At 95, World War II vet Bob Curl recalls horror of war, an unconditional love and a wonderful life
Story by Paul South Submitted Photos
Barely a year out of high school, Bob Curl saw things a kid his age ought never see: the shattered bodies of young men, their lives snatched in a twinkling.
He’s also known the joy that every human heart should know, the magic of an unconditional, long-lasting love that endures to this day, though its beloved is years gone.
Like a Frank Capra movie of the 1940s, Curl – now 95 – has known horror and heartbreak, love, laughter and selfless service, the stuff poured into a life well lived.
A resident of the Col. Robert L. Howard Veterans Home in St. Clair County, Curl still drives, running the roads, snapping photos of his trips with cameras from his large collection of vintage photography gear. He’s been interviewed by historians from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.
His smiles and his stories are well known at the place he calls home – a wonderful place, he says, where he’s been known to join a side in a rollicking game of volleyball. “I tell people I live at a country club,” he says.
Chat with him long enough, and Curl will tell you stories of bloodied French beaches, a department store fire, the Sabbath morning he first saw the love of his life and the time he met the legendary war correspondent Ernie Pyle.
What a life.
First, let’s tackle the hard part of Bob Curl’s days.
Hill over Omaha Beach
In June 1944, his job as a Navy radarman was simple – to use the high technology of the day to find Omaha Beach. He did. In a briefing in Britain days before the invasion, the teenage sailor learned that he would be part of the first flotilla of Allied vessels, facing batteries of German 88s, heavy artillery protected by reinforced concrete pillboxes.
“We were told we were probably going to be killed,” Curl said. So, I wrote a letter to my mother. I told her I wish I’d been a better son. She didn’t know where I was or what I was doing. But I thought that was the end of me.”
A strike on one of those pillboxes, Curl believes, saved his life.
On June 9, three days after D- Day, the initial Allied thrust onto the European continent, aimed at ending Nazi occupation, Curl slogged ashore through bloodied water and shrapnel-peppered sand. What he saw is seared in memory, more than 75 years later.
“… Bodies and parts of bodies all over the place,” Curl remembered. “(Pulitzer Prize-winning newsman) Ernie Pyle came on our boat. He went on the beach the second day (June 7) and when he came back, he wrote what he saw. They censored it and wouldn’t let it go through. At that time, the only way you could make a copy was carbon paper and onion skin paper. And he submitted his story, and they thought it was too graphic and too bad. So, they censored it.”
Pyle, who was killed in the Pacific while embedded with an American unit, on D-Day wrote of bloody boots and the mundane and the strange that fighting men carried into the carnage – cigarettes and writing paper, a banjo and a tennis racket.
Pyle saw what he thought were two sticks jutting out of the sand. He was mistaken.
“They were a soldier’s two feet,” Pyle wrote. “He was completely covered by the shifting sands except for his feet. The toes of his G.I. shoes pointed toward the land he had come far to see and which we saw so briefly.”
As Pyle finished the dispatch that War Department censors quashed, Curl asked him for the trash-can-bound carbon of the story and Pyle gave it to him. It’s long lost, but after the war, as a college student struggling with an English class, Curl copied Pyle’s story word for word, hoping for a needed good grade.
“I thought, ‘Oh boy, I got him now,’” Curl said of his tough taskmaster professor.
Pyle’s work earned Curl a C+.
After victory in Europe, Curl was preparing for the invasion of Japan on Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands when he learned of victory in Japan.
A love story
He would have a personal victory once he returned home. He married his wife, the former Nell Spring. The Methodist minister’s son met his future wife at a church youth social on Valentine’s Day in 1943. They dated for three months. He enlisted in the Navy the Saturday after graduation in May.
Bob and Nell Curl
He fell in love with her earlier that day, as he walked into church with a friend on his first Sunday in a new town.
“When I walked into church that morning, the most beautiful girl I ever saw was giving the devotion up there,” Curl recalled. “I nudged that boy next to me – I was 16 or 17 – I said, ‘I don’t know who that girl is, but I’m going to marry her.’”
It was the beginning of what would be a 69-year marriage, an old-fashioned love affair. She’s gone now, but every night, he talks with her, looking into the eyes of her picture adorning a wall in his room.
“She was the most wonderful lady I’ve ever known.”
Early years
Theirs is a magical story, one of several he tells. He got his first job in a local movie theater. Armed with a broomstick with a nail poking sharply from its end, Curl picked up trash.
His salary in the teeth of the Great Depression? “I got to see all the movies for free,” he said. The cost: One thin dime.
Another story was like something from a movie. As a nine-year-old while shopping with his mother at Birmingham’s iconic Loveman’s department store, a fire broke out, filling the store with smoke.
“We couldn’t go down the elevator,” Curl said. “I had my mother by the hand. We made it down to the first floor. The smoke was so thick, we couldn’t see. But we heard a voice telling us, ‘Come this way,’ That voice led us all the way out of the store. We got out through a broken show window.”
