COPPERHILL, Tenn. — Neighbors in north Georgia are working to get back on their feet nearly a week after devastating flooding.
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Channel 2’s Candace McCowan reports a doctor lost his offices but continues to see patients. He’s become a parking lot general practitioner.
They’re inside buildings like this getting rid of wet materials, but come Hell and literal high water, patients still need to be seen.
The medical files at Dr. Stephen Treon’s office are soaking wet. And in his empty waiting room you can see how high the water rose.
But for the only doctor in Copperhill, Tennessee, his patients still need him.
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“I’ve seen about 12 so far,” Treon said. “Here, in my truck. I have them drive up here, I examine them. I get my stethoscope, my blood pressure cuff. I see the patient, I see what’s going on, I take care of them.”
He’s even gone to nearby shelters to treat patients, and he knows it could be some time before he is able to clean out, rebuild and reoccupy his offices.
Winter is coming, so the outdoors will only work for a few more weeks.
He needs two things, including a trailer.
“I need a box that I can use as an exam room so I can see patients,” Treon said. “I need, I need this, a Beeler fax machine so that I could do the communication with the pharmacies, I could the communication at the hospitals.”
He is adjusting, just as they are all across the flood zone.
At First Baptist Church, the water covered even the piano. They’re tending to the clean up and hearts.
“This is something that, you know, tempers can flare, attitudes can change quickly, but people need to know that there’s somebody on their side with a small and a handshake and kind words,” said Daniel Morgan of First Baptist Church.
But they aren’t giving up. This is when they’re needed the most.
“It does not go away, and a lot of times they get worse because their stress is high,” Treon said.
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