Newspaper Page Text
Sunday in Forsyth
Sunday, October 14,1984
By Chuck Thompson
Ttw Sunday Nww
The name “Rock Eagle” may not
ring a bell with some people, but for 4-
H’ers past and present it’s a special
place where memories are made.
Built in 1954, Rock Eagle is a camp
near Eaton ton for 4-H Club members
and in the last 30 years, it has seen
about one million visitors.
Most anything, however, tends to
need repairs after 30 years of use, and
Rock Eagle is no exception.
Clark Beusse, a Forsyth County
Extension agent, says cabins at the
camp need improvements, and that
repairs must be made on things like
plumbing and electrical work
So, in order to raise money needed
to restore Rock Eagle, 4-H Clubs
throughout Georgia are selling com
memorative bottles of Coca-Cola.
Only 4,000 cases of the special bot
tles were made, making than a good
collector’s item. They feature the 4-H
logo on the front and a tribute to the
camp on back.
The bottles are being sold for $1
each with all proceeds going to the
restoration of Rock Eagle, which
serves almost 100 youth from Forsyth
County each year.
Beusse says the unique thing about
selling the bottles is that 4-H’ers sold
eggs in 1954 and raised a large part of
the funds needed to build the camp.
According to the Extension agent, a
few of the commemorative bottles
may be sold in local stores.
Persons interested in the bottles
may call the Extension office at 887-
2418.
A dilemma: Pregnant and poor
By Johnny Solesbee
Th« Sunday Nawt
What’s a mother-to-be to do?
For more than a year now, indigent
pregnant women in Forsyth County
have had nowhere to turn for medical
care. Literally.
The Forsyth County Hospital last
September decided to close its obstet
rics ward because of the low number
of deliveries being made there and
because general practitioners in the
county who had been providing
delivery and maternal care usually
out of their own pockets decided
they would no longer continue the
practice. Those pregnant women who
could afford to pay for prenatal and
obstetrical care either privately or
through health insurance were going
out-of-county for that care and, as a
result, to have their babies.
That is still the case today. Those
who can afford it are having no prob
lem finding prenatal, obstetrical and
postnatal care outside Forsyth
County.
But, for those who are financially
unable to pay for such care, there’s
literally nowhere to go. As a result,
there have been at least two home
births confirmed in Forsyth County in
the past year. Fortunately, according
to Julia Mosely, nurse practitioner
and director of Wilson Clinic in Cum
ming, those births came with no
complications. She doesn’t know if
there have been more births in the
home or how many pregnant women
have had to go their full term without
medical care.
Ms. Mosely for the past year has
been trying along with several
others in the community to come
up with a plan that would ensure
indigent pregnant women that they
would have somewhere to go. Ms.
Mosely is still trying. Now, she has
the backing of a state law which
became effective July 1 that will help
in one area of maternity care. That
law states that no hospital can deny
emergency medical service to a
woman in labor regardless of her
ability to pay and that her county of
residence will be responsible for pay
ing the bill if she is deemed indigent.
Ms. Mosely would like to see that
care expanded to include prenatal as
well as postnatal. She has talked with
officials at North Fulton Medical
Center in Roswell and they have told
her if that scope of care is provided,
the county could expect to pay from
$150,000 to $200,000 a year in indigent
maternity fees.
Ms. Mosely is going to talk with
officiate at Lumpkin County Hospital
which has expressed an interest in
providing obstetrical services for
Forsyth patients to determine
costs at that facility. But, she’s just
Collector Cokes to aid Rock Eagle
* J
not sure how much maternity care
the Forsyth County Commission will
be willing to provide for in the budget
for the new year.
“The commissioners definitely rec
ognize the need, but when it gets
down to budgeting dollars, I just don’t
know” what the commission will do,
Ms. Mosely said.
Commission Chairman Donald
Glover isn’t sure either exactly what
the commission might do.
“We know something's going to
have to be done...the state has re
minded us already,” Glover said.
The county has already received at
least one bill for indigent maternal
expenses from Lumpkin County Hos
pital. That tall was approximately
$1,200.
