Lookout Mountain Mirror
Share your
news with us!
  • Home
  • Happenings
    • Lookout Community
    • School News
    • TN & GA Town News
    • Home & Garden
    • Local History
    • Good Reads
    • Recipe Roundup
    • Arts & Leisure
    • Travel
    • Movies with Merrile
    • Happenings at the Club
  • Advertising
  • Calendar
  • Subscriptions
  • About
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Give & Support

Lookout Mountain
​Happenings

Check back often for up-to-date news, events and article previews between issues of the monthly Lookout Mountain Mirror.

Follow us on Facebook for more news

Rod Headrick, The Lung Warrior

1/12/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Rob Headrick is a warrior. As chief of thoracic surgery at CHI Memorial Chest and Lung Cancer Center, he deals with lung cancer on a daily basis. Tennessee, being a coal miming state, has more than its share of cases. Here, in this hotbed, someone dies from lung cancer every two hours.
​
Rob stays up to date on all of the latest information. He has always known that early detection of problems is the answer. So, being a warrior, he made it his mission to prove that lung cancer does not have to be a death sentence. Even people who are most at risk, such as longtime tobacco users and those with family history of cancer, can complete treatment and go on to lead healthy lives. The secret is early detection.

Realizing how difficult it is for most people to go to a hospital for a lung screening, both time wise and expense wise, he set out on his quest to find a solution: Take the screening to the people. Relying on the slogan “If you build it, they will come,” Rob Headrick believed that taking technology to the masses, especially those most at risk, would be an important educational experience and lives would be saved. Dr. Headrick wants to find the cancers before they spread and are much harder to cure. “It seemed so easy – just go scan everybody,” he said.

Dr. Headrick and his colleagues began designing and building a lung screening program that was based on a built-from-scratch bus with a portable CT scanner that can quickly detect cancer. The project soon became known as “Breathe Easy.”

In the beginning, they encountered a lot of people who thought it would be impossible to take the expensive medical equipment (which is cumbersome, sensitive to heat and humidity and designed to stay in one place) and transport it on a bus over rough roads and hills of rural Tennessee. The list of “cannots” was long, but our warrior team proved them false. The Breathe Easy Bus officially began operations early in 2018.

This technology is the first of its kind in the Chattanooga area and the only fully independent unit in the nation. Results published in the July 2020 “Annals of Thoracic Surgery” were so positive that other health officials became intrigued, as well as Gov. Bill Lee. The next goal is to roll out additional Breathe Easy buses across the state, bringing potentially life saving screenings and lung cancer information to all Tennesseans.

“It may have been my idea,” Rob says, “but so many people were needed to challenge the idea and cheer it on.”

Dr. Rob Headrick received the 2020 Champions of Health Care Innovation in the Individual Innovation category, which brings him national recognition for his forward thinking and approach to lung health.

We are so proud of him. He really is a hometown boy, the son of Jan Headrick and the late Dr. Jim Headrick (also a well-known thoracic surgeon). A Bright School and Baylor School student, he grew up on the lake and was a Tennessee state water skiing champion.

Completing his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt, Rob attended medical school at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. He completed a general surgery residency at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Chattanooga, and a fellowship in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minn. He is board certified in both general and thoracic surgery and also holds an MBA from UT-Knoxville.

Make your New Year’s resolution for 2021 to have a lung screening in the Breathe Easy bus! It will be the easiest resolution you will every keep. It’s quick (10 minutes), non-invasive, painless and comes with no out-of-pocket expense. If you are over 50, a smoker or a former smoker, or have a history of cancer in your family, this test can be invaluable to your future health. Tests can also show coronary disease and other problems. A doctor is present to read the scan, discuss findings and map out the next steps if necessary. If no problems are found, the patient can truly “breathe easy.”

Call (423) 495-LUNG (5864) for an appointment or to schedule the bus to come to a workplace or group function for multiple screenings.

Dr. Headrick realized, as a very young man still in his residency at Mayo, that early detection of lung cancer could lead to a cure. Dr. Rob Headrick is a warrior in the fight to erase the stigma surrounding lung cancer and change the survival rates. Visit the bus and “breathe easy!”

by Judy Rowland



0 Comments

Hiawassee and Sandhill Cranes ... What's Up?

1/12/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Attending an outdoor event in the middle of a chilly Tennessee winter might not normally make the top of a person’s “must-do” list, but these days, what’s normal anymore? In a world struggling with the challenges of COVID-19, an outdoor event might just be what the doctor should order!
​

Enter the greater sandhill crane (Grus canadensis tabida), lovingly dubbed the Tennessee sandhill crane, as it is the only one of six North American sandhill crane subspecies to migrate through or make a winter home right here in Tennessee. Each year, an average of 29,000 sandhill cranes winter across the great state of Tennessee with two primary areas of congregation. One area is located at Hop-In Refuge on the Obion River in West Tennessee. The second is a bit closer to home here in East Tennessee on an island located at the confluence of the Hiwassee and Tennessee rivers known as Hiwassee Island. Much more than just a chunk of earth, Hiwassee Island, which is managed by the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge, is a wonderland of biodiversity, attracting the migratory waterfowl, among other critters, with its marshes, wide shorelines and shallow waters. Who knew the burgeoning real estate market of East Tennessee extended to these migratory birds, as well?

Thousands upon thousands of these Tennessee sandhill cranes, over 10,000 to be exact, start arriving at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in late October, essentially taking over its 6,000 acres (2,500 areas of land and 3,500 acres of water) for the winter. It is this migratory move to the refuge by the sandhill cranes that offers one an opportunity to get outdoors and experience a truly unique performance by the stars of the island as they strut their stuff.

