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Parish nurse can be lifesaver in health
and in spirit
By
Jean R. Holley
Director of Congregational Health Ministry
Gwinnett Medical Center
Special
to GwinnettForum
JULY 25, 2008 -- One perception of parish or congregational nurses
is that they do little more than take blood pressure readings and
send their clients on their way with an informational pamphlet.
But church parish nurses give individual attention and are a real
help for many.
Holley |
Many church attendees need assistance or counseling plus medical
attention, though some clergy aren't qualified to address such issues.
One nurse said: "We often peel away the layers of a medical
problem and find at the root of it, some fairly deep spiritual and
emotional issues. We can be a unique resource and perspective to
a problem."
In 2006 alone, the 12 parish nurses affiliated with the Congregational
Health Ministry at Gwinnett Medical Center served 122,403 individuals
at an estimated cost of $30,000 to each church.
The number of nurses available and individuals served could be
so much higher. It just makes sense for nurses to be stationed in
area churches, since faith communities have advocacy and support
groups. They serve the underserved and the marginalized. They reach
out to groups of all ages and culture. They have a long history
of helping with healing. That's what nurses do, too. With that framework
in place, it's logical to add a parish nurse to complete the medical
piece of the body, mind, spirit puzzle.
Modern parish nursing branches from the 1980s when Chaplain Granger
Westberg and Lutheran General Hospital received a grant to place
nurses in local churches. According to Westberg, these nurses could
translate two languages; both medicine and religion. The nurses
serve as personal health counselors as well as referral agents,
health educators, support group developers. They also work with
volunteers to provide creative programs to improve health.
One pastor shared that he is constantly confronted with medical
situations that need medical and spiritual attention. "Our
congregational nurse is a fountain of knowledge and has embedded
herself in the lives of congregation members, acting as a bridge
between us."
Parish nurses assess a problem and follow a person through the
whole spectrum of care, involving his or her family and friends,
calling in various resources, sometimes contacting their doctor
or another parish nurse for advice.
A few examples of Gwinnett Medical parish nurse activities:
- A parish member complaining of back pain revealed stress stemming
from caring for a neighbor with cancer. The parish nurse met with
the neighbor; discussed and helped select hospice care; connected
parishioners with the family for financial assistance; and after
the neighbor's death, helped through grief counseling.
- A man facing the diagnosis of incurable cancer in his wife called
his parish nurse for guidance on how to break the news to his
beloved and his three young adult daughters, beginning of several
years working with the family through death.
- A woman seeking hypertension education shared some chaos occurring
in her family and the parish nurse invited the woman, her husband
and their son for counseling, connected them with educational
support classes and along the way, continued blood pressure checks
and behavior modification advice.
- A parish nurse organized "A Walk to Bethlehem," encouraging
her congregation to collectively walk the 6,548 mile distance
to Bethlehem, Ga., attracting 10,000 participants.
Trying to make sense out of rapid transit
straw ballots
By
Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
JULY 25, 2008 -- Let's try to make some sense out of the recent
straw polls by the two political parties on rapid transit in the
county.
Brack |
But first let's also stipulate that the two questions were worded
differently by the two political parties, they were confusing, and
that the votes were a straw poll, not a binding vote. Let's also
throw in that those drafting the question may have thrown in a prejudice
against MARTA, instead of asking the voters to consider a question
on "rapid transit" per se.
With that out of the way, let's move toward history of the previous
votes, which were binding:
Year .......For Marta ...... Against Marta
.... Percent for Marta
1965 ........2,500 ..................9,506 ....................20.8
1990....... 28,828 ...............68,136 ....................29.7
2008....... 24,469 ..............27,667 .....................46.9
Note that the results for 2008 are the combined MARTA question
totals.
There appears to be a growing understanding of the need for some
form of rapid transit in the county, judging by the numbers of people
moving toward approving MARTA.
Remember the 1990 vote when 43 of the Norcross to Buford corridor
voted in favor of MARTA. Therefore, this year we did an analysis
of the 162 precincts of the county to determine which areas were
the strongest for the questions. The two colored maps give a quick
read on that question. Note also that the two maps are on a different
scale of values.
