Category: St. Clair Business

Hazelwood’s Greenhouses & Nursery

A quarter century
of growing nature’s
beauty in St. Clair

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Susan Wall

John Hazelwood squinted as a streak of sunlight parted cloudy skies above, accentuating the creases in his face – the unmistakable signature of a man whose earned them in a lifetime spent outdoors.

It is outside at Hazelwood’s Greenhouses and Nursery where he feels comfortable, fulfilled, surrounded by the flowers, plants, shrubs and trees he has grown. And all the while, he has nurtured a business others can enjoy, too.

For more than a quarter of a century, Hazelwood has been doing what came natural to him – digging in the dirt, planting a seed and watching his creations grow. He grew up on a nearby farm of his family’s, and his chores including gardening. Was he always interested in growing? Not necessarily. “My daddy took an interest in me growing things,” Hazelwood mused. “I had seven brothers and two sisters. He made sure we had plenty of work to do.”

The farm where he once labored as a boy has now become growing fields for the business he built a greenhouse at a time.

Atop a hillside in Pell City, almost hidden from view of passersby, is Hazelwood’s, the business that has become a tradition around these parts. His colorful handiwork at Mt. Zion Church is a hint you’re getting close. With a chuckle, he calls it his billboard, but it really is a ministry of his.

After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, intending to be an X-ray technician. But after four years, he figured he could pursue his future education on the GI Bill rather than re-enlist for another four years. “I figured out what I liked and what I didn’t like,” and as life has its usual twists and turns, he wound up at Auburn University, majoring in Agribusiness Education instead.

He taught in Lee County and in Odenville and eventually made his way to what is now John Pope Eden Career Technical School. He was principal his last 13 years before retiring in 2001.

Throughout his education career, he dabbled in growing. “I thought I would do a little on the side and raise some ferns,” he recalls. He bought an 80 x 25-foot, used tomato greenhouse and grew 400 ferns that year – 1985.

The manager at TG & Y, an old department store in Pell City, told him he would take them all at wholesale, but the deal fell through. He managed to sell them all, though, and people started asking if he could grow other plants. “It started snowballing,” he said.

In a couple of years, he bought another used tomato greenhouse, then another, and the business just kept coming…and growing.

In the early 1990s, he hired Harold Fairchilds, who was in the high school cooperative program. That was 25 years ago. He has been with Hazelwood ever since. So has Harold’s sister, Becky. Gayla, another sister, started a couple of years after that.

The Fairchilds siblings make up most of Hazelwood’s greenhouses and nursery ‘family,’ and he credits them significantly with the business’ success. “I can’t replace those three,” said Hazelwood. “I’d have to close up. I don’t know how I’d do it.”

The Fairchilds moved to Pell City from Missouri and a farming background, according to Becky. “At the time, it was a job. I didn’t know I would fall in love with it.”

The same holds true for Harold. “I guess I’m just comfortable here. I like being outside doing something I enjoy daily.”

And Gayla’s assessment isn’t far from her brother’s and sister’s. “Obviously, I love it, or I wouldn’t keep doing it,” she said. “I like the outdoors. I love flowers, and I love color.” It was a perfect match for her family and for Hazelwood’s. “It was the closest we could get to farming,” she said.

Harold clarified: “It’s farming in pots.”

Changing with times

Over the years, as the Hazelwood hillside landscape changed – more greenhouses and cold frame houses and rows and rows of plants, flowers and trees – the business has changed as well. Choices grew quickly. “There are so many new plants,” Hazelwood said. “There are hundreds of new varieties every year. There are new colors, new everything. There are a couple of thousand petunias.”

Where people used to prune hedges, they now want landscape that is low or no maintenance. They pick dwarf plants. “They just don’t have time like they used to.”

But fortunately, he added, “people still like to plant trees, shrubs and flowers.” And their one constant is Hazelwood’s.

As for competition from big box stores, “we just decided to do a better job, have more quality plants at a good price and try to keep customers happy and satisfied.”