Sandhill cranes that migrate through or winter in portions of Tennessee travel from their northern homes scattered across the states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, throughout the Canadian tundra to Alaska. These “snowbirds” make up a large proportion of the eastern sandhill crane population, which is estimated at a minimum of 89,000 and is considered the second largest sandhill crane population in the world. Pretty impressive numbers, considering the fact that of all the crane species worldwide, sandhill cranes are the most populous and wide-ranging, with an estimated population exceeding 1 million.

A gray long-necked, long-legged bird, the greater sandhill crane (aka Tennessee sandhill crane) stands over 4 feet tall, weighs between 10 to 14 pounds and has a wing span of 6 feet, making it one of the largest birds found in Tennessee. Some unique characteristics of this sandhill crane subspecies include a tuft of feathers at the rump, a red spot on top of the head (which is actually skin, not feathers) and bright white cheeks. Interestingly, not much separates the girls from the boys when it comes to appearance. The only difference being that the male is slightly larger than the female.

The call of the sandhill crane has been described as one resembling a trumpet or bugle and carries for over a mile. (Ask any number of nearby human neighbors, and they will tell you how loud and just what a noisemaker their call really is!) Sandhill cranes mate for life, and engage in “unison calling,” during which the cranes stand close together, and for lack of a better word, perform a duet.

Sandhill cranes are omnivores, enjoying a scrumptious (well, scrumptious for cranes) diet of berries, seeds, insects, cultivated grains and small mammals found both on and below the ground’s surface, down in the mud and muck.  Long-lived, these birds can reach an age of 20 years plus, but interestingly enough, they are some of the poorest reproducers in the bird world of North America. Not usually successful with reproduction until 5 to 7 years of age, the sandhill crane only produces a clutch of one to two eggs, and only one in three nests successfully gets a chick to migration age. Both mom and dad take turns incubating the eggs, with an incubation time of anywhere from 29-32 days.

Now that the biology lesson is complete, it begs the question: If Tennessee winters are less then palatable for some humans and other bird species, why would a migratory bird, a species that is collectively and overwhelmingly known for flying south to find warm temperatures for the winter, decide to take up a winter residency here? Tennessee is undoubtedly warmer than, say, Alaska, but it ain’t Miami Beach, so what gives? Corn. Yes, corn, that’s what gives. The greater sandhill cranes only started wintering in East Tennessee in the 1990’s after they found corn growing around Hiwassee Island. Corn was planted by the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge as part of a conservation plan, and what a successful plan it is! These massive migratory birds have been wintering here ever since their discovery of the golden crop that is so delicious to their palates, and there is no indication that they plan to change the location of their winter residence any time soon.

These fine feathered friends like to assemble near the observation platform at the refuge, making it the best spot to watch them in action along with a variety of other bird species, such as the endangered whopping crane and bald eagle to name a few. Be on the lookout for the young birds that made it to migration age. Perhaps a mated pair performing a “duet” can be spotted, too.

Starting in mid-February, these winged visitors begin their exodus to the north. Before they leave each year, the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, in conjunction with the Cherokee Memorial Park, located adjacent to refuge, host “The Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival” at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge. This event not only celebrates these transient residents but also focuses attention on the rich wildlife and Native American history of the area, as well. Normally held in the middle of January when sandhill crane numbers are at their peak, this year, sadly, the in-person event has been cancelled due to the pandemic, but has been replaced with an online version starting January 11.

COVID-19 may have put the kibosh on the in-person Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival for 2021, but the show put on by the spectacular sandhill cranes can’t be stopped. Experience it daily from the observation deck, which remains open to guests at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge. Grab a hot beverage and pack a snack and make sure to visit before the end of March when the cranes are all but gone!   

Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge is located off Highway 60 in Meigs County on Priddy Lane. From Chattanooga there are three ways to arrive at Highway 60:
I-75 north to Exit 25 (Cleveland), west on Highway 60 (take a right at end of exit),
Highway 58 north to Highway 60, west on Highway 60 (take a left at intersection of two roads),
Highway 27 north the Dayton, east on Highway 60 (take a right just past the Zaxby’s shopping center area). Hint- there is a huge brown road sign indicating the way.

Once on Highway 60, if traveling from I-75 (Cleveland) or Highway 58, turn RIGHT onto Shadden Road and from Dayton, turn left. Proceed one mile, turning right onto Blythe Ferry Road, take the first left onto Priddy Lane and follow the signs.

by JD Harper
JD Harper is a local author. “Glint”, her debut novel, is set in Chattanooga amid its rich Civil War history and rock climbing culture. Visit jd-harper.com.
0 Comments

    Article Categories

    All
    Arts
    Business
    Chattanooga
    Church
    Education
    Educational
    Family Friendly
    Festival
    Food
    Fundraiser
    Garden Club
    Government
    History
    Holidays
    Jobs
    Lookout Mountain
    Nonprofit
    Outdoors
    Riverview
    Shopping
    Sports


    Archives

    May 2025
    September 2024
    August 2024
    June 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    October 2023
    August 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    September 2022
    July 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    RSS Feed

Stay up-to-date

Join our email list today for the latest news and events between issues!

Contact US

Mailing address: P.O. Box 99 Lookout Mountain, TN 37350
Physical address: 112 N. Watauga, Lookout Mountain, TN 37350
p. (423) 822-6397
Visit our sister paper: Signal Mountain Mirror

Stay Connected