The Republican colored-in precincts show only a few precincts (in
green) voting more than 50 percent for MARTA. What's interesting
is to note how many GOP precincts voted at least 40 percent for
MARTA, the orange and green districts. A total of 69 Republican
precincts favored MARTA by at least 40 percent.
Now look at the Democratic map. Every single Democratic precinct
favored MARTA, except two with a 50 percent split. Eleven precincts
voted 80 percent or more for MARTA. That's overwhelming! Only 11
precincts favored MARTA by from 50-60 percent margin.
Looking at the GOP map again, note that most of the precincts west
of Interstate 85 were in the 40+ percent for MARTA. And not that
most of those opposing MARTA were in the eastern, central, or far
northern parts of Gwinnett.
Some other insights:
- Top precincts for Democrats were those at Rock Springs Church
and the Pinckneyville Community Center (82.7% each), Beaver Ridge
School (82.5%); Corley Elementary School (83.4%); and Maxwell
School (81.9%). The surprising one was Rock Springs, which is
Hog Mountain A, that far north!
- The two top Republican Districts for MARTA were Martins E (Comfort
Suites), 68%; and Duluth E (Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church),
65.2%. On the low side, the GOP precinct which went against MARTA
the strongest was in Harbins at Ebenezer Baptist Church, registering
24.7% for MARTA. On the Democratic side, two precincts registered
a 50 percent split on MARTA, in Suwanee at Shadowbrook Baptist
Church, and in Snellville at Briscoe Park.
* * * * *
What does this straw ballot by the parties tell us?
First, there appears to be a shift in opinion toward MARTA, compared
to earlier votes on the question. Perhaps the always-heavy Gwinnett
traffic, plus high fuel prices, are causing people to think differently.
While there is obvious resentment on the part of many toward MARTA
itself, three questions really need to be put before voters.
1. Whether to have an extension of MARTA trains into Gwinnett.
2. Whether Gwinnett wants its own buses to connect to MARTA or
have its own buses connect to train locations.
3. How to pay for it. A penny sales tax would produce $120 million
a year for public transit, if current sales are maintained. With
growth, in future years, this could raise even more.
The straw poll got us to thinking about rapid transit. We'll see
how fast Gwinnett moves on this.
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Maintains
wiffle ball came from plastic lemon containers
Editor, the Forum:
The story
about wiffle ball in the recent New York Times was a
good one. The photo in the story tells it all. Wiffle ball must
be played in a field that can ward off the wind. Wiffle balls are
light weight plastic baseballs with holes in them and open fields,
i.e., regular recreation fields, allow the wind to interrupt games
like rain does to real baseball. The high trees (in the photo) around
the field show why this is a perfect spot.
I challenge the story's claim that wiffle ball was invented in
Connecticut. My gang in North Carolina invented it in the 50s --
before there was even "wiffle balls." Remember those little
plastic lemons that contained lemon juice---I think you can still
buy them. They started showing up in our grocery stores in the 1950s.
We got the bright idea to pull the little plug out of the squirt
end throw it like a little football. It would sail, dart, dive,
curve. We learned to make it go in many different directions. After
playing catch with it for a while someone picked up a broom stick
and used it for a bat. We invented "LEMONBALL." The little
plastic lemon was virtually indestructible and we all could throw
curve balls that were real hard to hit.
We made up rules to suit the conditions of the day and number of
players available. Our field was the nice, grassy school yard next
to my house. It was lined on two sides with tall oak trees. We played
on weekends.
The school principal lived 20 miles away and never came around
on Saturday or Sunday. We wore his grass out and he did not like
that. There were no lawyers in our little town, so we played on.
From 1950 to 2008 some things do not change. One thing that did
though was what 19 cents would buy. The lemon juice holder costs
19 cents. And the container was worth more to us than the liquid
inside. Our moms, all of them, had multiple jelly jars filled with
lemon juice inside their iceboxes.
