TownTalk: Feb. 8 Is ‘Healthy Heart Day’ At Maria Parham Health

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As part of National Heart Month, Maria Parham Health is offering several different opportunities during February for folks to check their heart health and learn ways to prevent or reduce their risk of heart disease.

Vance County incidence of cardiovascular disease exceeds both the state and national averages, and it’s important to be informed about risk factors to heart health. Cardiovascular disease includes heart disease and stroke.

Want to know your risk for heart disease? With a few clicks on the hospital’s webpage, you’ll find a short assessment that rates your risk. Visit www.mariaparham.com, click the Services tab and then on Cardiology and you’ll find the link.

National Wear Red Day is Friday, Feb. 2, – that’s tomorrow! – and hospital employees are going to be “turning it red” to promote heart health awareness, especially among women, said Lisa McGhee, a registered nurse who also is director of cardiovascular services at Maria Parham.

Then, on Thursday, Feb. 8, the community is invited to take part in Healthy Heart Day from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the hospital lobby.

McGhee said there will be blood pressure and pulse ox screenings offered as part of the Feb. 8 event; exercise physiologists and dietitians will be available to discuss healthy lifestyle choices and EMS professionals who will demonstrate hands-only CPR techniques.

“We’ve had a good turnout over the past years,” McGhee said. “We’ve had people who returned and said they had some sort of health issue, and they knew what to do and knew what the next steps should be because they’d been to one of these events.”

This community event is a good time to come out and ask questions, McGhee said. “That’s always our goal – to help guide (people) in the right direction to services,” she added. “It’s easier to do before it becomes an emergency.”

Some of the symptoms to look for include physical pain – chest pain or pain that radiates to the arm, jaw, back. Other symptoms, however, include extreme fatigue, dizziness, nausea or vomiting.

Sometimes, McGhee said, women may experience more subtle symptoms that are vague and harder to define, including fatigue, lack of energy and pain not necessarily associated with chest pain.

High blood pressure can have an adverse effect on heart health, too, McGhee said.

“High blood pressure that’s not controlled is a risk factor…blood pressure is one of those silent killers – sometimes there’s no other indications there’s a problem until it’s too late,” she said.

Sometimes, medication will do the trick, but if patients need more involved treatment, Maria Parham has a state-of-the-art heart catherization lab that opened in 2020.

Cardiologists complete a variety of procedures, including catheterizations to angioplasty and stent placement.

McGhee said the hospital’s chest pain program is an accredited program that helps health care professionals provide a variety of diagnostic tests like echocardiograms, wearable heart monitors and 24-hour blood pressure monitoring to help patients experiencing possible cardiac problems.

Visit www.mariaparham.com to find a complete list of programs and services.

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TownTalk: RAM Clinic Returning To Henderson In February

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The Duke RAM clinic is returning to Henderson later this month to provide free health, vision and dental care for patients in the community.

RAM stands for Remote Area Medical, and this year marks the third year in a row that the clinic has come to town. Clinic volunteers will set up shop once again at Vance Charter School on Ross Mill Road on Saturday, Feb. 17 and Sunday, Feb. 18. The clinic doors open at 6 a.m. each day to provide care, from routine exams to dental cleanings and extractions, as well as eye exams and eyeglasses. The clinic runs to 4 p.m. on Saturday and until 12 noon or 1 p.m. on Sunday

“We hope to be bigger and better than the last two years,” said Duke junior Anvi Sharvu, one of the event organizers.

Sharvu, a biology and sociology major, has been involved with RAM ever since she arrived at Duke and said she’s excited to see how many patients will get much-needed medical, dental and vision care during the two-day clinic.

She and Duke senior Sajan Patel were guests on Wednesday’s TownTalk to share details about the upcoming event.

Patients can start lining up at 12 midnight on Friday before the clinic opens on Saturday, and Patel said the clinic has “the capacity to see a lot of patients this year, especially on the dental side,” thanks to a team of dentists and student dentists from the
ECU Dental School.

“I’m a graduating senior,” Patel said, adding that he’s been involved with RAM since he’s been a student at Duke. He will graduate in the spring with degrees in biology and global health.

“I’m really excited and proud of our entire team,” he said.

Volunteers from other agencies including the local Granville Vance Public Health and other health care professionals, the duo said the clinic should be able to see even more patients than last year.

