales & marketing, Dorothy Dean supervises distribution of school information at close of forum. (Center) Kim Prime, director of state and federal programs, Bay City Public Schools, talks of poverty in the community. (Right) Chamber ambassador Chris Girard of Do-All, Inc., shakes hands with Dave Quimby of Weinlander, Fitzhugh CPAs.
(MyBayCity Photo by Dave Rogers)

###

Printer Friendly Story View
Prior Article

February 10, 2020
by: Rachel Reh
Family Winter Fun Fest is BACC Hot Spot for 2/10/2020
Next Article

February 2, 2020
by: Kathy Rupert-Mathews
MOVIE REVIEW: "Just Mercy" ... You Will Shed Tears, or at Least You Should
Agree? or Disagree?


Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

More from Dave Rogers

Send This Story to a Friend!       Letter to the editor       Link to this Story
Printer-Friendly Story View


--- Advertisments ---
     


0200 Nd: 03-25-2024 d 4 cpr 0






12/31/2020 P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm

SPONSORED LINKS



12/31/2020 drop ads P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm


Designed at OJ Advertising, Inc. (V3) (v3) Software by Mid-Michigan Computer Consultants
Bay City, Michigan USA
All Photographs and Content Copyright © 1998 - 2024 by OJA/MMCC. They may be used by permission only.
P3V3-0200 (1) 0   ID:Default   UserID:Default   Type:reader   R:x   PubID:mbC   NewspaperID:noPaperID
  pid:1560   pd:11-18-2012   nd:2024-03-25   ax:2024-03-29   Site:5   ArticleID:3162   MaxA: 999999   MaxAA: 999999
claudebot