Visiting the World War II memorial
Ironically, Curl spent his professional life after the war as a Birmingham firefighter, who would go on to help train new recruits in the fire service. Like so many of his generation, Curl gave back to his community, while at the same time raising his family.
Now in retirement, he’s still impacting lives. A small bottle of shrapnel-laced sand from Omaha Beach – given by Curl to the veterans’ home – is part of a display honoring those who served. But more than the artifacts of war, Curl radiates happiness.
Said Hiliary Hardwick, director of the Veterans Home, “He definitely doesn’t act 95. He just has the most positive outlook on everything. I’ve never heard him or seen him when he’s upset. He just kind of takes life as it comes, and he just makes the most of it.”
She added, “He’s probably one of the most thoughtful people I’ve ever met. He generally thinks of others before himself. He’s unique. You know, they call the World War II guys ‘The Greatest Generation.’ He’s truly the epitome of that. He’s selfless in everything that he does.”
Curl, she says, “just radiates happiness.”
Curl credits his heart for others to his dad, the late Rev. John Wesley Curl, whom he calls, “the best man I ever knew.”
Asked how he would sum up his own wonderful life, Curl responds with the two words he hopes will be his epitaph:
St. Clair Memorial Gardens serves as county’s only dedicated veteran burial ground
Story by Jackie Romine Walburn Photos by Graham Hadley Submitted Photos
When folks at St. Clair Memorial Gardens and Usrey Funeral Home decided to dedicate a section of the cemetery to U.S Armed Forces veterans, owner Steve Perry first consulted with local veterans.
“I actively got together with a group of veterans in town,” Perry says. “We wanted their input, to know what’s important to them.”
The veterans’ group with members who served in Korea, Vietnam and the first Gulf War supported the idea and helped Perry work up rules and regulations for the veterans’ section in Pell City, which opened in 2012.
The rules they decided on are pretty much the same as those used by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs’ official U.S. veterans cemeteries. The section is for veterans and spouses and dependent children. Official honorable discharge papers – known as DD214 – are required to qualify.
Alabama’s only official U.S. National Cemetery is the Alabama National Cemetery at Montevallo and is one of 148 national veteran cemeteries, 33 soldier lots and monument sites in 42 states, according to the VA.
The idea behind the Pell City veterans’ section was not to take away from Montevallo but to expand on it and to offer a nearby choice for St. Clair-area veterans.
“The vets were all behind the idea and wanted to see it happen,” Perry said. “They liked the idea of the burial ground being closer to home and wanted to make sure things were done right, and we didn’t just throw up a veterans’ section. That’s why we follow the strict rules and regulations.
Stone markers represent each branch of the U.S. Armed Forces.
“We take comfort in knowing that vets had a part in putting this together,” said Perry, whose family has been the funeral home business since 1927, with Usrey’s Funeral Home in Talladega, which is now operated by Perry’s brother Mike. The Pell City location – funeral home and cemetery – were purchased one after the other in 2003 and 2004. St. Clair Memorial Garden’s veterans’ section is set off from the rest of the 14- acre cemetery by a U.S. flag and large granite markers for each division of the U.S. Armed Forces – the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard. The first burial in the veterans’ section was in 2012 – the wife of one of the veterans Perry consulted early on.
The veterans’ section is laid out in lots of 16 grave spaces for a total of 352 spaces, which are filled in order – not by selection, the same way official veteran cemeteries are filled.
Spaces can be pre-purchased, but purchasers cannot pick the space location. This tradition of going in order, not pre-selected location, is the way the national cemeteries operate, Perry says. Burial spaces for a veteran and a spouse can be together with companion markers.
All honorably discharged veterans of active service are entitled to a free marker, a burial flag and military funeral honors, regardless of where they are buried. Usrey and cemetery officials help veterans apply for these benefits, including the bronze markers used at St. Clair Memorial Cemetery. No large family markers are used in the veterans’ section.
National VA cemeteries provide the burial space and opening and closing at no cost to the veteran’s family, according to www.va.gov. Families are still responsible for funeral home, cremation or other burial costs.
Because the St. Clair cemetery is not associated directly with the VA, spaces in the veterans’ section are purchased, in advance in a pre-purchase or at the time of burial planning.
However, Perry and staff handle the paperwork for veteran families, applying for the free grave marker, which are bronze as all markers are at the St. Clair cemetery. They also help arrange for military funeral honors at the family’s request.
Military funeral honors provided by the VA for qualifying veterans buried at veterans’ cemeteries or elsewhere include a presentation of a U.S. burial flag, folded and presented to the family and the playing of taps, according to www.va.gov. Federal law defines a military funeral honors detail as two or more uniformed military persons, with at least one being a member of the veteran’s parent service of the armed service.