Sharvu said the need for essential health care remains high, especially in rural or underserved areas. “We just want to make sure more people can get care,” she said. Last year’s clinic provided dozens of dental cleanings, hundreds of tooth extractions and distributed 140 pairs of glasses.

The clinic requires no insurance or ID; there’s a questionnaire to fill out when you arrive, but even that’s optional, they say.

There will be other agencies on hand to provide resources for patients, including N.C. Legal Aid representatives who can help answer questions about Medicaid and Medicare. N.C. Harm Reduction also will be on site with free Narcan and instructions about how to use it in case of an overdose emergency.

And the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina will be giving away fresh produce.

 

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TownTalk: Events In Granville County

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Most coffee and tea drinkers have a favorite cup they reach for each day, but there’s a good chance they’re always looking for that “next” perfect vessel for a morning brew or afternoon cuppa. Cedar Creek Gallery in Creedmoor has an exhibit called “CUPful – Celebrating the Daily Ritual” that will run through Feb. 25 to showcase handcrafted pottery from near and far.

Granville Tourism Director Angela Allen shared a laundry list of upcoming events in the area, from Creedmoor and Stem to Oxford.

Visit https://cedarcreekgallery.com/ to learn more.

On Friday, Feb. 9, the Orpheum in Oxford will transform to host a local version of Mardi Gras, a fundraiser for the Granville County unit of the Boys & Girls Club.

“It is a party with a purpose,” Allen said. Things crank up at 6:30 p.m. to welcome partygoers for an evening of fun, complete with heavy hors d’oeuvres, music and a silent auction.

Tickets are $75.

Wear your favorite cocktail attire, a Mardi Gras mask, she said, “and you know there’s gonna be some beads there,” she said.

The next evening, Saturday, Feb. 10, Thorndale Oaks is hosting a murder-mystery dinner beginning at 6:30 p.m. The evening’s theme is “A Country Fried Caper,” Allen said, and the evening will include a cast of characters that could best be described as a group of “ off-the-wall country music stars,” one of whom will not make it through the evening.

Tickets are $65 and includes a full dinner. Allen said the evening’s events unfold throughout the different dinner courses.

Call Thorndale Oaks at 919.603.3701 to reserve your seat at the table.

If whodunits aren’t your style, perhaps a quarter auction to support the local Dogs Deserve Better organization is more to your liking. The “Puppy Love” fundraiser will be held at The Barn at Vino on Feb. 24 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

This event has proved to be quite popular, Allen said, and she recommends getting your tickets soon. Find a link to purchase tickets at https://visitgranvillenc.com/

“It’s a wonderful organization and every year, they show these fur babies some love,” she said. In addition to a couple of food trucks on site to satisfy everyone’s appetites, there will be 65 different raffle baskets available, a 50/50 raffle and additional vendors who will be selling different items through the evening.

Some upcoming events in March include:

  • Saturday, Mar. 2 – Spring Granville Wedding and Event Expo – Creedmoor Community Center. Donations for ACIM food bank will be accepted during this event, so bring a can of food or other shelf-stable food to contribute to this worthy cause.
  • Saturday, Mar. 16 – Granville Ambulance Chase and Food Truck Rodeo – After a hiatus due to COVID-19, Granville Health System is bringing this fun event back to Oxford. Walk or run and then kick back for food and live music. Visit ghsambulancechase.org for all the details.
  • Saturday, Mar. 16 – Head over to Thorndale Oaks to catch comedian Dan Grueter. Visit the Thorndale Oaks Facebook page to get tickets. There will be appetizers available and a cash bar.
  • Saturday and Sunday, Mar. 23, 24 – the third annual Viking Experience, which will take place at The Barn at Vino from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. Participants can immerse themselves in all things Viking. People have come from all across the country to attend this two-day event, Allen said. Visit https://www.thevikingexperiencenc.com/
  •  for details about ticket prices, schedules and more.

The county’s tourism website, www.visitgranvillenc.com has a complete listing of all the events happening in and around Granville County.

 

 

TownTalk: Tri-City Seahawks Play In Holiday Bowl

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The holiday season and all its festivities may seem like distant memories for many of us, but for a group of young local athletes, the memories made on a football field on New Year’s Eve are likely to last a lifetime.

Eleven members of the Tri-City Seahawks had the opportunity to play in the Holiday Bowl in Knightdale.

