Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2D
I FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, March 28, 1999
STREAMS from 1D
anyway.” Dukas said it’s important
for the residents of a community
to take part as watch dogs for local
industry, especially since even one
industrial mistake could mean the
loss of much natural habitat. Local
governments do not usually allo
cate enough funds to have such a
program run at the professional
level.
Citizen water quality monitor
ing programs have been imple
mented more and more around the
country in recent years. Wherever
there is concern over a major
river’s watershed - which usually
exists near large, metropolitan
areas - citizens are volunteering
their time and energy to closely
monitor how humans affect the
watershed.
An increase in impervious sur
faces (parking lots, roads) and
runoff from muddy construction
sites are quite capable of destroy
ing the watershed. But we depend
on good water quality, as it
affects many aspects of our lives.
We drink it, swim in it, fish in it
and depend on it to support the
food chain. As you head down
stream to Alpharetta and beyond,
the watershed spreads out, and
those folks depend on the same
supply for their daily living. Dukas
said it’s urgent for people to real
ize that what they do in their drive
ways at home will directly affect
the water supply in someone else’s
back yard.
“Whenever you interfere with
any part of ‘the web,’ you interfere
VOLUNTEER from ID
group of dedicated individuals has been serving
the community since 1958, when it was known
as the Forsyth County Hospital Auxiliary.
The group has now been included in the
overall administrative makeup of the new hos
pital.
“We’ve been there all these years as a sepa
rate group,” said Eleanor Wilkins, coordinator
for the newly formed Department of Volunteer
Services. “But we are now a recognized depart
ment.” Wilkins said even the impression the
new hospital’s volunteers will make on the
community is changing.
“We’ve changed our image, too,” she said.
“We’re more than the 'pink ladies’ now.”
In fact, Wilkins said, with more men com
ing on board to join the volunteer organization,
no one will be dressed in pink at the new med
ical center. New uniforms - burgundy ones -
are currently on order for the hospital volun
teers.
“We’re going to be much more visible,
now,” said Ann McGowan, president-elect of
the volunteers, adding that since Jan. 1, around
100 new members have signed up to serve as
volunteers, to make a total of 142 workers.
“We have never tapped the community,”
said McGowan. “People thought there were a
few pink ladies over there,” and now they are
beginning to realize the extent of a volunteer’s
purpose at the hospital. And it's not a group
made up entirely of retirees anymore, either.
Working people are signing up for the training
program, as well.
“The response from the
community was over
whelming,” said Brenda
Mecredy, president of the
volunteer organization.
“Everyone’s really excited,
and we have people calling
us all the time now.”
"If you have a genuine,
caring attitude and a strong
commitment to share your time and talents
with others, then you have what it takes to
make a significant difference in the healthcare
of your community,” Wilkins said. “To one
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with the whole thing,” Dukas said.
Working with Adopt-A-Stream
promises to be fun for participants,
too. Volunteers will get a free les
son in the general ecology of a
stream environment, which may
surprise newcomers to the science
or those poor souls who at first
propose that, other than fish, noth
ing really lives in a stream envi
ronment. A stream bed teems with
life when it is healthy. Adult
insects rely on streams as nurseries
for their babies and subterraneous
creatures depend on the moisture
so they can survive. The vast food
chain within the water expands to
serve land dwellers, too. If one
aspect of that balance is disrupted,
then everyone who is part of the
network suffers to some extent.
Through a series of watershed
walks, volunteers will become
very familiar with certain creeks
and tributaries to the
Chattahoochee River. Adopt-A-
Stream volunteers usually look for
indicative signs of wildlife to ana
lyze the health of a stream.
Locating insect larvae and other
small animals within the stream
bed provides a wealth of informa
tion, as certain species are
extremely intolerant of pollution
and others have little or no prob
lem with pollutants. For instance,
if you go into the creek and find
the temperature of the water is ter
ribly high, and you can only find
one type of insect larva, you can
conclude the stream is in trouble.
