While local doctors work to take care of the health of their patients, their spouses are busy ensuring a healthy community through active volunteerism and charitable contributions.

The Carroll-Haralson Medical Alliance is a non-profit organization made up of local physicians’ spouses whose work benefit such local causes as the Carroll County Emergency Shelter, local foster children, the Boys and Girls Club, the Rape Crisis Center and Alice’s House.

“We’re a typical non-profit service organization in that we’re here to help the community through our involvement to help as many different organizations as we can,” Alliance Vice President Nichole Pezold said.

CHMA is also dedicated to making sure the local medical community doesn’t miss out on the best and brightest future nurses to financial constraints that may limit their education. The Alliance has established a $500 scholarship for the nursing program at the University of West Georgia with an eventual goal of turning it into an endowment.

While past charitable work has consisted primarily of donations from members, the Alliance has decided to hold its first fund-raising campaign in years to benefit the scholarship program with a yard sale on Saturday, March 6, at Carrollton First United Methodist Church from 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

“The Alliance used to do this scholarship and over the years it just kind of fell through the cracks,” Pezold said. “We felt like what better way to help the community than through education, so we decided to reinstate the scholarship.”

The scholarship recipient will be chosen by the nursing program officials at the University of West Georgia, but the Alliance has set up the parameters they must use in doing so. Recipients must be a local student from Carroll County or Haralson County with a nursing major and carrying a grade point average of at least 3.0. Preference is also given to non-traditional students.

Tax deductible donations of items to be included in the yard sale will be accepted from the community on Friday, March 5, from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at Carrollton First United Methodist Church. Any items will be excepted, including clothing, household items, toys and furniture.

“We’ll take anything to sell,” Pezold said. “We’ve already got bags and bags of clothes and lawn mowers and gardening stuff, but the more we can get the more money we can raise.”

The Carroll-Haralson Medical Alliance has been in existence for nearly four decades operating behind the scenes with their causes. Though these causes may change from year to year based on needs in the community, the group’s dedication to the community has never wavered.

Among CHMA’s annual efforts is a Christmas party they throw for local foster children and their families, a special event for the foster children because often it is the only time each year they may get to see siblings who are placed in different homes.

The Alliance also holds an annual shower for the Carroll County Emergency Shelter each October in which members provide necessities for the women at the shelter, such as cleaning supplies and paper goods. At Christmas, they also provide gifts for the women staying at the shelter and at times of the year they do crafts and other activities with the children at the shelter.

At Alice’s House, Alliance members commit to an annual spring gardening event in which they clean up outside and plant annual flowers.

Other annual activities include collecting canned goods at Christmas for the Salvation Army, collecting school supplies for the children at the Boys and Girls Club, sponsoring a team for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and decorating a Christmas tree each year to be auctioned off to raise funds for the Rape Crisis Center during its “Night in Lights.”

“We also do additional things throughout the year, but those are our main activities,” Pezold said.

Of course, as the spouses of physicians, Alliance members also like to stay informed about legislation and issues affecting the medical community by meeting with local legislators and Tanner Health System CEO and President Loy Howard.

“It’s an easy way to meet other people who are in the same situation as you,” Pezold said of membership in the Alliance. “We all have spouses who may work long hours and have complicated jobs. It’s also an easy avenue to help the community and become aware of what’s going in Carroll and Haralson counties. Instead of going out on your own, you can make a bigger difference as a group.”

Any local physicians’ spouse who would like to join the Carroll-Haralson Medical Alliance can contact current president, Erica Greene, by e-mail at maximus@bellsouth.net.