You’ll get no argument there from John and Helen Golden. They’ve been shopping at Hazelwood’s from nearly the beginning. “We’ve been buying plants here for our garden for years and years,” Golden recalls. Their favorite? “Roses,” they say, almost in unison, much like the way they talk about their shared experience at Hazelwood’s.

It’s like family serving family. It’s a trust factor, an ever ready smile and a helping hand, and one would be hard-pressed to replicate the chemistry they have with each other and with their customers. “They have good plants, and they are good people,” Golden said. “Becky is really good.”

Becky is easy to spot. She is always moving, whether it’s on foot or in a golf cart. You’ll see her toting a bag of potting soil, a plant or a cartful of essentials for the garden, all the while greeting customers with a deep South charm that belies her Missouri roots. Her attentiveness to customer service is unmistakable.

Gayla is much the same way, chattering away to customers as she creates beautiful container gardens. “I’m happiest when I’m creating,” she says. Even a work in progress seems to be good enough to buy. Her work table sign warns customers: “Please do not take plants off the table.” They seem to snatch them up as if they were a finished product, and the perfectionist in Gayla isn’t about to let them go too early.

Down in the lower part of the property, you’ll find Harold watering and watching over plants, trees and shrubs as if they were his children. “We just had a handful of shrubs when I started,” he says. Now they stretch as far as the eye can see on the property. “If you don’t like the heat, this is not the job for you. If you don’t like to get dirty, this isn’t the job for you,” he says. As for him, it’s definitely the job he loves. “I guess I’m just comfortable.”

In addition to Hazelwood’s extended family, his daughters, Shelly Martin and Kelly Staples, grew up working at the nursery. Shelly even pursued a career in landscape design after graduation from Auburn and does design work in Birmingham communities like Liberty Park as well as Pell City and surrounding areas.

Hazelwood does some landscape design work himself and is quick to offer advice to customers when needed. “Fall is the time to do landscaping,” he says. Like the Goldens, he has his favorites, too: Podacarpus for shrub; any variety of begonias for bloom; and “the old Magnolia” for a tree.

As Hazelwood looks around at the bustle of activity on this spring afternoon, recounting the journey that led him to a thriving business, he notes, “It’s something that just kind of happened. I didn’t intend to do it at all. It just grew out of starting something. I’ve been blessed. The Lord had something to do with it.”

Features

A new generation

Cooperative effort key to training skilled labor force

Story by Graham Hadley
Photos by Michael Callahan and Graham Hadley

In this technological and professional age, it is easy for students — and parents and teachers — to focus heavily on high-profile skills involving computers, programming, electronics and web design or to place students on narrow education tracks with the ultimate goal of receiving at least a four-year college degree.

But as the baby-boomer generation retires, so will a large portion of the industrial- and construction-skilled workforce.

And that poses a huge problem, not just for Alabama, but for the rest of the United States as well.

It’s a problem business owners, working in conjunction with educators in Alabama at the high school and post-secondary levels, are hoping to reverse — and to do so in such a way that helps retain students in school and make sure they have a solid foundation to succeed after graduation.

Changing workforce needs

Pell City’s Garrison Steel owner John Garrison speculates his is the last generation of workers trained by previous masters in such essential skills as welding, fitting, plumbing, electrical work and similar fields.

A combination of factors has steered the country away from the kind of apprentice-style training that Garrison and other construction and industrial leaders say is so essential to key economic sectors of the workforce.

When he was first starting out in the business, training in industrial construction, unions were strong and Americans tended to buy American.

“By and large, the unions to a large degree as far as construction, trained the generation I represent,” Garrison said. That was in the late 1960s.

But soon the unions started to lose traction to non-union businesses.

Today, he estimates the unions — and their highly skilled multi-generational employees — only represent 10, maybe 11 percent of the industrial workforce in the United States.

And then there was the image of working in construction or factories. Before the government, through organizations like OSHA, started putting a premium on safe working conditions, construction and manufacturing jobs were dangerous. Those workers wanted something better and safer for their children and often pushed them to pursue a college education.

