CONTEST WINNER: Jenyfer Ojodeagua, an eighth grade student at Summerour Middle School in Norcross, has won first place in the Atlantic Institute Art and Essay contest, held recently at Clayton State College. Her artwork interpreting the theme, “Kindness Without Borders: Open Eyes, Open Hearts in our Global Village,” is shown here. The goal of this contest was to bridge cultures to create a “better world of peace and understanding” and to “develop public awareness for diverse cultures, beliefs, traditions and opinions.” The grand prize for this award is a paid trip to Istanbul, Turkey for both her and her teacher. Though the trip itself is paid for, the airfare and administrative fees are not. Jenyfer and her teacher, Mrs. Lisa Guilford, need funds to help pay for their roundtrip ticket, travel insurance, and administration fees. To help those two those get to Turkey, a crowdfunding site has been set-up. Those wanting to donate should visit http://www.gofundme.com/Jenyfer.
Issue 14.95 | March 6, 2015
IN THIS EDITION
TODAY’S FOCUS: Weight-Loss Options Improve with New Medical Center Program
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Locally-Made Tutus Mean “Silly Fun” for Hospitalized Children
ANOTHER VIEW: Enjoyed Watching Visiting Power Crews Having Breakfast
UPCOMING: Gwinnett Water Consumption Drops Significantly
NOTABLE: Two PCOM Students Win Honors; BBB Warns of Tax Frauds
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Jesse Mercer Prominent in Early Affairs of Baptists in Georgia
TODAY’S QUOTE: George Burns on What Was the Secret of a Good Sermon
MYSTERY PHOTO: Just Where Was That Rusty Mill?
LAGNIAPPE: Tic-Tac-Toe Table Awaiting
TODAY’S FOCUS
Options increase for weight-loss patients at Gwinnett Medical Center
DULUTH, Ga. — Gwinnett Medical Center (GMC) recently announced that Eileen Javellana, MD, has joined the Center for Weight Management. In addition, weight management services have also broadened to include non-surgical patient options.
As of 2013, Georgia was ranked eighth for highest adult obesity rate in the nation, according to The State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America. Georgia’s adult obesity rate is 30.3 percent, up from 24.5 percent in 2004 and from 10.1 percent in 1990, according to the study.
Debra Proulx, GMC’s director of the Center for Weight Management, says: “Providing the community the tools they need to be healthy is the premise for program growth. We hope patients find this new solution relevant and effective.”
The program includes:
- Weekly support classes with licensed professionals;
- Low calorie meal products; and
- Personalized weight loss treatment plans.
Javellana
Dr. Javellana believes: “Medical weight management provides another health resource. Because weight loss is extremely complex for an overweight patient since they might face multiple health issues, a low calorie meal plan with physician-oversight can be ideal.”
Dr. Javellana earned her medical degree at Wayne State University and completed residency training in Internal Medicine at William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan. Dr. Javellana is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine. She is a member of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians, the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians. She will see patients in Duluth.
Rebecca Gomez is a staff psychologist with Gwinnett Medical Center’s Center for Weight Management. At intake, she conducts a screening to understand how to provide patient support and to pro-actively identify patterns of behavior that might need addressing.
Gomez
Ms. Gomez says: “There are three phases to the weight management program: reducing, adapting and sustaining. In the reducing phase, patients follow a controlled meal replacement program. I work with a dietician and fitness specialist and together we facilitate classes on a rotational basis designed to introduce healthy eating habits. This phase can last 12 weeks and can be extended as needed.”
She continued: “In the Adapting phase, we reintroduce foods gradually. This 4-week phase begins when patients are approaching or have met their weight loss goals. Throughout the entire program, patients meet with the physician and nurse.
Once patients enter the Sustaining phase, they can continue attending support classes and reach out to facilitators for support.”
* * * * *
About Gwinnett Medical Center
Gwinnett Medical Center is a nationally-recognized, not-for-profit healthcare network with acute-care hospitals in Lawrenceville and Duluth. In 2014, Gwinnett Medical Center was recognized by Georgia Trend as the top large hospital in the state. Offering cardiovascular, orthopedic and neuroscience specialty care as well as a full continuum of wellness services, GMC’s 4,800 associates and 800 affiliated physicians serve more than 400,000 patients annually. To learn more about how GMC is transforming healthcare, visit gwinnettmedicalcenter.org.
EEB PERSPECTIVE
Simple tutus bring “silly fun” to hospitalized children
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher, GwinnettForum.com
Tutu-making is big with Barbara Mock of Harbins.