Word is still spreading about Usrey’s services for veterans and the Pell City location’s veterans’ section, Perry says, noting that some veterans and families don’t know about the section just for veterans and others have family burial plots already purchased or family traditions of church cemetery burials.
“We just want veterans and their families to know this is here. We’ve always supported veterans, and this is a tribute to them,” Perry says.
The support takes on a personal meaning to the Perrys, too. Both of their grandfathers were World War II veterans, with the paternal grandfather serving as a paratrooper and the maternal grandfather serving as a medic in World War II, Perry says.
Story by Leigh Pritchett Photos courtesy of Jerry W. Garrett Jr. and John Bryant Submitted Photos
During the Christmas season this year, it will be a time to reflect on the gift of freedom and to pay tribute to those who secured it.
At 11 a.m. Dec. 19 at St. Clair Memorial Gardens, the second annual Wreaths Across America (WAA) observance will place wreaths at gravesites of veterans.
Hundreds of wreaths will be put on veteran graves at St. Clair Memorial Gardens, Valley Hill Cemetery, Oak Ridge Cemetery and elsewhere in the county, said Mindy and Keaton Manners and Julia Skelton, local WAA organizers.
The first WAA event in St. Clair County was Dec. 14, 2019. That morning, families, friends and volunteers placed 300 live, evergreen wreaths on veteran graves as part of a nationwide effort.
“Each year, millions of Americans come together to remember the fallen, honor those that serve and their families, and teach the next generation about the value of freedom,” notes the national WAA organization. “This gathering of volunteers and patriots takes place in local and national cemeteries in all 50 states” and some American cemeteries in Europe. “… In 2019, approximately 2.2 million veteran wreaths were placed on headstones at 2,158 participating locations around the country in honor of the service and sacrifices made for our freedoms.”
Broken Arrow Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), along with Steve Perry and Usrey Funeral Home, worked to bring the local event together. Giving their assistance were St. Clair County High School JROTC, Canoe Creek Society of Children of the American Revolution (CAR), Henderson Builders Supply Co. in Pell City and numerous residents of Col. Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home.
JROTC members salute during service at St. Clair Memorial Gardens.
Susan Bowman of Pell City was touched by the number of wreaths and the number of people who came to help place those wreaths.
This was her first time to be part of such an observance.
She got to place wreaths at the graves of her father, Jesse Hooks, and her sister, Kathy Lynn Hooks, both of whom had served in the Army.
“I was very proud and teary-eyed. I was very teary-eyed,” she said. “Just emotions running through me.”
Those same words would describe the writer of this article and her sisters as well. Only two months before WAA, our dad – retired Chief Master Sgt. Porter Bailey – had been buried with military honors.
Getting to place a WAA wreath at his gravesite stirred the pangs of grief. But it also filled our hearts with pride for the 37 years he served this nation in the Army, Air Force and Alabama Air National Guard.
The day brought emotional extremes for Lyle and Shelly Harmon, who are the parents of three sons.
Well in advance of the ceremony, Harmon – who is St. Clair County’s district attorney and chief warrant officer 4 with Alabama Army National Guard – had agreed to serve as master of ceremonies. Then, hardly a month before the observance, son Sloan (known as “Boo”) was fatally shot just off an I-20 exit.
An airman first class with the Air Force, Boo was a KC-135 crew chief at the Alabama Air National Guard’s 117th Air Refueling Wing in Birmingham. He had just turned 20 a few days before the murder.
Though serving as WAA master of ceremonies so soon after Boo’s death was difficult, “I felt I should,” Lyle Harmon said. “… I can’t even express how humbling that was to do that. … It was quite humbling.”
At the same time, it was “a huge honor,” Harmon added.
During the ceremony, veterans of the Army, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines each placed a wreath at the respective monuments that stand at St. Clair Memorial Gardens. Because the veteran who was to place the wreath at the Air Force monument could not attend, Shelly Harmon did it.
Lyle Harmon watched his wife – a grieving, heartbroken mother – place a wreath of tribute at the Air Force monument.
Thinking back on what Shelly did that day, Harmon recalled, “I’m just so proud of my wife. She is unbelievably faithful and strong.”
The origin
The simple request of another grieving mother was the catalyst for the local WAA observance.
In early summer of 2019, that mother contacted a DAR group in Birmingham, explaining that she was unable to place a wreath or flag for Memorial Day on her son’s grave in St. Clair Memorial Gardens. Mrs. Manners – a member of Broken Arrow DAR in Pell City – and her husband volunteered to lay the wreath.
When Mr. and Mrs. Manners went for that reason to St. Clair Memorial Gardens, which is the only cemetery in the county with a section specifically for the military, the couple were surprised by the number of veterans’ graves they saw.
