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. FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Friday, March 19. 2004
Shot histories soon more accurate
ATLANTA Doctors
will be able to know the
immunization history of more
Georgia children with more
accuracy following the
unprecedented upload of more
than 370,000 children's
immunization records from
UnitedHealtheare into a state
Department of Human
Resources (DHR) database.
Atlanta-based
United Heal thcare-Georgia
provides health insurance
coverage to more than
600,000 Georgians
Kathleen E. Toomey,
M.D., M.P.H., director of the
DHR's Division of Public
Health, said the
UnitedHealtheare upload is
the single largest input of
immunization records into the
Georgia Registry of
Screven Co. teacher is tops
ATLANTA When an
eighth-grade teacher told him
to keep his chin up, take own
ership of his future, and bring
others with him on the way "to
the top." she probably didn't
realize that her advice would
help him to soar to the top of
Georgia's teaching pack.
Chase Puckett, an eighth
grade English teacher at
Screven County Middle
School, has been named the
2005 Georgia Teacher of the
Year. The announcement was
made tonight by State
Superintendent of Schools
Kathy Cox at the annual
Georgia Teacher of the Year
Banquet held at the Georgia
Tech Hotel and Conference
Center.
A middle school teacher
since 1998. Puckett lists as his
greatest accomplishments
those students who have
walked across the stage to
receive their diplomas. He is a
teacher who feels he has
accomplished something very
important when his students
Deaths
Myra Joe Bagwell
Combs
Mrs. Myra Joe Bagwell
Combs, 78. of Alpharetta, for
merly of Forsyth County, died
Monday. March 15. 2004.
She was born to James
Franklin and Susie Owens
Bagwell on Sept. 10. 1925.
Mrs. Combs retired from
Georgia Tech where she
worked as Admissions
Administrator.
Survivors include her hus
band. Wilbur M. Combs;
daughter and son-in-law,
Susan and Edward Yeargers of
Palm City. Fla; son and
daughter-in-law, Tommy
Franklin and Faye Cash of
Alpharetta; grandchildren,
Lisa and Kevin Maxwell of
Buford, Monica and Todd
Erskine of Augusta. Jeremy
Estes of Newnan; great-grand
children. Kelley. Rachael and
Michele Maxwell; sisters and
brother-in-law, Elise and
Charles Webb of Alto. Edna
Sue Bearden of Alpharetta,
Edith and John Cathcart;
brother. James F. and Nellie
Bagwell, all of Cumming;
Several nieces and nephews
also survive.
Funeral services are
Friday, March 19, at 2 p.m. at
the Alpharetta First Baptist
Church with the Revs. Jeff
Witcher and A.B. Hatfield
officiating. Interment will fol
low at Green Lawn Cemetery.
Those who wish may make
donations in her memory to
the Susan G. Komen Breast
Cancer Foundation, P.O. Box
530109, Dept. G-00125,
Atlanta, GA 30353-0109.
Northside Chapel Funeral
Directors is in charge of the
arrangements.
Forsyth County News
March 19, 2004
A community
service of
Forsyth
County
News
Immunization Transactions
and Services (GRITS) since
the program became fully
operational 10 months ago.
The secure high-tech
statewide system of informa
tion gathering, analysis and
storage has been in develop
ment and testing since being
authorized by Georgia's
General Assembly in 1996.
The GRITS database of
immunization records is a
powerful tool for pediatricians
and other physicians who
need to get a high-quality,
dependable and detailed snap
shot of a child s shot history.
Dr. Toomey explained.
The initiative by
UnitedHealtheare brings the
total number of children s
immunization records now
available to doctors through
"develop a life-long love for
reading, for learning, and for
living."
Puckett says he was set on
the right track by his parents
who continually pushed him
to read, study, and appreciate
the rewards a solid education
could bring. He also points to
the influence a special teacher
had on his life. "I can still
trace my desire and motivation
to teach back to the indelible
mark her support and eternal
belief made upon my life, the
mark that 1 was destined to be
something special, a teacher,"
he says.