If you’re a Seahawk around here, you’re part of the Henderson-Vance Recreation and Parks Department league that gives young people the opportunity to play organized sports before they get to middle and high school, said HVRPD Director Kendrick Vann.

The Seahawks play in the East Wake Football League and Vann said it was a good experience for the young men all the way around to get to showcase their talent at the league’s post-season bowl game.

“Collectively, they had the best season they’ve had in the five seasons we’ve played,” said HVRPD Programmer Darius Pitt. Kids as young as 4 can come out for the teams, which include flag football for the 4-6 age group and then the 8U, 10U, 12U and 14U.

There were “a lot of eyes on some of our players,” Pitt told WIZS News, and as the season progressed, bowl coaches were assembling their teams from teams across the association.

Pitt and Chris Hardy are directors of the Tri-City Seahawks, which includes a total of more than 100 players on the different squads.

Hardy, who  also coaches the Vance County Vipers, said the young men who play with the Seahawks are learning about the X’s and O’s before they get to high school, which has proven to be a good thing.

The young people who wear the Seahawks jerseys are going to come to the middle and high school teams better prepared – in many ways, not the least of which comes through during a game.

“We preach to our kids that (in) student-athlete – student comes before athlete,” Hardy said, adding that Vipers need to conduct themselves correctly at school, not just on Game Day. “You’ve got to have the grades to play football,” he said. “We’re trying to groom young men – you’ve got to be on your A Game and show what you know.”

Tahjaye Fields was one of the Seahawks who played in the Holiday Bowl. “It was a great experience,” Fields said. “I like to be out there doing my thing.”

That “thing” for the STEM Early High School student who plays offense and defense, is getting tackles.

Teammate and fellow STEM Early High student Talik Perry said he had fun, too.

“I felt excited and I was just ready to play,” Perry said. A highlight: “I tackled a dude that was, like, two times my size.”

Being on a team like the Seahawks does more than just expose youth to coaches and playing as a cohesive group. Being a Seahawk also builds confidence – just ask Cameron Giddings.

At 13, he’s one of the older players of the group, but he’s been playing rec league ball since he was 6.

Giddings said he sees his role as helping the younger players build that confidence. “We put in the work and try to win,” he said.

Players who put in the work at practice and through playing other sports – in Giddings’s case, track, also helped his conditioning and improved his stamina.

The payoff? Being chosen to play in the Holiday Bowl.

“It was good – really surprising,” Giddings said of his selection to play in the bowl game. “I didn’t think anybody was watching me.”

Often, watching someone in a game inspires others. For Malachie Hayes, it’s Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry.

Hayes said “it felt good” to be out on that field in the Holiday Bowl, doing what he loves doing, “truckin’ and running through the defenders.”

And yeah, he’d love to do it again.

Ahmad Jeffers, playing for the 8U team last season, said he most enjoyed just running with the ball. Jeffers is a Clarke Elementary student and said he made a 10-yard run. He wants to be a receiver.

Hayes, 11, said he got pumped when he played his first play on defense. “I got a pick 6 and took it to the crib – that’s all,” he said.

Like the ad says, “It’s not bragging if it’s true.”

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TownTalk: Human Trafficking and Putting a Stop to It

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North Carolinians can take pride in knowing that this state we call home is a destination for many tourists each year. The interstate highway network helps folks travel easily from Manteo to Murphy, Henderson to Charlotte and just from about anywhere to Raleigh with minimal effort.

Those very things that make the Old North State an attractive spot for visitors, however, also get the attention of some other individuals: human traffickers, whom U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina  Michael F. Easley, Jr. called one of the biggest threats and most insidious to our society.

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month and Easley spoke with WIZS on Thursday’s TownTalk to discuss just what the state is doing to fight the problem.

Easley created a task force to combat human trafficking in the Raleigh/Cary area, and earlier this week announced that a second task force has been formed to work with counties to the East near the coast.

These task forces bring together local law enforcement agencies with state and federal agencies to create a strong one-two punch to catch and prosecute people who engage in human trafficking and prostitution.

“We have taken a victim-centric approach,” Easley said. “We’ll hit it with law enforcement,” Easley said of uncovering illegal operations, “but we’ll also have social workers, service providers and mental health professionals” on hand to assist those who have been victimized.

