THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4 2021 SUN 3A Obituaries Share Your Condolences, Thoughts Memories Online legacy.com/obituaries/sunherald Share Your Condolences, Thoughts Memories Online Find the online obituaries listing and a link to the guest book at: legacy.com/obituaries/sunherald Sign the guest book and post your personal message for obituaries listed in paper, and from the past year. Boler, Bernice, 86 Gulfport Jan 22 Marshall Funeral Home Coats, Earl, 57 Biloxi Feb 28 Riemann Family Funeral Home Fayard, Dustin Lawrence, 24 Vancleave Jan 30 Bradford Funeral Home Matthews, Rev. William, 74 Lilburn Jan 31 A. S. Turner Sons Funeral Home Plunkett, Carolyn, 67 Saucier Feb 11 Riemann Family Funeral Home Steele, Ethan, 19 Waveland Jan 31 Riemann Family Funeral Home Wolfe, Cody, 29 Ocean Springs Jan 29 Riemann Family Funeral Home OBITUARY INDEX Bold listings indicate expanded obituaries View and place obituaries at https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sunherald/ Contact our obituary staff at 228-896-2106 or NAME, AGE CITY DEATH ARRANGEMENTS Gulfport, Mississippi Bernice Boler was born Au- gust 2, 1939 in Meridian, MS to the late Rebecca Watson Spencer and Eddie Lee Wat- son, Sr.
She married Charles Hubert Boler and lived in Gulfport, MS, where she at- tended Progressive Mission- ary Baptist Church worked at Chara Inn and Holiday Inn Hotels for many years, until her health began to fail her. Bernice love to dance and read, her favorite books were and Dark Shadow Novels. She was also known for the way she walked softly and sexy. People would call her Bernice Boler passed away Friday, January 22, 2021 in Gulfport, MS at the age of 86. Bernice was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters, Gladys Buchanana, Evelyn, Mildred and Lena Spencer, brother, Eddie Lee Watson, grandson, Ken- rickus Ray Boler, and grand- daughter, Brianna Alexis Tyuse.
She leaves to cherish her memories two broth- ers: Tommy Lee Spencer and Rush Spencer; a sister: Bertha Davis; six children: Sabrina (Al) Tyuse of St. Louis, MO, the late Nathan Earl Watson, Nay Smith of Gulfport, Irene (Larry) Hol- loway of Gulfport, Dondiego (Alice) Bowler of Marion, OH, Comswell Bachelor of Gulfport and Lucky Boler of Gulfport; her granddaughter and special helper: Angelica Boler; sixteen grandchildren, thirty-four great-grandchil- dren, three great-great-grand- children and a host of nieces, nephews, and friends. Visitation will be 10 AM, Thursday, February 4, 2021, at Marshall Life Center in Biloxi. Graveside services will begin Noon, at Gulf Pines Memorial Park in Long Beach, MS. www.marshall- fh.com Bernice Boler August 2, 1939 January 22, 2021 Lilburn, Georgia Rev- erend William Earl Matthews, 74, of Lilburn, GA, passed away on January 31, 2021 after a battle with Alzhiemers complicated by COVID 19.
Bill was born on September 23, 1946 in Mem- phis, TN. Late in life Bill answered the call to become a Meth- odist minister. Bill served as Pastor at a number of churches including Seashore Mission in Biloxi, MS; Ce- dar Lake United Methodist in Biloxi, MS; and Trinity United Methodist Church in Picayune, MS. He is survived by his wife of 34 years, Alice Leguay, and his three children Deb- bie Pierce, Michael Baer, and Gwen Baer and eight grandchildren. He will also be remembered by his three sisters and his nieces.
Service information and the full obituary can be found at: https://www.asturner. Rev. William Matthews September 23, 1946 January 31, 2021 Vancleave, Mississippi Dustin Lawrence Fayard, age 24, died January 30, 2021 in Biloxi, MS. He was a lifelong resident of the MS Gulf Coast. Dustin attended Sacred Heart Ele- mentary School, St.
Patrick Catholic High School, and was a graduate of the Na- tional Guard Youth Acad- emy. He loved the Gulf waters by pier, bridge, or kayak. He was born with a green thumb, spent countless hours four wheeling with his grandparents and cousins, had a love for all animals, and treated all of mankind equally. He is survived by his son Dustin Lawrence Fayard, his mother Kerry King Lay- ton, father Rick Fayard, step- father Lonnie Layton, sister Breanne Marshall, stepsib- lings Dillon Layton and Am- ber Layton, grandparents El- vas and Barbara Fayard, and Gilbert and Sandra Johnson. Final resting is private.
The family encourages adopting a pet from your local Humane Society in memory. Bradford Funeral Home is honored to serve Mr. family. Dustin Lawrence Fayard January 30, 2021 Jackson County, records show 148 Asian people have gotten COVID-19, the second-highest figure in the state. DISPARITIES IN VACCINE ACCESS Although disparities in health care access seemed to worsen out- comes during the pan- demic for Asian Mississip- pians, now cre- ating big problems for vaccine distribution.