Speaking at the event.
Superintendent Cox said, "If
we re going to achieve our
vision of leading the nation in
improving student achieve
ment, it's not going to be so
much because of what we re
doing up here at the state
department, but because of
what excellent teachers
throughout the state are doing
in their classrooms with their
students. Teachers are the
Lula Gretell Evans
Mrs. Lula Gretell Evans.
94, of Dawsonville died
Wednesday. March 17. 2004.
Mrs. Evans was the oldest
member of Lebanon Church.
She was preceded in death by
her husband, Rev. Rufus
Evans; daughter, Melba Cain;
sons. Hank Evans and Eugene
Evans; son-in-law. Troy Cain.
Survivors include children.
J.L. and Jama Evans, Jesse
and Mildred Evans, Dessie
and Lee Westbrook, all of
Dawsonville. Elmer Evans of
Cumming. Marvin Evans of
Dawsonville. Flonnie and Don
Westbrook of Marietta,
Annelle and Jerry Self of
Woodstock; daughters-in-law,
Doris Evans, Alice Evans,
both of Cumming; 25 grand
children; several great-grand
children and great -great
grandchildren; half brother
and sister-in-law, Larry and
Martha Cranford of
Dahlonega; half sister. Ruby
Dean Gee of Dahlonega; step
mother, Lillie Bessie Cranford
of Dahlonega; many cousins
and other relatives also sur
vive.
Funeral services are
Friday. March 19, at 2 p.m. at
Lebanon Baptist Church with
Rev. Harold Evans officiating.
Interment will follow at the
Lebanon Baptist Church
Cemetery.
Ingram Funeral Home is in
charge of the arrangements.
Forsyth County News
March 19, 2004
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GRITS to 1.5 million. Those
records contain valuable
information on about 12 mil
lion immunizations, Dr.
Toomey said.
UnitedHealthcare's
Georgia medical director. Dr.
Catherine Palmier, a pediatri
cian, explained, "As a com
pany, we felt it was our
responsibility to provide the
state with the valuable immu
nization data which we have
so that it is used to the maxi
mum benefit for Georgia's
children. As a pediatrician
and a mother of three, I know
very well the extra workload
that doctors' offices endure,
especially in the summer, try
ing to verify a child's immu
nization history before school
starts in the fall. Parents don't
have all of the records, doc-
unsung heroes who make it all
work, and they are the ones
who make me confident that
we will achieve our goal."
Screven Middle School
Assistant Principal Patty Hill
said Puckett has been an inno
vator. He was one of the main
contributors to the nationally
known "Walk Through Time"
living history project in which
students pick a topic that is a
part of their Indian or Frontier
heritage, research it, write on
it, construct a project on
school grounds, and make oral
presentations to over 3,000
visitors each year.
He also finds entertaining
ways io get students interested
in learning. Through his por
trayal of character Will E.
Read he visits classrooms
throughout the school every
week to congratulate students
who have performed well and
met their reading goals. He
also takes his alter ego to the
airwaves during weekly
broadcasts over the school's
intercom, inviting all students
Robert Henry Johns
Robert Henry Johns, 83. of
Savannah died Tuesday,
March 16,
2004.
He was bom
in Hicksville,
Long Island,
VETERAX
N.Y. on Nov.,
16. 1920. He graduated from
Georgia Tech in 1943 with a
degree in chemical engineer
ing. After graduation he
served in the Army Signal
Corps during World War 11.
He moved to Savannah in
1955 when he went to work
with American Cynamid’s
Pigments Division. He retired
from Cyanamid’s Pigments
Division in 1982 after 38
years of service.
Survivors include wife,
Launa Quattlebaum Johns of
Savannah; son. Robert Henry
Johns Jr. of Cumming; grand
daughter. Joy Johns Heaberlin
of Cumming; great-grand
daughter. Chloe Heaberlin;
brother, Henry Johns Jr. of
Dunn, N.C.; sister. Lillian
Johns of Dunn, N.C.;
Grave side services are
Friday at 1 I a m. in the
Greenwich section of
Bonaventure Cemetery.