He praised the efforts of the FBI for their work in disrupting these trafficking networks and said the agency has “an incredible victim support system to help (victims) get their lives back on track and stabilized.”

He also praised the efforts of local law enforcement agencies, calling Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow and Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame “reliable partners” who are both in his speed dial.

And he called District Attorney Mike Waters “one of the most forward-leaning prosecutors” he knows. “He’s an incredible partner and somebody I count on to help unravel these cases.”

Traffickers are masters of manipulation, he said, and they prey on the most vulnerable in society – often, these are young people.

They seize control, little by little, he explained, and bring their victims under their full control.

“They control their victims, but they’re not bound in chains,” Easley said. “The chains are invisible.”

Some signs to look for include individuals who are not in control of their own documents, like a passport or driver license. They aren’t allowed to speak for themselves, or they often wear the same clothes day after day and only carry cash.

These are all those “invisible chains that bind a victim to a trafficker,” Easley said.

Perhaps most chilling was Easley’s comment about protecting young people from becoming victims of human traffickers: “Any kid who has a smartphone is a target,” he said. “There are groomers online who are trying to cleave them away” from parents and their community.

It may start with the victim agreeing to send one nude photo to an online groomer, he said, before that trafficker has the leverage needed to target another victim.

“We will break down and eliminate this insidious crime,” he said. “We can’t do it alone; we’ve go to do it side by side with local police and law enforcement.”

If you or anyone you know needs help or has information to provide regarding a potential human trafficking situation, please contact law enforcement by calling 911 if the situation appears unsafe, or contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline:

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TownTalk: Rep. Sossamon Voices Concerns About ‘Gas Station Heroin’

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N.C. Rep. Frank Sossamon, recently appointed to serve on the House Select Committee on Substance Abuse, said he would like to see the state ban the sale of products that contain tianeptine, which is being referred to as “gas station heroin.”

Sossamon was a guest on Wednesday’s TownTalk and said eight other states have banned the drug and he said North Carolina should join them.

“North Carolina should follow suit,” he said. “The easiest and quickest thing to do is just ban it,” he said.

Tianeptine is not approved for medical use by the Food and Drug Administration, although it is an ingredient in a number of widely available products sold at gas stations and convenience stores as “cognitive enhancers,” according to information on the FDA website.

It is an opioid type drug linked to overdoses and death, Sossamon explained. He said he looks forward to the first meeting of the substance abuse committee, scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 10 a.m. in Raleigh.

He said the committee will hear from experts and others whose loved ones have died from taking the drug. “I don’t know what all we’ll recommend, but I hope it will be effective to protect the citizens of North Carolina.”

The drug is used in other countries to treat depression and anxiety, but in the U.S. it is a Schedule I controlled substance. This means it has a high potential for abuse, Sossamon said.

“When you begin to read some of the material, it’s a no-brainer that it should be banned.”

Whether it should be a permanent ban or just a pause is part of what the committee can determine during its research and investigation into the issue.

The FDA is sometimes slow in taking action to ban something, and that’s why states have taken steps to prevent the products from being sold.

“The drug, evidently, has some positive effects if it’s used properly,” Sossamon noted, but if it is not regulated there’s a greater likelihood for abuse. It can come in pill or powder form and Sossamon said it’s even in a product that looks like a lollipop.

“We’ve got to ban it until we know more about it,” he said. “I don’t want it on my watch that somebody dies when I had a voice and an opportunity to ban it.”

 

 

TownTalk: NC Insurance Commissioner Discusses Rate Increases

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The proposal to raise homeowners’ insurance rates has been a hot topic of conversation lately for Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, and he wants the people of North Carolina to understand one thing: He’s not the one asking for it.

In fact, Causey said on Tuesday’s TownTalk, he has said “no” to every request brought to him for consideration by the N.C. Rate Bureau, the group that is proposing the rate increase.

Causey is running for a third term as insurance commissioner and has two Republican challengers in the upcoming March primary elections.

Since the announcement was made a couple of weeks ago to raise rates by more than 40 percent, Causey said he and his office have gotten close to 10,000 comments. And, not surprisingly, he noted, those comments overwhelmingly are against a rate hike.

“Everybody’s basically saying the same thing,” he said in comments recorded on Monday for air on Tuesday’s program. Prices have gone up at the grocery store and the gas pump and folks can’t handle a bump in insurance rates.

