BRIEFS: Library hosts author presentation, Piedmont recognized by AHA

Editor’s note: This is a collection of submitted local news items. To submit a story for consideration, please email cslinkard@macon.com.

Riverside Library hosts ‘Bells for Eli’ author

Riverside Library (110 Holiday Dr N, Macon, GA 31210) is hosting its first in-person event since March 2020: A presentation by “Bells for Eli” author Susan Zurenda at 2 p.m. Thursday, followed by a book signing. The event is free and open to the public.

The Gold Medal (first place) winner in the 2021 IPPY Awards for Best First Book—Fiction, a finalist in the 2020 Foreword Indie Best Book Awards, Winter 2020 Okra Pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, finalist in American Book Fest’s Best Books of 2020, and Shelf Unbound 2020 Notable Indie, Bells for Eli is inspired by a real-life first cousin’s tragic childhood accident in the late 1950s. The novel explores how one misstep changes the trajectory of a young boy’s life and creates immense conflict in the lives of those around him in a time and place of supposed innocence in the small-town South of the ’60s and ’70s.

The book was published by Mercer University Press in 2020 and a paperback version was released this past March. For more information on the author, visit susanzurenda.com. — Submitted information and staff reports

Piedmont hospitals recognized by American Heart Association

Piedmont Macon and Piedmont Macon North have been recognized by the American Heart Association for implementing quality improvement measures that ensure cardiovascular patients receive efficient and coordinated care, ultimately leading to more lives saved, shorter recovery times and fewer returns to the hospital.

Piedmont Macon and Piedmont Macon North have received the recognition for Get With The Guidelines for more than 10 years. This year, the hospitals received the following Achievement Awards:

• Piedmont Macon: Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus with Honor Roll Elite Plus and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
• Piedmont Macon North: Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Silver Plus

“Piedmont Macon and Piedmont Macon North are honored to be recognized by the American Heart Association for our dedication to helping our patients have the best possible chance of survival and recovery after cardiovascular events,” said Dr. Rosita Shivdat-Nanhoe, Piedmont Macon and Piedmont Macon North Interim Stroke Program Medical Director. “Get With The Guidelines helps put proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis to improve outcomes for cardiovascular patients.” — Piedmont Macon

Central Georgia Technical College to host literacy event Friday

The Central Georgia Technical College (CGTC) Adult Education Division (AED) is celebrating National Literacy Month with its Celebration of Literacy event on Sept. 24 at the Jones Center of the College’s Macon Campus on 3300 Macon Tech Dr., from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The event will feature a career fair, program recruitment, live radio remote from a local DJ Tex James, career cultivation and enhancement, lunch and giveaways. The AED actively engages the community to support its mission of adult education and literacy in Middle Georgia. The Division offers High School Equivalency test preparation including the GED and HISET Exams, English Literacy and Civics, and accelerated opportunities to advance a student’s high school equivalency while earning college credit.

Through Certified Literate Community Program (CLCP) the Division promotes literacy in Georgia by involving the whole community. By making literacy a community-wide commitment, a diversity of key resources is mobilized to promote and support literacy training. The CLCP is a partnership between the public sector (education and government) and the private sector (business and enterprise). This dynamic partnership will result in improved literacy levels for children, families, and workers in the entire community. — Central Georgia Technical College

Macon Volunteer Clinic to host free spay/neuter clinic, vaccines

Macon Volunteer Clinic is partnering with Changing the Streets for a free spay/neuter and vaccination clinic combined with health screenings, on Oct. 11 at 376 Rogers Ave.

Reservations for the free spay/neuter clinic are required, and can be made by calling 478-550-4428. Capacity is limited, so early reservations are encouraged. Participation is open to the community.

Changing the Streets, a Macon-based nonprofit whose slogan is ‘Healthcare for Both Ends of the Leash,’ helps participants optimize their own health and the health of their pets. Like Macon Volunteer Clinic, their focus is on underserved and uninsured individuals who might otherwise feed their pets before helping themselves.

“Macon Volunteer Clinic alleviates the working uninsured from making painful choices between medications for themselves and groceries for their families,” states Executive Director Nancy White. “Changing the Streets has a parallel mission of alleviating individuals with loving companion animals the difficult choice between spay/neuter and vital vaccinations, and their own physical health. Hosting this pop-up clinic for our own patients, as well as our contiguous neighborhoods, is a perfect partnership that benefits our entire community.” — Macon Volunteer Clinic

This story was originally published September 22, 2021 at 7:00 AM.