A recent letter to the editor (quoted below) in our
wonderful weekly county newspaper, The Yancey Times-Journal, written by a
senior friend, reminded me how important is access to emergency health care for
many people, especially retirees, considering buying a home in our mountain
area, far (they feel) from a big city hospital.
“On the Saturday of Craft Fair 2012, my granddaughter spent
too much time in the sun. When we got
home, she became incoherent, unresponsive and had shaking chills. We called 911.
“Yancey EMS and Yancey Rescue Squad responded
immediately. Ems took her to Blue Ridge
Regional Hospital in Spruce Pine where she recovered rapidly with IV
fluids. The quality of care she received
from everyone was second to none, EMS personnel were very friendly and very
competent, and the hospital’s emergency department was likewise.
“We all try to avoid such problems, but it is really
heartening to know that such people are in our community when we need
them. They are a big part of what makes
Burnsville and Yancey County a very special place to live. Thank you, EMS and Rescue Squad for your help
when we needed you.” It was signed by
Peter Stephens and family.
Last week’s blog was about a couple of Burnsville
Bests.
I want anyone who might be entertaining the thought of
having a home in the mountains to know that our Mission Hospital in Asheville
is another important best. It has the
awards and the legion of lives saved to prove it. Mission, by the way, owns Blue Ridge Regional
Hospital in Spruce Pine to which Peter Stephens’ granddaughter was taken.
“Mission Health’s”
website (www.mission-health.org)
lists, under Centers of Excellence:
Children’s Hospital, Women’s Health, Cancer Services, Heart Services,
Neurosciences, Orthopedics, and Trauma Center.
It’s important to
know that Mission’s stroke program just recently received the Stroke Gold Plus
quality achievement award from the American Heart Association (AHA) and
American Stroke Association (ASA) for the third consecutive year. The hospital is consistently ranked by
consumers as one of the best hospitals in the country.
So the world class health care is here. Let’s talk about distances to access it.
When I first started driving the 8.5 miles from Burnsville
to my little country cottage nine years ago, I thought, “What have I done
buying a place so far out in the country!”
The 15 minute drive seemed interminable.
But at some point during the next couple of months, I stopped
noticing. I think I’ve figured out why.
For the same reason driving someplace new to us seems so
much longer than driving back, we notice each element in the landscape that
we’ve not seen before - each antique farmhouse and barn and scenic wonder. Once they become familiar to us, however, they
no longer register on a conscious level.
With our thoughts on other things then, we’re not aware of time. So before we know it, we’re there!
Visitors experience that when they first drive around the
countryside. At home, they may drive 50
minutes to work each day, but are never aware of the time it takes. Yet when they visit here without the familiar
environment of people, buildings, and traffic (and noise and dirty air) that
are all tuned out of their awareness back home, a distance that’s a fraction of
what they drive daily seems so far.
So when you come to visit, compare distances and travel
times here with your daily routine at home.
You might be delightfully surprised to find how close we really are to
Asheville, Boone, Blowing Rock, and medical care! And you can rest as easy as all the other
people who made the decision to move to the mountains, knowing that some of the
best medical care in the country is close at hand.
Super Flea – Another Best
The Yancey Humane Society Big Fall Flea, the main fundraiser
for our wonderful animal shelter, is 20-something years old, and Laurie Bohn
has been the major domo behind it for the last 10.
She has tried to retire from doing the flea, but nobody has
stepped in to fill her shoes. After all,
it takes an enormous amount of time planning, soliciting donations, collecting,
sorting, transporting, setting up tables and shelving for 12 departments,
pricing, displaying the goods, scheduling, organizing, and troubleshooting
through the entire operation. It could
easily be compared to starting a business
– a small department store with 50-100 volunteers in this case - running it for four months, then
closing it down and cleaning up the space.
While most retirees who come from Florida to summer in the
mountains come to relax and play, Laurie and many of her army of volunteers
spend their mountain “vacations” working tirelessly producing the flea.
So once again their work is about to culminate in the
biggest and best indoor flea market in at least Western NC when super flea
opens both sets of doors September 21st at 8am to the thousands of
people who will come from near and far.
Thanks to them and the generosity of Yancey County residents, there will
be the usual bargains of furniture, clothing, household goods, holiday
decorations and gifts, books, music, electronics, appliances, outdoor
equipment, sports equipment, toys, and everything imaginable.
And in the waning days of September, after the storefronts
are turned back into empty spaces, and the animal shelter has been funded for
another year, Laurie Bohn & Company can finally begin what’s left of their
well-deserved summer vacations.
Weekend events
“Between the Tackles,” an original play – a comedy -
by Burnsville’s Britt Kaufmann and Stephanie Poling, has its world premiere at
our historic community theater, Parkway Playhouse, Sep. 22 and runs
Thursday-Saturdays through Oct. 5. There
is a matinee Sunday Sep. 23 at 5pm.
Reserve at 818 682-4285 or at www.parkwayplayhouse.com.
“Glass in the Mountains,” a weekend long 50th
anniversary celebration of the Studio Glass Movement, will include studio tours
and gallery exhibits of 50 of the world’s finest glass artists all residents of
Yancey and Mitchell Counties. See www.glassinthemountains.com for
details.
“8th Annual Bakersville Creek Walk Arts
Festival” Sep. 22, www.creekwalkfestival.com
Watch for…
“Music in the Mountains Folk Festival” Sep. 29 at the
Town Center, details at Toe River Arts Council (TRAC), 828 682-7215
“Old Timey Days and parade” Sep. 29 on Town Square
Come and enjoy the fun!
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