The most recent rate hike came back in 2020 and after all was said and done, the original proposal of about 22 percent was negotiated down to about 8 percent, Causey said.

The General Assembly established the rate bureau in 1977 and Causey said it has created “a healthy and stable insurance market” for the state since its inception.

There was a public hearing held in Raleigh on Monday – it’s all part of the process in place when a rate hike is proposed. Causey said public comment will be open until Feb. 2.

With thousands of comments already received, Causey said he expects that number to get even  larger.

“It’s a big turnout because it’s such a big request,” he said.

Causey said he wants to bring more insurance companies to North Carolina to create more competition among carriers and to allow customers to shop around for the best rates. What he doesn’t want, however, is for” insurance companies charging us extra to pay their executives more.”

Visit www.ncdoi.gov and click on the link to send your comments about the proposal rate hike.

The Department of Insurance handles all sorts of issues, not just insurance rate hikes. Sharing relevant information to educate the public about insurance issues also is a part of what his department does, too.

“It’s important that people have a local insurance agent,” he said, to make sure you have the right kind of coverage for you or your business.

Those commercials for online agencies may sound tempting, but Causey said nothing can replace that local agent you can phone or visit to get your questions answered.

With a background as an insurance agent himself, Causey said his best tip is to make sure you have replacement value coverage.

“If you don’t have replacement value coverage, you get cash value,” he said. So that expensive furniture that set you back a few thousand dollars a few years ago has now depreciated, so if you submit a claim to replace it, without replacement value coverage, you’re only going to get that depreciated value.

“Replacement value coverage will pay for a brand-new item, regardless of the cost (of the lost item),” Causey said.

Email Causey at mike.causey@ncdoi.gov.

 

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TownTalk: Housing And Discrimination

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Finding a new place to live can create all kinds of feelings, from excitement to anxiety. But looking for a new place where you and your family call home should NOT make you feel like you’re being discriminated against.

Hope Williams, supervising attorney with N.C. Legal Aid’s Fair Housing Project, said anyone who feels like they have encountered discrimination during the search for a place to live has some recourse.

The Fair Housing Act became law in 1968, a time when discrimination may have been more blatant. “We are still fighting to stop discrimination in housing,” she said on Monday’s TownTalk, although today’s cases may be more subtle – and perhaps more difficult to prove.

She said her office has three attorneys that serve the whole state. They are able to represent some clients, but they simply don’t have the staff to take on all the cases.

“We talk to people who call us and we give them advice about their legal issues,” she said. They help clients file administrative complaints with the federal Housing and Urban Development agency and with the N.C. Human Relations Commission.

They also focus on community education and training to raise awareness about what discrimination is and what it looks like. For instance, many people wrongly assume that fair housing rules only apply to subsidized housing. Not true. It applies to all housing.

Administrative complaints must be filed within one year of the encounter; there is an option to file a complaint in the courts system, which has a two-year window.

One piece of advice Williams has for anyone who feels that they have been the subject of housing discrimination: document everything.

Looking at interactions and communications over time sometimes can help provide critical evidence. “We make timelines to look for patterns,” she said.

Many complaints come from individuals with disabilities. Landlords must comply with “reasonable accommodations” that allow disabled people access. In such cases, the tenant is responsible for the cost of the accommodation – think wheelchair ramp or other physical structure – and for returning the dwelling to its original state if and when they vacate the dwelling.

The bottom line is a landlord can’t just refuse to allow a reasonable accommodation.

Same thing with a service animal, Williams said. A person who uses a service animal would be responsible for any damage by an animal, but he or she can’t be required to pay an upfront pet fee.

Call the Fair Housing Project’s direct line at N.C. Legal Aid at 855.797.FAIR.

Visit www.fairhousingnc.org to learn more.

 

 

TownTalk: Around Old Granville Visits Watkins Township

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At just 10.5 square miles, the Watkins township is the smallest of the 38 townships located in the geographical area once known as Granville County. It was established in 1881 – the same year that Vance County was formed from the larger Granville County, but local historian Mark Pace said while it may lack in size, the Watkins township is rich in history.

Pace and WIZS co-host Bill Harris talked about the origins of the Watkins township, or Watkins “community,” as it often is referred to by locals on Thursday’s segment of TownTalk called Around Old Granville.