Technology is an issue that affects all of the minority popula- tions, said Udemgba, but especially people with limited English, such as some elderly Vietnamese on the Coast. The language barrier is also a challenge for His- panic Mississippians, said Selma Alford. For Hispan- ic people, trust is another major issue, especially because in August 2019, ICE arrested 680 Latino poultry plant employees in Mississippi in the largest single-site workplace raid in the history. had to realize the fear around uniforms and Alford said. For Black Mississip- pians, the health depart- ment is trying to promote access as well as respond to skepticism of the vac- cine, borne in part of cen- turies of mistreatment by the medical establish- ment.
Udemgba said that when hard to get an appointment because you have a computer or drive to a vaccina- tion site miles away, skep- ticism can grow. being able to get access adds to the mis- Udemgba said. are less interest- ed. not necessarily Equity for such a move. Then, Nguyen and others who serve the com- munity directly could coordinate distribution.
They speak Vietnamese, they know which seniors are in need, and they have already won their trust. we have the vaccine, I can call the people, and I will handle the she said. know a lot of people are waiting, Nguyen said that some community members, who fled Vietnam as refugees after a war that killed as many as 2 million civil- ians, are not able to read Vietnamese, so in-person contact is critical. Nguyen has worked for MSDH since 2017. Her job is grassroots and hands- on.
She keeps a list of community members who need help accessing health care, and she typically checks in with at least 10 people every day. Though the pandemic has raised the stakes, language has long been a barrier to Coast Vietnamese seeking health care, she said, with sometimes serious conse- quences. Some communi- ty members put off going to the doctor at all. Nguyen described some of her thinking: just stay home. too much has- sle, they ask me too much, and I know how to HEALTH DEPARTMENT WORKING TO BOOST ACCESS The challenges facing elderly Vietnamese people on the Coast as they seek the vaccine are not entire- ly unique.
Across the country, many elderly Americans have relied on more tech-savvy children and grandchildren to se- cure appointments. And the language barrier and technology access issues that create hurdles for Vietnamese Americans affect other Mississip- pians, too. Nguyen spoke with the Sun Herald at a free CO- VID-19 testing event held Sunday at Chua Van Duc, the Buddhist temple in Biloxi. There were several Vietnamese-speaking volunteers on hand in addition to Nguyen, and reams of pamphlets and posters about COVID-19 in Vietnamese. The event was coor- dinated by the health Health Equi- ty Response Team, which was set up in March to identify and address dis- parities in the pandemic.
The team has been orga- nizing regular COVID-19 testing events to reach minority groups across the state, and several mem- bers traveled from Jackson to work at event. Chigozie Udemgba, director of the office for health equity at the health department, said that at first the office was heavily focused on Black Mis- sissippians, who were infected with COVID-19 and dying from the virus at dramatically dispropor- tionate rates early in the pandemic. we started to see other disparities Choc- taw, African American, he said. seen some of those gaps Asian Mississippians have not been dispropor- tionately harmed by the pandemic, according to state statistics. As of Jan.
30, 37,318 cases in the six southernmost counties of Mississippi, 427 of which affected Asians, or a little more than In Harrison County, where about of the population is Asian, Asian people comprise just 1.5% of the posi- tive tests. Statewide, 17 Asian people have died of CO- VID-19, including four each in Harrison and Jack- son counties. (The state does not collect informa- tion on national origin, so not clear how many COVID-19 cases affected Vietnamese people.) Because the Coast has a relatively high Asian pop- ulation, it has seen the largest number of CO- VID-19 cases affecting Asian people. More Asian Mississippians 251 have been infected with COVID-19 in Harrison County than any other county in the state. In mistrust of the vaccine at that point, but of the gov- ernment providing the vaccine, especially if they see other groups getting So far, state health de- partment data shows Black Mississippians have received only of vac- cines administered in the state.
Hispanics, repre- senting about 3.5% of the state population, have gotten just of all vac- cines. hard to say exactly how these statistics com- pare to disparities in the country at large: Many states release the demographics of vaccine recipients at all. But so far, most states that report demographic data have seen that Black residents have gotten disproportion- ately few vaccines, espe- cially as compared to the share of COVID-19 cases and deaths they have suffered. According to the state health data, as of Feb. 1, Asian Mis- sissippians had received of all vaccine doses administered in the state.
in line with the share of the state pop- ulation that is Asian. But the state collect information on national origin or lan- guage use for people who get a vaccine, so im- possible to say precisely how many Vietnamese Mississippians and how many people who speak English have been able to get the vaccine. The demographic information is also not available at the county level, so not clear how many Asian people on the Coast have gotten the vaccine. KNOW IF I CAN HANG One person relying on Coi Nguyen to get access to the vaccine is her broth- er-in-law, 75-year-old Lang Nguyen. When Coi Nguyen checked her phone during the COVID-19 testing event, she saw the last message he had sent her: hen cho Did you make an appointment for me? She had tried to get him an appointment by calling Coastal Family, which has its own allocation of vac- cines in addition to the state vaccination sites.