In the two-mile trip from the cemetery back to their home, Manners – an Army veteran – and Mrs. Manners decided they must organize a tribute to veterans interred there.
Honoring St. Clair veterans at the memorial service
For about six years, the couple had attended WAA observances at Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo. Now, they felt it was time to bring that tribute to St. Clair County.
They set a goal of 300 wreaths, 260 of which would be for St. Clair Memorial Gardens. The remainder would go to graves in Valley Hill Cemetery, Oak Ridge Cemetery and Broken Arrow Cemetery at the request of various families.
St. Clair County High School JROTC joined the effort, raising funds for 100 wreaths and providing military color guard for the ceremony.
The JROTC leaders, Retired Maj. Channing McGee and Retired Sgt. 1st Class Vicki Glover, said participating in WAA “teaches cadets the importance of community service and instills patriotism by honoring these veterans and their sacrifice.”
For the 2020 event, the cadets plan to provide another 100 wreaths. (For information on how to help the cadets meet their goal, see the accompanying story, “Sponsor a wreath.”)
St. Clair debut
The first WAA event in St. Clair County was met with such support in the community that the entire ceremony was finalized within three months, the Manners said.
But the enthusiasm following the event brought the 2020 ceremony together even quicker.
“Two days after this past event, we had it all lined up for this year,” he said.
This year’s event will also feature a replica of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. (For more information, read the accompanying story, “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier replica to be on display.”)
After attending last year’s WAA, John Bryant of Alpine encouraged fellow members of the Knights of Columbus, Assembly 2972, Our Lady of the Lake to volunteer to lay wreaths of remembrance on graves of fallen heroes and to honor those who served the nation.
“I can’t think of anything that shows more patriotism than to honor and to show respect for our veterans,” Bryant said. “… I feel like we need more patriotism. We need to let this country know we love it, and we need to remember that the privileges we have today are because of our veterans.”
Skelton, who is also a member of Broken Arrow DAR, said volunteers will be needed to help place wreaths at St. Clair Memorial Gardens and possibly at Valley Hill Cemetery and Oak Ridge Cemetery.
Wreath placement generally is guided by military designations on headstones or footstones. However, Mrs. Manners said wreath-placement requests can be made for veterans whose grave markers have no military designation. A copy of the veteran’s DD-214 or a photo of the veteran in uniform will suffice as proof of military service.
Editor’s Note:To request wreath placement and provide documentation, email Mrs. Manners at mindy.manners@yahoo.com.
Local medical community rises to meet the challenge
Story by Scottie Vickery Photos by Graham Hadley Submitted photos
Anyone entering PCIFM in Pell City had to be screened, including a temperature check.
Long before COVID-19 found its way to St. Clair County, medical professionals in the area were preparing for its arrival. They had been monitoring the progression of the virus, which began in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, even before it first made its way to the United States in January.
Alabama got its first reported case on March 13, and the virus hit St. Clair County four days later. By mid-July, the state’s numbers had risen to well over 58,000 cases with nearly 1,200 deaths. At that time, St. Clair County had nearly 700 cases and four deaths.
“The biggest thing in the beginning was dealing with the panic and uncertainty,” said Dr. Michael Dupre’, who led the coronavirus response efforts for Northside Medical Associates. “When you use a word like pandemic, it gets people’s attention.”
The virus brought challenges that medical personnel had not faced before, and local healthcare officials raced to implement new procedures, alleviate concerns and remove obstacles for their staffs. At the same time, they had to treat existing patients while trying to diagnose and care for those with COVID-19.
Rapidly changing information was an initial challenge since much was still unknown. Lisa Nichols, administrator of St. Vincent’s St. Clair, said that by the time guidelines from sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and the Alabama Department of Public Health were communicated with the staff, new information and guidelines had been released.
“There were a lot of changes,” she said. “Our staff works in 12-hours shifts, and by the time we got information out to everyone, it had changed again. Our team was very resilient and did an excellent job of going with the flow.”
The immediate concern was keeping patients and medical personnel safe, according to Nichols, Dupre’ and Dr. Barry Collins of Pell City Internal and Family Medicine (PCIFM).
“This was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before,” Collins said. “To be honest, I was afraid when all this hit, the fear would deplete our staff. They hung in there fearlessly, though, because they knew they were essential to the community.”
Dupre’ said staff members were initially concerned that they would contract the virus and take it home to family members who were at risk for complications, such as aging parents or an immunocompromised child. Employees with chronic health issues or family members who were at-risk were reassigned to other areas where it was safer. The level of anxiety was unlike anything I’d ever seen before,” he said, “There were fears, but our duty and commitment to our community did not change one bit.”
Implementing safeguards
Because COVID-19 required limiting access, Birmingham Heart Clinic’s Dr. Jason Thompson uses a cell phone to get more information from a patient’s spouse.
