About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 2020)
Experience some Christmas magic at these light displays in Hall County. ufe, 2B West Hall High community football coach using her background to make football possible for everyone. SPORTS, 1B Midweek Edition - DECEMBER 23-24,2020 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Honestly Local EMS, long-care staff start vaccines aims to finish 1st round of doses by end of year Health system BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com Nearly 1,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered to Northeast Georgia Health System employees as of Monday, Dec. 21, and Hall County EMS work ers started getting vaccinated at the Chicopee Woods Agricultural Center. The health system received nearly 5,000 Pfizer vaccine doses Thursday, Dec. 17, and the first seven NGHS health care work ers got the vaccine at Gaines ville’s Northeast Georgia Medical Center. NGHS spokesman Sean Couch said nearly 1,000 first doses were administered by the end of Mon day with the hope to have the rest of the vaccine shipment adminis tered by the end of December. Couch said they are expecting another Pfizer shipment and the first Moderna shipment by the end of the month, though they do not know how many doses will come. NGHS reported 276 confirmed COVID-19 positive patients Tues day, Dec. 22, with another 48 patients awaiting test results. District 2 Public Health received 975 doses last week, and EMS employees began getting the vaccine by appointment Tuesday, Dec. 22, at the Chicopee Woods Agricultural Center on Calvary Church Road. Hall County Emergency Man agement Agency Director Casey Ramsey said Tuesday, Dec. 22, that some 50 members of Hall County Fire Services received a dose between the two vaccination days. The Georgia Department of Public Health announced Monday a vaccine dashboard to track the shipment and allocation of vac cines as well as doses adminis tered. DPH spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said the department will list vaccine distributors on its website. ■ Please see VACCINE, 5A Pregnant with COVID-19 Elachee head of education Nurse overcomes challenges in order to continue helping patients to retire after BY KELSEY P0D0 kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com Tori Wiley, a licensed practical nurse with Northeast Georgia Physicians Group, found out she was pregnant with her third child in mid-April. Around 10 days later, Wiley said she tested positive for COVID-19. Wiley said, at the time, she primarily worked a few days at the Interventional Pain Medi cine office in Braselton, then would help out with the COVID-19 triage line, which entailed answering calls from those wanting to get tested for the virus. The nurse said she decided to receive a COVID-19 test after experiencing allergy-like symptoms and a headache. “That (mild symptoms) lasted two to three days, and it dramatically worsened,” Wiley said. “But then, I woke up one day, and it improved just as dramatically as it came.” Early into the pandemic, Wiley said she couldn’t find any information about the effects of COVID-19 on a pregnancy. She stayed in regular contact with her OB-GYN, who recom mended quarantining and treating her fever. Wiley said because of her physician’s support, she wasn’t fearful for her child. “I didn’t think too much about it,” she said. “If you don’t know, you can either speculate or wait and see.” After 11 days, Wiley said she recovered from COVID-19 and was able to return to work in May, which happened to be the day when in-person patient visits started to return. While working as a nurse, Wiley said her office conducted telehealth visits from March until the end of April. Week by week, she said they slowly and cautiously began to transition back to a normal schedule. During the spring, Wiley said NGPG’s Interventional Pain Medi cine offices allotted an hour between patient visits to thoroughly clean the exam and pro cedure rooms. They also took precautions like limiting patients to one nurse and having people sit in their cars instead of the waiting rooms. ■ Please see WILEY, 9A I Inside NGMC resident physician reflects on the pandemic as numbers rise locally, 5A SCOn ROGERS I The Times Tori Wiley, a licensed practical nurse with Northeast Georgia Physicians Group, recovered from COVID-19 while she was both pregnant and taking care of patients with chronic pain. Hometown heroes COVID-19 has been hard on many, but for these frontline health care workers, its effects are an everyday reality. Over the next two weeks, we share the stories of a few of those who have risen to the occasion and done their jobs well in the face of unmatched pressure professionally and sometimes personally. We need heroes in this battle, and through their dedication, they have shown us what that looks like. We worked with Northeast Georgia Health System to identify those we are profiling. If you have a story about a frontline health care worker who has made a difference, please submit your story to news@gainesvilletimes.com. Times holiday closings The offices of The Times will close at noon on Dec. 24 and reopen at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 28. The Times will have an e-paper on Christmas Eve. The Weekend edition of The Times will be posted as an e-paper on Christmas Day, with normal mail delivery of the print edition. Check www.gainesvilletimes.com or The Times app for breaking news throughout the holidays. nearly 30 years BY KELSEY P0D0 kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com Most who have worked alongside Peter Gor don, education director of Elachee Nature Sci ence Center, are familiar with the phrase, “We can make it work.” “That’s a Peter Gordon direct quote,” said Andrea Timpone, executive director of Elachee. “And he usually could, whether it was reining in volunteers or developing programs. ” After 29 years of working at Elachee, Gordon has decided to retire at the end of December. RK Whitehead, who has been actively involved with the nonprofit since 2001, said over the past two decades he has watched Gordon grow the organization’s educational influence. “What’s truly amazing is you think of the number of children whose nature education has been influenced by his work,” he said. “That’s a true lasting legacy.” When Gordon joined Elachee’s team in the ■ Please see GORDON, 4A 100-unit S. Hall subdivision gets first approval BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com The application for a 100-unit subdivision in South Hall was recommended for approval by the Hall County Planning Commission at a meeting Monday, Dec. 21. Aspen Holdings Atlanta was asking to rezone roughly 38.45 acres for a 100-lot single fam ily residential subdivision on the south side of Swansey Road. Brian Rochester of Rochester and Associates spoke to the commission for the applicant say ing homes in the area would be in the $300,000- 400,000 price range. Rochester said the developer would agree to the county’s request to improve roughly a half- mile of Swansey Road. “We’re still in keeping with a lot of what the ■ Please see PLANNING, 3A DEATHS 8A Norma Aguila, 73 Brenda Arrowood, 73 Billie Ash, 86 Susie Ausburn, 96 Betty Batson, 82 William Beahan, 67 Maria Becker, 63 Lee Bentley, 67 John Burchell Jr., 51 Marie Carlisle, 85 Rebecca Carney, 42 Harry Clark Sr., 87 Mark Cordell, 73 Jack Costello Mary Couch, 88 William Dodson, 62 Henry Dumas, 89 Lamar Elder Michael Galvin, 76 Annitta Gilleland, 58 Rosalie Hammock, 75 Daniel Hankins, 33 Talmon Harber Sr., 90 Gene Hewell, 71 Patricia Hill, 69 Garlon Hosch, 77 William Jones, 82 Linda Kelley, 56 Michael Kelley Jr., 49 Diane King, 67 Nina Layne 78 Luong Le, 72 Woody Lowe Jr., 73 Robert McEver, 94 Patricia Mize, 76 Donald Neilan, 67 Dorothy Nix, 72 Luis Palacios, 75 Jean Payne, 91 Tommy Phillips, 54 G.L. Presgraves, 91 B.L. Pressley, 82 Martha Ratterree, 56 Lyon Robnett, 80 Lottie Skelton, 94 „ Rondal Westmoreland, 73 Carson Wood, 93 40901 06835 8 We will make it through this, and the strength of hope will shine brightly. EH NORTHSIDE HOSPITAL ■ I ■ ■ ■