Perhaps the most famous person to come from Watkins township was Henry Plummer Cheatham, who was a Congressman during Reconstruction. He served from 1889-1893 and ran the Central Children’s Home in Oxford for 35 years.

“He kept that institution going during some dark times,” Pace said, “through the Depression and the Jim Crow era.”

Another individual who hailed from Watkins township was John Bullock Watkins, a nephew of the two men for whom the township is named.

Born in 1881, Watkins was a lumber contractor in the 1940’s during World War II. Pace said Watkins “disappeared” for a while, and rumor had it he was conducting secret government business.

Turns out, that business was in the state to our west. “He went to Oak Ridge, Tennessee and helped build the facilities where the atomic bomb was developed,” Pace said.

He died in 1949, but Pace said Watkins spent a lot of time writing down stories he’d heard from his grandmother. “A lot of what we know about history here” is because of Watkins’s writings. “He did a great service to history by writing down some of what he heard,” Pace said. Watkins died in 1949.

Today, there are about 500 folks who live in Watkins, which once had a post office, a store and a railroad depot. “The depot may still be standing as an outbuilding on a farm there, believe it or not,” Pace said.

There are two churches that have been around since the 1800’s – Hermon Methodist was built in 1853 and Rehoboth Baptist Church was built in 1883. There are homes still standing that are older than those churches – the Burroughs house, located near the fire department, was built in the 1840’s in the popular Greek Revival style of the period.

Hundreds of Union troops camped there after the Civil War ended in 1865 as they made their way back home as victors.

It was another war, however, that brought the Watkins township some notoriety, however briefly, Pace noted.

It was Dec. 1945 and World War II was raging in Europe. A U.S. plane flying out of the Washington, D.C. area, encountered trouble in the air and crashed in a tobacco field in Watkins, just across from the present-day neighborhood of Huntstone along Highway 158.

“It crashed in Huntstone and bounced over 158 and landed over in the field,” Pace said.

Everyone on board parachuted to safety, and one crew member who went knocking on a door for help “and he was met by a man with a shotgun asking whether he was a German paratrooper,” Pace said.

The incident was kept kind of hush-hush to maintain wartime security, and the military sent in a crew to clean up the debris from the crash. According to Pace, the farmer who tended the field said he “hit a scrap of metal” every once in a while.

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TownTalk: Rivera Douthit, Candidate For N.C. Lieutenant Governor

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The following is part of WIZS’s ongoing election coverage. The Mar. 5 primary is the lead-in to the November elections and WIZS strives to provide its listeners and readers with comprehensive coverage of local and state races.

Rivera Douthit is one of 10 Republican candidates who wants to be North Carolina’s next lieutenant governor.

Douthit was a guest on WIZS “TownTalk” Wednesday and talked via telephone about the election and what makes her the best candidate for the job.

She describes herself as a conservative Christian and, as such, a candidate who is passionate about issues like abortion, gun ownership and prayer in schools.

But she talked about veterans’ affairs, sex trafficking and the economy and said as lieutenant governor, she would work hard to make North Carolina a model for other states to emulate.

“I’m passionate, as a mom, about the children,” Douthit said. “I’d love to see the Bible and prayer back in schools,” she added. “That’s something I’d love to see happen.”

She said she would work to put safeguards in place to protect schoolchildren’s safety, but also wants children “learning accurate history.” She also said she wants to make sure there’s no pornography in school libraries.

She said she stands strong against abortion, adding that she would work to continue some of the forward momentum that the state has seen recently on that issue.

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Douthit grew up in Mooresville and lives there today, where she and her husband own a plumbing business. Her experience as a small business owner puts her in a good position to support small business needs.

“The economy is on everyone’s radar,” she said, calling herself “a capitalism type of woman.”

Before becoming a small business owner, Douthit said she was a critical care nurse. She stayed at home to raise children and then was called into the ministry. She said she looks at everything through a biblical lens.

“God called me to run” for office, Douthit stated. “I try to be obedient to what he asks me to do.” As she discerned running for office, Douthit said what she does not want to be is a politician; rather, she wants to “be someone who can influence people on his behalf.”

“Everything I do comes thru that lens of being intimately acquainted with the Lord.”

As lieutenant governor, Douthit said her role will be that of a bridge builder – one who presents her thoughts and ideas to both parties “and see if I can get us to meet somewhere in the middle.”

To learn more, visit rivera4nc.com.