Garrison said that attitude, combined with a similar government view with initiatives like No Child Left Behind, have gutted the skilled labor force.

“We are going to run out of skilled workers — they predicted that in the 1990s,” Garrison said. “And we are seeing that now.”

The shortage actually caught something of a break during the recent spate of recessions because the demand for those employees was low.

But as the economy continues to turn the corner, the demand for welders, electricians, plumbers and their skilled coworkers is on the rise.

And companies are finding it increasingly difficult to fill those positions, Garrison said.

Multifaceted Problem;
Multifaceted Solution

At the same time the skilled labor gap was growing, so were dropout rates in public schools. The new one-size-fits-all approach to education was not working for many students — teens who were capable of succeeding but who had no interest in pursuing a four-year degree right out of high school.

The solution to both problems lies in working together, agreed Garrison and Pell City Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael Barber.

“We are working to redefine what a successful student is,” Barber said. “What we have to be is very careful to look at all careers, all professions.

“College is important, but there are students who don’t want to go to a four-year college. That’s not where their talent and skills are and not where they want to go. But they can still go out into the workforce and make a great living.

“We want to bring comprehensiveness to their educational experiences. Pull back the curtain and let them see what is out there,” he said.

To do that, the high school, businesses like Garrison Steel and Goodgame Company, and community colleges like Jefferson State are working hand-in-hand to give exactly those students the job experience, the training and exposure to the real-world work environment to put them on the path to success.

What started with industry-backed programs, like the construction-focused Go Build Alabama, has expanded exponentially to include a wide variety of needed skill sets. Students can start earning certification and training toward jobs in everything from medicine — certified nursing assistants and pharmacy assistants — to police and firefighters through the Bridge School and other programs while still in high school.

Students on the construction side of things are able to dual enroll at Jefferson State and other colleges and work on-the-job at companies like Garrison Steel and Goodgame Company. They can begin receiving accreditation with the National Center for Construction Education and Research — the industry performance standard for workers in building-related fields.

“NCCER was developed in the mid 1990s for construction only. … Over 79 trades are covered — things like welding, crane operation, plumbing,” Garrison said. Students who graduate high school with some of that certification in place, proving they have taken the core curriculum needed for that skill, are much more likely to land a well-paying job right out of school.

“If I see a student has some NCCER and says they have been through the core curriculum, now we have the door cracked open. We have a student who knows about our industry. That gives them a big leg up,” he said.

That training certification is nationally, and in some cases internationally, recognized.

“They might work in Alabama, West Texas, Oklahoma — anywhere in the U.S. — or some place like Dubai,” Garrison said.

A Two-Way Street

Students who take part in the training, who go to the job sites, are not only gaining invaluable training and experience for themselves — the idea is contagious as they share what they have seen with other students, said PCHS Principal Dr. Tony Dowdy.

“I have seen our students go out to these work places and bring that work mentality back to their high school. Before this, we had students who might not have been able to finish with a diploma. Seeing the workplace requirements, they want that diploma so they can go back and get hired at those places they visited or trained at.

“I have heard conversations between students, students telling other students that poor performance won’t cut it at places like Goodgame and Garrison or the Fire Department,” he said.

Pell City High School has gradually been phasing in this new approach to education over the past few years, said Dr. Kim Williams, system curriculum coordinator.

“We wanted to have a consistency in message. We took students to the steam plant in Wilsonville two or three years ago. That was our first big move in workforce development. We make sure we have something every quarter for the students that won’t let go of that. We are staying with this message,” she said.

Reinforcing that, Williams has been appointed to the Pell City Industrial Development Board.

“Three years ago, the school system joined the EDC (St. Clair Economic Development Council). We needed to be sitting at that table. That has allowed us to be part of what is going on and to look at trends in hiring needs,” Barber said.

Everyone came back from that first trip excited, and the ball has never stopped rolling since.

“We have done an exceptional job of identifying students who want to be in construction or welding. Getting them together in a classroom and seeing them feed off each other’s enthusiasm in a positive way, that, as their teacher, has been very cool,” said Brittany Beasley, an agriscience teacher at PCHS.