It may not be too late to help,
66
We not only help
the hospital - we
help ourselves.
“There is nothing you could do that can
mean so much to so many people,” Wilkins
said. “There are jobs at every level of service at
Baptist Medical Center • Cumming. The satis-
ARTS & COMMUNITY
Photo/Tom Brooks
Above from left, Eleanor Wilkins, coordinator, Department of Volunteer Services;
Brenda Mecredy, president; and Ann McGowan, president-elect.
degree or another, sick people experience
wholeness when someone else cares enough to
contribute to their healing process through a
smile, a kind word or just being there to help.”
As they work, volunteers earn credit for the
hours they commit. The credit is often used as.
a venue to pursue higher
healthcare education or other
such professional advance
ment. But the real value, said
Wilkins, is the deep satisfac
tion volunteers will receive
when they realize they are,
indeed, able to make a differ
ence by helping a fellow
human when he needs it most.
BL . - ~ ""1
Photos/Tom Brooks
1 IF
I I
. . • _
Above, Cheryl
Dukas, Carole
Perry and Laura
Lavezzo take a
sample from the
creek. Right, a
dusky salamander
was discovered,
indicating good
health in Sawnee
Creek at present.
though. And just think - if you, as
a resident, had not made such a
discovery, no one might have.
This combined with the vocal
power of a citizen’s organization
means a chance to preserve the
natural heritage of Forsyth
County.
For more information, call
Cheryl Dukas, Forsyth County’s
stormwater technician, at (770)
781-2165.
faction of working hand in hand with the finest
doctors and nurses in the field will be yours as
a Baptist Medical Center volunteer. We not
only help the hospital - we help ourselves.”
According to Wilkins, most volunteers
work once per week. Schedules are flexible.
Together, the volunteer auxiliary at Baptist
North put in more than 10,000 hours last year.
These hours translate into funding the hospital
can use in areas outside of paying salaries.
“The money we help save goes back into
the hospital,” Wilkins said.
To successfully care for the many patients
at Forsyth County’s new state-of-the-art med
ical center, volunteers are needed. Training
opportunities are planned to thoroughly prepare
the volunteer team. There are opportunities to
work on many levels of hospital care. For more
information, or to apply for training, call
Eleanor Wilkins at (770) 844-3274.
Water quality a matter of !
concern throughout area
By Jim Riley ■
Staff Writer
After a meeting held Nov. 5. by
the Upper Etowah Watershed
Initiative group, the University of
Georgia’s Ecology Department
released a summary of concerns
voiced by area residents about the
health and future of the Etowah
River.
The group includes three repre
sentatives each from Forsyth,
Dawson, Cherokee, Lumpkin and
Pickens counties. A public meet
ing is scheduled for each county in
the upper Etowah watershed.
Forsyth County’s representa
tives included Committee
Chairperson Buddy Hobbs,
Forsyth County Director of Water
and Sewer Tim Perkins and
Assistant County Administrator
Donald Major.
Various questions were asked
of participants at the meeting,
which was held in Forsyth County,
and then responses were ranked
according to the number of people
who signified they felt an issue
was of particular importance.
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Under the water quality and .
quantity heading the responses
included: quality of drinking water ;
(II votes), water quantity, (six ,
votes), siltation (four votes), run
off (one vote), landfill expansion/,
(one vote) and herbicide pollution
(one vote). ''. ’ ;
Other responses in this qa(ego
ry not ranked as high priorities
included: erosion control, lack of
stormwater management, resides-,
tial herbicide use, timber harvest
ing, high coliform levels on one •
stretch of the river, septic systems, *
sewer treatment and outboard
motor pollution. . -’ro-
under the equity and respect "
for property heading, the follow
ing items received votes: fanners’
investment in the land (three
votes), property rights (three.
votes) and respecting diversity of
needs and uses on the river (two,
votes). '
Other responses included equi- r
table treatment, fear of future reg
ulations that restrict developrpqnt
and potential impacts on property
See QUALITY, Page 8D