Morgantown/Honey Brook townlively.com
JANUARY 19, 2022
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL XXIX • NO 50
The Great Backyard Bird Count Participants are asked to watch the birds for 15 minutes or more People of all ages are invited to at least once over the four days take part in the Great Backyard and then report their sightings Bird Count (GBBC), a free, fun and online or on the free eBird mobile easy event open to bird watchers app. Complete information and of all ages. As part of the annual instructions on how to enter data program, participants are asked to can be found at www.birdcount.org count birds in their own backyards by choosing “Participate.” “You can count birds on any of or any site of their choice during this year’s GBBC, which will take the days and report it to the place from Friday, Feb. 18, website, where you enter the birds you have seen,” explained through Monday, Feb. 21. Carol Majors, a member of the West Chester Bird Club. “It used to be that you count birds at your feeder. Now, you can count birds anywhere.” According to the website, the GBBC was launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society as a way for the community to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real time. The data submitted by the public helps scientists to better understand The Great Backyard Bird Count will global bird populations. BY FRANCINE FULTON
Twin Valley High School senior Megan Finn (right) interns at Lower Providence Community Center Ambulance with her mentor, Chief Christopher Reynolds.
Twin Valley Intern Gets Real-Life Experience “When I went into it, I was not sure I could handle it. Atter a few (emergency) calls, I knew it was for me,” said Megan Finn, a senior at Twin Valley High School (TVHS), who is currently interning at the Lower Providence Community Center Ambulance. “(Interning) can make or break your (career decision).” Megan, who was named the Intern of the Month at TVHS for January, started her internship at the ambulance company at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year. She arranged to work with her mentor, Christopher Reynolds, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) chief, when she was a junior as part of her senior course selection.
“(The school) can find someone or you can find a connection yourself, which is what I did,” she said, explaining that her mom, who is a nurse, knew Reynolds through a family friend. Megan works at the station twice a week from 1 to 4 p.m. When there are no emergency calls, she keeps busy doing paperwork and other assigned tasks. Reynolds also gives her advice about what it takes to become an emergency medical technician (EMT) and describes different situations that can occur in an ambulance. “We have office days. I help others with chores and (clean) equipment,” said Megan. “Sometimes we talk about things that happened, what (the EMS workers) did in different scenarios and what calls they had that week.”
See Backyard Bird Count pg 5
Megan is certified in Basic Life Support (BLS), so she has the ability to go on calls and assist patients in the ambulance. “I’ve been on a lot of calls - anything from a little kid who got hit by a car (who later recovered) to an overdose to a kid getting stung by a bee. It’s been a wide range,” she said. “The most impactful one was the fatal overdose. It was a young guy, and it was the most intense call. He made it (to the hospital) with us, but we followed up and learned later that he had passed away.” To Megan, the most rewarding part of her internship is counting “saves.” “If it’s a cardiac arrest and we revive them, we count that as a save or an achievement,” she said. “It is very rewarding. It reminds me of the perks of the job.”
BY FRANCINE FULTON
Community Calendar . . . .7
Those looking for new areas to explore in Chester County are invited to view a new interactive trailfinder map that was unveiled by the Chester County Planning Commission. The map illustrates all the county’s publicly accessible trails and nature preserves, representing more than 550 miles of trails. Nearly 70 miles of trails are multi-use,
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . .9
See Twin Valley Intern pg 6
See Exploring Trails pg 3
Exploring Trails In Chester County
INSIDE THIS ISSUE The Torch Lists Upcoming Programs . . . . .2 STRIVE Toward Better Mental Health . . . . . . . . . .4
House Of Worship . . . . . .12
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take place this year from Feb. 18 through Feb. 21.