If that sounds unusual, it may be. But in the end, it’s simply bringing “silly fun” to sick children at Egleton Children’s Hospital and Scottish Rite Hospitals, injecting fun into somber situations.
Young girl patients in the hospitals embrace the tutus which Barbara and her friends and acquaintances make. They also provide “superhero capes” for hospitalized boys. In the last three years, more than 4,000 tutus and superhero capes have been delivered to the hospitals from the people Barbara has organized.
Barbara Mock
It all started when Barbara and Bob Mock’s oldest son had a heart defect. “We saw how scary a situation that was, and anything you can do to lighten up helps,” she says.
Barbara’s walking team wanted to “give back” to the community. They called themselves the Tutu Caper team. “It’s grown into something far bigger and better than I could have dreamed, as we got lots of people involved in helping put the outfits together. It is now something like ‘kids helping kids.’ It’s a year-round effort.”
For instance, last Tuesday night, the student council members at Mountain View High School were making tutus. Planned by a student, Amy Lee, the high schoolers raised funds to buy the tulle material, and were working on 50 tutus. A bolt of tulle cost $3 for 100 yards, six inches wide, which can make two and a half tutus. For superhero capes, the cost is slightly higher.
Victoria Mock at Mountain View High School
At North Gwinnett Middle School, the entire sixth grade class, some 700 students, on April 1 will be producing tutus. Spearheaded by the counselor Lindsey Barry, it will be the biggest project yet for Tutu Caper team. Teachers will be trained in advance by the Tutu Caper team. The North Gwinnett High Beta Club and National Honorary Society have been making tutus for several years, and will assist in pre-cutting the tulle material.
Multi-colored tulle material is the standard, anything from hot pink to purple. During Christmas, red and green were the key colors. It’s a no-sew project, except for the waist band, which Tutu Capter team members make. Students essentially have to fold the tulle in half, over the waist bands, something like tying them on.
Students also produce message cards which they attach to the tutus, sending a note to the recipient to cheer them up. The hospitals keep a stock of outfits, tutus and capes, in storage for the children to wear. The children may have chronic heart problems, or cancer, but they enjoy dressing up and being silly. Barbara Mock says: “It’s a true blessing for all involved.”
Jayden and Mekhail Bethea, and Joseph Lopez at Hudgens Center workshop.
In her zeal in this project, Barbara has enlisted all sorts of groups, all through word of mouth, to help produce the outfits.
The organizations involved with this project amazes the eye. It includes Georgia Tech sororities, various schools teams, Girl Scout troops, American Legion Ladies, and even ladies’ bunco groups. “It ballooned without help,” Barbara Mock says.
Barbara comes by this naturally, since she had made wedding dresses for years, and also works with ballets, including the Gwinnett and Gainesville Ballet, in costuming. She has also taught costuming a Brenau University for dance majors. She’s originally from Ohio, and came to Gwinnett in 1978, from Boston, Mass., where she graduated from the Art Institute of Boston. She married Bob Mock in 1966.
He is a retired senior judge of the State Court of Gwinnett. The couple have five boys, and six grandchildren, including five girls.
- See http://tutucapers.vpweb.com for more information.
* * * * *
BLATANT COMMERCIAL MESSAGE: We admit to a wee bit of promotion here. Those interested in Gwinnett history might want to know this. We have only 25 copies of the second edition of our 850 page history book, Gwinnett: A Little Above Atlanta, remaining. There will be no third edition. And we have only ONE copy of the hardback edition in stock. Therefore, if you are interested in obtaining a copy of the book, or know a friend who is interested, call 770-840-1003 soon. We’ll set aside the one hardback to the first person who calls.
ANOTHER VIEW
Enjoying watching power crews having their breakfast
By Debra Houston, contributing columnist
Let’s say you’re crazy-hungry. You pull into your favorite country restaurant — and horrors — find a dozen utility trucks. Great. A convoy has come to dine. You figure you’ll wait an hour to be seated, but the wide porch with the rocking chairs is empty. Maybe you won’t sit in subfreezing cold listening for your name to be called after all.
Houston
You wait five minutes for a two-seater. At a long table in front of you, strapping young men of every complexion beam with appreciation at harried servers who haul out their food. In fact, the room is filled with strapping young men. Great. You figure it’ll take an hour to get your pancakes. And, by the way, where is your server?
You watch the banquet unfold. You learn these linemen and tree cutters drove from parts unknown to restore power to North Georgia after the recent ice storm. They lean back and talk, elbow one another with quick quips, and fill the room with laughter. Others stand in the aisles shaking hands with buddies from other tables. The camaraderie is as thick as the blueberry syrup that accompanies your pancakes. Captivated by the men’s esprit de corps, you note they are a band of brothers, soldiers celebrating the victory of battle –- if you can call an ice storm a battle.