As students gain valuable work experience and skills, so do their mentors. They can actually earn teaching certificates by training students in their respective specialties.

“Through the Alabama Department of Education, there is a mentoring program where the professionals can earn certification as teachers. … They have to complete a year-long program, then they can earn their certification,” Williams said.

Already, Pell City Fire Chief Mike Burdett and firefighter Jeff Parrish have completed their certifications. “And we have two more on track to earn theirs,” she said.

Two police officers have received training on their certification, something that Principal Dowdy pointed out is available to any skilled field, “electrician, HVAC, etc. It’s another way to get skilled trainers into the classroom.”

“The advantage is, they bring real-life experience to the table. They don’t have to come in and sell themselves. They capture the attention of the students,” Williams added.

For the employers, it means ready-made workers already familiar with their jobs and with the work ethic that is expected of them. Garrison pointed out he has two students, Matthew Gunter McCrory and Karl David Graves, who graduated in 2015, working for his company. And they are following in the footsteps of other PCHS grads at Garrison Steel.

“These young guys can turn out to be very desirable employees because of the work ethic they learned,” he said.

Win-win Situation
is Just the Beginning

The program is too new for there to be hard numbers, but Williams says the school system has definitely started to see positive results, from more students entering the workplace to a decrease in dropouts.

“There is a large number of students who are positively placed, employed in an industry or in construction in fields like welding. Because of what I teach, I tend to stay in touch with my old students — it is easier to do in these types of classes. We have a vested interest in our students after graduation,” Beasley said, adding that it helps them keep track of workforce demands and which businesses are needing specific skills filled.

Though she is an agriscience teacher, she saw these programs as a way for “us to stay relevant. I now teach welding, intro to metal fabrication, intro to MIG welding, inert gas and flux cored arc welding” in addition to more traditional agricultural classes. That means her students can not only work as farmers, they can also find jobs repairing farm and other heavy equipment.

And while many students are taking advantage of the new opportunities afforded them, just as many students are still on track for four-year degrees.

“We still have the same number of students receiving scholarships, the same number of students going on to four-year degrees, but we have a lot of students going into the workforce, too,” Barber said.

The school system has hired a workforce coordinator, Danielle Pope, whose job it is to communicate with local businesses and industries about their needs.

“Then, during the students’ senior year, she matches students with employers,” Williams said.

“It’s about making the school system relevant to the community beyond education. We are asking what are the needs of the community and how can we tailor our program to meet those needs,” Barber said.

Features

Coyote Drive-In

Coming attractions: Drive-in, miniature golf heading to Leeds area

Story by Graham Hadley and Carol Pappas
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.
Artwork from Coyote Drive-In

If you’re old enough to remember movie nights under the stars with plenty of popcorn devoured in the backseat of your parents’ car, prepare to reimagine those times as the Shops of Grand River in Leeds recreates the classic drive-in with plenty of new twists.

The four-screen theater complex aims its sights on being a recreational experience the entire family can enjoy — from the moment the gates open to the end credits of the last double-feature movie.

“We have been working with Christine Szalay, general manager for the Shops of Grand River, for about a year and a half — all the stars aligned and we are going to make it happen,” said Steve Wynn, chief operating officer for Coyote Drive-Ins. Wynn notes the company already has a successful, five-screen version in Forth Worth, Texas, which has been in operation since 2013.

The Leeds edition will have a restaurant with a full kitchen, a pizza bar where patrons can watch the pizza-making process from beginning to end, and a bar that serves beer, wine and margaritas. The restaurant will have air-conditioned indoor and outdoor seating and sits next to a controlled-entry, fenced playground. Parents can keep an eye on kids playing while dining with family and friends.

The restaurant’s pavilion will occupy about a 10,000 square-foot building that was part of the original Shops of Grand River complex but had never been occupied.

“It will be directly adjacent to the north end of the Shops,” Szalay said.

Along with the restaurant and playground, there will also be an 18-hole miniature golf course in the theater area.