Hubert C. Baker Funeral
Home in Savannah is in
charge of the arrangements.
Forsyth Counts News
March 19, 2004
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Hours: Monday by Appt Tues-Sat 10:00 - 6:30 yk
tors end up calling other doc
tors, and bringing people in to
input the flew records; it's all
a very and time
consuming process that can
be very confusing and costly.
Now, UnitedHealtheare is
having an impact on that.
With the success of this effort,
we will be encouraging other
insurers in the state to provide
similar information to GRITS,
Dr. Palmier said that
UnitedHealtheare spent
months sorting hundreds of
thousands of records of
immunization data on chil
dren it insures and formatting
it properly for the upload to
GRITS. The upload took two
days to complete. Future
uploads will move much more
swiftly, she said, now that an
operational system is in place.
recognized as high achievers
to report to the office for a
reward.
Screven County Middle
School Principal Kevin Judy
calls Puckett "a truly caring
person w ho wants the best for
all students. His commitment
to his field of teaching, his
devoted work to improving the
educational process of his stu
dents, and his drive to have all
students succeed is evident in
his day-to-day work."
The others vying for the
top honor were Ashley Burke,
Holsenbeck Elem-entary in
Barrow County; Patricia
Gordon. Fitzgerald High in
Ben Hili'County; Judson B.
Bridges 11. Collins Hill High
in Gwinnett County; Sharon
Dickert, Lowndes Middle in
Lowndes County; Kelly
Flanders, Thomson High in
McDuffie County; Doug
Haydel. Bishop Hall Charter
in Thomas County; Cheryl
Rice, S.L. Mason Elementary
in Valdosta City; Betty Ellis,
Arthur Williams Middle in
Wayne County; and Greg
Bailey, Southeast High School
in Whitfield County.
The Georgia Teacher of the
Year is an educational ambas
sador for all of Georgia's pub
lic schools.
PLANTS som a
to an isolated area in Pike
stores. Customers who recent
ly purchased camellias from
Pike Nurseries can return the
plants to the nursery, he said.
The situation is basically a
waiting game and customers
that have already planted
material should not dig it up,
he said. Pike's obtains less
than 25 percent of its plant
inventory from California and
the nursery only carries one
variety in which the disease
has been detected. The disease
has not yet been found to be in
Georgia, he said.
The first symptom of the
fungus in oaks is bleeding or
oozing of a dark reddish
brown thick sap, according to
the University of California
Extension Serivce. The sypm
tom typically occurs on the
FIRST CALL
FORTHELP
770-781-HELP
(4357)
Emergency help line for
Forsyth County,
o 7“
Michael Chaney, the
Division of Public Health
Immunization Program
Manager, explained that the
mission of the GRITS pro
gram is to streamline the
process of providing immu
nization records to physicians
for Georgia children enrolling
in schools, reduce the inci
dence of over-immunization,
support effective emergency
treatment, and to help deter
mine which children may
need certain shots if there is a
school-wide disease outbreak.
Tom Moss, GRITS pro
gram manager, said he
believes the database now
includes only about 20 per
cent of Georgia children, and
urged other health insurers
operating in Georgia to fol
low United Healthcare s
Sawnee introduces
new way to access
info on accounts
"....In the old days, it was
next to impossible to get infor
mation about how much you
owed a company. You either
had to find your bill and
remember all the payments
you had made or you had to
call the company, wait on hold
for who knows how long and
hope you got someone on the
other end that cared enough to
give you a straight answer. You
might have even used some
other unique approach that a
neighbor told you worked
once for them when they were
in a pinch..." In today’s busy
work environment, this story
gets repeated too many times.
That's not the case for
Sawnee EMC’s members!
Sawnee provides quality cus
tomer service via trained pro
fessionals in its state of the art
Call Center. By constantly
seeking ways to improve the
level of service it provides to
its members, Sawnee sets
itself apart when it comes to
meeting the needs of its mem
bers.
On- March 12. Sawnee
lower portion of the tree
trunks but has been found as
high as 60 feet.