You recall the time you lost electricity for a few days. You shivered at road’s edge praying a utility truck would show. One came at breakneck speed, and you waved your arms like a distressed refugee. When it stopped, you told the lineman in a pitiful voice, that somehow your neighborhood had been overlooked. You pleaded with him for electricity NOW.
Back at the restaurant, your server drops off the check. With raised blood sugar comes clarity. You feel slightly embarrassed by the memory, but more importantly, your heart fills with gratitude for these heroes of the storm. You wish you were wealthy enough to buy them all a free meal.
At least you come to your senses: the way these men eat, you’d run out of money.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Arbor-Nomics Tree Service
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s sponsor is Arbor-Nomics Tree Service of Norcross. As a full-service tree expert, Arbor-Nomics offers the full range of tree care, from pruning, diagnostics, fertilizing and tree appraisal, to careful removal of limbs or the entire tree. In business since 1980, the company owner, Barry Smith, has a degree in forestry from the University of Kentucky. Customers continually praise the company efforts, such as “roping off limbs when cutting, to protect plants below.” Happy customers continue to return. To learn more, visit www.arbor-nomicstree.com, or call 770-368-0072.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: https://www.gwinnettforum.com/about/sponsors.
FEEDBACK
Rant, rave and send us your opinion
Our policy: We encourage readers to submit feedback (or letters to the editor). Send your thoughts to the editor at elliott@brack.net. We will edit for length and clarity. Make sure to include your name and the city where you live. Submission of a comment grants permission for us to reprint. Please keep your comments to 300 words or less. However, we will consider longer articles (no more than 500 words) for featuring in Today’s Issue as space allows.
UPCOMING
Gwinnett water conservation efforts lead to drop in daily use
Gwinnett’s water conservation efforts have led to a renewal of the county’s designation as a WaterFirst community. Gwinnett was the first agency in the state to join the voluntary partnership with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs in 2003.
Average daily water use in single-family homes in Gwinnett dropped from 214 gallons per day in 2007 to 176 gallons in 2013, thanks to public education, rebates, incentives and a revised rate structure. Gwinnett’s Water Resources department serves 228,927 retail water customers and provides sewer service to 156,130.
Water Resources Director Ron Seibenhener says: “The WaterFirst designation not only recognizes our efforts as a leading environmental steward, it also gives us access to reduced-rate state loans for building and updating our facilities,”
Nearly three dozen cities, counties and water authorities now participate in the WaterFirst program to improve water conservation in Georgia. The new contract, which must be reviewed every five years, will run through 2020. Gwinnett commissioners approved the renewal application on Tuesday.
Water Resources also partners with the EPA Water Sense program, the Georgia EPD WaterSmart program and the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District’s My Drop Counts campaign.
Hog Mountain road to get intersection improvements
Crews will begin realigning Hog Mountain Road at its intersection with Braselton Highway/State Route 124 soon. The 2009 SPLOST program is funding the $634,260 contract that the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners awarded Tuesday to CMES, Inc. of Lilburn, the lowest of 10 bidders.
The intersection improvement project will realign a few hundred feet of roadway and add a left turn lane onto Hog Mountain Road to improve traffic flow. The project also includes sidewalks, curb and gutter and other drainage improvements. Work will be completed by the end of the year.
NOTABLE
Two PCOM students honored at National Health Scholars
Two Georgia Campus—Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (GA-PCOM) students, Nichole Love (DO’17) and Sandra Sheffield (DO’18), have been honored as 2014 National Health Service Corps Scholars (NHSC).
Love, from New Orleans, La., first graduated from Texas Southern University in Houston, Tex., with a Bachelor of Science in environmental health sciences. She then received her Masters of Public Health in behavioral and community health sciences at Louisiana State University in New Orleans before earning her Masters of Biomedical Sciences from GA-PCOM, where she currently studies osteopathic medicine. Love now lives in Atlanta.
Sheffield, who currently resides in Suwanee, is originally from Honduras and has lived in the United States for eight years. She completed her Bachelor of Science at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida, before enrolling at GA-PCOM.
The NHSC is a federal government program that helps bring health care to those who need it most, according to their website. The scholarship program–with a highly competitive application process – assists in paying students’ tuition and other educational costs. Love and Sheffield will also earn stipends in return for a commitment to work at least two years in an underserved community after graduation and completion of primary care residency training. The NHSC has thousands of approved sites located in urban, rural and frontier communities throughout the U.S.