As for the drive-in, there are four screens, with movies shown in high definition from top-of-the-line special projectors that are brighter and designed to throw high-quality images farther onto bigger screens. And, Coyote Drive-In shows are double features.

“There is a 30 minute intermission, then you can watch a second movie,” Wynn said.

Directly in front of the screens is a no-car, grassy park-like green space where families can have picnics, play football with friends or even walk with their dog. The drive-in is a pet-friendly theater. There is also outdoor seating for those who want to sit outside their cars and enjoy the movies out in the open.

“A lot of it is about the freedom. You can walk your dog, throw a Frisbee, and nobody is going to tell you to turn off your smart phone,” Wynn said.

Also planned on Fridays and Saturdays are musicians performing live music.

In Fort Worth, “people are coming about 90 minutes before the shows start,” Wynn said. “You can sit out in a lawn chair and watch the movie on a giant screen. It feels like an event – like movies in the park.

“I think it is a social element. This is what we see in Ft. Worth: People are reaching out on social media, saying, ‘We are all going out to a movie at Coyote.’ They come in large groups, bring the dog, move some picnic tables together, run and play, eat, then watch the movies. People like the social aspect,” Wynn said.

“The family crowd is our biggest pizza business. When a family film opens, it always outperforms our other genres, like more adult action-themed movies,” Wynn said. The drive-in is more open than a multiplex theater, but screens are set up to prevent line of sight from one viewing area to another. Even so, some movies will not be shown or will be shown later in the night.

“Some of the movies that are too risqué we will not play because a 5-year-old watching movies on one screen might see a movie on another screen. … In Ft. Worth, we did not play 50 Shades of Grey. It was a very popular movie, but the family-friendly environment is paramount,” Wynn said.

The theater will have room for a total of 1,100 cars.

The $6 million-plus project is expected to draw people to the Leeds area from possibly as far away as other states like Georgia and Tennessee, not to mention the surrounding Leeds community, Birmingham, Trussville, Pell City, Talladega, Anniston and the rest of north and central Alabama.

With the Shops of Grand River right next door, with stores generally open until 9 p.m., already drawing large crowds daily, the two ventures expect there to be lots of crossover business.

“Coyote Drive-Ins have thought of everything. It was one of the reasons when the discussions started we were enamored with their plan. It made such good sense for the Shops of Grand River,” Szalay said.

For the region, it means a recreation and tourism destination point, generating 100 new jobs.

“This makes the Shops of Grand River and Leeds more of a regional destination. People come from a large distance to shop here, and this works on a number of different levels, Szalay said. “We want that close connection to our customers from within the community, and this adds another reason for people who live farther away to come, shop and stay longer.”

Always There

Recognized as one of the top female-owned businesses

Story by Graham Hadley

For the past several years, one Pell City business that prides itself in making life easier for its clients has consistently received top marks in the Alabama business world.

Always There In-Home Care, which specializes in providing medical care and assistance to people in the comfort of their own homes, has been ranked either No. 1 or in the top 10 female-owned businesses in the state.

Dee Harrell, the registered nurse who is the owner and founder of Always There, said she was surprised and “shocked might be the word” when she found out about the rankings.

Harrell said someone else had helped get them the recognition — she did not even know it was happening. Her focus is on the day-to-day operation of the business she built from the ground up.

“My husband said I should be proud, but it almost embarrasses me. I am proud, though. I give all the praise to God because I believe God has stood behind me all these years. I believe I had God’s graces behind me when I started the company,” Harrell said.

That’s not hard to believe given that Always There was born out of personal loss, the need to take care of her family and a strong desire to help others.

“We opened in 1999, just at the end of that year, December, and have been in business over 15 years now,” Harrell said.

“I worked in an adult day center for seniors in Birmingham. There was another company that provided private care and nursing services. I thought I could do a better job. I started doing research on what it would take to start a company. I was a nurse, and everything I read said do what you do best. I loved working with and taking care of seniors, talking with them,” she said.

