DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997             TAG: 9703250252

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Public Life

                                            LENGTH:   51 lines

NEIGHBORHOOD EXCHANGE FIRST AID FOR PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES

Go with Lloyd Blaylock on a walk through his neighborhood.

He's out there for his health, and the health of his community, the Woodshire Mobile Home Park.

Blaylock, 70, suffered a heart attack in 1994 and started walking for exercise. Now, he helps his Chesapeake neighbors with their medical problems.

Blaylock chats with anyone he meets on the streets or sees in their yards. He monitors blood pressure, checks a sprain, gives advice.

And neighbors call on Blaylock. In the past year, he's removed a broken cotton swab from someone's ear, helped a young mother get relief for painfully swollen feet, and monitored blood pressure for a woman waiting to go to the hospital.

``I see a lot of things happening. Children falling down, scraping their knees. There's also a lot of senior citizens out here,'' Blaylock said. ``I feel great about being able to help.''

Blaylock is one of 66 volunteer ``Neighborhood Helpers'' spread across Chesapeake. They're part of a program that trains people to give front-line first aid, CPR and referrals to neighbors in need.

Volunteers have logged more than 1,400 blood pressure tests and handled more than 135 basic first-aid cases.

Woodshire has nine helpers - the most of any community. They hold an annual health fair in their neighborhood. This year it will be April 5, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the social hall, first block of Heidi Drive.

The Neighborhood Helpers program began in 1994, sponsored by the Chesapeake Health Department and Chesapeake General Hospital. The hospital covers the costs, about $100 per trained volunteer under its community-health mission.

In Woodshire, enthusiasm over Neighborhood Helpers has inspired and reinforced activities such as potluck suppers, senior-citizen bingo nights and safe havens for children. It also can help anti-crime block-watch efforts.

``If you know your neighbors by doing these little projects you know when something is wrong, you know when something is different,'' said Woodshire volunteer Mary Brewer. ``Many times people live next door to each other and don't even know each other's names.'' MEMO: For information on Neighborhood Helpers, call Pamela Pascual

Clymer, Chesapeake General Hospital, 482-6108.

Got an idea or suggestion for this column? Contact staff writer Mike

Knepler at 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510; phones 436-6195

or 446-2275; or e-mail knep(AT)pilotonline.com. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Lloyd Blaylock

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