Better Newspaper Contest

Page 14 Headline Writing/Category 7 First Staff Hendricks County Flyer (Avon) Freezin' for a reason Duck, duck, goose! Organ donation Very creative headlines, succinct, and attention-grabbing; the creativity with the font and coloring on the "goose" headline is what made this entry stand above the others. Second Lucretia Cardenas, Linda Lipp & Bridgett Hernandez The Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly RV supplier is on a roll Keeping the region running around the clock Red, white and feeling blue The "RV" and "Red, white..." headlines were outstanding, very creative, and attention-grabbing; the length of the "keeping the region..." headline was the only thing that kept this entry from first place. Third Nicole Minier Churubusco News Eagles are thick as blood Tree-mendous time working together Say what? Radio upgrades ll be costly The "Say what?..." headline was probably the best headline re- ceived, but others edged the entry out with fullness. Very creative and attention-grabbing. Best Short Feature Story/ Category 8 First Kelly Lynch Advance-Leader (Ligonier) Up on the rooftop Strong lead, well-written "behind the scenes" approach. Second Nicole Minier Churubusco News Jones earns directing role at the Travel Channel Third Denise Freitag Burdette The Journal-Press (Aurora) Power to Persevere Best Profile Feature/Category 9 First Debbie Blank The Herald-Tribune (Batesville) Wu's will to live Very compelling piece, well-told. Second Tilly Marlatt Zionsville Times Sentinel Defying the odds: Heigl goes to college Nice profile of a very deserving young lady. Third Linda Lipp The Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly A sense of vision Interesting profile that could've been ho-hum, but wasn't. Division 1 Up on the rooftop: Ligonier firefighters conduct live training at soon-to-be demolished home Wu's will to live Kelly Lynch Advance-Leader (Ligonier) LIGONIER — Smoke filled the home as fire trucks lined the street and firefighters readied their gear. To anyone walking past, it would have looked as if the worst had happened. But to the Ligonier Fire Department, it was as good as it could get. Eighteen firefighters spent Monday night training in search and rescue and ladder and ventilation procedures at a home at 112 E. Third St. that soon will be demolished. It was an opportunity that doesn't come very often. "We can set up ladders around the station, but to actually get axes and ladders and cut a roof, we don't get that that often," Fire Chief Jeremy Weaver said. "If we get a house like that, we really like to do some things we don't get to." The home itself came with a lot of advantages. It consisted of two apartments, which allowed two different sets of teams to train inside at the same time while another team worked on ventilation tactics on the roof. Those inside practiced search and rescue of an injured person by either going in blindly in the dark or using thermal imaging in the smoke-filled home. Firefighters outside trained on how to position themselves on the roof to then use either an ax or a chainsaw to cut through and ventilate the inside of the house. The house also allowed firefighters to train in a structure unknown to them, which better tests their skills than when they're learning at the fire station. "The guys, sometimes they get complacent the way they do stuff. This helps us reinforce how we want to do things," Weaver said. "All searches aren't the same." In training for these scenarios, it also brings firefighters closer together by building trust that everyone has each other's backs and knows what they're doing if a real- life situation were to arise. In addition, Monday was an opportunity to allow the younger members to run command and hone their communication skills on the radio and among their fellow firefighters. "All of us know that we know what's going on. If you have someone who doesn't do training … you're going to be wondering if they know how to do this," Weaver said. "We count on each other when we go to a fire or an accident. It's nice to know that my partner knows how to do this, that they've been trained." After spending two hours at the property, which will be demolished and paved to provide more public parking downtown, Weaver was happy with what he saw and said the training provided an insight into what the department can work on or reinforce when it comes to communication. Debbie Blank The Herald-Tribune (Batesville) How Wushuang Yang, called "Wu" by her friends, ended up in Batesville is a testament to the kindness of strangers. The 19-year-old relates, "I was injured in a house fire (in Fuyang, Anhui Province, China) when I was 10 or 11." The only child and her parents were living in an apartment. The water had been shut off, so her father was out searching for the necessity. "My mom and I were trapped in their bedroom ... We could not breathe." When the girl opened the door, fire enveloped her and she fell down. Her dad, Yingzhou Yang, arrived home and pulled her out of the blaze. He was not injured. Yang was burned over 80 percent of her body. "The Chinese hospital couldn't help me much. They basically told my family I'd be on bed rest, immobile, for the rest of my life with a 20 percent chance of surviving. Doctors didn't have much hope," she says during a recent chat at Amack's Well. Whenever Yang asked about her mother's condition, physicians and relatives were evasive. "My family wouldn't tell me because they thought I would give up the will to live." After six months in bed, the child was invited to Shriners Hospital for Children, Cincinnati, which specializes in burn injuries. She only knew Chinese and would have to go to the United States by herself. "My dad and I had a discussion." They felt the opportunity couldn't be real and worried it would lead to human trafficking. The final answer was yes, though. Yang explains, "It was like our last chance. If I didn't take it, I would be useless." "I didn't discover my mom's death until I was in the U.S. by myself" and the hospital staff told her the truth in June 2008. "It wasn't that big of a surprise … but it was still hard to accept that reality." Yang believes she was given one last gift from her mother. When she was engulfed in flames, the girl remembers being grabbed on an arm and leg. Both she and her father think that was her mom's last gesture, helping to save her daughter. Batesville resident Mary Dickey, a board member of Everyone's Child International, founded here a year earlier, got a call from Shriners in April 2009. Yang had been treated at the hospital once, sponsored by another organization; went back to China, but needed to return for more surgeries. The first group couldn't continue to sponsor her. Volunteers at ECI, which assists in acquiring medical treatment for children from less fortunate regions of the world, agreed to be Yang's host agency. The nonprofit leaders would find a place for her to live while undergoing therapy and also pay for flights and medical expenses outside of burn care. The girl began living with Barron and Thais Cook, Batesville, who have two girls, Katherine and Madeline, close to the patient's age. "They've done so much for her," Dickey raves. Watching Disney movies at Shriners hospitals helped her learn English. "I was in the environment and slowly I had to adapt, plus up to this day I still ask questions. 'What does that mean?' I'm still learning." Since then, the spirited young woman reports she has undergone over 30 surgeries at two Shriners Hospitals for Children in Cincinnati. The routine: "I'm here 10 months, then back to China for six to 10 months" while healing. Because she was on bed rest for so long with her ankles immobile, those bones had to be readjusted. According to Dickey, "Last Christmas they fused two bones together in her left foot" at a Shriners hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, which provides specialized care to children with orthopaedic conditions. Yang has less than five surgeries to go. Those include reconstructing her left ear, adding a graft under her chin and scalp expander to eventually cover a bald spot on her head. For the complete story, visit hspa.com. For the complete story, visit hspa.com. Staff Hendricks County Flyer (Avon) Freezin' for a reason Duck, duck, goose! Organ donation

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