“I took the plunge and started my company. I had recently lost my husband and had three small children. I thought, naively, that it would be simpler working for myself. I had no idea the commitment I would make. It ended up being twice the time.”

Though Always There may employ more than a thousand people in a year, with a steady payroll of around 300, in those early days, it was just Harrell.

“We were a hit from the beginning. I developed all our forms and procedures from the school of hard knocks. I really wanted to take care of a senior or family member (she stresses many of their patients are young, even children) when someone called — wanted to find the best way to get that done.

“I was the office manager, nurse. I did everything that first year. Then I hired one employee at a time until I was not the only one going out to make all the calls.”

As her business continued to grow, so did its reach. She opened another office in Tuscaloosa, which she later sold. Offices in Pell City and Huntsville soon followed.

After three years, Always There was so successful, she had the option to sell franchises in cities not in direct competition with her existing coverage area. Harrell said she has not really pushed that part of her business, but the option is always there.

“I have not pursued that because I enjoy running all the parts of the business in this area, but someone could buy one and open Always There in another city I am not in,” Harrell said.

And she remains a very hands-on owner involved in the day-to-day operations of her business.

“Most of the employees don’t know I am the owner. I am out there working with them,” Harrell said.

Currently, Always There serves right at 200 families in the Birmingham and Pell City areas and another 50 in Huntsville.

The services range from basic caregivers who do things like help with basic household tasks to skilled nurses who have the ability to go and administer medications, with many of their clients just needing a little extra help.

“Most people age pretty gracefully,” Harrell said. “The majority of people live to a ripe old age peacefully. To stay in their homes, they only need a little help. They can’t bend over to scrub the bathtub, or to go to the store, they may not be driving any more.

“Most of our clients are pretty sharp, pretty independent. They only need that little bit of help once a week or so.”

Other patients need more care, whether it is a child on a ventilator or someone who needs medications administered.

And that care extends not just to the patients, but to their families as well.

“We are there for the whole family. A caregiver can get physically sick if they are not getting sleep and rest, getting out of the house,” she said.

Equally important, Always There knows where to send families and patients to find any additional resources they may need. “When you need help, knowing where to turn for the best help is very important,” Harrell said.

One of the keys to the long-term success of Always There is that it is truly a family affair.

“All of my children are involved,” Harrell said. One son, who is a web and graphic designer has built their website and designed some of their brochures. Another son who is an attorney provides advice and counseling.

“My youngest daughter graduated from Alabama with an advertising degree. She is coming on board to do our marketing and advertising. She was at al.com and has grown up in the business and understands what I do,” Harrell said.

“My husband came to work for me about five years ago, he handles the billing, IT. I am the dreamer; he is the one who keeps it grounded.”

St. Vincent’s St. Clair: Four Years

No matter the measuring stick, there is no mistaking the impact of St. Vincent’s St. Clair inside and outside its doors over the past four years.

Stories by Carol Pappas
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.
and from the Discover Archives

Replacing an aging building that had become obsolete by today’s medical standards, the new St. Vincent’s St. Clair opened in Pell City in December 2011 to great fanfare. And rightly so. It ushered in a new era in health care for the entire region.

“This is a great community, and we are proud to be here,” said Michael Korpiel, who just took the reins of St. Vincent’s St. Clair and St. Vincent’s Blount as their president. He had been serving as president of St. Vincent’s East, but a strategic restructuring added two more hospitals to his administration. And the fit is not just good in terms of geography but in the services they can provide together.

“I’m excited about how we can make all three hospitals work more closely together,” he said. As an example, he cited St. Clair’s certification as a chest-pain center, stringent standards that mean when time is of the essence, lifesaving procedures kick into action quicker than ever before.

St. Vincent’s is the first health system in the country to be certified under these new standards, and they enable emergency department staff to begin care for a patient suffering from chest pain – often a sign of a heart attack – even before they reach the emergency room.

Once they are assessed at St. Clair, they can be transferred to a sister facility, if necessary, in a matter of moments, saving critical time through a coordinated effort in treating one of the biggest killers in the United States, Korpiel said.