-- Jerry Queen, LaFayette, La.
Keeping
your eye on one target
Another great cartoon from Bill McLemore:
Aurora
to catch baseball fever with Damn Yankees
In celebration of the Atlanta Braves bringing professional baseball
to Gwinnett County, Aurora Theatre, Gwinnett's professional theatre,
opens the 2008-2009 season with the home-run hit, Damn Yankees.
The most renown baseball musical of all time, Damn Yankees,
is a show for the ages with Tony award-winning runs in 1956, again
in 1994 and another revival is currently running at New York City
Center. Damn Yankees endures on the strength of a story with
universal appeal and a musical score that keeps your toes tapping.
Fanatic Joe Boyd makes a devil of a deal to become the new young
sensation Joe Hardy in order to transform the hapless home team
and finally defeat those Damn Yankees. Hit songs include: Heart,
Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo and Whatever Lola Wants.
Anthony Rodriguez, Aurora Theatre Producing Artistic Director, says:
"Damn Yankees is a show that we have wanted to produce
for a long time. So the minute we heard the news that professional
baseball was coming to Gwinnett, we knew we had the Aurora season
opener."
With the crossover appeal of Damn Yankees from sports fans
to theatre patrons, Aurora Theatre is taking a page from the sports
marketing handbook and introducing Bat Day. At every Saturday Matinee
performance, patrons will receive a free souvenir mini-baseball
bat.
Additionally, Aurora Theatre is teaming up with the Gwinnett Braves
in an innovative marketing partnership. On August 7, Gwinnett Braves
General Manager Bruce Baldwin will throw out the first pitch before
the show and officially start the Aurora Theatre season. Folks will
be able to get information about the Gwinnett Braves and their upcoming
events in the Aurora Theatre lobby, and volunteers will even wear
Gwinnett Braves merchandise during the run of Damn Yankees.
Performances are Thursday through Saturday, on August 7-September
7 at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $16-$30.
There is a special preview performance on Tuesday, August 5, at
8 p.m., with tickets at $10 with a Library Card and only $5 with
a Gwinnett County Student ID. Wednesday discount matinee will be
August 27 at 10 a.m., with tickets at $14. Bat Days are August 9,
16, 23, 30 and September 6 at 2:30 p.m. Call 678.226.6222 for more
information.
Brenau graduate wins
Suwanee Day logo competition
Ashleigh James, 23, is enjoying a lot of firsts in her life: Her
first job out of college. Her first house. And her first logo contest
win. (OK, she recently celebrated her second wedding anniversary.)
James
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Her design, which uses bright colors and fun graphics to capture
the vibrancy of the Suwanee Day festival, was selected from among
73 entries (received from 58 individuals) to represent the 2008
festival, which marks the 25th celebration of Suwanee Day.
James is a Lawrenceville resident and 2007 graduate of Brenau University,
where she earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic arts.
She has returned to Buford, where she grew up, for work as a graphic
designer at Accent South Media.
"I've always wanted to be an artist," James says, "but
always heard that you can't make any money as an artist. As a graphic
artist, I can make money and be creative all day long."
James had been planning for almost a year to enter the annual Suwanee
Day design competition, ever since she created last summer a Suwanee
Day ad for an Accent South client who also was a festival sponsor.
"I knew that Suwanee Day was a fun event so I wanted everything
in my design to look fun and active. Logos are my favorite thing
to do. They're therapeutic."
As the winner of the Suwanee Day design competition, James received
$500 and will ride in the annual Suwanee Day parade. This year's
Suwanee Day festival will be celebrated from 10 a.m-10 p.m. Saturday,
September 20, at Town Center Park.
Duluth police chief
wins award from Chief's association
The Duluth chief of police has won the Dr. Curtis McClung Award
from the Georgia Chiefs of Police Association. The award was presented
to Chief Randall Belcher at the recent conference in Savannah.
