ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, December 19, 1996            TAG: 9612190072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER

FOR DOCTOR, AWARD HAS A FAMILIAR SOUND

WHO BETTER TO GET the first James G. Snead Community Health Award than Dr. James Snead?

If not for the 11 o'clock whistle signaling the night shift at Westvaco in Covington, radiologist James Snead might not have found himself.

The whistle reminded him that if he didn't pass in medical school, it could be calling him. And Snead knew what paper mill work was like, because he did it during the Depression.

Of course, there was his radio show, "The Covington Hour," when he sang pop and light opera from a studio on Kirk Avenue in Roanoke. But he didn't win the singing competition that would have got him into Westminster Choir School. Instead, he graduated from the University of Virginia.

That's the story, according to infectious-disease expert Steve Shepard and other staff at the Roanoke City Health Department who pulled together the surprise life history as part of the award the doctor received Wednesday.

Snead, who has worked for every Roanoke Valley hospital still existing and others now gone, was given the first James G. Snead Community Health Award at the department's annual luncheon. He retired in 1989 as chief radiologist at then-Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley. Since 1991, he has been a volunteer at the Health Department, reading the X-rays of patients who test positive for tuberculosis.

The Health Department has done TB tests on more than 700 people a year for the past two years. Of that number, 160 tested positive, but none actually had the disease.

Snead works at the department one day a week, but comes in at other times if a patient needs an X-ray read for clearance to return to or start work. He cares about the patients and serves as the staff's "weekly dose of good," said public health nurse Mary Tinley.

Snead said he had intended to really retire in 1989, but after two years off, Health Director Molly Rutledge "buttonholed" him. Snead had known Rutledge since he helped her read X-rays when she was an intern.

If not for his service, the X-rays would have to be sent to TB Control at the Virginia Department of Health in Richmond, delaying treatment decisions several weeks, Rutledge said.

LENGTH: Short :   49 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  NHAT MEYER Staff. Dr. James Snead (from left) and sons 
          Bob and Jim listen during the award ceremony Wednesday. color.