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Terri Bartlett and Marsha Ingle know: Azle area volunteers, students and senior citizens are already winners.
Now it’s up to a national committee to decide if Good NEWS for a Better LIFE will win a top prize given by Premier Cares.
The national competition receives more than 35,000 applications annually, Bartlett said last week. The next prize is down to five competitors, with the Azle initiative competing with programs from Boston, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati. “It’s a pretty big win,” Ingle said Wednesday. “We’re excited.”
Good NEWS is a volunteer program that matches volunteers to senior citizens who need some help remaining independent in their homes. It has operated in Azle and Springtown for about 10 years, serving seniors in Parker, Tarrant and Wise counties. Good NEWS volunteers provide rides to doctor appointments or the grocery store, and try to help seniors avoid isolation. The volunteers have collected donated pet food and distributed it to seniors. One volunteer even dug up a septic tank to locate a problem prior to calling in a professional simply because the homeowner could afford to pay for the digging or the repair, but not both. It’s hard to describe what Good NEWS does for seniors in the area, and it would be impossible to replace the benefits its volunteers provide. The hospital also organizes its efforts for seniors, offering social and exercise activities at the Senior Citizens Center. Hospital staff also provide health screenings at the center. About two years ago, the two combined their programs. Premier Cares, the awards organization, sent a team of videographers to Azle last Friday, Nov. 13, to record the two programs in action. The community added a photo opportunity of its own with a pep rally at Azle Memorial Library shortly before noon. Mayor Russ Braudis read a proclamation lauding the two programs for helping improve the quality of life for area senior citizens. The high school band, pep squad and Buzzy provided entertainment and Good NEWS and hospital auxiliary volunteers, plus just plain folks cheered as Bartlett and Ingle (and the cameramen) listened to the Mayor’s proclamation. The videotape will become part of a package to describe the five finalists’ programs to Premier Cares, which rewards entities that improve health care in communities. The camera crew followed Bartlett and Ingle around from 8:30 a.m. to about 4 p.m., Bartlett said. The two Azle women were interviewed on tape, along with some of the seniors who are active in Good NEWS or at the senior center, she said. “They asked me why I do this,” Bartlett said. “I told them it’s not what I do, it’s who I am.” Bartlett recounted her memories of her own grandmother and how important she was to Bartlett and her four sisters. “There were five of us, and she always said ‘Is this the love of my life?” when one of us called. No matter which one of us it was. We were all the loves of her life. “My grandmother was the only person in my life who thought we were all perfect,” she said. Ingle’s answer to the interview question was more “global” at first. “The mission of the hospital is to improve the health of the people we serve. And we don’t just serve the people who are in the hospital,” she said. “It’s not just me. It’s truly a collaborative effort of many of us, to improve every aspect of their lives.” Ingle said she was moved as she listened to seniors answer the camer crew’s questions about what senior center and Good NEWS programs have meant to them. “They have enriched my life,” she said Wednesday. “I only hope I have enriched theirs as well.” Ingle walks with a group of the senior center denizens as well as teaching line dancing and other exercise programs at the center. “We say we walk for five minutes and then talk for five,” she said with a chuckle, adding that her older friends have described games for her children “from before TV” and some of them have started teaching her how to sew. “They’re going to whip me into shape eventually,” she said. Braudis’s voice faltered just a little as he read his proclamation to the gathering. “You have made us extremely proud that you are members of this community.” |
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