Once initial fears were addressed, the focus was on treating patients – those with COVID-19 and those without – while preventing the spread of the virus. The first step was to identify potential coronavirus cases before patients encountered anyone else.
“We have so many entry points to the facility, so we changed the way you come into our hospital,” Nichols said, adding that separate entrances and parking lots were designated for patients and associates. Door screeners at each entrance checked everyone for fever and symptoms of the virus, including cough or shortness of breath. Anyone who is identified as having symptoms of the virus is directed into a separate waiting area while waiting for the triage nurse.
At PCIFM, patients were initially screened over the telephone when they called to make appointments, and staff members conducted temperature screenings and checked oxygen levels and symptoms at the door. Anyone who was a potential positive, based on either check, was directed to the practice’s drive-thru testing lane. “We were able to do COVID testing without having the patient leave the car,” Collins said.
Northside patients were screened at the door of all four locations – Pell City, Moody, Springville and Trussville – and only one entrance and exit was used at each office, Dupre’ said. At the Pell City campus, the building housing the ACCEL Urgent Care Center was designated for respiratory illnesses and COVID-19 testing and treatment. Anyone with symptoms of the virus, or those who had been exposed, were directed there.
In addition, hospital and medical office personnel all over the county implemented additional cleaning processes to cut down on the spread of the virus. “We’re constantly changing scrubs and masks and rotating stethoscopes,” said Dr. Jason Thompson, a cardiologist with Birmingham Heart Clinic, which has an office at Northside’s Pell City campus. “Exam rooms are being sanitized between every visit, and it’s not just changing the paper on the table. We’re wiping walls down with Clorox and wiping the table down with Clorox.”
The virus brought additional hurdles, as well. Schools and day care centers closed, leaving medical personnel scrambling for child care. Northside and PCIFM set up day care programs at their offices so their employees could continue to focus on caring for the community.
“We called it Camp Northside,” Dupre’ said of the child care program that operated for three months. “If our employees didn’t have anyone to take care of their kids, we took care of them here,” he said.
Collins said their day care program was largely operated by family members of staff as well as volunteers. “The community really rallied around that idea,” he said. “They were donating lunches and teaching materials for the children.”
Hard decisions
There were other dilemmas, as well. “Probably one of the hardest things we had to do was go to a no-visitors policy,” Nichols said. At first, patients at the hospital were limited to two visitors, but as guidelines continued to change, it went down to one within a few days. Not long after, no visitors were allowed, except for end-of-life situations and patients that required caregivers.
“We struggled with how to get people information about their loved ones. We encouraged patients to connect with their families via social media,” Nichols said, adding that the hospital purchased tablets for patients without smartphones. They also implemented a process to ensure that the nursing staff contacted one family member or caregiver to provide updates, as long as the patient gave permission.
Even though that added more work for a nursing staff that was already stretched, the team didn’t balk at that or any other additional duties, according to Shiloh Swiney, director of nursing for the hospital. “They all chipped in and said, ‘We’re going to get this done. We’re going to get these patients taken care of,’” she said. “We have a strong nursing group, and the morale has been very high.”
The suspension of elective dental and medical procedures caused additional concerns. “Initially, we rescheduled all elective procedures and did Telehealth visits for routine checks of less acute patients,” Collins said. “Not everyone had access to the internet and some patients weren’t tech savvy and weren’t comfortable with talking on camera. We had to educate our patients.”
While some of Thompson’s patient appointments could be handled virtually, other cardiac patients needed to continue to be seen in person. In order to limit exposure in waiting rooms, Thompson said that his office asked those patients to come alone unless a caregiver was truly necessary. That sometimes limited the information he received.
“I’ve got some patients who, if their wives didn’t come with them, I wouldn’t know anything,” Thompson said. “The wife is who would tell me if he had been short of breath. Now, a lot of times I’ll pick up the phone, call the wife and put her on speaker. That’s how I’ve brought them back in the exam room without crowding the waiting room.”
Patients with chronic conditions who were concerned about catching the virus often delayed seeking treatment, which led to other problems. “Our ER volume was almost cut in half,” Nichols said. “Some of the patients we’re seeing now are sicker because they waited too long to get the care they need. We want everyone to know that we are a safe place, and we are absolutely taking steps to keep everyone safe.” High-touch areas are being cleaned many times throughout the day, and some chairs in waiting rooms are blocked off to ensure patients have plenty of room between them, she said.
Thompson, especially, saw the effects that fear and suspending elective procedures, like having a stent inserted, had on his patients. In some cases, patients had strokes that could have been prevented, or they lost heart function after a heart attack that might possibly have been restored if they had sought help faster.
“I’ve had patients who sat on their chest pains for fear of the ER,” he said. “With a heart attack, time is muscle. If we can get to you within 12 hours of chest pain, we can salvage heart muscle.” Although his patients’ cardiovascular disease makes them high risk for coronavirus complications, their heart issues still need to be addressed. “We have to be careful, but we cannot ignore their underlying disease,” Thompson said.