Specifically, St. Clair has many more advancements that continue to keep the hospital and the care its patients receive on a progressive track.

Specialties added since opening are continuing an upward trend. A female obstetrics and gynecology doctor is opening a practice in the adjoining Physicians Plaza. Dr. Kim Cox Gorman will practice at St. Clair and deliver babies at St. Vincent’s East.

Plans are under way for St. Vincent’s St. Clair Transitional Care, a “swing bed” program, which allows patients to receive skilled nursing services within this acute care hospital setting. “It enables us to better manage care for patients without transferring them to a nursing home or other hospital,” Korpiel said.

It basically involves designating beds when the 40-bed hospital is not at capacity for use as continuing care. If a patient needs longer term care, the designation of the bed simply changes, and the patient never has to leave the room. That system would allow more patients to remain close to home for post-acute care services.

“The addition of transitional care beds would strengthen our position as the provider of choice for the people of St. Clair and nearby counties,” according to a release announcing the plans. “It’s better for the patient, and it’s better for us” in providing the continuum of care, Korpiel added.

Bariatrics is “going strong” at the hospital with 30 surgeries targeted for this year. Combined with education and a support system, it is helping patients lose weight en route to healthier lifestyles.

Dr. Gaylyn Horne-Ballard has opened her pain management practice in Physicians Plaza, performing 20 to 35 procedures a day.

Gastrointestinal services are being performed at the hospital as well, with several physicians from Birmingham offering outpatient procedures at St. Clair.

Partnerships have strengthened with local practices as well. “Northside Medical Associates continues to be a great partner,” Korpiel said, noting that such specialists as those with Birmingham Heart Clinic have established clinics within Northside.

And Pell City Internal Family Medicine, housed at Physicians Plaza and at the Publix shopping center “have done a great job” in delivering services, he said.

As for the future, it’s looking better than ever. More specialties in urology, orthopedics and ear, nose and throat are on the horizon.

He acknowledged that while he has been “blown away by the support of this hospital,” he would like to see greater strides in the Emergency Department. It is not unlike national numbers. The lowest statistics for satisfaction are in the area of emergency departments because of long waits and more expensive care.

“My goal is to improve service through the Emergency Department,” he said. Through the hospital system’s Lean initiative, those improvements are already being seen. Delays in lab and radiology results are being eliminated. Transfer time for patients needing emergency services for a heart attack has been cut by 20 minutes, something that is critical to the patient.

The goal for turnaround time for troponin lab tests, which help rule out a heart attack diagnosis, was 30 minutes. It is now being done in 23 minutes.

And overall, 30 minutes has been shaved off Emergency Department times for services rendered.

What all that means is better care and better results for patients close to home at a hospital that consistently rates in the top 10 percent of hospitals in the St. Vincent’s Health and Ascension Health systems across the country for patient satisfaction.

Nationally, it means Joint Commission Accreditation and Joint Commission’s Top Performer Award on Key Quality Measures for the local hospital.

“My vision for St. Clair as the county continues to grow and Pell City continues to grow,” Korpiel said, “is to enable this hospital to provide as many comprehensive services as possible” so that patients get the care they need “close to home.”

For more stories on St. Vincent’s St. Clair four-year anniversary, read the print or full digital edition of the December 2015 and January 2016 edition of Discover The Essence of St. Clair Magazine

Features

The place for Fresh Produce

Kerry Joe is the man to see

Story by Sam Jackson
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

The first frost ushers in autumn, and the initial bloom means spring has arrived. But Pell City has a different kind of seasonal litmus test for summer: the opening of Kerry Joe Foster’s produce stand.

Pell City Produce, located a stone’s throw away from the Pell City Civic Center and Logan Martin Lake on Stemley Bridge Road, opened for the summer on April 1 this year. It will remain open until the end of September, with May through August typically acting as his busiest months. As spring turns to summer and into fall, he sells fruits, vegetables, Amish cheeses, local honeys and much more from his tent. If a food is grown in season, you can find it at Foster’s stand.