“I really don’t know” what the
commission is going to do, Glover
said. “We’re waiting on some con
crete figures.”
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Clark Beusse shows bottle of Rock Eagle Coca-Cola which is being sold to help repair popular camp
Not all infants lucky enough to have professional care at hand when they are born
Glover admitted that maternal
care for the indigent in the commu
nity “has been kind of lost for the last
year or so.” Prior to that, the county
had been depending on the hospital
and doctors to take care of the indi
gent, he said.
Glover said the commission would
probably finalize its budget for next
year within the next month and “if we
deal sensibly with this problem (indi
gent maternal care), we’ll have it in
the budget.”
Ms. Mosely estimates there to be at
least 50 indigent maternity cases a
year in Forsyth County. Those expec
tant mothers receive r>o prenatal care
and most likely no postnatal care.
Medicaid will pay only $550 on mater
nity care, which includes prenatal
care, delivery and postnatal care.
That is considerably less than the
normal charges for such care and Ms.
Mosely feels physicians should not be
Forsyth County News
“tarred and feathered” for refusing
to accept Medicaid patients. Most
obstetrician/gynecologists in north
Georgia don’t accept Medicaid pa
tients, Ms. Mosely said.
She hopes a plan can be worked out
in which the Wilson Clinic would
handleprenatal care for indigent pa
tients, would make the arrangements
for delivery at a hospital and would
then handle postnatal care in cases of
uncomplicated births.
She is adamant that the only long
term solution to the problem is to
have the full range of services offered
in tiie community.
An expectant mother shouldn’t
have to drive to Atlanta or some other
county for medical care, she says,
and hopes Omni Health Services, Inc.
which has recently received appro
val to purchase the Forsyth County
Hospital will make provisions in its
expansion or new facility (dans for
maternity care.
However, Ms. Mosely points out
that women of the community will
have to let the proper officials know
they want such services and that they
would be willing to use local services.
The problem of a lade of obstetrics
care in the community will only be
compounded as the community con
tinues to grow with women of child
bearing age, she said.
Ms. Mosely said she would meet
with North Fulton Medical and
Lumpkin County Hospital officials to
hear their proposals on providing
care and would then go bade to the
commissioners to see what they
would do.
“I have done everything I can think
to d0...1 have no other ideas,” Ms.
Mosely said. “I hope we’re going to
see a solution and I hope real soon. I
never thought that a year later, we
would not have anything for women.”
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Political
forum set
Tuesday
Ann Gibson, spokesperson for
the Cumming-Forsyth County
Business and Professional Wom
en’s Club (BPW), says final pre
parations are being made for the
club’s third political forum this
year.
The first two forums were held
prior to the Aug. 14 General Pri
mary, when members of the
same political parties met to de
termine who would challenge the
opposing party’s candidates in
November.
Now that party candidates
have been chosen, a third forum
will be held Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 7
p.m. in the Jury Assembly Room
of Forsyth County Courthouse.
Ivan Sibley, president-elect of
the Cumming-Forsyth County
Chamber of Commerce, will
serve as moderator.
During the forum, congressio
nal, state and county candidates
will present themselves and take
questions from citizens.
“The public is invited to meet
with local and state candidates,
who will be seeking the voters’
support Nov. 6,” Ms. Gibson
says. “BPW encourages all resi
dents to attend and participate in
the question and answer session
with the candidates.’’
Festival
to benefit
day care
What has been billed as a “gi
gantic, colossal” Cumming Fall
Festival will get underway
Wednesday, Oct. 17, and will con
tinue through Oct. 27.
The festival will feature Derby
State Shows on the midway and
will be located at Highway 9 and
Mary Alice Park Road.
There will be more than 50
rides, shows and concessions and
a promise of “fun for all ages.”
A portion of the proceeds from
the festival will go to benefit die
Forsyth County Day Care Center
which is sponsoring the event
On Monday through Thursday,
all rides from 6 until 10 pjn. will
cost $5 per person, a spokesman
said.