A community rallies together
Long before Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statewide mask order in mid-July, all patients and staff at St. Vincent’s, Northside, PCIFM and the Birmingham Heart Clinic were required to wear masks, which were provided for patients who didn’t have them. When supplies were low in the early days of the pandemic, employees at Northside got busy.
Pell City Rotary delivers food to St. Vincent’s St. Clair.
“Our staff made thousands and thousands of masks,” Dupre’ said. “We had hundreds of patients at home making masks with their own fabric and their own money. We’ve always thought the world of our patients, but so many went above and beyond.”
Patients weren’t the only ones offering support. Dupre’, Collins and Nichols all said they were overwhelmed by the love shown by the community as a whole. Individuals, churches and businesses from all over the county provided meals; offered masks, hand sanitizer and cleaning products; and prayed.
Several nights, Swiney said, individuals and church groups gathered in the back parking lot of the 40-bed hospital to pray. “There are so many people out there who wanted to help, and to know they were praying for each one of us here was amazing,” she said.
“The community was absolutely awesome,” Collins said, adding that donated meals meant the staff didn’t have to leave the building and could focus on the crisis at hand. “It reminds you about what is great about the human spirit,” Dupre’ added.
Moving forward
Early efforts to flatten the curve helped because, even though people continued to get sick, the cases were spread out over a period of weeks, so the hospital was not overwhelmed. “Fortunately for St. Clair County, we’re rural enough to spread out,” Dupre’ said. “That’s really helped, and we haven’t had the impact other counties have had.”
Early on, Dupre’ said, Northside looked at designating one of the buildings at the Pell City campus to house overflow patients from the hospital, if necessary. “Thank God it was never that bad,” he said.
It could still reach that point, however, if people relax too much. Alabama saw a resurgence in cases in late June and early July after the state began reopening, and Collins said he worries about the looming flu season. Although flu season is typically considered to be October to March or April, it’s not uncommon to see cases in September.
“There’s been a real spike in (COVID) cases, and now we’re almost back to square one,” Collins said. “The only way we can get this virus to go away is to starve the virus from the host.”
That’s why it’s critical that everyone continues to social distance, wash hands frequently, avoid group gatherings and wear face coverings to prevent the spread. “Wearing a mask can really protect the people you interact with,” Nichols said. “A lot of asymptomatic people are testing positive, even though they have no symptoms. If they’re wearing masks, the likelihood of spreading the virus is reduced.”
Dupre’ said masks are especially crucial for high-risk patients. “We know the masks work,” he said. “We’ve had staff here who have swabbed thousands and thousands of patients, and we haven’t had one catch COVID,” he said in early July. He added that people need to continue to isolate themselves if they are sick and wash hands frequently, especially when they have come in contact with surfaces outside their homes.
Although Thompson said masks have meant that he has had to dramatically slow down his speech so older patients who are hard of hearing can understand him, he agrees that wearing them and taking other precautions is imperative. “We have to take this seriously,” he said. “I think it has become apparent to us that this is not going away tomorrow. We will continue to deal with this for a year or more.”
He added that, while the growing death toll from the virus is tragic, it’s not the only tragedy of this pandemic. Thompson has seen widowed patients suffer depression after being isolated from friends and family for months on end. People haven’t been able to gather for funerals, which has had a negative effect on the grieving process. Couples looking forward to starting their lives together have had to postpone weddings.
“All of this is part of the human tragedy we’re all living through,” he said. “We are social animals, and it’s interesting how you begin to crave that interaction with family and friends. I’m not pretending this is going to be easy, but it can be done.”
Collins said he is hopeful that the newfound awareness among the public about how germs are transmitted will have lasting benefits even after COVID-19 goes away. “Right now, this virus is a curse, but if it changes behavior, it may mean a decrease in other communicable diseases, such as the flu,” he said. “It may be somewhat of a silver lining beyond this nightmare.”
It is no secret by now: 2020 has been met with great adversity and trial as a pandemic gripped the world.
Healthcare workers across the country and here at home have been working tirelessly to keep their skill sets sharp and to keep the community healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Northside Medical is home to St. Clair County’s largest outpatient health care facility, serving over 5,000 patients throughout its six locations, and its innovations in the delivery of health care are widely known.
One of those innovations comes in the form of a six-member team inside Northside’s Health & Wellness department that stresses not only the importance of receiving proper medical attention when you are ill but also when you are healthy in order to stay healthy.
Working directly with each provider, the department serves as a convenient central hub for patients and provides the foundation to stay healthy – from flu shots to cancer screenings, wellness visits for women, depression screenings and everything in between.
The department was established as a part of the Northside team three years ago as the need for preventative health was on the rise. The idea, says Executive Director Dianna McCain, is to keep health care cost effective but also to do everything you possibly can to keep from being hospitalized.