But she never got through to talk to anyone. said, wait for she said, referring to the batch of vaccines she hopes will be set aside for elderly Coast Vietnamese. said, am 75, I know if I can hang In an interview with the Sun Herald, with Coi Nguyen interpreting, Lang Nguyen said he was won- dering how long he would have to wait. Though everyone in the country is for his he said, all of the Vietnamese people he knows are espe- cially frustrated because had so little luck securing appointments. He worked for years as a janitor at the Keesler Air Force Base and speaks and understands some English, but not enough to navigate the UMMC site or a phone hotline with a stranger.
counting on he said. Isabelle Taft: 202-768-5650, FROM PAGE 1A VIETNAMESE munity to encourage resi- dents to get the vaccine. On Monday, African American faith leaders from across the state re- ceived the COVID-19 vaccination at New Hope Baptist Church in Jackson. The event was hosted by the Mississippi National Baptist State Convention in conjunction with the Mississippi State Medical Association and the Mis- sissippi State Department of Health. Reeves said state offi- cials are open to trying new methods to bridging the racial divide when it comes to the vaccine.
The federal pharmacy program will begin next week, he said. Approximately 6,200 doses will go to 30 loca- tions across the state that have yet to be announced. Vaccinations in Mis- sissippi are currently avail- able for people 65 and older, health care workers and those who are at least 16 and have health condi- tions that might make them more vulnerable to the virus. Reeves announced Tuesday morning that there were 30,000 new appointments available to be booked at the drive-thru sites. Within two hours, those appoint- ments had been booked.
He said the state is also scheduled to complete around 18,000 second dose appointments this week. Appointments have been filling up quickly due to high demand. Reeves announced Friday on Twitter that 15,000 new appointments had come free, and they were also all booked within two hours. People eligible to re- ceive the coronavirus vaccine can try to make an appointment at COVIDvaccine.umc.edu or by calling the CO- VID-19 call center at 1-877-978-6453. FROM PAGE 1A REEVES The state health depart- ment announced 791 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, bringing the seven-day average for new cases in Mississippi to 1,235.
Mississippi reported 26 new deaths, including two each in Jackson and Pearl River counties. The state reported 122 new cases in the six coun- ties of South Mississippi, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 37,739. Hospitalizations have been falling gradually since the beginning of the month, reaching 898 pa- tients on Feb. 1, down from 1,358 on Jan. 12.
There were 262 patients in an ICU and 152 on ventila- tors, down from 360 and 228 at the start of the month. Coast ICUs continue to treat large numbers of COVIID-19 patients. As of Feb. 1, Singing River Pas- cagoula was treating eight patients in its ICU, with two beds available. Sing- ing River Ocean Springs was also treating eight patients with three ICU beds available.
Merit Health in Biloxi was treating five patients in its nine-bed ICU, with no available beds. Memorial in Gulfport was treating six patients in the ICU, with 13 beds available. The hospital increased ICU beds from 26 to 38 to accommodate the increased need. The vaccine rollout puts it in the bot- tom half of the pack na- tionally, with 7.2% of Mississippians having received at least one dose, below the U.S. average of Vaccine appointments can be set up through covidvaccine.umc.edu or by calling 877-978-6453.
COVID cases under 1,000 for 4th day Sun Herald HATTIESBURG A former Mississippi pharmacist was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for his role in a massive health care fraud involving pain cream and other medications. Marco Moran also was ordered to forfeit nearly $12.2 million in cash and pay restitution of around $22.1 million and a fine of $20,000, the Hattiesburg American reported. Moran, 47, was charged in September 2018 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. He pleaded guilty the same day. During his sentencing hearing Tuesday in federal district court in Hatties- burg, Moran apologized to the judge, the govern- ment, his children and a grandchild.
The scheme, which began in Mississippi, has defrauded TRICARE and other health care benefits providers of more than $1.5 billion nationwide, the government contends. At least 25 people have been charged, and 20 of them have been convicted at trial or pleaded guilty. U.S. Senior Judge Keith Starrett said in court Tues- day that Moran, like the others in the case, was a good person until he got up in this greed, this seen a lot of shows in my career as a judge and seen a lot of very sad cases through the Starrett said. sad thing is the tremendous ability and potential you have for good.
This in- volved so many people, so many lives ruined, so many careers According to court doc- uments, Moran and co- conspirators Wade Wal- ters, Tommy Spell and Silas Richmond, owned and operated Med- a pharmacy in Ridgeland, which mass- produced what should have been medications tailored for individuals. Ex-pharmacist sentenced in pain cream fraud Associated Press.