Irvin said he thought the
results of the testing samples
from the other California nurs
eries would be revealed by
next week.
Forsyth CountvNews
J Your "Hometown Paper " Since 1908 J
I SPS 205-540
Veterans Memorial BlviL, Cumming. (Georgia 30040
Phone:77o-887-3126 Fax:77o-889-6017
Internet Address: www.forsythnews.com
Publisher DENNIS STOCKTON
/F/neuvA General Manager NORMAN BAGGS
nuiwul/-) Edi,w TOM SPIGOLON
XJnSJK/ Advertising Director MARTI BARNES
Circulation Director PHIL JONES
MEMBFJt
Published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday by the Forsyth County News
Company. Veterans Memorial Blvd.. Cumming. Ga. Second Class Postage paid at
Cumming. Ga. and additional offices. Subscription rate for Forsyth County. $52
per year; $35 for six months; other Georgia and out of state subscriptions are SBS
per year. Any unused portion of a subscription balance will be gladly refunded
However, all refunds due the subscriber are subject to a processing fee. which will
be automatically deducted from the subscription balance refund. Advertising rates
and deadlines available upon request Postmaster: Send address change to Forsyth
County News/P.O Box 210. Cumming. Ga. 30028
A Swartz-Morris Media Inc. publication
Miss your paper? Call 887-3126
We deliver replacement papers within Forsyth County. If your newspaper is not
delivered by 6:30 a.m.. please call the circulation department at 770-887-3126.
Service calls will be taken from 8:00 a m until 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday,
and on Sunday from 9:00 am. until 1:00 p.m. If your call is receiveddunngthe.se
times, a replacement copy will be delivered to your home. Calls received after busi
ness hours will be checked the following business day. and credit will be extended
to your account. Any changes in publication will be announced in preceding issues.
Advertising Deadlines
For Sunday's paper retail and classified display ads are due by noon Thursday
For Wednesday's paper retail and classified display ads are due by 5 p.m. Friday.
For Thursday's paper retail and classified display ads are due by noon Monday.
For Friday’s paper retail and classified display ads are due by noon Tuesday.
Classified Line Advertising Deadlines
(Help wanted, garage sales, rentals, etc.)
For Sunday's paper classified line ads are due by noon Friday.
For Wednesday’s paper classified line ads are due by noon Monday.
For Thursday's paper classified line ads are due by noon Tuesday.
For Friday's paper classified line ads are due by noon Wednesday.
Legal advertising is due by Friday noon and tuns only in Wednesday's paper.
example. The system can
load 370,000 records at one
time, so the size of the files
aren t an issue, said Moss.
UnitedHealthcare's input is
exactly the type of public
private partnership that
Georgians expect and
deserve.
Dr. Toomey added,
"The Division of Public
Health will continue to
work closely with
UnitedHealtheare and other
providers to enhance the
state s public health system
to protect and improve the
health of all Georgians."
Administrators of HMOs,
PPOs, individual physi
cians and others may go to
www. ph. dhr. state, ga.us/pro
grams/grits/ to find out
more about GRITS.
EMC introduced a new and
exciting feature to its Web site
options called "Quick View".
"Quick View" allows a Sawnee
member to access the key fea
tures of their account safely
and securely over the internet.
"The key was to keep it simple
and not ask the member to
have to enroll in some pro
gram but just be able to see
their data." stated Carl
Badgett, Vice President of
Information Services at
Sawnee. "Quick View" pro
vides the user with their cur
rent account balance, the total
account balance including any
arrears, information about col
lection activities that may
apply and other important
data.
Sawnee recognizes that the
web is becoming an increas
ingly important tool in every
one's daily life and wants to
be a leader in bringing effi
cient and effective web based
tools to its members. "Quick
View" can be found in the
"My Account" section of
Sawnee's web site.
“This is an extremely seri
ous disease,” said Irvin. “This
has the potential to be more
devastating than Chestnut
Blight, which wiped out virtu
ally all stands of native
American chestnut in the
19305," he said.