The award was given to the law enforcement agency whose program
is highly effective and most recognized throughout the state. There
were over 40 applications submitted for consideration. Other finalists
were Georgia State University and the City of Douglasville. The
three were recognized for providing public education and safety
instruction to the citizens of Georgia.
Chief Belcher was cited for his department's Operation Drive Smart,
which was initiated to reduce teen-age deaths in automobile accidents.
The top killer of teenagers between the ages of 14 and 19 is automobile
accidents.
Since 2000, Duluth Police Department personnel of the Community
Oriented Policing Service have presented the program to more than
100,000 high school students statewide. The program consists of
four phases; the Drive Smart Expo, the In-a-Split-Second Program,
classroom instruction and guest speakers.
Operation Drive Smart Expo is a one day educational program set
up on high school campus; and involve law enforcement, fire officials,
EMS and Emergency Medicine personnel. In-a-Split-Second is a week
long program involving a teen DUI crash fatality which ends with
a mock funeral. Students act as reporters and broadcast to the school
body on closed circuit television.
New $10 million water
main begins to serve Gwinnett
A new water main, five feet in diameter and just over three miles
long, began serving Gwinnett water customers on July 2. The $10
million dollar project runs from the new Shoal Creek Filter Plant
to Peachtree Industrial Boulevard where it connects to two 48-inch
water mains. Five months of construction wrapped up in June with
testing and disinfection finished in early July.
Lynn Smarr, Acting Director of the Department of Water Resources,
says: "This is a major enhancement to our water delivery system.
It greatly improves our ability to provide uninterrupted water service
and strengthens the reliability of the overall water distribution
system."
The new water main is capable of transporting 100 million gallons
of water each day to the 3,400-mile network of pipes that deliver
drinking water to more than 750,000 Gwinnett residents. Computers
monitor the water system 24/7 to alert Water Production staff to
changing conditions in the pipe network.
"This project is a key part of an on-going process to increase
the redundancy and reliability of the water system infrastructure,"
Smarr said.
- An invitation: What
Web sites, books or restaurants have you enjoyed? Send us your
best recent visit to a restaurant or most recent book you have
read along with a short paragraph as to why you liked it, plus
what book you plan to read next. --eeb
"Trans-Oconee
Republic" once established within Georgia
"Trans-Oconee
Republic" is the name used by later historians to describe
the short-lived independent state established by Elijah Clarke west
of the Oconee River in 1794. While occupying areas in present-day
portions of Greene, Morgan, Putnam and Baldwin counties, Clarke
and his followers erected as many as six fortified settlements,
wrote a constitution, and elected their own officials. But after
a few months, pressure from the federal government forced the governor
to take action, and Clarke's independent state came to an end.
Like most Georgians at the time, Clarke wanted the hunting lands
of the Creek Indians beyond the river to be opened for settlement
as quickly as possible. The 1790 Treaty of New York, however, limited
Georgia's westward expansion indefinitely and returned to the Creeks
some land gained by the state in an earlier cession. According to
the treaty provisions, the Creeks were responsible for expelling
or punishing intruders as they saw fit. Clarke believed that those
settlers whom the Indians were unwilling or unable to expel should
be able to settle west of the river.
In February 1794 Clarke resigned from the Georgia militia after
two decades of distinguished service. Around that same time he received
a French commission as a major general and began recruiting soldiers
for an attack on Spanish Florida. The invasion never materialized,
and he decided to use the remnants of his army to seize Indian lands
west of the Oconee in May of that year. The Creeks did not resist,
and the independent state quickly took shape. With promises of land
to those who would join the venture, Clarke hoped to fill Creek
lands with settlers before the state and federal government had
time to react. Many Georgians were skeptical of his dubious plan,
and no more than a few hundred crossed the river.
(To Be Continued)
Putting your hopes
on half of America's population
"Half of the American people have never read a newspaper.
Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half."
-- Playwright, Novelist and Essayist Gore Vidal (1925 - ).
Send your thoughts, 55-word short stories, pet peeves
or comments on any issue to Gwinnett
Forum for future publication.
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is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible
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