“By the time a patient needs to be admitted to the hospital, it is almost a guarantee that they will also need to be treated for something completely different than for what they had to come for in the first place,” McCain said. “We want to do everything in our power to keep hospitalizations to a minimum.”
Nurse practitioners also can be found making house calls through the department. If a patient is unable to acquire transportation or cannot physically come into the facility for a visit, a member of the wellness team will come to them.
McCain said most lab work and X-rays can be done at the home. The visits have proven to be a great tool, not only during a pandemic, but also to several patients who would not otherwise receive care. Because individual providers don’t have the time to assess individual patient’s more in-depth needs, McCain says her department has been very successful in identifying these patients and serving them.
“We have seen instances when a diabetic patient’s blood sugar isn’t being maintained properly through medication and diet,” McCain said. “We can just touch base and see if we can come see them at home. Many times, it can be just as simple as a patient not drawing their insulin up correctly.”
In addition to running patient queries to call and schedule routine immunizations and screenings, McCain says the department has been able to extend monetary assistance when a need arises. McCain and her staff often work directly with other local organizations like the St. Clair County Coalition, The Christian Love Pantry, as well as several area churches to provide groceries, medication assistance and utility bill relief to some patients.
“It can be very bad if, for example, a diabetic doesn’t have adequate power or food available to them,” McCain said. We have been able to visit our patients at home, see what they need and even provide them with the right food they need to stay well.”
Northside patient and county native Andrea Nobles says she is beyond grateful for all the measures Northside Health & Wellness has done for her.
“When you get to be my age, things start coming up with your health,” Nobles said. “It is very assuring to know that I am not just a number but a person whose concerns are also my doctor’s concerns,” Nobles said. “I have lived here all my life, and I actually enjoy going to the doctor’s office now that we have Northside. We look out for each other.”
The majority of Alabamians who receive private health insurance can also qualify for incentives and breaks in premiums when they are proactive about their health. By receiving annual wellness checks and screenings, weight management, help with smoking cessation and women’s health screenings, for example, patients often see a discount in their monthly premiums and other incentives, like gift cards and entertainment vouchers.
“Health care costs are astronomical when you get into hospitalizations,” McCain said. “Ninety percent of costs come when a person goes to the hospital. We want to do everything in our power to keep a patient out of there, no matter what.”
PCIFM, Bedsole Eye Care, ATI Physical Therapy, Comfort Care Hospice expand to new facilities
Story by Leigh Pritchett
Photos by Graham Hadley
Submitted photos
The new PCIFM building next to Publix in Pell City
Pell City is experiencing quite a boost in its growing medical community thanks to the expansions of Pell City Internal and Family Medicine, ATI Physical Therapy and Comfort Care Hospice expanding into new facilities.
Pell City Internal and Family Medicine
Dec. 26, 2019, was a second Christmas Day for Pell City Internal and Family Medicine: That was when the practice opened its new, freestanding clinic next to South Park Center.
The new construction has consolidated PCIFM’s main office in Physicians Plaza at St. Vincent’s St. Clair Hospital and its satellite office in South Park Center into one location.
Together, the two previous clinics totaled 15,000 square feet and had 23 examination rooms. The new building boasts 20,000 square feet, close to 40 examination rooms, a procedure room, laboratory and plenty of space for specialty care physicians.
“We have room for expansion,” said Dr. Barry Collins, a physician and partner in PCIFM. Some areas used for other purposes can easily convert to additional exam rooms if needed, he said.
PCIFM, which was established in 2012, provides primary, after-hours, women’s and pediatric care.
When its physician partners decided to construct a new building, they took note of the increase in retail and population in the southern part of the city.
This location placed the clinic in a rapid-growth sector of the city and in proximity to people in Vincent and Harpersville (both in neighboring Shelby County). Yet, it is still close to the hospital and Interstate 20, Collins said.
Doctors grab lunch in the new break area.
Because of the building’s “linear” design, all medical services are on one floor, which not only lessens the amount of walking for a patient, but also streamlines patient flow, Collins said.
This improves ease of care and speed of care, said Collins and Dr. Ilinca Prisacaru, also a partner.
Even the design of the parking lot limits the walking distance for patients, said Dr. Rick Jotani, partner and chief executive officer. “It’s a little more convenient for our folks.”
The array of on-site diagnostics, imaging and other services now available at PCIFM reduces the need for patients to commute to the hospital to receive them, Prisacaru said.
Having so many services at one location promotes cohesiveness and continuity of care, added Collins.
PCIFM – which was already offering space to several specialists before the new building was constructed – now has room for even more sub-specialties.
Currently, two cardiologists, two general surgeons, an orthopedic surgeon and two gastroenterologists see patients at the PCIFM facility. Jotani and Collins said the practice is “actively recruiting” specialists in dermatology and audiology as well.