BBB warns: IRS imposters are targeting taxpayers
The Better Business Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service are dedicated to protecting consumers from any type of fraud every day of the year. But tax season brings its own specific type of con artists that you need to be aware of.
Tax season may just be getting started, but tax scammers have been hard at work. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has gotten thousands of complaints about one kind of scammer in particular— IRS imposters.
Here’s how they work: scammers posing as IRS officials call and say you owe taxes.
They threaten to arrest or deport you, revoke your license, or even shut down your business if you don’t pay right away. They may know your Social Security number, or at least the last four digits of it, making you think it really is the IRS calling. They also can rig caller ID to make it look like the call is coming from Washington, DC.
Before you can check out the callers, you’re told to put the money on a prepaid debit card and tell them the number, something no government agency would ask you to do. Once you do it, you find out it was a scam, and the money is gone.
If you owe, or think you owe, federal taxes, call the IRS at 800-829-1040 or go to irs.gov. IRS workers can help you with your payment questions. The IRS doesn’t ask people to pay with prepaid debit cards or wire transfers, and doesn’t ask for credit card numbers over the phone. When the IRS contacts people about unpaid taxes, they usually do it by mail, not by phone.
Report IRS imposter scams to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) online or at 800-366-4484, and to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.
RECOMMENDED READ
An invitation: What books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (100 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. — eeb
GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA TIDBIT
Jesse Mercer prominent in early affairs of Baptists in Georgia
Jesse Mercer was a prominent Baptist pastor, philanthropist, and publisher. He focused much of his efforts toward promoting cooperation among Baptists in antebellum Georgia, particularly for the support of religious benevolence and ministerial education. Mercer University in Macon is named for him.
Mercer was born in Halifax County, N.C. on December 16, 1769, and migrated to Georgia with his family when he was a child. He converted to Christianity in July 1787, and his minister father, Silas Mercer, baptized him into the membership of Phillips Mill Baptist Church in Wilkes County.
Less than a year later, the young Mercer married Sabrina Chivers. After Mercer’s ordination as a Baptist minister in 1789, the Presbyterian pastor John Springer provided him with several years of ministerial education at Springer’s home near Washington, Ga.
Mercer’s first pastorate was at Hutton’s Fork Baptist Church in Wilkes County, where he lived for most of his life. He would eventually pastor seven churches in Greene, Hancock, Oglethorpe, Putnam, and Wilkes counties. Mercer served several of these congregations at the same time, and the average length of his stay at each pastorate was more than 21 years.
Mercer extended his influence as a Baptist minister through his participation in several state and national organizations, denominational and otherwise. As a delegate to Georgia’s constitutional convention in 1798, he helped to defeat a proposal that would have made ministers ineligible to hold public office in Georgia. The convention’s delegates also gave Mercer the responsibility for writing the section of Georgia’s constitution guaranteeing religious liberty to the state’s citizens. Mercer made a run for the state senate in 1816 but was unsuccessful.
Delegates from various churches formed the General Association of Georgia Baptists in 1784, the state’s first Baptist association, and Mercer eventually became one of its most prominent leaders. Mercer served as the organization’s clerk for 21 years and as its moderator for 23 years. He also wrote its history in 1838. When Baptists organized the Georgia Baptist Convention in 1822, Mercer chaired a committee to draft a constitution and became the organization’s first president. He continued to serve as president until his death in 1841. From 1817 to 1835 Mercer also served four times as a delegate to the Triennial Convention, an early national Baptist body.
(To be continued)
MYSTERY PHOTO
Broad expanse
CLUE: Today’s Mystery Photo is a broad expanse of land and water, with one or two landmarks for you to scratch your head about. Figure out where you’ve seen this and you will solve the mystery. Send your idea to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include your hometown.
Seems like Bob Foreman of Grayson was the only one recognizing the recent Mystery Photo. He wrote: “That old grist mill is near Clarksville. It is in bad shape. The wheel is gone. The name of the mill is Pardue or Perdue mill.” He’s right. The photo was snapped by Beverly Lougher of Lawrenceville. Gerald Cagle of Buford didn’t know where the mill was located, but he wrote: “It used to have a wheel that was powered by water. We used to take our corn in a wagon to have it ground at one of these mills. The miller kept part of the meal as a charge for grinding it.” He’s right, EEB says, for his grandfather was a miller.
LAGNIAPPE
Waiting for kids
The brightly painted lines on a table near what will soon be the new Summerour Middle School in Norcross seems just waiting for kids to play tic-tac-toe. There’re also some small rocks for the players to use. How simple! And how much fun the kids can have, even using this table for a possible tic-tac-toe tournament. The simplicity is overwhelming.
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