He hasn’t always been in the fruit-and-vegetable business, though. Foster previously worked with a construction company he opened with his father, but after suffering a heart attack, Foster was forced to step away from a 31-year construction career. In 2008, his outdoor produce stand opened its doors — figuratively, of course — for the first time. Since then, it’s become somewhat of a Pell City institution.

He doesn’t grow the products he sells, rather, he acts as a kind of farmer’s market conglomerate, buying fresh produce from close-to-home markets throughout Pell City, Vincent and Birmingham to sell under one roof at his stand in Pell City.

The array of growers he purchases from gives him a varied spread of 15 to 20 different kinds of products to offer on a given day.

These trips to purchase fresh goods aren’t monthly or weekly for Foster — they’re daily. His stand is open Wednesday through Saturday at 10 a.m., so Foster wakes up at 4:15 a.m. each of those days to make his rounds from market to market before arriving back at his tent. He usually drives about 100 miles each day when collecting products to sell, but the more miles he drives, the fewer miles his stand’s visitors have to log.

“(Customers) appreciate me being here,” Foster said. “They’d rather buy like this. You can hop out and get right back into the car. They like the openness of it.”

And how the customers do like it. A typical day at the stand sees more than 100 shoppers, many of who are repeat customers. Watching Foster in action, it’s easy to see why so many come back time after time. He jauntily smiles, chats and laughs with people and turns even the most routine transaction into a friendly interaction.

Jean Phillips, a weekly stand patron, sees his helpful demeanor and constant presence as an important part of his stand’s success.

“He’s always friendly and very helpful,” Phillips said. “He’ll even help you to your car with vegetables. I don’t think I’ve ever been by when he wasn’t there.”

It’s not uncommon to see customers purchase items in bulk, especially tomatoes, which Foster says are the most popular seller and his personal favorite product. Many people come from out of town to purchase them.

“A lot of people say, ‘We’ve heard your tomatoes are the best,’” Foster said. “That really means a lot to me.”

The stand’s notability draws customers from Pell City and the surrounding area, and Foster wouldn’t have it any other way. His favorite part of the job is meeting people from all walks of life, especially those who may come from farther away.

“I’ve had a lot of people from different states who are visiting — Oklahoma, California, Michigan,” Foster said. “They hear about (the stand) and have to come by to see what I’ve got. That’s always fun for me.”

Foster also loves that his job gives him the chance to remain outside and has always considered himself an “outdoors guy.”

Although his stand is only open from Wednesday to Saturday, Foster doesn’t take a three-day weekend. On Mondays and Tuesdays, he usually sells tomatoes to restaurants like nearby Good Ole Boys and The Shack and delivers unsold, though still edible, products to widows from his church. He says there is nothing wrong with these donated items, but he would rather give them away than let them go to waste.

This all may sound like a busy week for Foster to handle by himself, and that’s not far from the truth. Luckily, he has some help with the stand. Although Foster makes all product-purchasing runs on his own, Frank Boyanton, known as “Mr. B,” and Foster’s wife, Tanya, assist with some of the stand’s day-to-day operations. Mr. B is especially helpful, volunteering at the stand every Wednesday through Saturday.

In addition to his wife’s help, the stand’s family affair continues with his mother-in-law, Frankie Underwood, who makes a variety of fried pies to contribute to the stand’s product supply.

If you’re wondering how Foster maintains the will power to be around succulent fruits, vegetables and pies all day without being tempted to snag a bite or two, worry not. To prevent selling subpar products, he samples every item he displays.

This commitment to excellence comes across in the products he sells, Phillips said.

“I stop by because he has really nice vegetables,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever gotten any that were not fresh and good.”

The fruits and vegetables on sale are impeccable. Banners advertising “fresh produce” are draped near a picturesque spread of colorful southern garden favorites.

The stand’s location is in the heart of Pell City. Yet it’s Foster’s charm and friendliness that make his stand the destination point for return customers.

The next time you see his truck drive past, overflowing after a morning farmer’s market run, you’ll know he’s bringing good food and Southern hospitality to what has become an iconic institution.