Jotani also noted that physical therapy is available on campus through ATI Physical Therapy.
The partners said adding another physician to PCIFM’s primary and after-hours care may happen within the next 18 months. “As the community expands, so should our services,” said Collins.
Prisacaru and Jotani pointed out that the conference room allows on-site diabetes classes to be held on a regular basis. Led by a nurse practitioner, the classes are kept small for participants to receive personalized attention.
The spaciousness of the facility meant there was even room for daycare for employees’ children during the COVID-19 shutdown.
Ten to 15 children each day stayed in a designated area of the building while their parents attended to patients, Jotani said, adding that the community brought food and other items for the employees’ children.
“The community supported us immensely,” Collins said of those weeks of working when many essential services in the city were closed.
Another asset of the new building is a designated aesthetics suite. There, Jotani Aesthetics offers non-surgical cosmetic measures.
Since December 2019, PCIFM has seen a definite increase in patient load, Prisacaru said. One contributing factor is the addition of Saturday clinic hours, Collins said. Previously, the clinic was open Sunday through Friday.
Clinic hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Two practitioners are always on duty during office hours.
Collins said visibility – being next to a retail center – has likewise contributed to an increase in patients. “Folks know we’re here,” Jotani said.
To meet increasing demand, another nurse practitioner was hired, as were more clinical and laboratory staff, Collins said. Jotani and Prisacaru estimated that employment has increased 10 to 12 percent since the building opened.
James W. Bedsole, O.D. Eye Care
In August, James W. Bedsole, O.D. moves to a modern building, designed for Eye Care, situated just in front of South Park Center. Dr. Bedsole’s practice will relocate from downtown Pell City to 2020 Martin Street South.
Dr. Bedsole said that, of all the properties he considered for relocation, this particular location was the very best.
He provides primary eye care, vision correction and treatment of eye diseases, as well as pre-operative and post-operative care.
The new building, state-of-the-art, will allow greater comfort and efficiency for patient care. The new location is convenient – located in front of the South Park Shopping Center that includes Publix – and it’s more accessible.
The brick-and-mortar buildings are important for patient care, but even more important are people, Bedsole said, noting that he has a great staff who works hard and really cares for their patients.
The new building is an asset in continuing to deliver exceptional patient care.
ATI Physical Therapy
Situated at the Hardwick Road end of PCIFM’s building is the Pell City location of ATI Physical Therapy.
Based in Illinois, ATI operates stand-alone physical therapy sites, as well as units on high school and college campuses, said Chris Baker, director of physical therapy at ATI in Pell City. The Pell City site opened Feb. 17.
Student athlete Tion Wright of Vincent works to strenghthen her legs.
Encompassing more than 2,800 square feet, the local ATI provides physical therapy for a wide range of needs and specializes in therapy for orthopedic and cervical spine issues, Baker said.
Monday through Friday, ATI offers one-to-one care, using new equipment and a variety of treatments. Appointments are available 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The growth occurring in Pell City schools and in southern St. Clair County made this location particularly attractive to ATI, Baker said. Even though the location opened shortly before the COVID-19 shutdown, Pell City’s ATI has experienced a steady increase in clientele.
Future plans include hiring additional physical therapists, Baker said.
“We have been very blessed with the patients we have seen so far,” Baker said. “Pell City has been good to us. We look forward to growing with the community.”
Comfort Care Hospice
Comfort Care Hospice opened its Pell City office May 1 in South Park Center.
“The growth around here is just awesome,” said Clay Spencer, administrator and a registered nurse with Comfort Care Hospice. “I have wanted to come over here so long. … I can’t tell you how happy we are to be here.”
Spencer said the office relocated to Pell City to be more central to its coverage area, which includes St. Clair, Clay and Talladega counties.
The 10-plus employees at the Pell City location include nurses, aides, a social worker, a chaplain and office staff. The physicians are Dr. Rick Jotani of Pell City, who is medical director, and Dr. Jarod Speer of Childersburg.
Spencer said Comfort Care Hospice also has a corps of volunteers who call patients and offer short-term respite for caregivers.
Staff outside the new Comfort Care Hospice building next to Publix.
Hospice care, Spencer explained, is for patients with terminal diagnoses. “Our goal is to keep them home and keep them comfortable,” she said.
With hospice care, patients receive medical attention right at home. Nurses are available around the clock and also visit at least twice each week with patients. Aides make several visits each week in patient homes, as well.
The hospice mission allows patients, along with family members, to make their own decisions about care, Spencer said. “(Hospice) does elongate how much time they do have before they make that transition.”
Dr. Greg Tankersley, the chaplain, gives spiritual and emotional support to patients and families during the time of hospice care. After a patient passes, he offers grief support to family members for 13 months.
“We stay in touch with our families,” Spencer said.
